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• Slack is a tool for informal, asynchronous communication for colleagues who work for the University.
• It is intended to reduce email traffic and is ideal for communications that need quick decisions or input within defined groups, that do not need to be formally recorded.
• Key department messages and important requests for action should still happen via email.
• Managers are responsible for setting a direction within their teams about when staff should be available on Slack.
• Think about the channel you're posting in: Slack works best when colleagues use the appropriate channels to circulate information.
• Consider using the "reaction" emojis, or threads, to respond to messages - this keeps things tidy for others.
• There's no requirement to check or respond to Slack outside your working hours.
• Don't expect an instant response from colleagues on Slack, and understand that some colleagues will use it more than others.

You can access Slack via the web: http://uoy.slack.com/. Sign on using your York email address and password (the system authenticates through Google).

However, we strongly recommend you download the Slack app for Windows, Mac, or Linux. You can also download the app for most smartphones.

In Preferences, you can set Slack to open automatically upon logging into your computer - that can be really helpful when you're getting used to having it. You can also set default notifications and a schedule for when you don't want to be disturbed, as well as letting Slack know if you want to receive email notifications (if you use Slack irregularly, these can be useful, but if you're logged into it all the time you will probably want to turn these off as otherwise they rather defeat the whole point of using Slack!)

You can also set up notification preferences for each channel using the cog item in the top-middle of the screen (useful if you want to hear immediately from your research group but only dip into the coffee break group when you fancy doing so).

Channels group people together in relation to a given topic. You can add your own channels (e.g. for your research group, social group etc) using the button on the left hand bar:

The Department operates a number of channels - you should be added to the appropriate ones automatically, but if not please contact Lucy (environment-pa@york.ac.uk) to be added to those shown below. For other private channels, you'll need to speak to someone who's already a member of that channel.

There are a number of other channels you can join or request to be part of, according to your interests. Those prefixed with '#' are public and can be added by clicking on the "Channels" heading; for others you'll need to ask an existing member (Lucy is a good person to start with). Some examples are below:

You can use the Direct Messages function to start a chat with one or a group of people. Just click the button next to Direct messages.