An Introduction to ILLUMINATION Slack Workspace
By: Dr Mehmet Yildiz
Tags: Social Media, Business, Technology, Writing, Freelancing

Introduction

Some writers and readers say that ILLUMINATION is growing with the speed of light. This statement is not an exaggeration. Within less than nine months, 6,000+ writers and 52,000 readers support this publication.

With the addition of new services such as special collection ILLUMINATION-Curated and technology collection called Technology Hits, the growth turned into an exponential state. Our special collection of ILLUMINATION-Curated is also rapidly growing.

To adapt this fast growth, we need to improve our services and make them more efficient to serve thousands of writers contributing to these publications serving thousands of readers.

We upgraded our Slack infrastructure, capability and processes. I invited all applicants who are interested in contributing to our publications. Around 5,000 Medium writers have already joined and are collaborating joyfully.

In this post, my goal is to introduce Slack workspace briefly, how writers can benefit it and use it efficiently to achieve their writing and reading goals.

I will also introduce other resources that can help you learn Slack quickly and easily. For the beginners, let me introduce what Slack is.

What is Slack

Slack is an online collaboration and productivity tool. It has many useful features to enhance communication and collaboration and deepen relationships among members.

In a nutshell, with Slack, members can work together more effectively, connect their software tools and services to find the information that they need to do their work. It is a secure platform with the enterprise-grade environment. It is used by thousands of organizations globally.

A Slack workplace may look overwhelming initially, but many users get used to it very quickly. It is an intuitive program and easy to use platform. Slack is used by millions of people for various purposes.

Slack is one of the most popular communication tools. It supports both personal computers and mobile devices. You can run Slack application on your Windows or Mac machine and any smartphone or tablet devices. Your profile and information details are automatically move to the preferred device.

A Slack workspace has a team of members with different permissions.

Let me introduce our Slack workspace so that you can start your journey with ease and comfort.

ILLUMINATION Slack workspace

As the owner of the workspace, I created and configured the workspace. I invite members and set permissions for other administrators, members, and guests.

As a complementary service, I invite all contributing writers as a member for the workspace. I plan to invite some guests to use specific channels as part of our extended projects. We run multiple collaboration projects to give more visibility to the great work of our writers and reach out to a broader audience.

Slack invitations work with email address. For example, if you applied to ILLUMINATION as a writer using our application tool, I send you an invitation to join our Slack workspace. The invitation you receive would say “Join your team on Slack. Dr Mehmet Yildiz has invited you to use Slack with them, in a workspace called ILLUMINATION.”

You need to click on the JOIN NOW button. If you have Slack application, you will automatically be introduced to the workspace, if not you need to install the app. When you join the first page you see is channel called #1_start_here.

The core architecture of Slack is related to the provision of channels.

You can learn the concept of Slack channels from the attached short video.

Messaging is the primary communication way in Slack.

Slack also allows phone calls and video calls. However, our version does not support video calls yet. We may consider video version in the future. The main inhibitor is the cost. Considering our publications do not generate any income, we cannot justify the cost for video calls.

Each member has a profile on Slack workspace. You can add a photo and contact details such as email, phone number, and your role in the workspace. The Slack workspace also links all the files you own in the space.

Here is my member profile on Slack as a sample.

image screen capture by author

I recommend our writers to use Medium account ID as display name so that other writers can easily find you on Medium. As the purpose is collaboration, presenting your profile with sufficient publicly available information can be useful. Adding information about yourself is optional, of course. If you prefer to stay anonymous, it is fine; we respect your choice.

You can leave Slack anytime without being dependent on the administrator.

Slack has several automation tools as well.

For example, I forward all ILLUMINATION articles via Medium RSS to a particular channel so that the members can easily access them, read them, comment on them, and share them with other members.

You can ask your questions to our Slack editors and champions Tree Langdon, Dew Langrial, The Maverick Files, Agnes Laurens, Liam Ireland, Stuart Englander, Britni Pepper, Ntathu Allen, Joe Luca, Thewriteyard, Dr John Rose who actively use the workspace.

We operate all publication activities in a secure channel dedicated to editors.

You can easily access editors via channels or even sending a private message.

Sending private messages on Slack is much easier, faster, and reliable than sending private messages on Medium. For example, your private messages on stories submitted to publications can be viewed by all editors. On Slack, only the owner of the account can see it. This feature is handy for communicating sensitive matters with your target audience.

You can learn more about Slack by reading the instruction in the attached link by official Slack organization: https://slack.com/intl/en-au/help/categories/200111606

You can also check this excellent article developed by our Slack champion and senior editor Tree Langdon.

Tips for using ILLUMINATION Slack workspace

Let me give you a few tips to make your journey comfortable and productive.

Start your first visit with #1_start_here channel.

This is the channel you can introduce yourself.

Then proceed with other channels that you want to engage.

The hashtag (#) sign depicts the channel. When you type, # in a chat box, Slack prompts available channels in the workspace.

You can search all channels from the Channel browser tool.

Use your Medium account ID to be recognized by other writers.

Use channel browser to see relevant channels.

Use People & use groups to find members.

One of the best ways to catch up with conversations is by using threads. You can use “threads” to see all the new discussions on any channel.

You can also star channels so that you can find them easily in the future. And of course, you can remove the stars if you don’t need them any more.

Ground Rules

As the Slack workspace is a social platform, we need to act ethically.

We act with common sense. The golden rule is to treat other members as you want to be treated. Respecting privacy and opinions of other people is critical.

We don’t allow harassment, hate speech, discrimination, and toxic behavior in this collaboration environment. Our members want to have secure, joyful, and pleasant conversations. Our Slack is not like common social media. It is managed privately, and we have the right to choose our members.

If you observe or experience toxic behavior on our Slack workspace, please contact me directly or reach out to our editors in my absence. We will remove the privilege of offending members and will not allow them to use our services.

Now and then, conflicts may arise. We are all humans. Mistakes and misunderstandings can happen. We approach the problems case by case. Please always give the benefit of the doubt until a matter is understood clearly and resolved amicably by our administration team.

Low hanging fruits for members

1 — Introduce yourself, create visibility, and start the collaboration

2 — Add your writer bio to the channel called #writerbios

3 — Share your story links on the #post-your-own-writing-here

4 — Say “hi” to a few members and introduce writing practice.

5 — Share your mailing list and other materials in promotion channels.

You can also show your reactions with emojis on the comments.

Let me introduce you our promotion channel.

Promotion Channels

Visibility of writers require smart promotion.

Writers are usually shy creatures by nature. I encourage writers to think and act like an entrepreneur. There is no other way to survive and thrive in this economic climate. There is no shame in promoting your great services. You deserve recognition and appreciation. The best approach is to find creative and meaningful ways to reach out to your audience.

Therefore, I created this innovative platform and encourage our writers to promote their profiles, content, external products and freelancing services, newsletters, and mailing lists. Our Slack workspace is an excellent promotion tool for writers to create visibility.

Here are the channels that you can use to promote your materials.

#promotion-fiction-books #promotion-nonfiction-books #promotion-nonfiction-books #promotion-poetry-books #promotion-blogging-links #promotion-training-education #mailinglists-and-newsletters

We also have clubs such as

#poetry-club #fiction-club #technology-science-entrepreneurship-club

Conclusions

Our Slack workspace is designed as an engagement, visibility, promotion, and collaboration tool.

Our Slack workspace is a privilege that we give to our contributing writers of ILLUMINATION, ILLUMINATION-Curated, and Technology Hits publications.

You can use ILLUMINATION Slack workspace to meet other writers, engage in their content, collaborate with them, and promote your materials.

Joining and engaging in our Slack workspace can help you enhance your network and make you feel joyful in your writing journey.

I hope you enjoy your journey. I am one message away to connect with you.

Thank you for reading my perspectives.