**Appendix** ----------------------- ---------- Surveying the Community ---------- - You may want a platform where people can formally register their interest, apply for talks and express a preference on the seminar format and date. One quick option is to create a survey using Google Forms – but note that these don’t work in certain countries. Embedding a different form builder into a website (perhaps via your institution) could be more inclusive. Use as many multiple-choice questions as possible, to make data analysis easier - but collect only the information you need (if based partially or entirely in the EU, make sure you are compliant with GDPR regulations). - Required information includes the applicant’s full name, preferred title and position (Principal Investigator, Postdoc, PhD student, Master or Undergraduate, Staff/Research scientist, Other...). Be mindful of inclusivity if using drop-down options. - If not a group leader, in whose group do they work? Which institution are they from? The aim is to be inclusive, with speakers from across career levels, with equal opportunities regardless of origins, gender and ethnicity. - Ask for an email address and obtain consent from for them to receive emails. This is required for you to contact selected speakers, and to provide information to everyone. Set up a seminar-specific email account and make a mailing list. - Is the registrant willing to give a talk? A simple yes or no. If yes, follow up by asking them to provide a title (preferably <50 words) and a short abstract (<200 words). - When setting up the series, the survey offers an opportunity for community input. What format should the talks take? How many talks and how long should they be? What time and day of the week is preferable? Suited best to which time zone? - Running an online seminar series takes time and effort and some people could be keen to help out. Ask if registrants are willing to chair a future session, introduce the speakers and moderate the discussion. ---------- Communication platform: Slack ---------- We use Slack here as a proxy for a flexible workplace communication solution with archiving, channels and the capacity to interface with other applications. Suggestions for useful Slack channels: - #general: Only the organisers can post messages with information for the entire community including announcements, schedules, new channels created, etc. - #instructions: A dedicated channel for instructions is a good idea, especially at the beginning. Provide clear instructions on how to subscribe to new channels, rules of conduct, etc. We've included an example in this Wiki. - #greetings_and_introduction: Encourage people to introduce themselves and include a few words about their research interests (it is also useful because the entire platform is searchable!). With this dedicated channel you will avoid cluttering other channels. - #interesting_methods: Share a new method you’ve seen, provide technical feedback to each other. - #interesting_new_papers, #interesting_new_preprints: Discuss new papers or preprints. You might well find the next speaker from this pool of authors who post their preprints/papers! - #job_posts: Use this space as an opportunity to spread the word of open positions you hear about, or in your lab/department. Conversely, junior scholars looking to start a PhD or postdoc could use this space to present themselves. - #other_online_seminars: to advertise other seminars, groups, conferences, etc, related to your topic of interest. - #random: A channel dedicated to water-cooler conversation - #seminar-series: for general announcements about the seminar series (monthly calendars, etc.) - #seminar1-speaker1, #seminar2-speaker2, …: Create a separate, dedicated channel for each seminar/speaker. Prior to the talk, you can get a discussion started by posting relevant papers and pre-prints. After the talk, this will be the place to continue the discussion, post questions that remained unanswered during the talk, and allow for further questions (e.g. by those who could not attend and had watched the recorded stream). ---------- Communication platform: Twitter ---------- - Consider having a specific account for the seminar series. - You can use this platform to advertise your survey or to invite people who follow you to join the Slack community. - Use your Twitter account to post relevant information for the seminars. - Advertise the next seminar in advance with a dedicated post. Include a short introduction of the speaker(s). Direct links to the seminar should be posted judiciously, to promote maximum visibility while maintaining control to prevent disruptive intrusions into the seminar. - Tag speakers, their institutes and relevant communities in your message to reach more people. - Publish your upcoming schedule. - Note that not everyone uses Twitter and it is not accessible in China. Thus consider the option of creating a dedicated website with schedule and key information how to join the meeting for those not able or willing to follow Twitter or join the Slack; explore the possibility of including China-specific options like WeChat. ---------- Video recording ---------- - If your speakers agree to being recorded, post the recording after the talk, to the relevant #seminarX-speakerX channel for the Slack community to view. - Upload the recording to a YouTube channel as an unlisted video; it will not appear on search engines and can be removed at any time. - Post the YouTube video link to your Slack group and remind members not to share it with anybody else, or on other social media platforms. - Alternatively, if your chosen platform offers on-demand webinars, the recording can be made available with the same registration link for live event and recording for a specified time after the seminar. ---------- Rules of conduct ---------- - Create a document with rules of conduct for all community users. We will not list all of them, but it should contain basic rules about confidentiality, about scientific data shared inside the community, respect on genders, origins or ethnicity, and about avoidance of harassment in any form. Other groups have produced open-source documents (we've included an example in the Wiki), which can be readily modified for your community. - Make sure people know that breaking these rules will not be tolerated and will lead to their expulsion from the virtual community or addition to a black-list.