Software used for collaboration

Danny Public Seen by 70

A thread to discuss (through polls and comments) the software used by Biotech Without Borders in order to foster collaborations on the organizations operations and projects. Proposals may include, using a new piece of software, modifying the way we currently use a piece of software, etc.

Short history

I started this thread before we had the option of meeting in person and used the comments here to inform the way I proceeded with setting up various communication channels. We considered using Slack, but there was not a lot of engagement on it and I am personally not enthusiastic about it's use (which isn't to say it is not a good choice to use, just that someone else will likely have to spearhead it's adoption. As per our operational principle of consensus taken from Noisebridge, I am standing aside here). See the context history for more information.

Intention for a working culture at BwoB

(at least for the operational side of things)

I wrote in the introduction to this group that I am quite inspired by the help guides of Loomio. But also an article about working in a company that has no meetings. Among other things this is what stood out to me:

Instead of having meetings, people “talk” to each other via GitHub, Notion, and (occasionally) Slack, expecting responses within 24 hours. Because there are no standups or “syncs” and some projects can involve expensive feedback loops to collaborate, working this way requires clear and thoughtful communication.

Everyone writes well, and writes a lot.

...

But the deal we already had in place was better for what our people prioritize: freedom over growth, sustainability over speed, life over work.

I am hoping that Loomio can help with cultivating this culture and I explain how in the presentation linked on the help thread. But there are many software which we might leverage to create a working collaborative culture which is able to engage our community, members and officers.

Internal vs External

Although I believe in transparency (as per the Mission Vision and Values), I also understand a need to draw distinctions between different levels of involvement with the organization and allow folks to have spaces to discuss among themselves. There is also a difference in opening up access to software for a broader community and inviting that community to become a member in order or engage with the software. The Permission Levels refers to a conceptual separation of the the users of the software into meaningful groups that engage differently with that piece of software.

Current Software Ecosystem @ BwoB

I will revisit this later and create a mind map using FreePlane, but for now I offer a list and some short descriptions on how they work together to build a cohesive stack of software that allows the BwoB community, members and officers to work together. In bringing this stack together I have been influenced by this article as well as the discussions on this thread and 1:1. I go into more of the rationale for using Loomio and Open Collective in this presentation delivered at Biosummit 6.0

Software	Purpose(s)/Function(s)	Permission Levels
Loomio (you're already here!)	Discussion and Decision making (aka consensus building)	Community, Members, Officers External Facing (via email invite)
Gsuite	Email, Managing Google Ad grant, Video chat, External calendar File storage	Officers External Facing (via Google services
Nextcloud	External appointments, Document Signing, Project Management, Internal calendar Video chat (potentially via Matrix with Jitsi backend) File storage	Members, Officers External Facing (on a per file basis and with appointments)
Matrix (private server) Public space Public chat room (public server)	(E2E) Chat	Community, Members, Officers External Facing (still working to determine the best way to integrate select channels from different DIY projects and other chat services [Slack, Discord, Signal, Telegram, Whats App, Instagram, Twitter] into a single chat room)
Open Collective	Collecting membership dues and donations, reimbursing mission aligned-purchases, transparent budget reporting	Officers Members (still working to determine the best way to allow members manage funds for their mission-aligned projects) Community, External Facing (payment and reimbursement only)
Mailchimp	Mailing list, CRM	Officers External Facing (receive only)
CiviCRM (link forthcoming pending security review)	Mailing list, CRM	Officers Members (still working to determine the best way to allow members to manage information for their mission-aligned projects) External Facing (once a migration from MailChimp can be completed this platform will serve as our CRM)
Zotero	Sharing references	Members, Officers, External Facing
Moodle (link will change at some point to learning.biotechw...)	Developing and Delivering training	Members, Officers Community, External Facing (pending creation of broadly applicable training)

Deleted account Sun 18 Apr 2021 11:24PM

joined slack, migrating over.

Danny Mon 19 Apr 2021 12:07PM

Just one additional note about making the record easier to parse on Loomio. If you look at the example of the logo there is the ability to pin comments to the "timeline" (I pinned Frank's comment about the typeface). So I disagree that back and forth discussions have no place on Loomio. The key in my mind is that responses are polished to the best of their authors abilities and made in light of the context. Again, I am happy to create a new thread or allow participants to create a thread if the seems like it would be a useful ability. Let me know.

Sorry to break the fluency of your comments Vik but these points belong on the thread about software collaboration. Perhaps a small edit would help it flow better?

Danny Sat 30 Oct 2021 3:00AM

This is the one I was thinking about @Vikram Krishnamoorthy

Danny Tue 30 Nov 2021 2:32PM

I'm talking with Marc Juul about setting up a Matrix chat

Vikram Krishnamoorthy Tue 30 Nov 2021 3:43PM

Let's please not use open source chat apps. I know open source enthusiasts are head over heels for them and for self hosting etc but they create huge amounts of friction for onboarding new members, especially tech non savvy users. And they have limited features and app integrations. People are already familiar with slack and discord, using those is zero friction, and it let's people focus on lab work and classes instead of fiddling with an open source chat app

Danny Tue 30 Nov 2021 4:43PM

I hear you about the new software part. But the idea behind Matrix is to provide interoperability between all sorts of services to reduce friction. Folks should be able to join a Matrix channel using Slack, Discord, Mattermost (I know Open Insulin is here), Element, or whatever service they choose. Although I think Marc has to set up the integrations for each service. Also I experience some friction on Slack and for sure on Discord.

I also think a channel might let us become discoverable with the folks who run and associate with Noisebridge and other community labs who are working with Marc to set this up. Still asking about the exact hosting set up they are thinking about.

Danny Tue 30 Nov 2021 2:35PM

Also I saw this thread on social.coop's Loomio and would like to implement Metagov when it gets more stable. Looking though the documentation with my partner led us to believe that it would be difficult to implement and maintain as of now.

Danny Wed 24 Aug 2022 1:32PM

Previously we used google sheets in place of Loomio. The notes we took there can be found here. I'm also going to link it in the Nextcloud in the Meeting Minutes folder.

Poll Created Mon 7 Nov 2022 4:24PM

Would folks be interested in a Mastodon server adminsters by Biotech Without Borders? Closed Mon 14 Nov 2022 2:01PM

Outcome

by Danny Mon 14 Nov 2022 2:24PM

Only got 3 responses and nobody was particularly interested in having a specific Biotech Without Borders instance. (As always I really appreciate the input). I think I may set one up but just for an institutional account, but it's not a priority for me. For those who are lab members, I mentioned at the meeting that there are some other groups I am working with that might have an interest in setting up an instance for others. Plus there are many instances coming online so if folks want to join this doesn't have to be something we organize through Biotech Without Borders.

Faz made a good point that if folks already have a Mastodon (or—for that matter—any other Fediverse) account it would be good to connect there. If we put a link to the organization in our bio or make posts about our interactions with BwoB it would be a good way to increase our visibility on that network.

I've been spending a bunch of time helping microbiologists move over to the fediverse by way of several new academic Mastodon instances and I am becomingly increasingly interested in moderating and administrating an instance of my own.

Is anybody interested in Biotech Without Borders setting up such an instance?