Skip to content

Slack

Connecting to Tucson Mesh's Slack workspace is the best way to stay up to date about Mesh events, volunteer opportunities and network changes or outages. It's also the best and fastest way to get help.

You can request an invitation link that will allow you to join the Slack by emailing support@tucsonmesh.net.

What is Slack?

At it's core, Slack is a chat app that allows users to send DMs and chat in a variety of "channels." It has a number of additional features like attachments, collaborative documents and lists, and video calls that make it a popular tool in many workplaces. It's similar to Microsoft Teams or Discord.

Why do we use Slack?

Tucson Mesh aims to be a participatory project. Slack allows the admin team, users and other members of the Mesh community to discuss projects or technical challenges or view past discussion in a way that's easier to follow than an email, text thread or web message board. This is critical for responding to requests for help. As a volunteer-run project, members of the admin team are juggling other responsibilities while trying to help users. Slack makes it easy for different people to step in to continue helping someone if anyone has to step away.

It works well on both desktop computers and mobile devices. It has a free tier and a nonprofit discount.

Connecting to Slack

You can use Slack in your web browser or you can download the mobile or Desktop app.

Getting help

Slack has an extensive help center with guides to using the service. The Using Slack section has links to information about common tasks and terminology in the app.

If you learn best from visuals, this quick start video is a good place to start. This video explains channels and DMs.

Channels

Here are some frequently used channels in the Tucson Mesh Slack. You can also find channels using the search feature, and limit search results to channels.

  • #tech-discussions: Discussions about the mesh infrastructures, upgrades and technologies used by or related to the mesh.
  • #tucson-mesh-general: New users are added to this channel by default. This is where announcements about the network and upcoming events will be shared.
  • #user-support: Report problems with your connection and talk through troubleshooting steps here.
  • #volunteer-opportunities: This channel is for sharing opportunities to volunteer and to coordinate volunteering.