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MIT Slack Enterprise Grid Landing Page

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Overview

Slack is a messaging and collaboration tool for teams, groups and individuals. Members of a workspace in Slack can direct message individuals or create conversation channels for topics, projects and groups. Conversation channels can be visible to the whole workspace or be set up as private channels accessible by invitation only. There you can share files and connect slack to Dropbox, Google Drive, Zoom, Github, Webex and many more applications and services. You also have your own Slackbot that allows you to store notes, set reminders and get answers to your questions about using Slack.

All MIT faculty, staff and students are eligible to request a workspace. Affiliates are eligible to participate in workspaces. Non-MIT members can be invited as a Guest. (Invite New Members)

Getting Started

If you're new to Slack or want to learn more about how to use it to communicate and collaborate with groups and individuals, here are a few starting points:

MIT's Slack Enterprise Grid

MIT's Slack Enterprise grid, or Organization (Org for short) is comprised of multiple interconnected workspaces across MIT. Departments, labs, centers, and groups can each have their own dedicated workspaces with customized channels, permissions and access controls. All the workspaces in the MIT Slack Org use the same single sign-on Touchstone Authentication system, search, direct messaging, and directory. You only need to login once to access all your MIT Slack Org workspaces.

Workspaces

Workspaces are made up of channels where team members can communicate and work together. Each workspace has its own administrators who can control access and settings for the workspace. All the workspaces in MIT's org share directory service, search and direct messaging functionality.

Access MIT's Slack Enterprise Grid at https://mit.slack.com, where you can learn about getting started with MIT's Slack Enterprise Grid.

Request a Workspace

MIT faculty, staff, affiliates and students are eligible to request a workspace by emailing the following to slack-workspaces@mit.edu:

  • Workspace name
  • URL must start with “mit-“ and not exceed 21 characters, e.g., “mit-example-workspace”
  • Short workspace description
  • List of workspace owners (kerberos usernames)

The Service Desk will notify you when it has been created. Then you can begin customizing your workspace settings and inviting users. For details, see Administer Your Workspace.

Please be aware that while guests are welcome on MIT Slack, it's a tool intended to be used primarily by the MIT community. Thus, if the number of guests exceeds 40% of the total membership, users should not request a workspace.

An alternative solution is Slack Connect; which allows members of the MIT community to invite guests to channels on their workspace without adding them to workspace membership.

Users can also utilize free Slack workspaces not associated with the MIT Slack Grid.

If you have questions about this guidance, please contact the Service Desk.

How to Access

Web Interface

  1. For the web interface, go to: https://mit.slack.com or your_workspacename_.slack.com and click Continue.
  2. Click "Sign in with MIT Touchstone" and authenticate via MIT Touchstone.
    Result: The Slack workspace you specified will open.
  3. You can add yourself to public channels by clicking on Channels in the left-hand column. See Channels below for more details.

Desktop and Mobile Applications

Download:

Configure:

  1. Download the appropriate app for your device and install it. Note: You will need admin privileges.
  2. Open the app.
  3. Enter the Slack URL of your workspace in the form: workspacename.slack.com
  4. Click "Sign in with MIT Touchstone" and authenticate via MIT Touchstone.
    Result: The Slack workspace you specified will open.
  5. You can add yourself to public channels by clicking on "Channels" in the left-hand column. See Channels below for more details.

Using

Channels

Channels are group conversations inside workspaces that can be for teams, projects, specific topics or even just for fun. They can be accessible to anybody in the workspace or by invitation only.

Join a Public Channel

  1. Click Channels in the left-hand column
    Result: A window opens to browse all channels.
  2. Use the Search Channels field to look for a channel by name, or scroll through the list to find a channel you want to join.
  3. Click a channel name to preview it.
  4. To join a channel you are previewing, click the green Join button at the bottom of the page.

Create a Channel

  1. Click the + button to the right of Channels in the left-hand column.
    Result: A window opens to "Create a new public channel"
  2. To create a private channel, move the green slider to orange Private. (On mobile click the + button to the right of Private Channels.)
  3. Type a name for the channel, no more than 21 characters, in lowercase, with no spaces or periods
  4. If you wish, invite others by adding their name(s) into the Invite others to join field (optional)
  5. If you wish, describe the Purpose of the channel in that field (optional)
  6. When you have finished entering your desired information for the channel, click the green Create Channel button.

You can also create multi-workspace channels to collaborate across more than one workspace.

Custom Emoji

Workspace Owners and Admins can create and add custom emojis to the Enterprise Slack instance. If you notice an objectionable custom emoji, please email servicedesk@mit.edu to have it reviewed for possible removal.

Request installation of an app

To request the installation of a third party application within MIT's Slack Enterprise Grid, please email your request to slack-app-request@mit.edu. Be sure to include a summary of what the app will be used for and a link to the app's Slack page. MIT's Slack Org Owners will review the request with the IS&T Security team. 

Direct Messages

Direct messages are one-on-one or group private conversations between Slack team members. Even if you're on multiple workspaces, your DMs are consolidated into a single view.

  1. Send a direct message to someone by clicking on their name in the Direct Messages section of the left-hand column.
    1. If the person you wish to direct message is not listed, click the + button to search for them by name. This is where you can also select multiple people to create a group direct message.
  2. Enter a message to the person in the field at the bottom of the screen, and press Enter to send it.
  3. Return to a channel by selecting it from the Channels list in the left-hand column.

For more, see:

Do not Disturb (snooze)

MIT-IST Slack goes into "Do Not Disturb" by default from 10PM to 8AM. When "Do Not Disturb" is in effect, Slack will not send you desktop, mobile, or email notifications. Team members who try to send you messages during your "Do Not Disturb" hours will be warned you won't be notified unless they take a further step to click on a link indicating that it is urgent. For information on how to disable "Do Not Disturb" or customize your hours, see:

AI

IS&T has opted out of AT data training for the MIT Slack Enterprise grid. This opt-out is on behalf of all MIT users in perpetuity.

Useful Links

Administer Your Workspace

Administrators can control how users join workspaces, message rentention times, customize emojis, add integrations, designate additional administrators and much more. By default several collaboration integrations are included with your MIT Org Enterprise Workspace. These include Dropbox, Zoom, OneDrive, Google Drive, Google Calendar, and Webex. Administrators can add additional integrations to their workspace.

Legally Protected Data

MIT's Slack Enterprise Grid has been configured to support HIPAA-compliant message and file collaboration.

Slack is not appropriate for all kinds of data.

The following categories of legally-protected data are inappropriate for sharing on Slack:

  • Data subject to United States export control or trade embargo regulations
  • Social Security numbers, driver's license or other state ID card numbers, and financial account, credit card, or debit card numbers

If you are unsure if you are handling legally-protected data, please contact IS&T at infoprotect@mit.edu for assistance.

For more information, see: Security at Slack

See also

Have Questions or Still Need Help?

Additional escalation information for Help Staff can be found here:
  • [hd:Slack Recon]

IS&T Contributions

Documentation and information provided by IS&T staff members →

Last Modified:

October 21, 2024

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