How Slack Can Support Science
In the January 2017 issue of Nature, the preeminent scientific journal, is an excellent article detailing how research scientists are using Slack to improve laboratory communications. This includes tasks such as getting new lab members up to speed on research plans and procedures using Slack’s built in search function, as well as helping move their labs forward by keeping lab-wide to do lists up to date and making sure that off-site collaborators are in touch with current research activities. Both the real-time nature of Slack and the absence of non-relevant noise/spam are particularly important in science teams. There are a ton of other examples in the article (really- I recommend you read it) that I loved.
My favorite example is a lab in Boston that built a plug-in for their Slack channel that communicates with the robots that run their experiments. This plug-in sends real-time updates so that team members can stay informed on workflow of current projects. By using their Slack group where they also organize other parts of their day, communication and team cohesion become easy tasks.
This made me think of our Slack group at SlackPass. We’re a small team but are still constantly using our Slack, such as showing each other updates in the code base, especially when a team member is working remote. Like the lab in Boston, we also have used custom plug-ins to keep a better pulse on our community. We get notified directly in Slack when someone makes a new page using our software, or when someone has a question, or when one of our team members has a call.
Whenever I read about how teams use Slack I always wonder how community can be brought into the fold. Indeed, Slack communities are my favorite part about working with Slack- watching them form, grow and interact is incredible. So- how could labs create community and bring those interested into the fold?
For diseases that have an active patient and family community, labs that are underfunded (a description that many would say includes most active research groups) could potentially use a Slack community to keep members of the community in the fold- as well as vet or crowdfund some of their projects.
A lab could create a slack with a #community channel that would accept a small monthly payment from community members to join. That channel could easily be a part of an entirely different Slack group than the labs internal Slack group, and the #community channel could be piped into a single channel using a service like Slackline. Lab members could keep the community informed on what their money is helping go towards with different perks.
Weekly community articles
The lab could write up a small report of what happened that week and things to look forward to in the coming weeks. This becomes an interactive report as community members can chime in with their thoughts.
Monthly live chats
Members of the lab could run monthly Google Hangout or Skype sessions via the #community channel that can serve as AMAs, more update material, or simply a virtual tour around the lab!
Opportunity to offer feedback
The most interesting thing that I think could come from a channel like this is the opportunity for the community to have a direct and real impact on what is being researched. For instance, if the lab is researching treatment for a disease such as Cystic Fibrosis (the most common genetically transferred fatal disease- a disease that has had great advancements made via research, though it still remains fatal) community members can give feedback on what they view as the most important aspects of the disease, perhaps an area of research not previously appreciated by the research team.
This might seem like a ridiculous and far-fetched idea, but indeed it already happens on a large scale. Many foundations and disease-focused groups, such as the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, invites individual patients, or parents of patients, to review and give direct feedback on grant applications. The NIH now considers “significance” to be one of the most important factors in deciding which applicant should receive new funding, and what better way to show this than demonstrating a direct request from a disease community? Thus in some ways, giving community members the ability to give direct feedback is an even more democratic, albeit small-scale version of something that’s already happening.
Slack, both for teams and for communities, is a growing and ever changing platform that is endlessly customizable via plug-ins and integrations. Thinking outside the box is a great way to imagine new uses for old platforms.
Questions? Comments? Don’t hesitate to reach out to me directly at tucker@slackpass.com
If you want to see our software for yourself check us out at https://slackpass.io
