Inclusion@WHC
The WHC is committed to creating an inclusive environment for all of its participants as well as increasing the participation of groups traditionally underrepresented in robotics and haptics research (including but not limited to: women, LGBTQ+, underrepresented minorities, and people with disabilities). Part of this commitment includes striving to provide a safe, respectful, and harassment-free conference environment for everyone involved. We do not tolerate harassment of conference participants. Harassment includes, but is not limited to, overt and/or covert acts of:
▪ Verbal accusations or bullying
▪ Deliberate intimidation, stalking, or following both in person and online
▪ Harassing photography or recording
▪ Sustained disruption of talks or other events
▪ Interference with a person’s participation or opportunity for participation
▪ Inappropriate physical contact
▪ Unwelcome sexual attention
▪ Advocating for, or encouraging, any of the above behavior
We expect all interactions between attendees to be respectful and constructive, including interactions during the review process, at the conference itself, and on social media. Conference participants violating these rules may be sanctioned or expelled from the conference (without a refund) at the discretion of the conference organizers.
Input from you – the community!
Part of this commitment is to better understand the needs of our participants. To this end, Inclusion@WHC will be working to collect data which will inform programs to increase and sustain a broader participation in the haptics research community. In order to better understand the needs of our community, we ask participants to please fill the form linked at the end of this paragraph (preferably before February to make sure we have time to implement recommendations). Your participation will assure that your voice is heard when thinking about ways to create a more inclusive World Haptics Conference. We cannot guarantee that we will implement every idea at this WHC, however we will strive to do so. If you would like to participate, please fill out this form.
The second part of this commitment is to better understand, now that you have attended the conference, whether there were any barriers that we were not able to dismantle and what we should improve on. To that end, after you have attended the conference, we would love it if you could fill out this form.
Registration Support
Finally, we are committed to increasing the diversity of conference participants by providing registration support to groups traditionally underrepresented in robotics and haptics research. We are currently looking for sponsor support to be able to fund this initiative. If you would like to sponsor any diversity and inclusion initiatives, please contact the sponsorship and inclusion chairs at [email protected]. If you would like to attend the conference and need registration support please fill the attached form and we will strive to provide all of the support that we can.
Part of this commitment is to better understand the needs of our participants. To this end, Inclusion@WHC will be working to collect data which will inform programs to increase and sustain a broader participation in the haptics research community. In order to better understand the needs of our community, we ask participants to please fill the form linked at the end of this paragraph (preferably before February to make sure we have time to implement recommendations). Your participation will assure that your voice is heard when thinking about ways to create a more inclusive World Haptics Conference. We cannot guarantee that we will implement every idea at this WHC, however we will strive to do so. If you would like to participate, please fill out this form.
Attendance Scholarship
We are pleased to announce that we will be able to support a number of attendance scholarships (i.e., free registration) to improve access to the 2021 IEEE World Haptics Conference. We hope this program will benefit participants from underrepresented groups in robotics and haptics who may experience financial barriers to participation.
If you would like to request an attendance scholarship, please request one by Someday TDB (end of day, any time zone in the world). We will prioritize applicants with accepted submissions (papers, demos, posters, SIC, …). Anyone else who submits by this deadline and qualifies will have a position in a lottery for free registration. If the number of applications is smaller than the available number of scholarships, we may be able to support a limited number of additional applicants after this date, on a first-come first-serve basis.
Qualification to the lottery will be automatic for residents of countries listed on the International Statistical Institute List of Developing Countries (https://www.isi-web.org/capacity-building/developing-countries). Applicants who reside in other countries can also qualify by explaining the benefits of an attendance scholarship with a short written statement.
In order to apply for an attendance scholarship, please use the following link (all personal information will be kept confidential): https://forms.gle/u2Tk94ggXimmHqYZ9
Please direct your inquiries to the Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) Chairs at [email protected].
The application for attendance scholarships is now closed.
We received 23 unique applications for attendance scholarships by the deadline of Someday TDB (anywhere on earth). We prioritized applicants with content to present, and automatically entered remaining applicants who qualified either through their country of residence or through a short written statement into a lottery. All 23 applicants qualified, and we had capacity to grant 23 scholarships. Thus, we are excited to announce that all 23 applicants have been granted a scholarship.
Guidelines for an Inclusive Submission
Please use inclusive language in your materials.
The language that we use has a major effect on people’s ability to feel part of a safe, inclusive community. We have some guidelines to help your paper submission.
For telerobotics, use alternative terminology to “Master/Slave”.
The WHC acknowledges the importance of not promoting terms based on appalling inhumane practices. We ask authors to not use the Master/Slave terminology. Some alternatives recommended by the ACM and the TC on Telerobotics are:
“Main/Secondary”, “Haptic Device/Remote Robot”, “Leader/Follower”, “Driver/Driven”, and “Teleoperating/Teleoperated”.
Please use accessible language when talking about disability.
We encourage authors working in accessibility to review and follow the SIGACCESS recommendations for writing terminology: http://www.sigaccess.org/welcome-to-sigaccess/resources/accessible-writing-guide/
Please use gender-inclusive language.
Our understanding of gender and how to discuss and study gender in a research context is changing. We encourage authors to review and follow the HCI Guidelines for Gender Equity and Inclusivity: https://www.morgan-klaus.com/gender-guidelines.html
Other resources on inclusive language:
▪ https://www.acm.org/diversity-inclusion/words-matter
Please check all materials for accessibility during submission.
Having accessible materials, including features like alt text for figures and choosing colours to be distinguishable when viewed in black and white or with a form of colour-blindness, will help ensure that more people are able to review your submissions and read any published work.
We encourage authors to review and follow the comprehensive instructions described by the ACM CHI community: https://chi2021.acm.org/for-authors/presenting/papers/guide-to-an-accessible-submission
Additional resources for accessible PDFs:
▪ SIGACCESS guidance on describing figures
▪ SIGACCESS guidelines on making an accessible ACM conference paper
▪ SIGACCESS guidelines on creating accessible PDFs in Microsoft Word
▪ WebAIM guidelines on PDF accessibility
▪ WebAim guidelines on creating accessible Word documents
▪ PDF techniques for WCAG 2.1
▪ Adobe’s resource center for PDF accessibility
When creating videos, please include both captions and voice overs.
Providing alternative means of accessing information is not only valuable for people with sensory impairments, but lets people engage with research materials in a variety of contexts (e.g., if the video is muted). We strongly encourage people to both have voice and text to explain the video.
If you have questions or need assistance with any of these activities, please reach out to the Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion chairs at [email protected].
Acknowledgements:
The IEEE Robotics and Automation Society is committed to advancing diversity in Robotics and Automation, and to promoting an inclusive and equitable culture that welcomes, engages, and rewards all who contribute to the field, without regard to ethnicity, religion, gender, disability, age, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression.
Inclusion@WHC was inspired by the amazing work being done at Inclusion@RSS, Diversity and Inclusion at UIST, and Diversity & Inclusion at CHI. We would like to thank these previous trailblazers for all of their mentorship, support, and for allowing us to base our work on theirs.
We are working on several new initiatives for Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion at WHC2021 this year. If you are interested in supporting these activities, please contact the sponsorship chairs at [email protected].