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Media Enterprise Design Lab
University of Colorado Boulder


In this handbook, we document our own processes, to support our own work and for transparency with our stakeholders.

Purpose

MEDLab is a think tank for community ownership and governance in media organizations. See more information on programs and personnel on the website's About page.

Governance

  • CommunityRule link: merge Circles and BD
  • Code of Conduct: Contributor Covenant?
  • Tips for getting involved

Process

  • Chat
  • Weekly standups
  • Occasional circle and all-hands meetings

Technology

MEDLab hosts its own software in order to participate in the free/open-source software (FLOSS) commons, and in order to protect our practices from surveillance-based business models. We host the following tools on a Digital Ocean droplet:

Cloudron [my.medlab.host]

What it is: Cloudron is a tool created by a small business that makes it easier to deploy and manage multiple open FLOSS tools on a server. We have a relationship with the company and they provide excellent support. It sits in the background and isn't really user-facing.

How it works: Cloudron automatically updates our apps and backs up their data. We don't need to worry about it too much. It is through Cloudron that we create accounts that can be used on the other apps we use, as it manages accounts centrally.

NextCloud [cloud.medlab.host]

The primary tool we use to manage files. It includes

  • Deck - A kanban-style tool for managing workflows.
  • Element - see information on Matrix below.

Matrix [cloud.medlab.host/riotchat] - Our main communication tool. Access it through the Element client from within NextCloud, or using a Matrix-compatible mobile app (such as Element). The server is hosted on Cloudron at matrix.medlab.host.

[Divide the above info into “What it is” and “how to use it” for each tool.]

Additionally, for the [https://www.colorado.edu/lab/medlab/|MEDLab website] we use the [https://drupal.org|Drupal]-based system maintained by the university. We use this for:

  • Basic information about MEDLab projects and personnel
  • Event pages and registration forms
  • Blog posts on our work

Currently, only Nathan has admin access to the website.

Economics

Processes for managing budgeting, etc.

On-boarding

TKTK the steps for creating accounts

Setting up profile on website

How to set up payment, submit invoices, etc.