Communications and modes of public engagement: How do we communicate internally and externally?

• Take care of the language you use when talking to colleagues. E.g. Instead of saying ‘it is wrong’, say: ‘I have a different opinion’.
• Disengage from systematically occurring, harmful micro techniques (like micro interruptions, saying pfff, or using annoying body language when you don’t share other people’s opinions (of course this does not mean you have to take care of spontaneous reactions, just don't be rude).
• If you feel someone is rude or said or did something that hurt you, avoid thinking of it as having been intentional. If possible, address it humorously or surprisingly that makes the other participant aware of the effect and allows for increased response-ability.
• We don’t like judging statements. However, everyone judges sometimes; this is not about being a bad person.
• Try not to personalize. While taking care is our guiding attitude, we do not intend to go against disagreements and lively discussion. Remember politics is agonistic, so defend your point of view with respect and without fear.
• Also, try not to internalize and personalize guilt when you made a mistake (e.g. “I’m so terrible because I did something wrong!”). Instead, try to recognize the error without self-attributing guilt and try to find a way of regenerating the connection.
• Be confident. Try to overcome impostor syndrome!
• At the start of each session, we decide if we need a moderator to facilitate balanced turn-taking. We also sometimes might need a timekeeper (probably). The moderator/timekeeper has the power at their disposal (a clock).
• The lab encourages listening to others. During lab sessions, only one person is speaking at a time.
• In some sessions, we may want to actively increase the chances of every participant to engage in the discussion and to discourage disproportionate over-contribution (e.g. when discussing texts). “Robin rounds” (https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Round_Robin_(Informatik)) can be an excellent way to give everyone the option to speak and not be skipped because someone else wants to contribute multiple times (which, otherwise, is very common in German academic contexts). We have also used different versions of creatively developed cards that make the rounds less rigid: “Workshop à la carte: A cardboard set for an egalitarian reading group methodology”.
• The lab aims to make decisions collectively and based on consensus. If there are conflicts, we will try to resolve them before they scale. Talk about what bothers you, and in case of absolute disagreement, talk to other members of the lab who can mediate a conversation. In other words, "don't go to bed mad!"

Internal communication

Here some guidelines about our primary communication channels among us:

• Digital communication, and due to recent events, digital teaching, and meetings (!), are a key pillar of the lab.
• So far, we have found out that Slack (aside from face to face of course!) is our quickest, safest and easiest way of communicating among lab members. Slack is composed of channels with different topics where we can discuss and post interesting links and ideas.
• All communication platforms are performative; including face-to-face and Slack, twitter, etc.
• While everyone is encouraged to check Slack regularly to know what is being discussed, there is no requirement to be active in Slack. We should avoid taking decisions in Slack, and when done, these decisions should be confirmed (or rejected) in face-to-face meetings. We value face-to-face (if necessary, online) meetings more than Slack communication. This is particularly important also because lab members engage very differently with Slack. Let's not forget that different engagements (quantitatively and qualitatively) are understood, and it is the lab’s responsibility to keep learning how to deal with these differences.
• We need to be careful not to engage in Slack 24/7 and indeed take days off Slack. If you don’t remember when you have last had a day without looking into Slack, please take that day off right away!
• Slack can become quite messy, and a mess might result in inaccessibility. Please use Slack carefully, working with the different channels and layers of discussion to keep things transparent and accessible.
• Mark people with @ so that the addressed persons do not miss out on the message. If the message can be sent directly to someone through the private channel, please do it, so we don't spam the others.
• We try to talk with each other and not about each other by addressing people directly using @.

External communication

• The lab-coordinator takes care of Twitter and other external communication.
• We use a mailing list to inform interested colleagues about lab activities.
  • We have a website (https://rustlab.ruhr-uni-bochum.de/) that presents ways to contact us and details about our activities, interest and aims.
  • The lab has a Twitter account that we use to tell about our activities and keep an informal channel of communication with friends and colleagues. We don't want to tweet too much. The lab coordinator leads the twitter account, although any RUSTlab member may tweet from the RUSTlab account (contact the coordinator if you don’t have the password).
  • We use a Google-Calendar of lab presence. lab members are invited to this calendar, and they are encouraged to register their presence to let non-key holders – including students – into the rooms (e.g. to work or use our library).
  • In general, during our classes, we should mention the lab and the benefits it offers to students (room, books, lectures; speaking to us).
  • We encourage members to follow the Twitter account and share posts in their networks, but this is not mandatory and we also respect those who are not fans of social media.