Solidarity for Workers during the COVID-19 Pandemic

# Solidarity for Workers during the COVID-19 Pandemic Like others in the Great Lakes region and Toronto, we've been closely monitoring the Novel Coronavirus 2019 situation via [Toronto Public Health](https://www.toronto.ca/community-people/health-wellness-care/diseases-medications-vaccines/coronavirus/) and [Ontario Ministry of Health](https://www.ontario.ca/page/2019-novel-coronavirus). With the pace the situation has evolved since the World Health Organization [declared COVID-19 a pandemic](https://www.who.int/dg/speeches/detail/who-director-general-s-opening-remarks-at-the-media-briefing-on-covid-19---11-march-2020) on March 11, we can assume that things will continue to change rapidly in the weeks ahead. As a remote-first worker co-operative, Hypha has been discussing how to navigate this situation both internally, as member-owners, and externally, as community members, when expressions of solidarity and mutual aid more needed than ever. We're currently heeding the advice from public health officials and medical professionals on [social distancing](https://hub.jhu.edu/2020/03/13/what-is-social-distancing/) and [self-isolation](https://www.canada.ca/en/public-health/services/diseases/2019-novel-coronavirus-infection/being-prepared.html). However that doesn't substantially prepare us to approach this pandemic at the community level. As an initial gesture, however small, we've prepared this guide with offers of help to share our experience working remotely for those of you transitioning to remote work. We recognize this doesn't address the broader concerns about whose work can transition to remote, what economic insecurity many Canadian workers are facing, or how service and gig workers are now being forced to move into front line health positions on top of their existing responsibilities. In the coming weeks we look forward to thinking and acting together to address these and other pressing issues more fully. ``` Announcement/message to mutual aid/solidarity in Toronto ``` ## How Hypha Can Help We're doing the following to assist members of our community at no charge. ### "Crash course on working remote" - Open office hours Anyone can join us on Thursdays @ 11:30-12:30 ET for the next three weeks to discuss collective solutions to challenges that arise when working remotely: - March 20 - March 26 - April 2 ``` Make ical entries <-- can take code from ournetworks for this ``` ### Answer questions about remote work - 30 min 1-on-1s We are offering free 30 minute 1-on-1s to help strategize/address specific questions you have on transitioning to remote, just email us at hello@hypha.coop to set up a time. ### Use of our hosted videoconferencing infrastructure - Jitsi See below for our descriptions of how we use [video conferencing](#) software. Anyone is welcome to host a call on our Toronto-hosted [Jitsi instance](https://jitsi.hypha.coop/): [https://jitsi.hypha.coop/](https://jitsi.hypha.coop/). All you need to do to use it is: 1. Visit [https://jitsi.hypha.coop/](https://jitsi.hypha.coop/) in your browser 2. Type any name for a room (this will become part of the URL), or use the suggested one, and press "GO" 3. Have your meeting! ### "#COVID19Toronto Remote" - WhatsApp group We are hosting a WhatsApp discussion group "#COVID19Toronto Remote" for anyone working remotely (perhaps for the first time) to ask questions and share tips they've found. You can join using the following link: https://chat.whatsapp.com/KMZcdNhK00lJcm5JOGnf4q ## Working Remote in a "Virtual Office" Over time we have developed a number of practices to help our members collaborate effectively online. We are sharing our practices and tools here with the hope that people may find this resource useful as they consider how to work from home during the current pandemic. ### Culture and Practices We have found that having a single knowledge base for members to reference smooths coordination. Our [Hypha Organizational Handbook](https://handbook.hypha.coop/) describes how members get situated in our ["virtual office"](https://handbook.hypha.coop/onboarding.html) and the vision, processes, and culture of our cooperative. Our handbook also documents objectives for each of the working groups within our organization. For day-to-day issue tracking and making sure we're making progress on our action items, we use a [GitHub task board](https://link.hypha.coop/tasks) (bascially a [Kanban board](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kanban_board) with different columns to track the status of tasks). We use the same task template across all our issues which looks like this: ``` Task Summary 🎟️ Re-ticketed from: # 🗣 Loomio: [Loomio Link] 📅 Due date: Wed, Mar 18 🎯 Success criteria: Develop hypha action plan for response to COVID-19 Details of the task TODOs for members ``` We have weekly meetings that all members attend. Having an established meeting template and knowing who is "cultivating" (i.e. chairing) and notetaking before the meeting begins, makes our time together a lot more efficient. [This is one of the meeting templates we use](https://github.com/hyphacoop/organizing/blob/master/-meeting-template.md) and you can find [our archived meeting notes here](https://meetings.hypha.coop). Working remote means that we lose some of the organic conversations that happen in a workplace. We usually start our team meetings with "personal check-ins" to make space for conversations that aren't strictly work related. The cultivator comes with a discussion prompt to start the personal check-ins. Some we have used in the past include "What was your first email address" and "What is your first memory of the internet". Establishing a virtual office may require us to sign up to new digital services, which means we will be relying on more providers for our day-to-day operations. Don't forget to keep a [Services Inventory](https://link.hypha.coop/inventory) to keep track of what services exist, what they are used for, and who has access to each. We also draw inspiration from other individuals and collectives: - Karissa McKelvey shares some of her tips for working at home in [this thread](https://twitter.com/okdistribute/status/1238532496779653120) ``` embed tweet: <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">After working from home for the past 6 years, some basics I'd recommend if it's your first time... <br><br>1/Don't work at the kitchen table or at the couch. Get a desk that's ergonomic and put it somewhere not in your bedroom (sorry roomies, the living room is now also an office!)</p>— Karissa McKelvey (@okdistribute) <a href="https://twitter.com/okdistribute/status/1238532496779653120?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 13, 2020</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> ``` - [18F’s best practices for making distributed teams work](https://18f.gsa.gov/2015/10/15/best-practices-for-distributed-teams/) - [Patterns for decentralized organizing](https://www.thehum.org/patterns) captures collaborative practices curated from a number of decentralized teams ### Software and Tools While deciding what software and tools to use, we have had to ask questions around privacy, lock-in, user experience, and demands on our time. We have highlighted some of our tool choices below. We host and manage some tools ourselves, these are marked with the 🍄 emoji below. #### Videoconferencing Videoconferencing software that is reliable and offers high quality audio and video (such as Zoom), is also often expensive and has a worse track record on privacy issues. Hypha uses Jitsi, which is a free and open source software for most of our videoconferencing needs. We host our own instance to ensure that it has enough bandwidth to support our day to day use. Jitsi works in the browser and also allows attendees to dial in, making it convenient for use while travelling. | Tools we've tried | Cost | Ease of use | Remarks and concerns | | -------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | --- | | [Jitsi](https://meet.jit.si/) 🍄 | Free | Runs in the browser without needing to download another app. Hypha hosts our own Jitsi server. | Audio and video quality is inferior to Zoom. Browser-based client can present connection issues, particularly if using Firefox. | | [Zoom](https://zoom.com) | Free for 1-1 meetings or 40 min group calls | If reliability and high audio/video quality are your top concerns, Zoom is a great choice. It requires downloading an app but the process works well. Audio and video quality is high. | According to their [privacy policy](https://zoom.us/privacy), Zoom collects personal data including for advertisement purposes. Data is typically stored in the US. Zoom has a poor record of handling customer [privacy and security concerns](https://qz.com/work/1666535/cloudflare-turned-outage-into-teaching-point-about-transparency/). | | [Whereby](https://whereby.com) | Free for personal use, but has room size limits | Runs in the browser and is easy to use. | In small meeting mode Whereby's communications work "peer to peer" and doesn't pass through their servers. | | [BigBlueButton](https://bigbluebutton.org/) 🍄 | Free | Runs in the browser. Users can upload presentations to present. Collaborative tools like whiteboards, laser pointer, participant emoji/mood. | Browser-based client can present connectivity issues. No official public servers. | Other popular videoconferencing tools: - [Skype](https://www.skype.com/en/) - [Google Hangouts](https://hangouts.google.com/) Other helpful links: * [A cheatsheet for giving presentations on Zoom](https://twitter.com/dannagal/status/1237474786844041217) courtesy [Dr. Danna Young](https://twitter.com/dannagal) #### Notetaking and Wordprocessing For meeting notes and jotting down quick ideas collaboratively we use [HackMD](https://hackmd.io) as a lightweight text editor in the browser. If you choose to use HackMD (or etherpad), make sure you're aware of who has [permissions to read and write to the pad](https://hackmd.io/c/tutorials/%2Fs%2Finvite). By default HackMD pads are unlisted but not private, i.e. they are publicly viewable if the URL is known. | Tools we've tried | Cost | Ease of use | Remarks and concerns | | ------------------------------ | ------------------------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |-----| | [HackMD](https://hackmd.io) | Free | Great if you want a simple browser based note taking tool with support for [Markdown](https://www.markdownguide.org/cheat-sheet/). Works well with a working open philosophy. | Some familiarity with Markdown. | | [Riseup Pad](https://pad.riseup.net) | Free | Similar to HackMD. Good for collaborative notetaking in the browser. | - | | [Google Docs](https://docs.google.com) | Free with a Google account | Works well for more intensive collaborative writing, copy editing, and proofing in the browser. | Unclear permission settings. Other notetaking tools: - [Roam Research](https://roamresearch.com/) for personal notes - [Notion](https://www.notion.so/) for personal notes and collaborative documents (Free plan offers 1000 block limit) #### Task Management We use GitHub's built in project management tools to track tasks since we also use GitHub for version control. If you're already using GitHub, this may be something you'd want to consider. But if you are a first time remote worker you might face a steeper learning curve with GitHub especially if you aren't familiar with version control and source management. | Tools we've tried | Cost | Ease of use | Remarks and concerns | | ------------------------------ | ------------------------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |-------| | [Trello](https://trello.com/) | Free for standard features | Very easy to use. | - | | [GitHub Projects](https://github.com/features/project-management/) | Free for public projects or small private projects | Good if you use GitHub for its other features as well, such as version management. | Owned by Microsoft. | #### Decision Making We make most of our decisions face-to-face during videoconferencing calls. But sometimes when we can't be together or the topic of discussion has many different facets to consider, we use dedicated software to help in decision making. For quick decisions, we often vote with :+1: or :-1: emojis in our chat. When the decision making process is more involved, we use Loomio which keeps discussion threads in one place and has tools for polls, voting, and proposal-driven decision making. | Tools we've tried | Cost | Ease of use | Remarks and concerns | | ------------------------------------ | ---- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | -------- | | [Loomio](https://www.loomio.org/) 🍄 | Free |Easy to use once you're familiar with all the facilitation and discussion tools. | Free software that can be self hosted. | #### Chat Chat is where most of our daily discussion happens. At times when it's heavily used it can be overwhelming to keep up with messages. It's important for us that chat tools have good notification settings so that we can configure for ourselves what messages grab our attention. Chat applications like Matrix and Slack also allow you to have different rooms or channels for keeping conversations separated by topic. | Tools we've tried | Cost | Ease of use | Remarks and concerns | | --------------------------------- | ---- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | -------- | | [Matrix](https://matrix.org) 🍄 | Free | [Riot](https://riot.im/app/#/welcome) web app for Matrix works in the browser or desktop/mobile can be downloaded. Great for large rooms with many users. | Many notifications by default, end-to-end encryption is not smooth. Messages can be federated to other servers. | | [WhatsApp](https://whatsapp.com/) | Free | Easy to use for texting and group chat. Popular in Toronto. | Owned by Facebook. Requires a working cellphone number. | | [Signal](https://signal.org/) 🍄 | Free | Secure texting for 1-1 and group chats. Privacy minded. Not as popular as WhatsApp. | Requires a working cellphone number. | | [Slack](https://slack.com) | Free (10,000 most recent messages) | Easy to use for group chats. | Limited history, file storage and "3rd party apps" on free account. | #### Scheduling Time Together Coordinating when we're all available for a meeting or an event can take up a lot of time. We've found the best way is to set regular meetingtimes from beforehand. In other instances when we have to schedule time together, we use When2Meet to find time slots where our availabilities overlap. | Tools we've tried | Cost | Ease of use | Remarks and concerns | | -------------------------------------------------- | -------------------------- | -------------------------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------- | | [Google Calendar](https://www.google.com/calendar) | Free with a Google account | Easy to use. Easy to create shared calendars. | | | [When2Meet](https://when2meet.com) 🍄 | Free | Easy to use. | Minimal interface with no third-party integrations. | | [Calendly](https://calendly.com) | Free | Easy to use with third-party integrations. | | Others scheduling tools: - [Doodle](https://doodle.com) - [Zvite](https://zvite.co) #### Storage and File Sharing Since we use Google Docs for collaborating on project proposals and other documents that require rounds of revisions, Google Drive has become a natural location for us to store our documents. | Tools we've tried | Cost | Ease of use | Remarks and concerns | | ---------------------------------------- | ---- | ----------- | -------------------------------- | | [Google Drive](https://drive.google.com) 🍄 | Free (Individual, 15GB) and paid (individual and business plans) | - | Confusing permissions structure. | | [Nextcloud](https://nextcloud.com/) | Free (Select [Providers](https://github.com/nextcloud/providers) have free Individual plans) and paid | - | Both provider and self-hosted options. | | [Box](https://www.box.com/) | Free (Individual, 10 GB) | - | | | [Dropbox](https://www.dropbox.com/) | Free (Basic, 2 GB) | - | Minimal storage for free accounts. | #### Virtual Events Members at Hypha has some experience hosting webinars, running interactive virtual sessions, and setting up livestreams for events. If this is something you want to learn more about, email us at hello@hypha.coop. Virtual event tools: - Many webinars are run using [videoconferencing](#Videoconferencing) tools discussed above - [Hopin](https://hopin.to/) ## Contributing to this Guide We welcome improvements to this guide. There are a few key ways you can help us improve our projects, read our [contributor guidelines](#) to find out how to [Submit feedback, requests, and bugs as well as code and documentation changes](#). ``` two things to add to repo: 1. Contributing.md with guidelines, would use EDGI's as guide: https://github.com/edgi-govdata-archiving/overview/blob/master/CONTRIBUTING.md 2. ISSUE TEMPLATES for two "types" of feedback. ``` --- Call notes from discussion are here https://hackmd.io/gbFjhkhnSv-pfmuwTDz-kg ## Ideas - strategy: deploy minimal version fast and continue to build over the next weeks - allow people to make additions and send resources - through github? - add a how-to contribute section - ask other coops to share any infra they want to share? we can add to this? - focus narrowly on Toronto region --- ## TODOs - here's what our data retention policy is: INFRA GROUP will provide a statement on our data retention policy - Default logs (nothing special) - Use it for trouble shooting only - Current retention is default - use mushroom emoji's DONE - concerns collumns WIP - where the data goes/retention - issue transparency report - challenges for working remote DONE folded in to practices and culture section - unified call to action - call for contributing to tools list and sharing links for best practices around working from home which we'll add to a contributions sections - "**flatten the heirarchy while flattening the curve**" slogan include somewhere perhaps? For later: - identify places to publish: - toronto: - civic tech - that nonprofit tech group net squared - Care-mongering TO: https://www.facebook.com/groups/TO.Community.Response.COVID19/ - ?? <-- seems like there should be more here - twitter - ssb - Covid-19 Mutual Aid Resources Wiki %xhFezaL1UDoYxLMQI1GOXO8Jh/nIX6u8DoVlKKlqHm4=.sha256 - international coop solidarity: - [tech-coop] mailing list - ica tech-coops chat: https://patio.ica.coop/chat/tech-coops/channels/town-square - co-tech: https://community.coops.tech/t/tech-co-ops-and-covid-19-solidarity/1972 - cooperativism discord: https://discordapp.com/channels/568253797890129942/568253798615613452 - matrix: #covid19-mutualaid:matrix.org and #covid19-mutualaid-general:matrix.org - email in our networks - marsdd folks uv knows - health non-profit folks uv knows - Local Co-op coord: - Matt, ontario co-ops connections? - CWCF -- reba - OCA - Peter Cameron - mayfirst people

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