Using the Course Slack

13 Nov 2015

Use the course slack to share ideas, post open challenges or items that need exploration, share prior projects and discuss next steps.

The course is self-motivated, collaborative and interdisciplinary. We’re going to generate a lot of ideas and run into challenges (technical and otherwise) that will be important to capture, share and discuss.

The course slack is a really important component of this and has been set up to give everyone involved have a way to easily connect and communicate. We’re hoping it’s going to be a great resource for everyone in the class, but we also want to make sure it’s friendly and respectful at all times and make sure folks feel comfortable and supported. With those goals in mind we’ve developed a Code of Conduct for everyone using this Slack.

Suggested uses

Use the course Slack to:

• Share interesting projects and related work you discover in your research
• Post research, resources, tools, data, etc. that might be useful
• Pose questions or challenges that need to be solved as part of the course
• Discuss ideas presented in class
• Brainstorm possible directions or new ideas
• Find help with your projects
• Organize pop-up meetups
• Ask questions

Course Slack Guidelines (NOTE: All credit to the Ember Community Slack Guidelines used to build these guidelines)

The course Slack has been set up to help everyone involved have a way to connect and communicate. We’re hoping it’s going to be a great resource for everyone in the program, but we also want to make sure it’s friendly and respectful at all times and make sure folks feel comfortable and supported. With those goals in mind we’ve developed a Code of Conduct for everyone using this Slack.

Chatting on Channels

We encourage you to talk with other folks in the course through Slack - but you don’t have to use it - and it’s a great way to share resources, discuss and brainstorm together. It’s a really place for all of the students in the studio to find each other and each other’s work. To help with this, we’ve created some channels and integrations:

• #discoveries - a channel to quickly share small-scale discoveries you’ve made like code snippets or libraries

• #readings - want to share thoughts or questions about the readings or perhaps add another to the mix?

• #projects - discuss projects and assignments for the course.

• #share - share links, papers or articles you find that might be interesting to the group.

• #help - want to find some help? brainstorm a problem? find a collaborator? ask the group. Or if you’ve got open questions which need to be addressed?

There are a few channel in case you want to share or discuss stuff related to other stuff, and new channels can be created on request.

Creating New Channels

New channels can be requested by contacting one of the team admins or owners with the proposed name and topic description. Generally, new channels are only created once a critical mass exists around the topic has been established. Some short term initiatives such as events like open houses, etc., may also warrant a unique channel while relevant. We’ll account for those and lean on the voice of the community to judge their need.

@everyone, @channel, or @group

We have the #general channel if you want to share something big with the whole course community. Team Owners and Admins can distribute notifications via @everyone, @channel, or @group. In any case, be respectful of the many people who will receive notifications (often to mobile devices), and especially if it’s late at night.

Communicating through Slack (NOTE: Adapted from https://docs.puppetlabs.com/community/community_guidelines.html )

We want to keep the course slack community awesome, and we need your help to keep it that way. While we have specific guidelines for various tools (see links below), in general, you should:

• Be nice: Be courteous, respectful and polite to fellow community members. No offensive comments related to gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, disability, physical appearance, body size, race, religion; no sexual images in public spaces, real or implied violence, intimidation, oppression, stalking, following, harassing photography or recording, sustained disruption of talks or other events, inappropriate physical contact, or unwelcome sexual attention will be tolerated. We like nice people way better than mean ones!

• Encourage diversity and participation: Make everyone in our community feel welcome, regardless of their background, and do everything possible to encourage participation in our community.

• Keep it legal: Basically, don’t get us in trouble. Share only content that you own, do not share private, or sensitive information, and don’t break the law.

• Stay on topic: Make sure that you are posting to the correct online channel and avoid off-topic discussions. Also remember that nobody likes spam.

See the more detailed code of conduct below.

Code of Conduct

This policy is a “living” document, and subject to refinement and expansion in the future. This is based on the Front-end London Slack’s Code of Conduct, that nicely explains some common guidelines for Slack Communities

The Course Community should be a safe place for everybody regardless of gender, gender identity or gender expressio, sexual orientation, disability, physical appearance (including but not limited to body size), race, age, religion.

As someone who is part of this Slack, you agree that: We are collectively and individually committed to safety and inclusivity; We have zero tolerance for abuse, harassment, or discrimination; We respect people’s boundaries and identities; We refrain from using language that can be considered oppressive (systemically or otherwise), eg. sexist, racist, homophobic, transphobic, ableist, classist, etc. - this includes (but is not limited to) various slurs; We avoid using offensive topics as a form of humor.

We actively work towards: Being a safe community; Cultivating a network of support & encouragement for each other; Encouraging responsible and varied forms of expression

We condemn: Threats of harm; Harassment of any form; Anything that compromises people’s safety; etc.

These things are NOT OK.

If you say something that is found offensive, and you are called out on it, let’s:

• Listen without interruption.

• Believe what the person is saying & do not attempt to disqualify what they have to say.

• Ask for tips / help with avoiding making the offense in the future.

• Apologize and ask forgiveness.

Failing to follow the community guidelines as described in this document carries consequences. Admins reserve the right to suspend any account if we receive a complaint(s).

If you experience abuse, harassment, discrimination, or feel unsafe, let a moderator know. Here is a list of the current moderators and their Slack IDs:

• David Hoysan - @dhoysan
• Jakob Marsico - @jmarsico

The role of the moderators is to be an unbiased mediator, they will not moderate or edit anything written in the Slack unless it is required as a result of a discussed dispute.