Community Handbook
Video Recording
NHS-R Community have a Zoom account which is most often used for training and Microsoft Teams Events which is used for webinars. Some events can be set up using Microsoft Teams which is managed through NHS Midlands and Lancashire Commissioning Strategy Unit.
In terms of recording, Zoom and Microsoft Teams Events only record the person speaking and their shared screen. Microsoft Teams which is used by many NHS and Local Authorities for meetings, however, shows the videos and names of attenders which may be an issue for attenders.
YouTube
We always intend to share recordings through YouTube publicly, however, we do respect where trainers or presenters ask specifically not to share recordings. We are able to edit parts of videos using YouTube editing, cutting or blurring parts and will do this when notified.
YouTube applies automatic subtitles after a period of time of uploading but at the moment we don’t amend those subtitles given the time it requires. However, this is something that we would like to do in the future and this may mean we get support from a community member.
Blogs
We host blogs on the NHS-R Community website and we welcome contributions from anyone who wishes to write about R, health and social care, data science techniques and can be just text or can include code. We review blogs before posting and will give feedback if there are any reasons that we can’t publish. Blogs are rarely removed so some will be out of date due to the changes in the programs like R and best practice.
Submissions for blogs can be in any format but need to be easily copied and pasted to nhs.rcommunity@nhs.net. For this reason pdf formats are not necessarily the easiest to share content.
Pictures and charts can be included in the blogs and these are expected to have Alternative Text or Captions for greater accessibility. This includes any pictures used for visual impact and not necessarily to add to the content directly.
Social Media
NHS-R Slack
https://nhsrcommunity.slack.com/
The NHS-R Community use the free version of Slack to facilitate conversations between members. Many people join the Slack group and enjoy reading the conversations without ever joining in and that’s ok as this is the best place to find out what’s happening with the community and a lot can be learned from others’ conversations. Because this is a free account we don’t have a history of posts but they would be available if we moved to a paid account.
Accessing the Slack
Some organisations’ emails have been added to the white list but because there are so many public sector organisations it may be that you require an individual link to join. Please contact the central email nhs.rcommunity@nhs.net for the link. Links that are shared are only available for several days.
It’s best to use an organisational email for the group, but not necessary, and you are also able to change the email once you’ve joined.
Deletion of accounts on Slack
Unfortunately with the free account we are unable to change email addresses which has affected some people when they move to a new organisation and require a password reset or use the Slack system of emailing a joining link. However, we can delete any old account to avoid confusion to others on the Slack so they will only tag or direct message the active account.
Other than this situation, we would only ever delete an account due to Chapter 2 issues.
Slack security
Administrators on the Slack can see email addresses and we can bulk email, however, we do not and have not used emails to contact people in bulk. Emails are not visible to others on the Slack workspace but people can Direct Message (DM) and those messages are not visible to administrators.
In line with good security principles we strongly suggest using two factor authentication for the Slack group.
You will need this for each Slack workspace that you have joined.
Weekly office hours
In order to support people and manage the time we can dedicate to that support, we have office hours which are currently on a Monday from 3pm-4pm GMT through a Microsoft Teams link that is shared in the #announcements channel in the NHS-R Slack group. The meeting is moved to a Tuesday when England has a public holiday on the Monday and these changes are announced in the Slack group. The weekly office hours are for anyone to come along, without needing to schedule, with any issues with R or RStudio as part of the NHS-R Community. The meetings are run by Chris Beeley, Zoë Turner and Tom Jemmett on a rotating basis and is open to anyone who wishes to support this in the community. We keep a record of the upcoming meetings in a Google sheet.
You are also free to come for a chat!
Twitter
The account for Twitter is managed by Chris Beeley, Zoë Turner and the administrative support for NHS-R Community. During events like the conference we extend this account access to interested NHS-R Community members who’d like to tweet from the account. We encourage retweeting and the use of hashtags during the conference which usually are often in the format #NHSRConf23.
The Twitter account is used to promote NHS-R Community activities and any other #RStats related content that will be of interest to a wide audience.
Fosstodon server on Mastodon
With the change in ownership to Twitter and a great deal of the NHS-R Community audience moving to Mastodon an NHS-R Community account is also managed through the open source content server, Fosstodon. This account, like for Twitter is managed by Chris Beeley, Zoë Turner and the administrative support for NHS-R Community.
Website
The NHS-R Community website is built using WordPress and managed through VergeLabs. We use the website to promote the NHS-R Community but also as an event management system where people can join the community events like the monthly webinars, conferences and other events.
Joining the website
Signing up is at no cost but email addresses are visible to the maintainers of the website, VergeLabs and also Chris Beeley, Zoë Turner and the administrative support for NHS-R Community. We do not use email addresses to bulk email and contact is only ever in relation to the event that has been signed up for.
Access to register events is based on the membership level and the default is fringe member. Core memberships is available to all NHS, public sector and civil servants and allows registration to all workshops and webinars. We restrict the numbers to workshops and so restrict places to just Core members. Webinars though, don’t have the same restrictions and so are open to both Core and Fringe members to attend the live event. The site automatically detects emails according to a white list that is maintained through the website and so we can add to that when notified at nhs.rcommunity@nhs.net.
Changes of emails on website
As emails can be changed we will periodically go through and update personal emails to Fringe from Core, particularly around events like the conference. This is because tickets are restricted in number and we have to be mindful of people’s work situations changing.
Confirming Core membership
If you are in a situation where you would like a Core membership but can only apply as a Fringe member (for example you cannot use your work email and wish to use gmail, google and so on) or your account has been reset in prepartion for events like the conference please contact nhs.rcommunity@nhs.net with details of your situation.
Deletion of website membership
Currently, as the accounts are only used for event subscriptions, account from organisations that are known to have been closed will be deleted unless there is some other work attributed to the account (for example blogs). Under these circumstances the accounts will be moved the Fringe.
As of July 2023 the following accounts affected by this deletion are:
Future deletions are expected for:
Password resets
It is possible to request a password reset, however, if this is going to an address that has changed due to organisational change or you have moved job, please contact nhs.rcommunity@nhs.net for this to be updated manually.
Mailing list
Currently the NHS-R Community does not hold a mailing list as we will have to ensure strict compliance with GDPR. It is advised to sign up to any system related to NHS-R Community with a work address but where a private address is used we will try to ensure that this is not shared.