Equity, Diversity & Inclusion
Pol Comm Tech Lab believes that fostering and celebrating equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) is essential for cultivating a vibrant, innovative, and safe academic and research environment for everyone.
By actively embracing the richness of perspectives and experiences within society, Pol Comm Tech hopes to create positive social change and foster a culture of respect, collaboration, and excellence that benefits Lab members and the broader community.
Our commitment
Pol Comm Tech welcomes and celebrates differences in age, gender, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, abilities, political affiliation, religious beliefs, and all other dimensions of diversity. We are committed to fostering a safe and inclusive lab environment atmosphere where everyone feels heard, acknowledged, and empowered to express their authentic selves without fear of judgment or discrimination. We believe in the inherent dignity and worth of every person, and we strive to create an environment that values diversity, promotes respect, cultivates understanding, and encorages feedback and growth.
We are dedicated to dismantling barriers that impede the full participation and advancement of all members of our community. This includes, but is not limited to, removing barriers that impede diverse individuals' participation in hiring, day-to-day tasks, research methods, and knowledge acquisition and mobilization. Whenever possible, we seek to adopt inclusive research methodologies that encorporate missing perspectives and forefront the lived experiences of diverse individuals. Discrimination, harassment, or any form of harm to others will not be tolerated.
Accessibility statement
Pol Comm Tech Lab seeks to ensure physical and digital accessibility for everyone. We want anyone who engages with the Lab to find the experience easy to navigate and simple to understand.
We are currently using the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.2 standard, the most up-to-date international standard for making web content more user friendly, including individuals with disabilities. WCAG guidelines have three levels of accessibility (A, AA, AAA). We've chosen Level AA (the most accepted) as the target for this website. At this moment, we are partially conformant.
We regularly monitor this site to achieve and maintain accessibility, but users may experience some issues despite our best efforts. If you do find any accessibility issues, please get in touch
Actions we are taking
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We intentionally cultivate an interdisciplinary lab environment that recognizes the value of collaboration across disciplines;We
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We use inclusive language, including individuals' choice of personal pronouns and preferred names;
- We allow time for everyone to share their input during meetings and projects;
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We promote learning about and training in digital inclusion, including through our Intro to Podcast Accessibility webinar;
- We foster digital and media literacy through reading groups, directed research projects, and peer-to-peer feedback; and
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We offer flexible work policies to accommodate diverse needs, including in-person, online, and hybrid work options.
Please note: While we have been actively working to promote EDI since the Lab's creation, the actions listed above were instituted as Lab-wide standards effective February 2024. Some content prior to this date will not meet these standards (for example: social media posted prior to this date may not have alt text for all images and not all podcast episodes in seasons 1 and 2 have transcripts or translations available).
Known limitations
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Our Contact us form has a label error. Individuals encountering difficulty with this form should email polcommtech@gmail.com.
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The media player provided by our podcast host, Buzzsprout, may not be accessible to all users. We have included direct MP3 download links on each episode page to allow users to listen to the podcast using the media player of their choice.
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Prior to S06E02, hyperlinks on Wonk and War Rooms episode pages may: open in a new browser window instead of the current one, have insufficiently descriptive link text, and use two different link texts to when directing users to a unique URL.
Planned next steps
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Finish auditing all pages on this website to ensure accessibility;
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Create a guide for developing accessible PowerPoints; and
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Create a guide for developing accessible PDF documents.
How are we doing?
If you have any feedback to share, questions about our policies, or have experienced or witnessed any behaviour that contradicts our commitment to EDI, we encourage you to reach out so that the appropriate next steps can be taken.
Please get in touch in one following ways:
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Contact us using the form on our contact page,
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Email the Lab director at elizabeth.dubois@uottawa.ca, or
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Fill out this confidential form to submit your feedback anonymously.
Thank you for helping us build a safe and inclusive space for all.
The Pol Comm Tech Lab is supported by the University Research Chair in Politics, Communication and Technology at the University of Ottawa.