Communication
Because our lab has a very wide variety of projects that span across departments, universities, and time zones, keeping in touch with one another in a supportive and productive fashion may be the most important thing that we do.
Our primary means of communication is Slack, but we also talk with the outside world via email, phone, and social media.
Internal communication (Slack)
Our Slack workspace is shared with the Evolutionary Psychology Lab, and also has many guest members, outside collaborators, etc. You will encounter users on Slack who you haven't met in person. If you don't recognize a name/username, it's safest to assume they may be an external collaborator — please be mindful when posting.
You'll find that the vast majority of your work with us is coordinated through Slack, so it's important that everyone is on the same page about how we use it.
All lab members are required to download the Slack app to their computers and phones, and enable notifications during work hours. This is especially important because we have many collaborators who work in different time zones. We all need to be able to reach you quickly while you are at work.
How and where to post
Every project gets its own channel (like #libsignal). Some projects are large enough to require multiple channels (like #libsignal and its many channel-children, like #libsignal-develop and #libsignal-teaching).
In addition to project-specific channels, we have a variety of channels for organizational purposes.
#general or #random is where we share various thoughts and ideas across the DaRL Lab and EPL, along with interesting new papers, and lab-wide announcements (including lab meeting info).
#sharing is a private channel where we share posts that are specific to DaRL Lab members (and not necessarily relevant to other members of the workspace).
You'll get the hang of what goes where, and if you post something in a funny place, typically an admin will remove it or ask you to repost it elsewhere.
Joining new channels
When you start working on a project, usually Hua or a lab manager will add you to one or more corresponding channels. You'll see these appear in the sidebar on Slack.
You can also join channels on your own: by default, most of our project channels are public, so that anyone in the lab can join them and read up on what's happening. This is intentional! You should always feel free to explore the public channels (click the + next to Channels to see what's available!)
Making things visible
You'll find that almost all messages you write on Slack should be in a channel, and not in a Direct Message. This is because Slack's value is in its search functions: they make it easy to find messages about a particular project long after they have been posted. This only works well if messages are grouped in the right channels, by projects; we can't search each other's direct messages.
Direct messages should only be used for confidential conversations (like advising discussions with Hua) or for incidental messages that nobody else needs to read (like "are we skyping now?").
When in doubt, post something publicly, so that anybody with something useful to add can weigh in. Even if they don't need to weigh in, they'll see your messages and can keep up to date with what's going on.
Getting people's attention
To tag specific people in posts, use @username to get their attention. Most people only get notifications for posts that include their name, so this can also be helpful if you want someone to weigh in on a particular thread (they might not have seen it at all if they weren't tagged.)
In the DaRL Lab, we are active nudgers. We've got a lot going on in lab, which means that we miss messages now and then! It's nothing personal.
Acknowledging tasks and saying when things are done
One limitation of online communication is that it's sometimes hard to tell if everyone is on the same page. We make liberal use of :handpitchfork: (try it) and emoji to make sure we get the message across — when a decision is reached, don't exit the conversation until you say 👍or "got it" or the like.
This is also true for tasks that take a few days. Whenever you finish doing something, make sure you post on Slack so that whoever needs to know that you're finished actually knows. When people forget to do this, it introduces a delay: a couple of days' time when you're finished but nobody knows about it is wasted, when it could be used to move on to the next steps.
Expectations
We do not impose any lab-wide rule about the times we expect each other to be available to respond to messages. This is because we are mindful of the fact that different people keep different schedules. Some of your labmates work from 9-5 and not outside those hours. Others work just as many hours but at other times of day, on the weekend, and so on, and many of our collaborators (students included) are in different time zones.
We expect you to be aware of your labmates' preferences in this regard — especially those labmates with whom you work most closely — to ensure both that we get our work done efficiently and that nobody feels they are being pressured to work at different times than they'd like to. If you run into any issues with this, please chat with Hua or a lab manager about it.
Don't forget to log out
Slack is often used on shared computers. Always log out of your Slack session when you leave a shared computer. This is important because direct messages and private channels may contain confidential information (especially for senior members of the lab), proprietary research materials, or both. If you open Slack and find someone else's account logged in, please log out immediately.
Never share any of your lab credentials with anyone. This includes ALL credentials: Slack, Google Drive, Handbook, Overleafs, lab computers, etc.
You can set up two-factor authentication on your Slack account to reduce the likelihood that someone logs in as you by mistake, if you like. We do not require this of all lab members, but recommend it for grad students, postdocs, and staff.
External communication
Communicating to people outside the lab is extremely important: your actions reflect not only on yourself, but on the lab, the PI, the department, and the university. This is true both for participants (who volunteer for our studies) and scientific colleagues (whose opinions have a direct impact on our success and opportunity — they are the ones reviewing our grants and papers).
It is essential that every time one of us represents the lab externally, it is with professionalism and courtesy.
Email
In general, you will not need to send emails to lab members — Slack replaces email. However, when working with other members of the department who are not part of our workspace, or with outside collaborators who have not yet joined our workspace, you'll occasionally be copied on email threads. Please always use your Harvard email, if you have one.
We also use email to communicate with families participating in research. All such emails should be sent from [redacted]. If you are ever unsure of what to write to a parent, always ask for help.
Phone
If the phone rings while you're in the lab, answer it. Identify the lab and your name. "Thanks for calling the DaRL Lab, this is [your name], how may I help you?" is a good start. Remember that parents of infants are often in noisy environments, so it's a good idea to speak slowly and clearly.
Check voicemail daily to make sure that any calls from research participants are answered promptly. Voicemail messages should always be returned within one business day.
Social media
We try to be as active as possible on social media. The credentials for lab-wide social media accounts are in Resources; if you are new to the lab, be sure to discuss with a lab manager before you start posting from them.
When you share an article, please update [redacted] with a URL to the relevant item and the date it was posted. This is so we can keep track of what has already been posted to avoid repetitive posts.
Rules for what to post
Never post a picture of a participant without the explicit permission of the participant, or if the participant is a minor, teenager, or needs guardian.
Keep it positive and do not post any profanity!
Consider your audience & platform before posting, and if appropriate, post the same item across multiple platforms
Ideas for posting
Photos, videos, media are usually better than plain text
Hashtags, links, and emoji are great additions too
Common topics:
Introductions for new lab members (sometimes these are baby pics)
Accomplishments/events (e.g. if the DaRL lab is giving a talk/poster at a conference, a paper comes out, etc.)
Posts about current research-related events
Articles: media coverage of lab related research, affiliate research, or topics we care about (infants, music, sound, etc.)
Photos of babies that participated in studies and whose parents gave us permission to post on social media
Photos advertising new studies in the lab
Photos of Theo, our Chief Pilot Subject (ask Sam)
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