Shared principles for expected behaviour

Julia Trattnig | 29 September 2021

For successful collaboration, it is essential that stakeholders agree on shared principles for expected behaviour.

These principles can be fixed in charters and codes of conduct (see “The European Charter & Code for Researchers”) as well as in forum guidelines and netiquette for virtual collaboration (see “Virtual collaboration & Covid-19”).

For example, the HBP developed guidelines for the HBP Community Forum, considering it as “a civilized place for public discussion” (HBP Forum, 2020). These guidelines invite users to improve the discussion and show civil courage by flagging bad behaviour to moderator intervention.

This approach follows the concept of “netiquette”, which is explained by the terms of which it consists: “network” or “internet” and “etiquette”.
It is the unofficial code of policies that encourage good behaviour on the Internet, especially on social media platforms or forums. It aims to regulate respect between different users, i.e., usage of appropriate language, being kind to other members, giving constructive criticism or feedback, etc.