# SocialMapper Community Guidelines

## Our Mission

The SocialMapper community exists to foster collaboration, learning, and innovation in spatial analysis and demographic mapping. We are committed to creating an inclusive environment where researchers, developers, planners, students, and enthusiasts can share knowledge, solve problems together, and advance the field of accessible geospatial analysis.

## Code of Conduct

### 🤝 Be Respectful and Inclusive

**We are committed to providing a welcoming environment for all participants, regardless of:**
- Background, experience level, or technical expertise
- Geographic location, language, or cultural background
- Academic affiliation, professional role, or career stage
- Gender identity, sexual orientation, race, ethnicity, religion, or ability
- Age, socioeconomic status, or any other personal characteristic

**This means:**
- Use respectful, professional language in all interactions
- Be patient with newcomers and those learning new concepts
- Acknowledge different perspectives and approaches to problems
- Avoid assumptions about others' knowledge, experience, or motivations
- Celebrate the diverse applications and use cases of spatial analysis

### 🎯 Keep Discussions Relevant and Constructive

**Stay focused on SocialMapper and spatial analysis topics:**
- Questions about installation, configuration, and usage
- Sharing analyses, visualizations, and research findings
- Feature requests and suggestions for improvement
- Technical discussions about methodology and best practices
- Integration with other tools and workflows
- Academic and professional applications

**Make discussions helpful for the community:**
- Search existing posts before creating new discussions
- Use clear, descriptive titles that help others find relevant content
- Provide sufficient context, including code snippets and error messages
- Update your posts when you find solutions to share with others
- Tag posts appropriately to help with organization and discovery

### 📚 Maintain High Quality Standards

**When asking for help:**
- Include your SocialMapper version and environment details
- Provide a clear problem description and what you have tried
- Share minimal reproducible examples when possible
- Include relevant error messages or unexpected behavior
- Specify your expected outcome vs. what actually happened

**When sharing analyses:**
- Document your methodology and data sources
- Include clear visualizations and explanations
- Respect data privacy and sharing restrictions
- Credit collaborators, data providers, and community contributions
- Focus on educational value and reproducibility

**When suggesting features:**
- Explain the problem you are trying to solve
- Describe your proposed solution and alternatives considered
- Provide specific use cases and examples
- Consider the impact on existing users and workflows
- Engage constructively with feedback and questions

## Community Standards

### Prohibited Behavior

The following behaviors are not acceptable in our community:

**Harassment and Discrimination:**
- Personal attacks, insults, or derogatory comments
- Harassment based on personal characteristics or identity
- Discriminatory language or exclusionary behavior
- Intimidation, stalking, or unwelcome attention

**Disruptive Content:**
- Spam, promotional content, or off-topic posts
- Trolling, flame baiting, or deliberately provocative content
- Repeated posting of the same question without engagement
- Sharing of inappropriate, offensive, or harmful material

**Misuse of Platform:**
- Impersonation of other community members or organizations
- Sharing of personal information without consent
- Violation of intellectual property or copyright
- Attempting to circumvent community guidelines or moderation

**Unprofessional Conduct:**
- Deliberately unhelpful or misleading advice
- Public criticism of individuals rather than constructive feedback
- Excessive self-promotion or commercial solicitation
- Abuse of community privileges or volunteer positions

### Data and Privacy Considerations

**When sharing analyses and data:**
- Respect all applicable data privacy laws and regulations
- Obtain proper permissions before sharing datasets
- Anonymize sensitive or personally identifiable information
- Credit original data sources and respect usage restrictions
- Be transparent about data limitations and potential biases

**Academic and Research Ethics:**
- Follow institutional review board (IRB) requirements when applicable
- Respect intellectual property and provide proper attribution
- Share methodology and code when possible for reproducibility
- Be transparent about funding sources and potential conflicts of interest

## Discussion Categories and Guidelines

### General Q&A
- **Purpose**: Technical support, usage questions, troubleshooting
- **Response Goal**: <24 hours for initial acknowledgment
- **Best Practices**: Search first, provide context, follow up with solutions

### Feature Requests
- **Purpose**: Suggestions for new functionality or improvements
- **Process**: Community discussion → maintainer review → roadmap consideration
- **Template**: Use the provided template for consistent formatting

### Show & Tell
- **Purpose**: Share your analyses, research, and creative applications
- **Quality Standards**: Clear methodology, good visualizations, educational value
- **Recognition**: Outstanding posts featured in newsletter and documentation

### Research & Papers
- **Purpose**: Academic collaborations, paper discussions, citation support
- **Focus**: Research methodology, academic applications, collaboration opportunities
- **Support**: We help with proper citation and academic usage

### API & Development
- **Purpose**: Technical discussions, development questions, contribution guidance
- **Audience**: Developers, contributors, advanced users
- **Content**: Code reviews, architecture discussions, development roadmap

### Tutorials & Learning
- **Purpose**: Educational content, best practices, learning resources
- **Contributions**: Community-created tutorials and guides welcome
- **Curation**: Quality review and featured tutorial highlighting

### Announcements
- **Access**: Maintainer posting only, community comments welcome
- **Content**: Platform updates, releases, community news, policy changes
- **Notifications**: Major announcements cross-posted to newsletter

## Moderation and Enforcement

### Community Moderation

**Volunteer Moderators:**
- Selected from active, helpful community members
- Trained in community guidelines and conflict resolution
- Empowered to facilitate discussions and enforce standards
- Recognized with special badges and early feature access

**Moderation Actions:**
- Content editing or removal for policy violations
- Temporary restrictions for repeated violations
- Account suspension for serious or persistent problems
- Permanent bans for severe violations (rare, last resort)

### Reporting and Response

**How to Report Issues:**
- Use GitHub's reporting features for discussions and comments
- Contact moderators directly for sensitive issues
- Email maintainers for serious violations or appeals

**Response Timeline:**
- Acknowledgment within 24 hours
- Investigation completed within 72 hours
- Resolution and communication within 1 week
- Appeals process available for all moderation decisions

### Escalation Process

1. **Community Self-Moderation**: Gentle redirects and peer guidance
2. **Volunteer Moderator Intervention**: Official warnings and guidance
3. **Maintainer Review**: For complex issues or appeals
4. **Final Decision**: By project maintainers with community input

## Recognition and Rewards

### Community Contributor Program

**Recognition Levels:**
- **Helper**: Consistently provides helpful answers and guidance
- **Contributor**: Creates valuable content, tutorials, or code contributions  
- **Champion**: Goes above and beyond to support and grow the community
- **Moderator**: Volunteers time to help maintain community standards

**Rewards and Opportunities:**
- Special badges and recognition on GitHub profiles
- Featured spotlights in newsletter and community updates
- Speaking opportunities at monthly meetups and conferences
- Early access to new features and beta testing programs
- Collaboration opportunities with research institutions
- Digital certificates for significant contributions

### Academic and Professional Recognition

**Research Support:**
- Assistance with proper citation and academic usage
- Connection with other researchers and potential collaborators
- Featured publication of research findings and methodology
- Support for conference presentations and academic talks

**Professional Development:**
- Portfolio building with featured analysis showcases
- Networking opportunities with professionals in the field
- Reference letters for significant community contributions
- Job and internship opportunity sharing

## Community Growth and Sustainability

### Onboarding New Members

**Welcome Process:**
- Comprehensive welcome post with community overview
- Getting started resources and quick start guides
- Mentor matching for new academic and professional users
- Regular "New Member Spotlight" features

**Learning Resources:**
- Progressive tutorial series from beginner to advanced
- Video tutorials and live demo sessions
- Office hours and Q&A sessions with maintainers
- Community-created learning paths and study groups

### Community Health Metrics

**Engagement Tracking:**
- Response times and resolution rates for questions
- Community member growth and retention
- Content quality and educational value assessment
- Event attendance and participation rates

**Feedback Collection:**
- Monthly community surveys for continuous improvement
- Post-event feedback for meetups and special events
- Annual community assessment and goal setting
- Exit interviews to understand community departures

## Continuous Improvement

### Guideline Updates

These community guidelines are living documents that evolve with our community. We regularly review and update them based on:

- Community feedback and suggestions
- Emerging issues and challenges
- Best practices from other successful communities
- Changes in platform features and capabilities
- Growth in community size and diversity

### Community Input

**How to Suggest Changes:**
- Post suggestions in the dedicated "Community Guidelines" discussion
- Participate in quarterly community governance discussions
- Contact moderators or maintainers with specific concerns
- Vote on proposed changes through community polls

**Review Process:**
- Monthly review of guideline effectiveness
- Quarterly community feedback collection
- Annual comprehensive review and update
- Emergency updates for urgent issues or policy changes

## Resources and Support

### Getting Help

**Technical Support:**
- Search existing discussions and FAQ
- Post new questions in appropriate categories
- Attend monthly meetups for live Q&A
- Access office hours with maintainers

**Community Support:**
- Connect with mentors and experienced users
- Join special interest groups and regional chapters
- Participate in collaborative projects and research
- Access mental health and well-being resources if needed

### Additional Resources

**Documentation and Learning:**
- [SocialMapper Documentation](https://mihiarc.github.io/socialmapper/)
- [API Reference and Examples](https://github.com/mihiarc/socialmapper/tree/main/examples)
- [Video Tutorial Library](https://github.com/mihiarc/socialmapper/discussions/categories/tutorials-learning)
- [Community Cookbook](https://github.com/mihiarc/socialmapper/discussions/categories/show-tell)

**Professional Development:**
- [Academic Partnership Program](mailto:community@socialmapper.org)
- [Industry Collaboration Opportunities](mailto:partnerships@socialmapper.org)
- [Speaking and Workshop Opportunities](mailto:events@socialmapper.org)
- [Contribution and Volunteering Guide](https://github.com/mihiarc/socialmapper/blob/main/CONTRIBUTING.md)

## Conclusion

Our community guidelines reflect our commitment to creating a welcoming, productive, and innovative environment for all members. By participating in the SocialMapper community, you agree to uphold these standards and help us build something amazing together.

Remember: we are all here to learn, share, and advance the field of accessible spatial analysis. Let us do that with respect, enthusiasm, and collaboration.

**Questions about these guidelines?** Post in [General Q&A](https://github.com/mihiarc/socialmapper/discussions/categories/general-q-a) or contact the maintainers directly.

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*These guidelines were last updated on August 10, 2025. They will be reviewed quarterly and updated as needed based on community feedback and growth.*