# Tools + venues we use

Last updated: 2025-09-16
URL for this page: https://hackmd.io/@investinopen/tools-we-use
URL for this site: https://hackmd.io/@investinopen/how-we-work

---

We've chosen a variety of tools for working individually and for collaborating with team members on shared projects. We rely on these tools and venues to do our work efficiently and productively. The list will continue to evolve, particularly as we grow as an organization and as we focus on new research challenges.

We are especially committed to choosing tools and venues that reflect our values as an organization. Our choices are always subject to review.

(For most of the tools listed here, we've included a link to the multilingual public knowledge base [Wikidata](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Wikidata:Main_Page) in order to provide basic facts, identifiers, and other contextualizing info).

---
## A-Z list of tools

* **1Password** - For password management. We use 1Password's team function to share logins with different teams and workgroups and personal vaults for other sharing. [(?) basics via Wikidata](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q2150861)[color=#F4F4C0] + [instructional documentation](https://support.1password.com/)

* **Airtable** - For database and spreadsheet organization and functionality. [(?) basics via Wikidata](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q23016614)[color=#F4F4C0]

* **Asana** - For coordinating tasks, projects, and strategic priorities within teams and across the organization. See our [Asana guide](https://hackmd.io/@investinopen/asana) for links to instructional documentation. Adopted 2023-05. [(?) basics via Wikidata](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q4468073)[color=#F4F4C0]

* **Bluesky** - An open social network for posting news and updates. @bsky.app‬

* **Branding with Type** - For font use licences.

* **Buffer** - For scheduling posts from our social media accounts. [(?) basics via Wikidata](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q15633715)[color=#F4F4C0]

* **Calendly** - For scheduling meetings. [(?) basics via Wikidata](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q111946817)[color=#F4F4C0]

* **Chronicle of Philanthropy** - For information and resources in the nonprofit space. [(?) basics via Wikidata](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7722802)[color=#F4F4C0]

* **CiviCRM** - For contact and relationship management, event management (e.g. registrations), and mass mailing. [(?) basics via Wikidata](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q142028)[color=#F4F4C0] + [instructional documentation](https://docs.civicrm.org/user)

* **Dataverse** - For storing data sets: https://dataverse.harvard.edu/dataverse/IOI. [(?) basics via Wikidata](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q55082981)
[color=#F4F4C0] + [instructional documentation](https://guides.dataverse.org/en/5.13/user/dataset-management.html)

* **DigitalOcean** - Used to build Infra Finder. [(?) basics via Wikidata](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q17052116)[color=#F4F4C0]

* **DOI** - Some IOI research outputs are assigned digital object identifiers. [(?) basics via Wikidata](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q25670)[color=#F4F4C0]

* **Fivver** - Online marketplace for freelance services.

* **Ghost CMS** - Our website is hosted on Ghost. We use this for new pages, job ads, posts, and the like. [(?) basics via Wikidata](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q16251204)[color=#F4F4C0]

* **GitHub** - For versioning and hosting our open source projects. URL: https://github.com/investinopen. [(?) basics via Wikidata](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q364)[color=#F4F4C0]

* **HackMD** - For publicly visible documentation. URL: https://hackmd.io/@investinopen. [(?) basics via Wikidata](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q69861075)[color=#F4F4C0] + [tutorial](https://hackmd.io/c/tutorials)

* **Jotform** - For research form and survey creation. [(?) basics via Wikidata](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q24959818)[color=#F4F4C0]

* **LinkedIn** - For disseminating news. URL for IOI's company page: https://www.linkedin.com/company/69534884/.

* **Lucidchart** - Used for flowcharts and diagram creation. [(?) basics via Wikidata](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q3265224)

* **Mastodon** - For disseminating IOI-related news, we have an account on the Mastodon instance indieweb.social: https://indieweb.social/@investinopen. [(?) basics via Wikidata](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q27986619)[color=#F4F4C0]

* **MastoFeed** - Tool for sharing RSS feeds to Mastodon. [Tool site](https://mastofeed.org/)[color=#F4F4C0]

* **Matomo** - For new webiste anlytics. [(?) basics via Wikidata](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q34162) [color=#F4F4C0]

* **Moa Bridge** - For connecting and crossposting IOI's Mastodon and Twitter (@investinopen) accounts. [Tool site](https://moa.party/)[color=#F4F4C0]

* **Mural** - For whiteboarding. [(?) basics via Wikidata](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q113449543)[color=#F4F4C0]

* **Namecheap** - For registering and managing the investinopen.org domain name. [(?) basics via Wikidata](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q6544704)[color=#F4F4C0]

* **Open Grants** - We share many of IOI's grant proposals via Zenodo. We then add the Zenodo link to the Open Grants website: https://www.ogrants.org/. [(?) basics via Wikidata](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q109929664)[color=#F4F4C0]

* **Popupsmart** - Lead generation software; popup builder

* **Rebrandly** - Tool for shortening and rebranding URL addresses.

* **Ruby on Rails** - Used to build Infra Finder. [(?) basics via Wikidata](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q190478)[color=#F4F4C0]

* **Signal** - For calls / texts / video chats 1:1. (Slack + email preferred). [(?) basics via Wikidata](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q19718090)[color=#F4F4C0]

* **Slack** - We use this as our group chat tool and always-on back channel.
* Public IOI Slack channels:
- #**events-and-conferences**: To announce events related to open science, scholarship, libraries, and other related topics.
- #**general**: Open conversation about 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.

* See also: [IOI Slack onboarding process for external members](https://hackmd.io/@investinopen/slack-external-onboarding). URL: http://investinopen.slack.com. [(?) basics via Wikidata](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q17130715)[color=#F4F4C0] + [instructional documentation](https://slack.com/help)

* **Stacker** - For hiring, recruitment.

* **Sync** - For encrypted data storage of sensitive research data and/or big files (interviews, videos). See also: [IOI privacy guideline for research data](https://hackmd.io/@investinopen/standards#Research-data). [(?) basics via Wikidata](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q93748315)[color=#F4F4C0] + [instructional documentation](https://www.sync.com/help/).

* **Twilio SendGrid** - Cloud-based email delivery service [(?) basics via Wikidata](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q16961710)[color=#F4F4C0]

* **Wayback Machine** - For preserving web content. [(?) basics via Wikidata](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q648266)[color=#F4F4C0] + [instructional documentation](https://help.archive.org/help/category/the-wayback-machine/)

* **Wikidata** - For publicly recording basic facts on subjects we study. [(?) basics via Wikidata](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q2013)[color=#F4F4C0] + [instructional documentation](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Help:Contents)

* **Wikimedia Commons** - A repository of publicly useful images and other media. [(?) basics via Wikidata](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q565)[color=#F4F4C0]

* **YouTube** - For posting video content (webinars, calls, conference sessions). Includes options for public or semi-public visibility. See also IOI's [video sharing procedures](https://hackmd.io/@investinopen/video). URLs:
https://www.youtube.com/@InvestInOpen. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCegwdeQCanqiMoZTsp4__2g. [(?) basics via Wikidata](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q866)[color=#F4F4C0]

* **Zenodo** - For publicly sharing research outputs. See also: IOI's [guide to Zenodo](https://hackmd.io/@investinopen/zenodo). URL: https://zenodo.org/communities/investinopen. [(?) basics via Wikidata](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q22661177)[color=#F4F4C0]

* **Zotero** - For managing bibliographic citations, especially anything we might potentially cite in our research (as in a working paper or case study).(https://www.zotero.org/support/groups#public_closed_membership) group members. See also: IOI's [Zotero guide](https://hackmd.io/@investinopen/zotero) + IOI's [citation style](https://hackmd.io/@investinopen/standards#Citation-style). URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/4377072/invest_in_open. [(?) basics via Wikidata](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q226915)[color=#F4F4C0] + [instructional documentation](https://www.zotero.org/support/start)

---
## Infrequently used tools + venues

The list below includes tools and venues we use from time to time.

* **Dimensions** - Database and research platform. [(?) basics via Wikidata](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q95044734)

* **DOI citation formatter** - Maintained by CrossRef: citation.crosscite.org.

* **Jupyter Notebook** - For reproducing code work. [(?) basics via Wikidata](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q105099901)[color=#F4F4C0]

* **Microsoft Excel** - For preparing and analyzing data. [(?) basics via Wikidata](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q11272)

* **Figma** - For creating graphics. [(?) basics via Wikidata](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q96186334)

* **Mentimeter** - [(?) basics via Wikidata](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q110921129)

* **Tenzing** - We aspire to use [Tenzing](https://rollercoaster.shinyapps.io/tenzing/) for coordinating CRediT (classification scheme for contributior roles in scholarly authorship) information in some projects.

* **Unsplash** - We sometimes reproduce openly licensed images from the Unsplash website. [(?) basics via Wikidata](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q28233552)[color=#F4F4C0]

---

## Formerly used tools + venues

* **Amazon Web Services** - For database hosting of our previous Catalog of Open Infrastructure Services (COIs). [(?) basics via Wikidata](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q456157)[color=#F4F4C0]

* **Cobudget** - For participatory budgeting. [(?) basics via Wikidata](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q115010482)

* **Django** - Used to build our previous Catalog of Open Infrastructure Services (COIs). [(?) basics via Wikidata](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q842014)[color=#F4F4C0]

* **Dropbox and Dropbox DocSend** - For secure file sharing. [(?) basics via Wikidata](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q142539)[color=#F4F4C0]

* **Expensify** - Formerly used for managing some business expenses. Closed in 2022. [(?) basics via Wikidata](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q21178592) + [instructional documentation](https://community.expensify.com/categories/expensify-classroom)

* **Feedly** - For compliling relevant news. [(?) basics via Wikidata](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5441251)[color=#F4F4C0]

* **Humanities Commons** - For sharing information and research outputs. Previous URL: https://investinopen.hcommons.org/. [(?) basics via Wikidata](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q28123024)

* **IFTTT** - Used breifly to explore potential app integrations. [(?) basics via Wikidata](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5970871)

* **Jumpshare** - For video messaging. [(?) basics via Wikidata](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q22095636) [color=#F4F4C0] + [instructional documentation](https://support.jumpshare.com/)

* **Mailchimp** - Used until 2022 for managing group email lists. [(?) basics via Wikidata](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q6735673)

* **Notion** - [(?) basics via Wikidata](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q60747998)

* **Mosaico** - For creating email templates. [(?) basics via Wikidata](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q114457596)[color=#F4F4C0]

* **Otter.ai** - Until 2023-08-16, we used Otter to transcribe team meetings. [(?) basics via Wikidata](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q65172862)

* **Plausible** - Until 2024-1-29, we used Plausible for web analytics. [(?) basics via Wikidata](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q105731934)[color=#F4F4C0]

* **TagTeam** - A social tagging platform for news, commentary, events, announcements, etc. that helped us and IOI's public stay abreast of developments in the open infrastructure ecosystem. No longer a maintained project, the TagTeam-based Open Infrastructure Tracking Project (OITP) aimed to increase the visibility of open infrastructure efforts across the scholarly research landscape, and tracked their progress over time. See our previous OITP [documentation](https://hackmd.io/@investinopen/oitp). URL: http://tagteam.harvard.edu/hubs/investinopen/ [(?) basics via Wikidata](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q50242902)[color=#F4F4C0]

* **Tito** - Event ticketing (when appropriate, used for JROST 2020).

* **Trello** - Until 2023-05, we used Trello for task tracking and project management. [(?) basics via Wikidata](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7838011) + [Getting started guide](https://trello.com/guide)

* **Twitter** - For disseminating news. URL for news from IOI: https://twitter.com/InvestInOpen. URL for Open Infrastructure Tracking Project: https://twitter.com/oitp_ioi. [(?) basics via Wikidata](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q918)[color=#F4F4C0]

* **Qualtrics** - Until 2022-3-24, we infrequently used Qualtrics free version for surveys.

---

## Fiscal sponsor tools + venues
IOI may use tools administered by our fiscal sponsor, CS&S. The following list includes some of these tools.

* **Google Cloud** - Data hosting and processing engine. [(?) basics via Wikidata](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q17054505)[color=#F4F4C0]

* **Google Workspace** - We use Google apps for a variety of work processes. [(?) basics via Wikidata](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q509284)[color=#F4F4C0] + [instructional documentation](https://support.google.com/a/users/#topic=11499463)

* **Greenhouse** - For hiring, recruitment. [Tool site](https://www.greenhouse.com/)[color=#F4F4C0]

* **Ramp** - For processing expenses. See Ramp's [instructions on submitting expenses](https://support.ramp.com/hc/en-us/articles/4417618448403-Submitting-Reimbursements) and CS&S's [Ramp User Guide](https://www.codeforsociety.org/resources/ramp-credit-card-user-guide). [Website](https://ramp.com/)[color=#F4F4C0]

* **Zoom** - This is our main video chat client for individual and group meetings (Google Hangouts is also available). See also: IOI's [Public session organising process](https://hackmd.io/@investinopen/public-session-organizing). [(?) basics via Wikidata](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q94979732)[color=#F4F4C0]

---
## Other lists of tools

### Assorted other lists
* Foundation for Public Code's [Tool management and guidance](https://about.publiccode.net/activities/tool-management/)
* IIIF’s [list of tools](https://github.com/IIIF/awesome-iiif/)

### Wikidata queries
* List of [bibliographic management software](https://w.wiki/4zi$), via Wikidata
* List of [collaborative real-time editors](https://w.wiki/4$ks), via Wikidata
* List of [customer relationship management (CRM) software](https://w.wiki/4zp5), via Wikidata. See also Wikipedia's [Comparison of CRM systems](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_CRM_systems)
* List of [distributed social networks](https://w.wiki/572t), via Wikidata
* List of [domain name registrars](https://w.wiki/59Xq), via Wikidata
* List of [email systems](https://w.wiki/4zj3) and [mailbox providers](https://w.wiki/4zj4), via Wikidata
* List of [file hosting services](https://w.wiki/59YA), via Wikidata
* List of [image hosting services](https://w.wiki/5jA8), via Wikidata
* List of [instant messaging clients](https://w.wiki/4zj6), via Wikidata
* List of [knowledge management software](https://w.wiki/57iC), via Wikidata
* List of [machine translation software](https://w.wiki/4zjD), via Wikidata
* List of [news aggregators](https://w.wiki/6pyq), via Wikidata
* List of [office suites](https://w.wiki/4zjB), via Wikidata
* List of [password managers](https://w.wiki/4zjA), via Wikidata
* List of [presentation software](https://w.wiki/4zjU), via Wikidata
* List of [productivity software](https://w.wiki/4zjS), via Wikidata
* List of [project management software](https://w.wiki/4zjW), via Wikidata
* List of [server software](https://w.wiki/4zjG), via Wikidata
* List of [social cataloging applications](https://w.wiki/4zjH), via Wikidata
* List of [social networking services](https://w.wiki/4zjF), via Wikidata
* List of [spreadsheets](https://w.wiki/4zjK), via Wikidata
* List of [video-conferencing software](https://w.wiki/4zjL), via Wikidata
* List of [video hosting sites](https://w.wiki/4zjM), via Wikidata
* List of [web browsers](https://w.wiki/4zjJ), via Wikidata

---
## See also
* IOI's [Standards + best practices we use](https://hackmd.io/@investinopen/standards)
* Archived copy of this page (via the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine): https://web.archive.org/web/*/https://hackmd.io/@investinopen/tools-we-use

---
This page first published: 2022-02-02

###### tags: `about-us` `tools`

---
<a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"><img alt="Creative Commons License" style="border-width:0" src="https://i.creativecommons.org/l/by/4.0/88x31.png" /></a><br />This work is made available under a <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License</a>. Users are free to share, remix, and adapt this work. (Please attribute [Invest in Open Infrastructure](https://investinopen.org/) in any derivative work).