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READ THIS FIRST

Hello

This lovelydocument Rebels!

is
Welcomea quick guide to allget you started using XR's online communication tools for the informationfirst time.

In this guide you needwill:

  1. Get an account on the Hub.
  2. Log in to Mattermost and send a message to your XR group.
  3. Find out where to find more information.

Note: This guide assumes that you will be using a desktop computer although if you are using a smartphone the steps should be the same, just make sure to use XR'your smartphone's Communicationbrowser Tools

app
These(e.g. ToolsChrome are:
or

Safari) - the Mattermost app will NOT work. For a guide on using the online tools with a smartphone please read hub.pngthis page.

Note: If you have any trouble with this guide please contact your XR UK Communications Hub

Or The Hub for short

It'group's longgroup nameadmin. If you don't know who this is XRor UKif Communicationsyour group doesn't have one then please email tech@rebellion.earth.

1. Joining the Hub (sometimeshub.png

called

What is the CommsHub?

The Hub) and it belongs to us - XR UK - as it was designed by our incredible XR UK Tech Team. And it is the key to unlockingaccessing thesethe threeother things...online tools. It does two main things:

mm.png Mattermost - (UK Chat)

    1. MattermostWhen -you join the Hub you will automatically have accounts created for instant chatting and can replace WhatsApp, Signal, Telegram

forums.png UK Forum

  • Forum - for focussed discussions on individual topics - to help take those lonnnng conversations out of the chat channels on Mattermost so that those lonnng conversations don't get in the way of key messages which you might miss!

cloud.png UK Cloud Storage

  • Cloud - for secure document creation and storage - it can replace Google Docs and Microsoft Office - it is much more secure than Google Docs and all your group members have access to the group's folder - and every member has(with the same permissions to createusername and editpassword) docson inall theirthe group folder.
So, why does XR have it's own set of communication tools?

  • To start with, thesemain tools are more secure than anything elsethat we use. They're held on servers in Switzerland and because of their laws, it means our datause (ourincluding personal details like name, telephone number and email address) is stored securely

    Mattermost).
  • It

    Secondly, it's where we can all be together in one place - no more working in 'silos', not knowing who to contact about a specific subject or struggling to get hold of another group to ask them a question.

  • Thirdly, they're not owned by 'big business', so our data isn't being mined and sold.

And last but not least, they all run on renewable energy!

Why do we have the Hub?

One of the best things about it is that you can use the Hubacts as XR's Phone Directory. If you need to find a group because you want to work with them, get support or to ask the group a question, or speak to someone in a role in that group, then the Hub will give you that information.

It helps keep XR UK transparent as The Hub can also show you what each group has available to them - their Mattermost channels, Forum spaces and if they have a Cloud folder - and everyone with a Hub account can view the same information.

But one of its main functions is doing the 'heavy lifting' for us by setting up our individual accounts for Mattermost, the Forum and Cloud.

How to Get Onto the Hub
  • Your Group Admin and/or Tech Champion for your group, will email you a Hub invite and when you click on the link in that email invite, that will take you to the Hub
  • You then fill out a shortphone form with your name, and a password of your choosing, and select Confirm and then that will create your Hub account
  • The Hub will then set up your accounts for you on Mattermost, Forum and Cloud using the same log in details that you just added to that short form
  • Here's a handy video to help with: Accepting Your Invite to The Hub

There are many other amazing things on the Hub

  • You can use the Hub Circles to see how XR UK is organised into a Self-Organsing System (SOS)
  • Access the Rebellion Academy and this Rebel Toolkit from the Home page
  • Set your Secret Codeword unique to you, so if you're arrested or you lose your phone/laptop or it's stolen (hope that never happens), you can give your Secret Codeword and then Tech can temporarily disconnect your Hub account so no one can access the Hub information, Mattermost, Forum and Cloud on your device
The Hub is the engine that drives all of these tools which is why it's so important

Other Useful videos

XR UK Communications Basic User Guide

A short presentation explaining all of the Hub Tools.

How to Join the Hub (Comms Hub)
Training Video for the Hub (Comms Hub) and Mattermost

The Tools - what they are and how to use them

mm.png Mattermost - (UK Chat)

Mattermost - sometimes called Mattermost Chat or MM (not to be confused with M&M - Media & Messaging - that's something completely different!)

XR UK 'share' Mattermost with XR Global which means, once we're on Mattermost, we can join their Team - XRGlobaldirectory - and then, not only can we talk to all XR UK rebels in the UK, we can also talk to rebels across the world! How amazing is that?

Mattermost is organised into:

Teams - once your Hub account has been created, you are then joined to the UK Team on Mattermost

You will also be invited (via the Hub) to join your Regional Team

Many XR UK Working Groups have lots of members and sub-groups so some working groups also have their own Teams on Mattermost; such as Communities, Arrestee & Legal Support, Digital Rebellion and COP - again, you can use the Hub to searchfind forother groups and get in contact with them.

For more information on the Hub feel free to read this guide.

Getting access

To sign up to the Hub you need to:

  1. Get the group admin of your XR group to send you an email invite to the Hub.
  2. Open the invite and click on the link (you may need to check your spam folder). This will open a webpage with a form on it.
  3. Fill out the form with your name (or pseudonym) and password and then click Confirm.

If you prefer, here is a video that takes you through these groupssteps.

2. First steps on Mattermost mm.png

What is Mattermost?

Mattermost is a secure chat application that your group can use to contactcommunicate them,instead of using something like WhatsApp, Signal or Telegram. It can be used both on a desktop computer and alsoa smartphone.

The main advantage Mattermost has over other chat tools is that it is MUCH easier to get in contact with other rebels. Most groups in XR UK are already signed up to Mattermost and it is simple to find and message them. Also, Mattermost is used by XR Global so you can even get in touch with rebels across the world!

Getting access

  1. Navigate to Mattermost in your browser. You can do this by either clicking on the Mattermost (Chat) button from the Hub home page or by clicking on this link.
  2. Enter your username and password that you just set up when signing up to the Hub.
  3. Go to your email inbox, open the email you just received from XR Global (you may need to check your spam folder) and click Verify Email.
  4. Go back to Mattermost (a new window should have been opened), re-enter your password, and click Sign in.
  5. Bookmark this page. It will make it much easier to find in the future.

For a video guide that walks you through these steps see howthis they'relink.

organised

Mattermost intobasics

XR

Once UK'syou Self-Organisinghave Systemsuccessfully logged in to Mattermost you should see a screen that looks a little like this:

Hdsimage1.png

On the left-hand side (SOS)

4
Channelsand - there5) are two types -the Publicpublic and Privateprivate channels -that andyou are in. If you click on them notice that the messages shown on the right (13) will change.

Below where the channels are foundlisted inside Teams

  • Channels(6) are Teamyour specificdirect andmessages. byThese are private conversations that I mean - imagine a Team as being like a tree. When you selectcan ahave Team (tree) it opens up that Team's channels (branches)
  • Channels are for chatting to groups, e.g. in your private Local Group channel (just for members of your group) or in a public Town Square channel (Town Squares are for XR business) and Off Topic channel (Off Topics are for friendly/social chat)
Direct Messages - for chatting to individual members, or groups of individuals -with up to a6 maxiumother people.

At the far-left of 7the people

screen

MM-cheat-sheet.jpg

(1)

forums.png UK Forum

The Forum is used to host discussion threads.

cloud.png UK Cloud Storage

UK Cloud is for documents and files. It shouldcan be used to hostgroup fileschannels previouslytogether. heldIf you navigate between the different teams notice how the public and private channels shown change.

For a more detailed guide to using Mattermost check out this page on otherthe mediaRebel suchToolkit.

Sending your first message

To message your group for the first time you need to:

  1. Find the correct channel to post a message in. To do this click through your channels and teams until you find a channel with the same (or similar) name as Googleyour Docs.group.
    2. It
  2. Write hostsa hello message in the XRbox Library,at the bottom of the screen (14).
  3. Hit Enter to send the message.

And that's it! Congratulations on completing this guide!

3. Next steps

If you are interested in learning more, there are more advanced guides on both the Hub and providesMattermost aas calendarwell as XR UK's other tools. In particular, you might want to look at the guides for UK Forums and projectUK managementCloud.

tools.

We also strongly encourage you to read our code of conduct guidelines.

Lastly, if you have any trouble at all with anything to do with these tools please contact your group admin. They are there to help!

Extinction Rebellion UK Privacy Policy

Extinction Rebellion UK Terms of Service

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