Inclusive, Accessible Tech: Bias-Free Language in Code and Configurations
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The document discusses Cisco's initiatives to promote inclusive and bias-free language in their products and culture, highlighting their commitment to social justice through various actions such as increasing representation and supporting diversity. It outlines policies to foster inclusive language by replacing harmful terms with recommended alternatives, and emphasizes the importance of compliance and governance in implementing these changes. Additionally, it provides resources for further engagement in inclusive language practices and encourages individuals to reflect on their own language use.
Inclusive, Accessible Tech: Bias-Free Language in Code and Configurations
- 1. Anne Gentle, Developer Experience Manager API the Docs October 12, 2022 Bias-Free Language in Code and Configurations Inclusive, Accessible Tech:
- 2. © 2022 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. 2 © 2022 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. The presentation today will touch on sensitive topics, including language that may be harmful to some audience members. We will be sharing our efforts to remove this language from our products, content and culture at Cisco. If at any point you feel uncomfortable, please feel free to exit the session, and reach out directly with questions, or requests for more information in a format that works for you.
- 3. © 2022 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. 3 Hi! I’m Anne Gentle, a Developer Experience Manager at Cisco. We make Cisco APIs better for developers. We treat docs like code for over 1000 code repositories for multiple products and platforms at Cisco. I play tennis, kayak, hike, paddleboard, and work in Austin, Texas.
- 4. © 2022 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. 4 Social Justice Journey Overview Policy to Practice Code and Config Examples Resources and Questions
- 5. © 2022 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. 5 © 2022 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Power an Inclusive Future for All We must help bridge gaps of inequity by using our technology, extended ecosystem, and the expertise of our teams, while creating more opportunities for more people, and acting responsibly to drive change. - Chuck Robbins
- 6. © 2022 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. 6 © 2022 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco’s Social Justice Actions 1. Influence Ecosystem 2. Increase Representation 3. Expand Pay Parity 4. Increase Board Diversity 5. Deliver Anti-Discrimination Legislation 6. Connect Leaders and Employees 7. Supplier Engagement 8. Commit to HBCUs 9. Support Black-Owned Companies 10. Diversify Partner Ecosystem 11. Invest in Innovation 12. Human Rights in Technology Solutions
- 7. Human Rights by Design Advise & Train Product Teams on Human Rights throughout the Product Development Lifecycle Accessibility by Design Advise & Train Product Teams on Accessibility throughout the Product Development Lifecycle Inclusive Naming • Implement Cisco’s Inclusive Language Policy • Build Employee Awareness about Inclusive Language • Drive Compliance across Cisco’s Functions • Engage Community and share Best Practices • Embed a Culture of Belonging via Governance Models Social Justice in Product Development
- 8. © 2022 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. 8 Policy to Practice
- 9. © 2022 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. 9 Policies on Inclusive Language Goal: Promote and facilitate replacing harmful and exclusionary language in tech Term Recommended Replacements master / slave primary/secondary or primary/subordinate or control/data (for clustering) whitelist / blacklist permit (list)/block (list) or allow (list)/block (list)
- 10. © 2022 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. 10 © 2022 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Word Lists as API Contracts • Version-locked; users know which version to expect the change. • Documents the dates to expect the change. • Backwards compatibility means no breaking changes due to a word change. • Communicates a roadmap for future word changes.
- 11. © 2022 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. 11 Driving compliance requires that we know what compliance means input output Internal Code APIs, GUI, CLI, etc. Logfiles, telemetry, etc. Product documentation Automated checks in CI/CD
- 12. Category #1 Variable names or comments that are internal to code. No impact to customers and no external visibility. Asset Categories Category #2 CLI (config, show), API, or schema use. Deprecate the old use and create a new one with a text alias. This is complex and customer- facing; new and old must work. Category #3 Logs, telemetry, monitoring: Support old and new (don’t break customer scripts). Deprecate the old but cutover to new. Category #4 Documentation changes: Simple cases are easy to do. Complex cases (like documenting a CLI) must follow product changes. Code and Configuration Examples
- 13. © 2022 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. © 2022 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. https://github.com/CiscoDevNet search for “slave” Category 1 example
- 14. © 2022 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. 14 How to Take Inventory https://github.com/cisco-open/inclusive-language
- 15. © 2022 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. © 2022 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. https://github.com/cisco-open/inclusive-language
- 16. © 2022 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. © 2022 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Thanks Python and GitHub! Excel inventory
- 17. © 2022 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. © 2022 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. API Example: API field name changes Firepower Management Center REST API v7.1 Field Names (returned JSON) Category 2 example
- 18. © 2022 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Example: DevNet Associate Fundamentals Course Category 4 example
- 19. © 2022 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Visual Studio Code: AlexJS Linter Extension
- 20. © 2022 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Mitigation Example: Ruleset for “woke” linter and Jenkins job
- 21. © 2022 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. 21 Looking Forward: New Terms and Impact on Code vs. Culture Goal: Centralized governance for policy and language decisions Begin New term Culture or Code? Engineering Change Process General tool/documentation update End Questions that keep us up at night: 1. Governance structure – Which terms are critical enough to justify a company-wide change in code, and why? And How? 2. US vs. Global intake process – Why wouldn’t we include global terms in our policy? 3. Scale - How do we meet all language needs for all roles?
- 22. © 2022 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. 22 Inclusive Language Resources Inclusive Naming Initiative Language recommendation lists https://inclusivenaming.org/word-lists/ Example Public Policy on Inclusive Naming https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/about/ social-justice/inclusive-language-policy.html Inventory Tools and Example Ruleset https://github.com/cisco-open/ inclusive-language
- 23. © 2022 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. 23 What can you do to advance Inclusive Language? Take an inventory of your engineering assets (code, log files, telemetry data, standards). Take a moment to reflect on your own use of language. Consider what you can do in your role, and with your unique skills, to advance this work. Take a Linux Foundation training on inclusive speaking (LFC101) and inclusive open source practices (LFC102)
- 24. © 2022 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. 24 Q & A