News channels in chat¶
I hope we had a low threshold for sharing anything in chat, as long as the sharer puts a bit of effort into a summary. In the CodeRefinery chat, we’ve thought about how to build more interaction in our chat (even though, compared to some orgs, we think we have quite a bit. Perhaps that’s the power of Zulip). My proposal is “news channels”. The goal is like a blog or news aggregator, with the similar goal of educating ourselves and getting to know each other better.
I like seeing a wide variety of links, but time is limited. Not everyone can read every link posted, so I hope that people put their human brain into a summary (suitable for the readers) that is educational even if read alone. Not clickbait, and not “read the link for more”.
The basic idea is that we people want to blog more, but that’s a lot of work. It’s lower threshold to declare some chat channels to be “blog-like” and encourage even off-topic things to go there. Hopefully it leads to more blogging, too.
For example, I propose the CodeRefinery chat declare these as news channels:
#general: News channel for anything remotely related to scientific computing.#random: News channel for anything else.
“News channel” does not mean that channel is for only news posts, or for things that could be blog post. It means “for things you might want to tell others about”.
This post is my personal opinion, but will be updated with the practices of the organizations I work with (CodeRefinery, Aalto Scientific Computing). You are welcome to copy and modify this. This should not be used to tell people they are doing something wrong, but only to encourage new interaction. You don’t have to do what is here.
What is clickbait?¶
Philosophy: Clickbait (according to wikipedia) “is designed to attract attention and to entice users to follow (“click”) that link” [note: normal clickbait is often misleading or sensationalized, and that’s not a problem in our chats.]. My main consideration is you need to click through to know the actual story.
To me, anti-clickbait means putting the main message as early as possible so that one can stop reading as early as they want and still get something:
Read the first sentence, get a 1-sentence understanding of the topic.
Read the first paragraph, get a 1-paragraph understanding of the topic.
Read the first section, get a 1-section understanding of the topic.
Apply this recursively at every level.
This requires more thought in writing, but is a service for the
reader. I think we should strive more towards this [note: Does this post meet these criteria? I usually try to, but I don’t always manage.]. It’s related to Bottom-line Up Front communication <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BLUF_(communication)>__, from which I
got some of these ideas.
Basics¶
This is my proposal:
News channels are non-work channels, and you don’t have to be subscribed. Don’t expect all your colleagues to be subscribed. If you have an announcement for a team, make sure you mention it in a work channel, too.
You can post anything within the scope, for example:
Link to other content you have found interesting.
Link to you blog posts or things you have created.
Pictures you have taken.
Original ideas that might become blog posts later.
Things you have learned (doesn’t have to have a link), watched, etc.
A question or thought you have (including something you might blog about later).
Put some human effort into describing it (see below). Please no bare or low-context links. Yes, people can read things themselves, but there’s too much. Our networks helps filter summaries.
There’s not a limit (yet) on the amount you can post, but in general, the more you post, the more human effort you should put into describing things. People can independently subscribe to wherever you get material from if they want everything from there.
Follow-up discussion on any content is encouraged, but not required. Don’t get discouraged if no one reacts. It might mean your description is good enough. Do react to interesting things to encourage more of that type of thing.
You are especially encouraged to post anything new you create, no matter how small it is. This is how we learn of each other’s skills.
How-to¶
Further thoughts, adapt as is appropriate:
Create a new topic for each new thing. Don’t worry about making too many topics, but you can always reply with more stuff for relevant old topics if it’s relevant. Topics are the way someone quickly filters through it, and remember they will “Mark all as read” once they have browsed enough. People may look through their Zulipchat inbox at topics and decide what to click or not, so make it easy for someone to know if it’s relevant to their interests.
You can use a detailed topic description, for example:
“TIL: uv for python package installation”
“OpenAI has acquired Astral (the company behind uv)”
“venv-apptainer: new script for containing virtual environments”
Include a description - not just a bare link or wall of text. You should put some human effort into the description, even if only one sentence. If you can do this, we will be happy with whatever it is. The description should be enough for someone to learn some bare basics if they don’t read further (and know if they should read more).
At minimum, an initial description that stands alone and provides some education. Not just clickbait, but a real description. Can be anywhere from a sentence or two, to a paragraph. People have a limited time and attention, so write for that.
You are welcome to go as far in depth as you would like after that… long info is OK.
Especially consider giving your own thoughts on the matter, if it’s by someone else. Do you agree with it? Disagree? Have further ideas? These kind of reviews make links far more interesting, because many people don’t have the full context to understand things.
Even if you wrote something elsewhere and you are linking to it, give a summary in the chat.
A reminder: Do not use this blog post to tell people they are doing something wrong. Don’t think the barrier is too high. Don’t assume this post is the best practices. We want you to do your best, and read what others do, and everyone to continually improve.
The benefits?¶
Does this seem like a lot of work? Well, yeah, but it’s the trade-off to engagement. In the age of generated content, we want human effort. Look at it this way: thinking about, writing, and reading these summaries is good general communication practice with people outside your field.
