The Voice of Conduct

In response to issues of social exclusion, harassment, hate speech, stalking or threats, F/LOSS groups, hackerspaces, and feminist hacker communities have broadly adopted Codes of Conduct. Such documents are useful for setting up rules and accountability, while they help communities to formulate common values around their projects. Several networks embrace a language of openness, suggesting to "be excellent to each other", while others maintain explicit boundaries for their safe spaces, making clear which behaviours are not allowed.

This project is a collection of vocal exercises that explore the frustrations, emotions and tensions behind Codes of Conduct. Each group uses different tones to set expectations for users — ranging from neutral to aggressive, diplomatic or kind. How can we interact with written rules, what do these rules express, what happens when we read and perform them with our voices, turning them into dialogues and scripts? We invite you to initiate conversations around these questions by writing your comments and thoughts.