# IOI Slack onboarding process for external members

Last updated: 2023-03-22
URL for this page: https://hackmd.io/@investinopen/slack-external-onboarding
URL for this site: https://hackmd.io/@investinopen/how-we-work

## What is this?
An internal process for IOI staff to process external requests (not IOI staff/contractors) to be added to IOI's [Slack](https://hackmd.io/@investinopen/tools-we-use#Slack).

IOI staff/contractors onboarding to Slack follows a separate process (coming soon!).

*Status: In action!*

## Background: What is the IOI Slack space?
The IOI Slack space is a community space for anyone interested in open infrastructure in research and scholarship. Members can use this space to exchange ideas, and share updates and relevant opportunities. This is also the Slack space used by IOI staff (a fully remote team) to communicate and work with each other, as well as to share our work with and invite feedback from the broader community.

Members of the Slack space are currently mostly organizers and participants of the [Joint Roadmap for Open Science Tools (JROST) convening](https://investinopen.org/community/jrost-2020-conference/) in 2020. During JROST2020, the Slack space was intensively used to allow online conference participants to engage in the event activities and connect with one another. After JROST2020, the Slack space was kept as a place for the event community to stay in touch and continue to share relevant updates.

As IOI grew as an organization, we needed a way to communicate within the team, and we started setting up private channels in the Slack space for this purpose.

Current public Slack Channels:
- `#general`: Open conversations about open infrastructure and related topics
- `#introductions`: For new individuals to introduce themselves to those in the IOI Slack
- `#jobs-and-opportunities`: To announce employment opportunities in the space
- `#events-and-conferences`: To announce events related to open science, scholarship, libraries, and other related topics
- (various private channels used by IOI staff to communicate and organize work)

IOI staff currently maintains and manages this Slack space. We strive to keep all IOI-managed spaces, online and offline, safe, welcoming and professional for our community - everyone who chooses to join the Slack space has to agree to our [Code of Conduct](https://investinopen.org/code-of-conduct/).

See [roadmap](##Roadmap) for information on our plans to grow this space.

## Who can join the Slack space, and how?
Anyone interested in open research & scholarship infrastructure, open science, and related topics can join.

They should email info [at] investinopen [dot] org to request an invitation.

## Who should use this process?
- IOI staff member and Slack admins who have received a request for an invitation to join Slack

## Process
- Confirm with the individual that they agree to abide by IOI's Code of Conduct in engagements in the Slack space. You can use/adapt this message:

>Thanks for your interest in joining our Slack! I'm happy to send you an invite. If you could please read through our [Code of Conduct](https://investinopen.org/code-of-conduct/) and let me know that you agree to abide by it, I will then send the invitation. This helps keep our Slack space safe and welcoming for everyone!

- Upon receiving confirmation, share the email address of the person to be invited to Emmy, and she will send the invitation.

- When the individual joins the Slack space, they would automatically receive the following welcome message from the Slack bot:
> Welcome to the Invest in Open Infrastructure (IOI) Slack space! Here, you can connect with others interested in learning more about and advocating for open research and scholarship infrastructure, and read about and share relevant updates, events and opportunities.
>
> A brief guide to our public channels:
> - #general: Open conversations about open infrastructure and related topics
> - #introductions: For new individuals to introduce themselves to those in the IOI Slack - please say hi! :wave:
> - #jobs-and-opportunities: To announce employment opportunities in the space
> - #events-and-conferences: To announce events related to open science, scholarship, libraries, and other related topics
>
> This space is constantly growing and changing - we'd love to learn from your ideas and thoughts :bulb: If you have any questions and comments, please don't hesitate to reach out to Emmy (@Emmy Tsang here), IOI's Engagement Lead. She'd love to hear from you!

## Roadmap
We are continuously working to understand our stakeholders and partners: who they are, what are their needs and concerns, and which groups are missing from these conversations.

We plan to use this understanding plan and update our Slack space, looking at who else to specifically invite, what community content to capture and amplify and test out fostering discussions and collaborations using this space.

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## See also
* Archived copy of this page (via the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine): https://web.archive.org/web/*/https://hackmd.io/@investinopen/slack-external-onboarding

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This page first published: 2022-04-04

###### tags: `process`

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