Here at CHAOSS, we are excited to announce the launch of CHAOSS DEI Project Badging. CHAOSS DEI Project Badging is an initiative developed to recognize open source projects that prioritize diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) work within their respective communities. The initiative uses CHAOSS DEI metrics as a benchmark to reflect on DEI efforts in an open source project. The objectives of CHAOSS DEI Project Badging are to (1) enable people to signal their ongoing efforts in improving and prioritizing DEI within their communities, (2) to recognize projects and communities for their DEI efforts, and (3) to help communities make informed decisions and take thoughtful actions in creating more inclusive and equitable environments. CHAOSS DEI Project Badging welcomes participation by badged projects in the evolution of the program.
How It Works
Self-Assessment and Documentation
Before applying for a CHAOSS Project DEI Badge, maintainers or project admins are encouraged to conduct a self-assessment of their project’s DEI efforts based on the following CHAOSS DEI metrics: Project Access, Inclusive Leadership, Communication Transparency, and Newcomer Experience. After the self-assessment, maintainers can document how the project attends to and prioritizes DEI around these areas in a markdown file called the DEI.md file. This DEI.md file should exist within the project’s repository for easy feedback from the community. A guide for putting together your DEI.md file is available through the DEI.md Guide.
Badging Application
Once the DEI.md file is published and publicly available, project owners can proceed to apply here. The applicant must be a project owner and the repository that holds the DEI.md file must be specified.
Badging Evaluation
The review follows an automated process in which a CHAOSS bot scans the project repository for the presence of a DEI.md file. The bot will review the DEI.md file for relevant information provided by the maintainer and its alignment with the CHAOSS DEI metrics stated in the DEI.md template to determine eligibility for the badge. A project badge will be issued upon successful review of the DEI.md file. The four CHAOSS metrics used in the DEI.md file include:
- Project Access
- Inclusive Leadership
- Communication Transparency
- Newcomer Experience
The evaluation of your DEI.md file is based on it being publicly available and demonstrating an attention to the four CHAOSS metrics. Ultimately, we are ensuring that you are providing your community members with a well-formed DEI.md file. We do not evaluate how you reflect on the four metrics as each community will do things differently. If community members have concerns about what is expressed in their community’s DEI.md file, we ask that you discuss this within your community to ensure the DEI.md file appropriately reflects your community DEI efforts.
Recognition and Badging
Projects that meet the established criteria will receive the CHAOSS DEI Project Badge, which can be prominently displayed on the project’s website, documentation, or other relevant platforms. The badge signifies the project’s commitment to DEI and highlights its attention to DEI best practices.
Continued Engagement
Once the badging process is completed, you can re-apply for a project badge — we recommend it after about a year. We will also be developing CHAOSS Project Badges for Silver, Gold, and Platinum levels in the future that include new CHAOSS metrics.
Getting Involved
If you would like to help CHAOSS build the future of DEI Project Badging, we welcome your participation! You are encouraged to join our DEI Working Group meetings every Wednesday at 10:00 am US Central/Chicago Time. Details on how to join these meetings can be found on the CHAOSS Calendar. You are also welcome to join the CHAOSS Community Slack and connect with us there.
