(partially based on the Coursera honour code and the Pydata code of conduct)

Preamble to the code of conduct

Please read this code of conduct carefully, and consider whether these are the type of rules by which you feel comfortable abiding. After you have accepted them, there will be no negotiating them down, and there have unfortunately historically been cases of expulsion from breaches of the code of conduct. It is a binding agreement, not a set of guidelines.

We believe that for a community centered on education to thrive, there must be a set of common principles, and there must be emotional safety for all those involved. On occasion, those will collide with values such as freedom of speech, or with cultural norms that vary between cultures and communities.

This code of conduct aims to clarify the expectation. It is both binding and enforced, meaning that anyone can be expelled for breaches of the code of conduct. It explains what the expected behavior is, rather than attempting to list all unacceptable behaviors. Students and all Staff are expected to follow the LDSA Code of Conduct, in letter and in spirit.

Enforcement is done by the Executive Team, which has the power to issue warnings, or expulsion orders. Multiple warnings may result in expulsion, even if none of the warnings themselves would have been sufficient. In situations where there is ambiguity, this team has final word. Students who are expelled from any activity of the Academy will be denied access to future activities, and will not (where relevant) be issued any refunds.

1. Academic integrity is expected of everyone

Your answers to assignments must be your own work (except for assignments that explicitly permit collaboration).

You may not share your assignment solutions with anyone else unless explicitly permitted by the instructor. This includes anything written by you, as well as any official solutions provided by the course staff. Plagiarism (copying words, ideas, or any other materials from another source without giving credit) is unacceptable.

You may not engage in any other activities that will dishonestly improve your results or dishonestly improve or damage the results of others.

2. No one shall provide answers to assignments, unless they have been officially provided

When students are stuck on an assignment, they can (and should!) reach out to other students and mentors for help. The code of conduct is to answer such requests with hints. These can be, for instance, a link to some documentation, or a reference of what the logic should be, and (if nothing else works) pseudo code with the sequence to follow.

Please do not share the code solutions, as it is important that students manage to get the answers themselves so that the logic “sinks in” on their own merits. Having answers posted on slack channels, GitHub issues etc makes the temptation to look up the answer too great.

Posting code answers online will be considered a breach of the code of conduct that will result in a warning. Repeated and intentional postings of answers can result in eventual suspension of the offending student, mentor or instructor. When in doubt, ask a mentor for advice on whether something is a hint or if infringes the code of conduct.

3. No discrimination, harassment or bullying

The Lisbon Data Science Academy is dedicated to providing a harassment-free conference experience for everyone, regardless of gender, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, disability, physical appearance, body size, race, or religion. We do not tolerate harassment by participants or staff in any form.

All communication should be appropriate for a professional audience including people of many different backgrounds. Sexual language and imagery is not appropriate. Be kind to others. Do not insult or put down other attendees. Behave professionally. Remember that harassment and sexist, racist, or exclusionary jokes are not appropriate for the Academy.

4. Be respectful and follow professional conduct

The academy is a community of professionals and every single member is expected to behave like one. To be professional means that everyone is treated with respect in both letter and spirit. This is especially important during stressful or difficult times in order to prevent disagreements from descending into anything resembling insulting or personal.

To be professional means:

• Be objective. Not liking something is not a reason to request an adjustment or any other kind of change. Usually when you don’t like something it is because, somewhere at its core, it is unfair. If it is actually unfair, you can usually find a nice and clean way to explain why it is unfair and this is what should be done without exceptions.

• Be respectful. Personal insults or emotion-driven accusations do nothing to help resolve conflicts. It’s amazing how much of a difference it makes to say something like “I’m not sure if this is being done the best way possible, can we talk about it?” rather than “This is so stupid and messed up!”. Sarcasm, comments with the intent of humiliating or personal comments will not be tolerated, and have lead to warnings and subsequent expulsions in the past.

• Be constructive. It’s incredibly easy to find problems. It’s much more difficult to suggest solutions but this is where progress comes from. Saying something like “I think that there’s an issue with X and there’s a potential solution in Y - what does everyone think?” rather than “X is stupid”.

More important than any amount of technical ability is being respectful and professional toward your fellow human beings.

5. Follow the Academy’s environmental policy [non-remote editions]

The Academy is, as part of its principles, a zero-plastic and environmentally friendly organization. That is why you will find senior data scientists serving you expressos to avoid using capsules. As a student you will be expected to follow the same high environmental standards, which are tighter than those demanded by law.

That means, among other things, that you are expected not to bring discardable plastics (e.g. PET bottles) into the Academy lectures, and will be expected to (whenever possible) recycle your waste.

Epilogue

The code of conduct is strict, and goes way beyond what many organizations expect. Please understand that by accepting it, you are agreeing that you will be bound by it.

If you are found to have violated this code of conduct, you may receive a warnings or an expulsion order, depending on the severity, and the interpretation of the Executive Team is final.