VII. ADVANCED POINTS ABOUT APPLICABILITY OF COMMUNICATION BADGES

* Conceptual Analysis will be used to reorganize this material *

1) Such badges (see here for the basic theory) are Fluid. I.e. they can change with mood, confidence or 'amount of spoons one has left'. So it helps for them to be adjustable. We'll get on to how to adjust a badge on one's back, and why there's other reasons to project 360 visibility with multiple badges.

2) We first instead point to Sci-Fi/Geek Conventions such as Nine Worlds in the UK adopting badge conventions in much larger and more mixed settings, e.g. with only a small proportion of those present wearing the badges.

When Nine Worlds was running, each room in its convention contained at least one trained organizer present overseeing that the badges (and the no-harassment policy) are respected.

In this setting it is more plausible for "green with a black circle" to be replaced by the blank (no badge).

However in some settings, having a word rather than a blank for this is a further safeguard. This is because it's not the same word as "have lost my badge" or "my badge isn't in your field of vision, e.g. because you are to my right and my badge is on my left front or there's a person between your eyes and my badge".

We next arrive at a second major breakthrough.

3) Practicality, kind-heartedness points to the "Curb-Cut Effect". Something designed to fit a particular need can sometimes be observed to be helpful to further people. The reference is to wheelchair accessibility ramps (curb cuts are dips in the edge of the pavement) also being useful for such as baby push-chairs or small children.

This leads to a conceptual awareness of "Universal Design".

The idea is then that the Communications Badge may be useful to a wider range of people.

And the current section of this document probably vindicates this on a larger scale than previously imagined.

4) One of the first applications is to have a fairly large badge, or a pair of badges, exhibiting not only the Red Square but also one's pronouns.

Pronouns are most usually added under a person's name badge at a Conference.

Moreover, in the case of a person newly declaring pronouns (e.g. who has recently Come Out as Trans or Non-Binary), the name on the badge is useful since there may well be people present who already know you but not yet your new name.

5) The name and pronouns are written in by the person in question, which permits one to go by a name other than that which one registered by. This can be important if one is not Out elsewhere than at the Meeting or Convention in question. It can also be used by people who aren't Out at the Convention if the Convention has Cosplaying Masks. In the sense that one can attend masked, presenting as the gender one really is but is not Out as, under a pseudonym and with no face showing, which some Closeted people consider to be sufficiently anonymous.

6) Now for the first "surprise". Sure, Communications badges can help with other non-neurotypical people, and pronoun badges are well-known besides.

But a masked, pseudonym-and-pronouns wearing Closeted attender of a Convention with Communications badges can wear the Black Square on Red Badge as well. This is so as to not give away their voice either. They might well attend with an Ally whom they do initiate conversations with. And between the two of them decide on whether anyone else present can be asked for conversation.

One thing to know here is that different Closeted people have different safety standards as regards safety and anonymity.

The more general point is that communications badges help accommodate the Closeted!

A more common example is, moreover, that a person is Socially Anxious because they are Closeted, or because they're recently Out, or because they've only recently started to try to Pass and don't yet know how effectively they do.

7) Second Surprise. Multi-Gender and/or GenderFluid people may also be much more Socially Anxious in some of their gender states than others. And so might e.g. wear the red badge while feeling mostly male but the green badge when feeling mostly female.

And sometimes the issue is that the person is presenting as female, say, but subsequently begins to feel female. And then can't cope with conversing until they've adjusted their presentation to match their current mindset...

And so, some Non-Binary and GenderFluid people also wish to thank those whose thoughts went into the Communications badges and their wider "Curb Cutter" applications :)

3) Third Surprise. Most Survivors are Avoidant (85% according to recent surveys). Some of these Survivors aren't willing to go (almost) anywhere at all out of safety concerns. These tend to revolve around "secondary abuse", ie unwelcome boundary probing by potential abusers rather than the known abuser.

Now some of these Survivors, and Allies of theirs, are willing to put in a great amount of effort to have the privacy and safety that the Survivor requires.

And they can be satisfied with what others might consider to be a rather minimal interaction.

This might be their first time in a place with persons unknown since after they became a Survivor. After years of healing and even more minimalistic participation. In such a case, they might well be willing to choose a place like Nine Worlds for its Communications Badge system (Black Square on Red!), and attend in a cosplaying mask with one or more bodyguard allies.

In such a case, Black Square on Red is a major defense against boundary probing.

And very likely to be worn in a 360 degree visibility configuration.

The presence of trained organizers in each partition, and of the harassment policy that these credibly implement throughout the venue, are additional major defenses in this case.

4) A mostly Closeted person can be Socially Anxious whilst Closeted, and not so when Out. For instance, a Closet-Trans person may cease to be Anxious when in private with just people they trust with their true identity.

5) On other occasions, their true identity may be more Anxious, e.g. because their Closeted self is more experienced at social interactions/'fitting in'. Such a person might for instance have gendered catch-phrases that their true self would not use and doesn't yet know any true-gender substitutes for. Or the true-gender person wants to do without such catch-phrases as they were just part of play-acting someone who they weren't.

6) A GenderFluid person may have more anxiety when closer to one of their genders than the other and/or different kinds of anxiety around each different 'gender pole'. Some might also have anxieties while 'rather in the middle' between two poles. By this point, they 'fit neither gender stereotype' and as such don't necessarily know what to say or do, or how to express how they feel.

[Some GenderFluid persons' names and pronouns can change on a timescale of hours or minutes, say.]

[What of other Fluid people? Well, for instance a Switch might be presenting Dominantly but suddenly feel submissive and hence at odds with how they are presenting. Many other characteristics come in a Fluid version as well. Indeed, some people are purely SAxFluid - Social Anxiety Fluid - rather than SAxFluid due to some other Fluidity such as GenderFluid. SAxFluidity includes such as bimodality, in which a person is Anxious at some times or in some settings, but is more neutral or outgoing at other times or in other contexts. Spoons issues that are time-dependent include starting off wearing no badge. But then putting on the 'Don't talk to me at all' badge upon running out of spoons. Or upon ceasing to have any spoons to spare.]

7) These observations made, here is how the communications badge dictionary can be expanded in further ways useful to Survivors, Closeted people, GenderFluid people and other Fluid people.

A) No Contact badge. This person isn't to be poked, brushed or bumped into in any way.

B) Wide-berth Personal Space Badge: stay at least one metre clear of this person.

C) No Cornering: this person must always be given space to back away. You can't approach this person if they are in a corner, nor 'trap them en groupe' against a wall.

D) No Impeding Exit Badge. This person has the right to leave immediately without explaining why. This can be done without a badge if all present must read the rules. For then e.g. their lift a finger above their head can stand for this. This covers panic attacks. Survivors suddenly not feeling safe. People needing to change how they're presenting before they're comfortable enough to converse or even just be in view again.

As regards A), this goes well with a rule not to initiate interaction unless one's seen their badge for sure. It would not do to tap someone on the shoulder only to find out when they turn that they are wearing a no-contact badge...

All of A), B), C) and D) are of particular use to Survivors.

For completeness, one may add

E) Don't Follow Me Badge.

F) Don't Surprise Me Badge.

G) Only Approach me via the Ractor's or Meet's Icebreaker interaction. (Offer cake, throw fluffy toys, pass me the chainstory notepad).

Points of order

I) Badge dictionaries can be defined to have a lot of highly distinguishable designs.

II) There's a limit based on participants not remembering more than a certain number of 'Purple Pentagons' However, badges (unlike sashes) have enough 'square area' to say what they are on them.

Badges can more easily get round colourblindness by having space for shapes.

Badges can be partly familiar, eg standard pride/awareness symbols or pictures or associated animals such as the NonBinary Bunny or the GenderFluid Deer.

III) People then might wear multiple badges at once. So an effective system is needed e.g. to change outfits or to access badges a Fluid person wishes to change. This includes the possibility of combining this and 360 visibility badging.

This can be dealt with by wearing the badges on something like a scarf, shawl or a bandolier, which is detachable so as to "reconfigure" rear-vision badges.

Indeed, it's possible to make "door in/out sign" loops that stay rigidly in position but can be twisted from "Green he/him" to "Red She/Her No Contact" in a second or less per loop needing twisting. We'll eventually attach a basic plan of some such devices, and then photos of our 'build the most reliable such devices' activity *here* :)

One can assemble always-declared badges on one side of one's shawl and the others elsewhere.

One's pre-assembled scarf is then plain on one side and a long line of switch loops on the other side.

One can have 'badge blockers' for when badges don't apply. E.g. putting blank labels over them is currently being tested to see how hardly badges are to repeated use of this.

IV) Each partition of a Meeting or Convention might then contain posters of the enlarged Communication Badge dictionary in use there.

V) Along with very strong very highly tested rules for defaults about no contact or conversation with people of unknown or uncertainly-determined badge status.

[Our Allies can play 'try to find new ways this goes wrong' in the absence of our Survivors etc. Really avoiding mess-ups involves trying to generate as many as possible in harmless analogue situations off-site, as well as having a firm policy to avoid mess-ups arising due to deliberate actions of bullies at the actual events.]

Note: the dictionary presented so far (Red, Yellow, Green, A to G, Cake Badge, Team Headband, Ball of Socks!) is already capable of forming far more complex phrases than its individual words.

E.g. "You may only approach me with icebreakers that aren't surprises" (F G) or "you may only cake me if I'm not in a corner, and I still won't initiate conversation" (CakeFaerie Black Square on Red C).

H) A further suggestion then is to wear a number that your conversation circle size can't exceed.

This corresponds to having a personalized Fission rule, which acts quite quickly if not instantaneously. The conversation would split if someone notices it contains a person whose conversation size number is exceeded by the number of people in the conversation.

J) Another suggestion are "Don't Split Us" Badges, by which e.g. a couple can't get separated by the movement of people or fissions.

Of course, these are also useful to ensure that a person and their Ally aren't split up.

Having these in the system also permits a person who has to leave immediately to take their Ally with them.

The finger system for this could be leaving with two fingers in the air, accompanied by the second Blue Rose Badge person. The organizer would then know not to block the latter from exiting. An alternative system is that the finger in the air person points specifically at who's to leave with them. (This version doesn't give away who the Ally is in the event of there not having to be any exits).

PRINCIPLES OF BADGE COMMUNICATION SYSTEMS

Principle 1) Visibility. Large enough badges, worn high up enough, possibly 360 visible by multiple copies.

Wearing them in one's hat maximizes how high up they are. High up, less people and props are between the badges and other people.

Principle 2) Distinguishability. Each badge must be very different from the others. This is to include partially-sighted, colourblind, and, if applicable to the venue, poor lighting. E.g. a venue with unlit audiences might have glow-in-the-dark badges or be very peppered indeed with glowstick supplies.

Principle 3) Memorability. Badges must either be few or say what they are.

Principle 4) Lightning-Fast Rearrangeability. For Fluid people, SAx-Fluid or otherwise.

Principle 5) Unflappability. That the badges don't rearrange themselves.

Principle 6) No bullies or pranksters on the premises. I.e. no tampering with people's badges or taking badges away from someone.

Principle 7) Presence of trained organizers. They know the badges, handle problems caused by anyone who doesn't, and impede the venue from being taken over by bullies or marred by pranksters.