Slack is Weecology’s internal communication system. Think of it as an email/texting hybrid. It plays a vital role in our group by keeping team members informed of each other’s activities, allowing weecologists to see what other groups are doing, and to leverage our breadth of knowledge and expertise to help each other. Information on specifics of how to use Slack can be found by reading Slack 101 to learn slack basics.
For Weecology specific information and Slack etiquette tips, read on!
- Slack is official communication. This means it is subject to both the Lab Code of Conduct and the State of Florida Sunshine Laws. Fun things can still happen on here (like the Hao-needs-a-dog channel), just remember that this is still offically Weecology space, just like being physically in the lab.
- You may join any Weecology channel even if you are not part of that group. Want to know a little more about what the forecasting group is doing? Or Everglades? It is 100% fine to subscribe and listen in.
- Maybe don’t subscribe to all of them, though. Information overload can make it hard to winnow signal from noise. Even Ethan and Morgan don’t subscribe to all the channels.
- You can direct message (DM) anyone in the lab if you have things to chat with that are only relevant to that person. You don’t need to do all communication through a channel. DM’ing can especially be a good way to contact Ethan and Morgan, to circumvent their full email inboxes.
- If someone posts something in slack that you want to discuss further, use the reply function. 14 back and forths about how cute a rodent is (which is totally an ok discussion to have!) can clutter a channel but the reply function lets you have that discussion, tied directly to that cute pic, while not cluttering the main flow of discussion.
- If you mistakenly forget to reply and send something that should have been a reply more broadly, it’s ok. No one will get mad. These are just guidelines.
- Using mentions (@NAME) is a good way to let people know that something is being discussed that requires their attention. For example: “I’m still waiting for feedback from @morgan”).