Other Online Tech Tools

Commonly used digital tools which aren't covered in the other books on the Tech and Data shelf

Movement Calendar and Events Map

How to: - find events of interest near you - add events - share events, calendars or maps

Movement Calendar and Events Map

How to find events using the Calendar

Click here to access the calendar on TeamUp. You can view it either in a browser, or in the TeamUp App on a mobile device.
Below is a summary of the basic uses of the tool. For a full guide, see the TeamUp documentation

Event Summary

Hover your mouse pointer over an event and you will see a summary of the event information.

Event Details

Click on an event title and you will see all the event information
Note particularly the Register Link box and the small icon to the bottom right of it. Click here and a new tab will open for you to contact the event coordinator or register for the event.

Searching/Filtering Events

You might want to see just events related to a particular topic or group or location. Simply enter text into the Filter box (where it says 'by keyword')

If you enter any word it will show all events with that word somewhere in the event information.
If you want to seach for a phrase, enclose it in quotes "dirty water" Otherwise it will find events with either word in it "Dirty" OR "Water" which is probably not what you wanted.
You can also search for icons in the events - some common icons are displayed below the filter box and you can copy these from there eg drumming 🥁
You can also search for events flagged as related to a specific Region/Nation (or UK Wide events)
And events that involve specific Action Support roles.

Calendar Views

There are multiple ways of viewing the calendar information:
Usually the 4 Weeks (grid) view, or the Agenda (list) view are used.

Date Range

Depending on the view you have selected you will have the option to pick a display date range, you can always return to a view based on today by clicking the Today button

Sub Calendar

Select one or more of these as appropriate:

Please note that secret events are not included in the public view.

Movement Calendar and Events Map

How to find events near you using the Map

The events map shows events across the whole UK.
It's helpful to bookmark this on your phone for use during Outreach.

Finding Events

On a mobile device click the down arrow to see search options

On a desktop or mobile device click the down arrow again to see full search options

Zoom in to your location by postcode

In the 'Postcode lookup' box, type in the first part of your postcode and the map will zoom to display at least two events centered geographically on your location.

Searching/Filtering Events

You might want to see just events related to a particular topic or group or location. Simply enter text into the 'Text Search' box.

If you enter any word it will show all events with that word somewhere in them. If you want to seach for a phrase, enclose it in quotes "dirty water" Otherwise it will find events with either word in it "Dirty" OR "Water" which is probably not what you wanted. You can also search for icons in the events eg drumming 🥁
Some common icons used in events are:
🔥 Protest
📣 March
🥁 Drumming
💥 Campaign
🎭 Performance/Theatre eg Reds
🍄 Community Assembly
⚖️ Court case
🎪 Circus/Festival
⛺ Camping

If you have already used the postcode search and then use the text search, you may need to manually zoom out using the arrows in the top left of the screen to display the search results on the map.

Event Summary

Hover your mouse pointer over an event to see the event title.

Event Details

Click on an event title or pin to see the details.
A button will display to CONTACT / REGISTER for the event if details have been added in the calendar entry.

Movement Calendar and Events Map

Adding Calendar Events - Submit a Form

You can submit entries to the Movement Calendar here

Alternatively, you can request that the information is added by your area’s calendar admin (this may be your Regional Gardener, M&M Coordinator or someone nominated from your group or community).

Visit the list of current Calendar Admins to find the Admin for your Region, Nation or group (requires a hub login).

Updating / Correcting Calendar Events

Please make sure details are accurate to avoid publishing incorrect information. It is the responsibility of the group/person submitting the form to make sure that any changes are updated in the calendar (either by submitting a fresh form with comments that this is an update, or by contacting a Calendar Admin, or by contacting the Admin Team using the links below)
Calendar Mattermost Reception | Email: mov.calendar@extinctionrebellion.uk

In addition, if you require an update to a UK action/event where the change of info might impact other teams, contact the M&M and email team ASAP via
M&M Mattermost Reception or Email: mov.comms@extinctionrebellion.uk

Movement Calendar and Events Map

Adding Calendar Events - Calendar Editor

Adding Calendar Events - Directly in TeamUp

If you only rarely add events to the calendar, it is probably easiest to just complete the calendar form.

If you regularly add events for your group/team/community then you will be assigned a private edit link for the calendar, which allows you to create and edit events.

If you are interested in becoming a Calendar Admin for your area, contact the Calendar Team here: Calendar Mattermost Reception | Email: mov.calendar@extinctionrebellion.uk

Once you have your personal edit link, simply open TeamUp using your personal edit link, click on a date when you want to add an event and a popup will open prompting you to add information This next section explains tips for each of the fields to help get your event found easily.

Example event

Event Title

This is what a user will see first, so keep it short, descriptive and ideally include an overall location. We also suggest using some of these emoticons as the first characters, so that users can visually see what type of action it is (this has been added to the Key in the Calendar itself as well):

Some teams have also decided on a specific emoticon to flag their events and allow for easier filtering eg ☄️for XR London.

Dates & Times

Events can be scheduled as all day, or include start and end times.
Repeating events can also be created, for example a meeting that is held on the third Tuesday of every month.

Sub Calendar

Select one or more of these as appropriate:

Where (full address please)

If a specific location is known (and you are happy to share it publicly) then put this in here.
So that integration with the website map will work, a full address with postcode is required. Don't add anything else like "around the back of" or a W3W location (these details should go in the description).

If you only want to specify a vague location, use a Town name.

For online local meetings, add the Town name here so that the meeting will show up on the map and nearby rebels will find it, and specify that the meeting is online in the 'Description' box.

Further address location information can always be included in the 'Description' field, see below.

Region/Nation

Choose from the drop-down list of Regions/Nations or select UK Wide. This field is to make it easier for teams to filter events and ensure they are publicised across their area where appropriate.

Who

Put a general team name in here, for example XR London, XR SE. You can put several names in here if collaborating with others. Don't put an individual's name.

This can be a URL, an Action Network event form, an email, a link to a Facebook event - basically some way for rebels to contact you if they are interested. Only add the primary link in here - if there is more than one way to register or contact you, add these in the description box This button will display in the event on the map.

Description

Use this field to explain the event, add hyperlinks, embed images, etc.

Support Crews

Please select all the support roles applicable to this action. This helps publicise actions that need say Outreach or Stewards to those teams so they can help support the action. Adding support crew this way doesn't guarantee their availability and you should still contact Actions Support

Updating / Correcting Calendar Events

It's fine to add a placeholder event whilst details are finalised so rebels at least save the date (but add that details to be added later in the description) .
Please make sure details are accurate to avoid publishing wrong info.
It is the responsibility of the group/person with calendar access rights to make sure that any changes are updated in the calendar directly.

If an update or correction relates to a UK action/event where the change of info might impact other teams, contact the M&M & email team ASAP:
M&M Mattermost Reception | Email: mov.comms@extinctionrebellion.uk

If you have any problems, you can contact the Calendar team via:
Calendar Mattermost Reception | Email: mov.calendar@extinctionrebellion.uk

Movement Calendar and Events Map

Sharing Events, Calendars or Maps

Sharing an Event from the Calendar

From within an event details window, click 'Share' and then 'As Page'. This will give you a webpage with all the event details on.

Sharing More of the Calendar

This is a useful feature if you want to share a pre-filtered version of the calendar with your teams, maybe in your newsletters.
Simply add ?keywords=xxxxx (where xxxxx is the filter you want to apply) to the end of the url you intend to share:

The London events would be https://teamup.com/kswyi17ixzj7f9i7fu?keywords=London
This is one of the reasons it is useful to add your Region as a keyword somewhere in your events.

Alternatively, you can generate a link to share a version of the calendar with filters, a view and date ranges etc. To do this click the small button just below the 'Filter' box.

Embedding Calendars in your own Webpage

TeamUp provides a easy tool to create the code to embed a filtered version of the calendar in your own webpage

Sharing a personal map from within Action Network

By adding a hyperlink in an Action Network email you can send rebels a link that will open the map centered on their postcode with a zoom to show at least two events. If they have no postcode a UK map will be displayed.

The specific code to enter in the url box is this https://eventmap.extinctionrebellion.uk/#{{ZipCode|default:'55.141209,-3.240964'|truncatewords:1,''|upcase}}/6/quarter/action,local,external//?no_rewrite=true (note code modified to allow insertion in both HTML and drag & drop Action Network email editors)
Use this code as is. Action Network will do the work just before sending out the email of taking the rebel's postcode and embedding the start of it in the email that goes out.

Sharing a specific Location Map link

If you want to send a link to a map centered on a specific location (useful to add to your local group newsletters) then simply add /#xxxx to the end of the basic map url https://eventmap.extinctionrebellion.uk where xxxx is the start of your location postcode.
So https://eventmap.extinctionrebellion.uk/#OX16 would share a map centered on OX16 and zoomed to display at least 2 events

Sharing a specific Actions only Map link

If you want to send a link to a map just showing Actions (useful to add to Action Planner group newsletters) then simply use this link.
So https://eventmap.extinctionrebellion.uk/#53.988395,-1.977539/6/quarter/action// would share a map centered on UK and showing only Actions in next 3 months.

Technical Information - Map URL structure

The map URL fragment (the bit after the #) consists of the following elements, separated with slashes:

When the map is moved or settings changed, the URL updates. If you link to the page using a fragment that follows these rules, it will use those settings. This is ideal for embedding in iframes or including in emails etc.

Local Group Map

Designed to help locate and contact any local XR group in the UK


LGmap.png

The Local Group Map can be viewed directly or via the XRUK website

The use the map:

If you want to add or update your Local Group's information (contact email or social media links) please email map@extinctionrebellion.uk

The map on the XR Global website takes information from our map (updated approximately monthly) - you don't have to request updates independantly to the global team as we are providing info to them to keep their map aligned with ours.

Applying for and using extinctionrebellion.uk email accounts

Applying for and using extinctionrebellion.uk email accounts

Applying for an @extinctionrebellion.uk email account

This page explains which groups are eligible for XR email addresses, and how groups can apply.

Is your group eligible?

The following types of group may be issued with @extinctionrebellion.uk email addresses :

Addresses cannot be issued to:

Is your group on the 'Communications Hub'?

Addresses can only be issued to groups whose existence has been recorded on the XR UK Communications Hub since we1 use the Hub to verify requests. If your group is not yet listed you should ask your 'Group Admin' or the 'Group Admin' of your parent circle3 to help with this.

Are you personally on the 'Communications Hub'?

The applicant should be personally listed on the Hub as holding a core role2 in the group requesting an email. If you're not yet listed you should ask your 'Group Admin' or the 'Group Admin' of your parent circle3 to help with this (more here).

How to apply

If you're happy that you/your group meet the above criteria please make your request with a message to this chat channel (on XR's Mattermost).

If you need an address urgently but are unable to immediately fulfil all the above criteria, please ask for advice in the above channel anyway: we may be able to find a workaround.

Footnotes:
  1. Who is 'we'? Your-group@extinctionrebellion.uk email addresses are administered by the Digital Discussions Applications Team
  2. A 'core role' would be any of 'External Co-ordinator', 'Internal Co-ordinator' or 'Group Admin'.
  3. 'Parent circle': For local groups, the 'parent circle' would be your regional group

This page has been contributed by the Digital Discussions Applications Team. February 2023.

Applying for and using extinctionrebellion.uk email accounts

Logging in to your XR email account via Webmail

WebmailLogin.png

OpenRoundCube.png

This page has been contributed by the Digital Discussions Applications Team.

Applying for and using extinctionrebellion.uk email accounts

Logging in via an external email client

The most secure way to access your email account is by using the webmail interface via your browser (see this page).  This avoids mail being unnecessarily downloaded to your device which could be a problem should your device ever find itself in the wrong hands!  If you find handling the login details for webmail difficult and/or time consuming, please consider using a password vault such as KeePassXC or Bitwarden1 which are capable of automatically filling in login page details.

However, if you do need to have external access, here's some guidance on how to set it up on various services...

iOS for iPhone/iPad/iPod and

MacOS Mail.app and

Windows Live Mail

Mozilla Thunderbird

Assuming you already have Thunderbird installed on your computer, Mozilla provide instructions for setting up account access here.  Check our "Find the 'mail client manual settings' from your @extinctionrebellion.uk email account" section below so that you know what to enter into Thunderbird.

Gmail

Please consider whether you really want to give Google access to your XR email account.  Whilst Google security against intruders is good enough, the problem lies within.  Google harvests your (and your correspondent's) data.  Gmail is free because you are the product.  But if you must...

Note that Gmail doesn't provide IMAP access (only POP3), so changes made on your device (eg: deleting an email) will not automatically be sychronised with the main @extinctionrebellion.uk (C-panel) account and vice-versa.

1) Receiving via Gmail

To set up receiving your @extinctionrebellion.uk mail in your Google account:

2) Sending via Gmail

To set up sending your @extinctionrebellion.uk mail from your google account:

If the above information hasn't worked, it's worth checking that the suggested entries haven't changed since this guidance was written.   See the section below.

Find the 'mail client manual settings' from your @extinctionrebellion.uk email account:

The 'mail client manual settings' is the information, specific to your XR email account, that you may need in order to set up external access (Eg: if requested by a provider for whom we've not already given instructions). To find this information (our server URL and port numbers etc):

Option 1
Option 2

Footnotes

  1. XR-UK also hosts it's own version of Bitwarden (a.k.a. The Vault) upon which your group could store it's passwords. See this page for more info.
  2. @rebellion.earth accounts: When setting up access for an old @rebellion.earth email account please just read '@rebellion.earth' in place of all references to '@extinctionrebellion.uk' on this page

This page has been contributed by the Digital Discussions Applications Team.

Applying for and using extinctionrebellion.uk email accounts

Using Email Folders

This page shows how to create and use email folders for your @extinctionrebellion.uk account1 via our 'Roundcube' Webmail interface. However, if you're accessing your emails via a third party app using IMAP (not POP3), then you'll be able to carry out these operations via that software also, and changes made there will automatically be copied into the Webmail account.

Why use folders?

Folders allow you to organise your mails. Our Webmail comes with some folders already created. These are:

You may want to create extra folders for various reasons such as:

How to create Folders in Webmail

  1. Firstly you'll need to log into Webmail.

  2. From within Roundcube, click on the 3 dots next to your email name, and then on 'Manage Folders'.

IMAGE: managefolders.png

  1. With the 'Folders' tab selected (under 'Settings'), click on 'Create'.

IMAGE: folders_create.png

  1. Enter the folder name (Eg: Outreach) and click on 'Save'.

NOTES:

  1. The information on this page also applies to older @rebellion.earth emails. Just read @rebellion.earth wherever @extinctionrebellion.uk is mentioned.

This page has been contributed by the Digital Discussions Applications Team.

Applying for and using extinctionrebellion.uk email accounts

Plus addressing

What is 'Plus-addressing'?

If your group might benefit from separate addresses for different working groups or campaigns, this can be achieved by using something called 'plus addressing' which permits variations of your main email address to be sent to different folders.

For example, let's assume that Trumpton local group holds the trumpton@extinctionrebellion.uk address. Their outreach team could use trumpton+outreach@extinctionrebellion.uk .  The team would still log in to the main Trumpton account, but rather than their mail being mixed in with everything else in the inbox, it would all be grouped together in the 'Outreach' folder.

In other words, any incoming mail with a 'plus address' that matches a folder name will jump the main 'inbox' and instead be added directly that folder.

Prepare your account for plus addressing

Before giving out your 'plus address' you need to manually create a folder within 'Roundcube' called (eg:) 'outreach'. You'll then be able to invite people to mail to (eg:) trumpton+outreach@extinctionrebellion.uk, and mail to that address will land in the (eg:) outreach folder.

If no matching folder has been created then 'plus address' mail should land in the main 'Inbox' folder. Automatic creation of folders when receiving 'plus addresses' is possible, but we disable that feature by default on account set-up (to avoid the risk of spammers creating havoc in your folder structure).

Sending from a plus-address

Assuming that you want to be able to send from your plus-address as well as receive mail into it, you'll need to set up an additional 'identity' for your account. In order to do this:

newidentity.png

Now when you go to compose a new email the plus-address will be amongst the available identities to send from. Click on the default email address that is automatically showing in the 'From' field. In the drop-down menu, select the plus-address identity that you want to send from. The 'Reply-To' field will automatically be updated.

This page has been contributed by the Digital Discussions Applications Team.

Applying for and using extinctionrebellion.uk email accounts

Forwarding and filtering @extinctionrebellion.uk emails

This page describes methods of forwarding all, or just certain types, of email onwards from your @extinctionrebellion.uk email accounts1. This is an alternative to accessing your mail directly, either via Webmail or via an external email client

Why forward?

Forwarding can permit mail from your @extinctionrebellion.uk email account to be sent to any other email account that your group uses so that all mail is combined in one place. However it has the disadvantage that any replies to emails from those places will not then be from your @extinctionrebellion.uk email account. You might want to consider doing things the other way around, setting your non-xr account to forward into your xr account. For instructions to do that you'll need to check the help pages of your other email provider.

Forwarding can also act as a method of disseminating emails to various different addresses, but if doing that you'll need very clear agreements about which members of your team are dealing with which emails or things may get very confusing! This feature is probably most useful for allowing group members who aren't actively involved with responding to emails to nevertheless be able to monitor ongoings and keep abreast with incoming news.

Forwarding vs Filtering

Forwarding is more basic than filtering. It's used when you don't want to keep copies of forwarded email in your @extinctionrebellion.uk email account, whereas filtering can send mail onwards whilst also retaining mails in your @extinctionrebellion.uk inbox (or any other folder of your choice). Filtering can also sort emails according to (eg) subject line content or plus-address name, and send mails to different places accordingly.

How to set up 3 scenarios (A to C) is set out below:

(A) Forward all incoming mail to one or more other email accounts

If you don't need a copy of the incoming mail to remain in your @extinctionrebellion.uk email account then the easiest way to set up forwarding is as follows:

  1. Log in to your accounts 'Webmail Home' page. See this page if you're unsure how to do this.

  2. You should now be on the 'Webmail Home' page of your account which should look like this:

    WebmailHome_Forwarding.png If your account automatically enters the 'Roundcube' inbox page upon login, click on the 'CP Webmail Home' button in the left menu in order to return here.
    CPWebmailHm_Button.png

  3. Click on the 'Forwarders' button,

  4. On the 'Forwarders' page click on the 'Add Forwarder' button,

  5. Enter the email address you want to forward to into the 'Destination - Forward to Email Address' text box,

  6. Check that you've typed the email correctly!

  7. Click on the 'Add Forwarder' button,

  8. Repeat steps 4-7 for any additional email addresses that you also wish to forward to.

(B) Filtering: Forward mail whilst retaining copies in your @extinctionrebellion.uk inbox

  1. Follow steps (1) and (2) in section (A) above.

  2. Click on the 'Email Filters' button.

  3. On the 'Email Filters' page click on the 'Create a new filter' button.

  4. In the 'Filter Name' box enter a description for your filter. Eg: 'Forward all to our Protonmail account'.

  5. Under 'Rules' click on the left-hand drop-down menu. It displays 'From' as default: Click on 'Any recipient',

  6. You can leave the right-hand drop-down menu as is. It displays 'Contains' as default.

  7. Click into the text box below the drop-down menus and enter your @extinctionrebellion.uk email address.

  8. Under 'Actions' click on the drop-down menu. It displays 'Discard Message' as default: Click on 'Deliver to Folder' instead. A text box will appear below.

  9. Click on the 'Browse' button to the right of the text box, and select 'INBOX' (or whichever folder you want the incoming mail to be stored in).

  10. Click on the '+' button to the right of the screen on the 'Actions' line to add a second action.

  11. A new drop-down menu (default 'Discard Message') will appear. This time select 'Redirect to Email'.

  12. Enter the email address that you want mail to be forwarded to into the text box.

  13. If you want mail to be forwarded to any additional addresses repeat steps 10-12.

  14. Click on the 'Create' button.

CreateFilters_Numbered.png

(C) Filtering: Forward only selected types of email

Filtering provides endless possibilities for automatically sorting your incoming mail. This example just looks at how to selectively forward in conjunction with using plus-addressing.

Let's assume that you want to use a plus-address for your Outreach working group (eg: yourgroup+outreach@extinctionrebellion.uk) to automatically forward to the private email of one of the working group members (eg: 'Amber'), and that you have already created a folder called 'Outreach' in which to store copies of forwarded mail. All other incoming mail is to go to the inbox folder as normal:

  1. Follow steps (1) to (3) in section B above.

  2. In the 'Filter Name' box enter a description for your filter. Eg: 'Forward Outreach-WG to Amber'.

  3. Under 'Rules' click on the left-hand drop-down menu. It displays 'From' as default: Click on 'To' 2

  4. You can leave the right-hand drop-down menu as is. It displays 'Contains' as default.

  5. Click into the text box below the drop-down menus and enter your @extinctionrebellion.uk email plus-address (eg: yourgroup+outreach@extinctionrebellion.uk)

  6. Under 'Actions' click on the drop-down menu. It displays 'Discard Message' as default: Click on 'Deliver to Folder' instead. A text box will appear below.

  7. Click on the 'Browse' button to the right of the text box, and select (eg:) 'Outreach' (or whichever folder you want the forwarded mail to be copied to)

  8. Click on the '+' button to the right of the screen on the 'Actions' line to add a second action.

  9. A new drop-down menu (default 'Discard Message') will appear. This time select 'Redirect to Email'.

  10. Enter the email address that you want mail to be forwarded to into the text box (eg: ambers_private@her_domain.com)

  11. If you want mail to be forwarded to any additional addresses repeat steps 8-10.

  12. Click on the 'Create' button

FilterToPlusAddress_Numbered.png

NOTES:

  1. The above information also applies to older @rebellion.earth emails. Just read @rebellion.earth wherever @extinctionrebellion.uk is mentioned above.
  2. 'To' is used here rather than 'Any recipient' because otherwise mail sent to yourgroup@extinctionrebellion.uk and cc-ed to yourgroup+outreach@extinctionrebellion.uk would be caught by the filter and only go to the Outreach team, missing the main inbox. Using 'To' does mean that any mail cc-ed or bcc-ed to the Outreach team will not get to them automatically (will need to be forwarded manually by whoever checks the main inbox), but this will generally be better than such mail skipping the main inbox.

This page has been contributed by the Digital Discussions Applications Team.

Applying for and using extinctionrebellion.uk email accounts

Email account queries & help

If you need help with your XR email account, and you can't find the answer within this chapter of the Rebel Toolkit please contact us either:

Applying for and using extinctionrebellion.uk email accounts

Importing and exporting contacts from webmail

If you want to import contacts to Roundcube, you can use a CSV file (such as can be produced by Excel).

Roundcube requires specific column headings in the CSV file, to match either MS Outlook, Thunderbird or Atmail.

These are:

MS Outlook 2010

Thunderbird

Atmail

You do not have to include all the fields.

Note that spaces and letter case are significant.

Hide your phone number from others using Telegram

By default, when you join a Telegram channel your phone number is visible to all others in the channel.

This can lead to you being contacted by spammers, including on other platforms like WhatsApp. The Direct Message facility in Telegram can be used to contact someone without involving their phone number.

The settings in Telegram can be changed to hide your phone number. The steps are almost exactly the same on a phone as a desktop or laptop.

Click the three horizontal lines in the top left of the Telegram window.

[ThreeLines.jpg]

Click Settings

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Click Privacy and Security

Privacy.jpg

In the Privacy section click the text to the right of Phone number, change the setting to Nobody or My contacts depending on who you trust.

You will then see an overview of your setting, and note that there are a few other settings that could also be changed.

Then Save

Tools for scheduling meetings: When2Meet & LettuceMeet

Free tool to help groups decide which times suit them to be together.

Note: Whilst both When2Meet and LettuceMeet are easy to use, Lettucemeet is easier to use on a mobile device than When2Meet. Lettucemeet also allows you to sign in and see all of the polls you have created, so it may be more useful if you need to do a lot of scheduling.

Filling in a When2meet

Filling in a LettuceMeet

‘Reading’ a When2meet or Lettucemeet

Setting up a When2meet

Setting up a Lettucemeet

The Vault

The Vault is a password manager hosted by XR using BitWarden/Vaultwarden software. It is a place for XR groups to securely store and share the passwords to their online accounts.

What is a password manager?

A password manager is a tool that lets you store all of your passwords together in a safe place. Browsers such as Firefox have this facility. It allows you to generate and securely store passwords that are very strong (e.g. cj*XknvKPgg9b5) because they are not guessable but you don't have to remember them. Instead, you have to know the one master password to access them. This makes life easier for you and much harder for hackers.

You can store lots of passwords, even ones you created years ago if you wish. And you can also store other codes like bike locks and notes you don't want to lose or leave lying around. That said, XR may not be around forever, so our servers will not be the best place for storing important personal information such as bank account logins!

Using our XR Vault you'll be able to access passwords from each of the XR groups that you're involved with as well as your own private storage area.

How do I join the Vault?

Ask your XR group's Group Admin to send you an invite to your group's organisation in the Vault. If your group doesn't yet have an organisation see here

  1. Check your emails. You should have received an email: invite-email.png

  2. Click on Join Organization Now.

You will see: joining.png

  1. Click on Create account

You will see:
Screenshot_2021-03-24-Create-account-Bitwarden-Web-Vault.png

  1. Fill in your email address and name (an alias is fine)

  2. Create your password [minimum of 12 characters]

It is important to choose a master password that is really hard to guess (the Vault will tell you whether it is a strong password or not) and you shouldn't use this password anywhere else. If there's any chance that you might forget this master password, make sure to record it somewhere safe. See also Don’t get locked out of your vault account below

Type your master password then click Submit.

  1. You have now created an account on the Vault and can begin to use it to store your passwords.

If you want access to the passwords shared by your group you need to do some additional steps:

  1. From your Vaultwarden homepage click on Settings in the left side menu, and then on My account

    FindKeyPhrase_Annott.png

  2. Under the My Account section note down your account's fingerprint phrase. This will be a string of five random English words (e.g. alligator-transfer-laziness-macaroni-blue).

    image903.png

  3. Send this fingerprint phrase to your group admin. This will help them to identify you and give you access to the group's passwords.

What if my XR group isn't already using the Vault?

If you want your group to be able to use the Vault, have your group's Secretary, Internal Coordinator, External Coordinator or Group Admin get in touch with the Digital Discussions Applications Team using this Mattermost channel. They can then create the Vault organisation and give you access so you can begin sharing passwords within your group.

How do I access the Vault?

Accessing the vault via the web interface

The most straightforward way to use the Vault on your computer is by simply going to it's web page. Enter https://vault.extinctionrebellion.uk/ into the URL bar of your web browser and you'll be presented with the login page.

However, it is more convenient to use, and more secure, to install a browser extension (see next paragraph).

Accessing the Vault via laptop or PC (web browser extension)

For regular users of the Vault on laptop or PC it's very worthwhile to take a moment to install the Bitwarden browser extension.

To install one of these:

  1. Go to the Download part of the Bitwarden website and scroll down to the Web Browser section:

rMcwebbrowserext.png

  1. Click on the browser that you are using and install the extension.

  2. You should now see a small shield icon at the top-right of the browser window:

    smallericon.png

    If you click on this the following screen should pop up:

    BrowserExt_Login_Annott.png

    Click on the Logging in on drop-down menu (circled in red) and select self-hosted.

  3. Under SELF-HOSTED ENVIRONMENT, set the Server URL field to https://vault.extinctionrebellion.uk and click Save. You can ignore (leave blank) the fields under the 'Custom Environment' heading

    Screenshot-from-2021-04-28-11-56-25.png

  4. Click Log in, enter your email address and master password and then click Log in (top-right corner).

What doesn't work for laptop/PC access

Don't use Bitwarden's Desktop Apps. These apps (available for installation on Linux, MacOS and Windows) do not work properly with our self-hosted Vaultwarden software (tested April 2024). We don't believe this to be much of a problem since there are so many other ways to use the Vault

To access the Vault on your mobile device:

  1. Install Bitwarden from either the Google Play Store or Apple App Store

  2. Open the app. You will see a screen that looks like this:

    PhoneAppLogInPage_Annott.png

  3. Click on the Logging in on drop-down menu (circled in red above)

  4. Select Self-hosted
    PhoneAppSelectSH_Annott.png

  5. Enter https://vault.extinctionrebellion.uk in the Server URL field (circled red below) and then click Save (top right of screen). You can leave all the other fields blank
    PhoneAppSH_SetUp_Annott.png

  6. Back at the log in screen enter your email address. You may wish to select Remember me to avoid repeating this step. Click continue

  7. Enter your vault password in the master password field and click on Log in with master password

Using the Vault

The following instructions are mainly describing use via a laptop/pc web browser extension, but similar operations are also available via mobile devices and via direct web access

Adding new passwords

To add new passwords to the Vault for either new or existing accounts:

  1. Click on the small shield icon at the top right of your browser window and log in if necessary:

    smallericon.png

  2. You should see a screen like this:

    BrowserExt_MainScr_PlusCirc.png

  3. Click on the + icon in the top-right corner (circled in red). You should see a screen similar to this:

    path837.png

  4. Enter your username and password. If you want to generate a random secure password (strongly recommended!), click on the generate password icon circled in red.

  5. Click Save (top-right).

Filling existing passwords

To access the information in the Vault when you want to log in to a website:

  1. Click on the small shield icon at the top right of your browser window:

    smallericon.png

  2. You will now see a screen like this:

    path8423.png

  3. If the correct account appears under LOGINS then click on it and the username and password fields on the website page should automatically be filled.

    If the account is not there then you will need to search for it in the search bar circled in red. Once you have found the correct account you will have to copy and paste the username and password into the website.

Accessing your password history

If you generate a password and forget to save it to the Vault, you can retrieve it:

  1. Click on the small shield icon at the top right of your browser window:

    smallericon.png

  2. Click on Generator (circled in red):

    rqOpath8423.png

  3. Click Password History to access previously generated passwords.

Sharing passwords

You can only share passwords you create within your Organisation in the Vault. The passwords within your organisation can be assigned to Collections, and you can share collections with other people. You have total control over who can see, edit, etc. which collection, and who can invite others.

All this is documented in Get Started with Organizations in the Bitwarden docs. Be aware that our Vault is a self-hosted installation, and there are no charges for using it - always use our Vault, rather than the commercial Bitwarden one.

Vault management (for Vault owners)

This section is for those with 'owner' status for a vault

Granting access to a vault

If your vault account has 'owner' status for your group's vault then you are able to invite other members. To do this log into your account using the website https://vault.extinctionrebellion.uk and follow these steps:

  1. Click on the 'cube of cubes' (dice) button to the left of your avatar and select Admin Console, or click directly on Admin Console at the base of the left menu
  2. In the left hand menu click on Members
  3. Click on the Invite Member button

AddMember_Annott.png

  1. In the pop-up, enter the email address of the person to be invited
  2. Select the member role / status as appropriate. If the person is a well known & trusted member of your group then it's probably best to make them a fellow 'owner'. Having a number of owners helps avoid access to the group's vault from being lost
  3. Click Save

AddMember2_Annott_Bordered.png

Back on the members page you should now see 'Invitation sent' next to the email address of the person you've invited.

  1. You may wish to prompt that person to check their emails and accept the invitation. Send them this link help with the next steps: https://rebeltoolkit.extinctionrebellion.uk/link/1064#bkmrk-how-do-i-join-the-va . If they leave it too long (about 10 days??) then the invitation may expire. If they already have an XR Vaultwarden account then they can just log into that in order to accept the invitation, otherwise they'll be requested to set one up. Once they've logged into their account (new or existing) and accepted the invitation then they should send you their account's 'fingerprint phrase'
  2. At this stage you should see a 'Needs confirmation' label next to the new member's entry on the members page. Click on the '3 vertical dots' to the right of their entry
  3. Click on Confirm in the pop-up menu
  4. In the 'Confirm User' pop-up, compare the displayed 'fingerprint phrase' with the one that the new member sent you. If they're identical then click on Confirm

Removing access

If someone loses their phone, gets arrested, or has their devices compromised, you should remove their access as soon as possible.

You (as a vault owner) can remove someone's access to the group, or change which collections they have access to, by logging into your account using the website https://vault.extinctionrebellion.uk and accessing the 'Members' page as follows:

  1. Click on the 'cube of cubes' (dice) button to the left of your avatar and select Admin Console, or click directly on Admin Console at the base of the left menu
  2. In the left hand menu click on Members
  3. Click on the '3 verticle dots' to the right of the person concerned
  4. Click on 'Revoke access' (temporary) or 'Remove' (permanent) as appropriate MembersPageNew_Annott.png

What to do if someone leaves your group

If the person has had access to important passwords, you should assume they have a copy of them. So, as well as removing them from your group on the Vault, you should also CHANGE ALL THE PASSWORDS they had access to.

Don’t get locked out of your Vault account!

If your password is lost then there is no way to regain access to your account (it is designed to be secure after all). Any passwords that you’ve stored in your personal areas will be lost, although it will be possible for you to be re-invited to any shared group vaults after setting up a new account. If you were the sole ‘owner’ of a group’s vault then control of that will also have been lost, although others in your group (who you’d previously granted access to) should still be able to gain access in order to retrieve passwords.

So it’s best to take precautionary measures to ensure you never lose control of your vault.

These might include:

"Low KDF Iterations" warning

Following an update to the Vault software in August 2024 you will probably start seeing a "Low KDF Iterations" warning displayed on your main password manager page. Our advice is to please ignore the message for the time being. DDAT are considering whether any action actually needs to be taken, and will aim to draw up instructions on how to proceed if so. LowKDF_Warning_Annott.png

Where else can I find information?

Eventbrite

A well-recognised ticketing system for paid-for ticketed events, charging a fee for each ticket sale. There is also a free option for free events. Reasons to use Eventbrite could be: - you want to charge for tickets to your event (Eventbrite will do all the payment processing securely) - you want to invite non-XR people to your event (and therefore don't want to use XR's Action Network email list) You can set up email responses and pre-event reminder emails with info for ticket holders and also set limits to numbers of tickets at different prices.

Eventbrite

Creating your event: first steps and basic info page

You can create an Eventbrite account by following this link www.eventbrite.co.uk and clicking sign up in the top right corner.

You will then be asked to enter an email, name and password. We recommend you use an XR email address. We recommend that you do not use a personal Eventbrite account to create events for XR.

Once you have made your account, you will be able to create an event: click the button ‘Create an event’ that is now on Eventbrite’s top bar.

eventbrite P1 .png

If this is the first time you made an event, it will ask you several questions about how you will use the website. This will help set up the tools that Eventbrite has.

You will be then taken to this page, where you can click the orange ‘create event’ button that is now in the middle of the screen and the top bar.

eventbrite 2 .png

Editing the event - Basic info page

From here, you will then land on this basic info page. This is a scrollable page, scroll down to see the three main sections, which are Basic Info, Location, Date and Time.

eventbrite 3.png

Add an ‘Event Title’.

You then need to add the organiser’s name. This could be your Local or Regional/National/Commmunity group name, such as XR Midlands. Don’t put your real name down for security reasons!

You will then need to decide what type of event it is in the drop box, in our example above, we have chosen 'rally'.

You then should add some tags: this helps people find the event when they are searching on eventbrite. Examples you could use are, Extinctionrebellion, XR, Extinction_rebellion, climateactivism. You can choose up to 10 tags.

Location

eventbrite 5 .png

Now scroll down to the 'Location' section to add the address/location of your event. If your event is online you can select online as an option. If you do not know the address yet or it is still to be agreed click ‘to be announced’, as you can always edit this later.

Date and Time

eventbrite 4.png

Scroll down again to the Date and Time section and specific when the event is, and if it is a reccuring event. You can also choose if you display and start and end time when it is a live published event.

Once you have filled in the above details, click 'Save & Continue' to save your work. This does not publish the event. It just saves it.

You will then be sent to the main page to manage your event. This page has 4 main sections: Basic Info, Detials, Tickets, Publish. These sections can be found on the left sidebar.

Eventbrite has a very useful and extensive support section on their website as well as prompts all the way through the process.
The rest of this guide covers a more simple step-by-step approach to the main features of Eventbrite for ease of use.

Please note that Eventbrite sometimes changes its policies or costs. We will do our best to keep this guide updated, correct, and relevant.

Eventbrite

Creating your event: Main Details Page

Once you have followed the instructions on the previous page, you will be taken to this page, where you will be asked to go into more detail. This information will make up the main page people see when they click on the link to your event.

eventbrite 6.png

Main Event Image

First you can add a picture. This picture should be attention-grabbing but also informative. You can use https://extinctionrebellion.aktivisda.earth/en to make a good graphic. Once you have a graphic you can upload it by clicking ‘upload image’.

Summary

In the summary, you should include key but short details about the event, as you only have 140 characters.

Description

eventbrite 7.png

In the description you can give more details and go into more depth. You can include information about your event, locations, timings and also why people should come!

Include information about your refund policy (see later sections) and an email so people can contact you for questions about the event .

You could add more images or videos if desired.

Once finished click save.

Eventbrite

Creating your event: Tickets, Payouts and Refunds

New costs since 2023s Big One

Since the big one, Eventbrite has since added new costs for paid-for events. These are for each event, so if you have two events, you will have two fixed fees to pay.

26-100 tickets have a fee of £7.99 per event (probably affecting bookings for 1 large coach).

101-250 tickets have a fee of £19.99 per event (probably affecting bookings for 2+ large coaches).

Ulimtied tickets- £34.99 per event.

This is in addition to the per-ticket processing fees, which are still charged as a percentage of each ticket.

See More information about the changes here.

eventbrite 8.png

First click ‘Tickets’ on the left of your screen or 'Add tickets' in the middle of the screen, on the event dashboard page. This will open up a section to the right on your screen.

If your event is free to attend, select the 'free ticket' box, or if it's paid click the 'paid' box.

In the ticket name, Give it a name, such as 'Coach ticket to The Big One'. If you are offering different types of ticket you can specify those here, eg 'Coach ticket to The Big One- child'

For the available quantity add the amount you have capacity for. You can break up that capacity across multiple ticket types if needed.

It is important that you do not select ‘absorb fees’ when setting up the event, as this will mean you will be paying for the fees even if the ticket gets refunded, this will affect your payout from Eventbrite.

Make sure the currency is set to £ pounds and the country is set to the UK. Eventbrite payment processor should be automatically set.

You will then need to enter the time period the tickets will go on sale and an end time to stop selling tickets.

Once you have entered the name, amount of tickets, price of tickets (inclduding free) and time length for the sale of tickets, click save.

The payout from tickets sales

eventbrite 9.png

To withdraw the money paid for your ticket sales, on the event dashboard/edit page and once you have set tickets up, go to the left-hand sidebar, click ‘Payments & Tax’ and then 'Payout Method'. From here click ‘Add Payout Method’. This will then ask you to enter your bank account details.

Once you have entered your bank account details you will be sent the page below. To change the payout schedule click ‘Payout Schedule’ on the left side of the screen.

You can now chose from the following payment options:

eventbrite 11.png

However if you chose either of the second two options, Eventbrite will hold back 20% of the ticket sales until after the event. But you may still want to withdraw some of the funds- it could be useful if someone has paid a big deposit and can't wait until after the event to be repaid. On the negative side, multiple withdrawals makes keeping track of the accounting a bit more complicated.

Eventbrite charges VAT, so we don’t need to change or edit the tax settings.

Refund policy

You need to select a refund policy, which must be on your event page. Refund policies may not be changed retroactively. We recommend setting this to 'On a case-by-case basis'. This means that if someone wants to ask for a refund, they can email in with their order number and a possible reason why. Setting up auto refunds puts you at risk of bad actors or being left in a financially difficult situation.

You will get an email notification if someone asks for a refund. You must respond to this within 3 days, and the email from Eventbrite will tell you how to process the refund.

By default, fees are not refunded on orders. This means that the attendee will receive a refund for the amount they paid minus the Eventbrite fees. There are a couple of exceptions: If the refund is made before the charge has settled (usually within 24 hours), the original charge will be completely voided. If the refund reason is "COVID-19", "Duplicate order", or "Event cancelled or postponed", the fees will be refunded as well.

If there are enough funds in your event balance to cover the refund, then Eventbrite will use those to pay for the refund. If there aren't enough funds in your event balance to cover the refund (because you have withdrawn some of the money), you have two option:

To find out how to set the refund settings, go to the left-hand side bar on your events dashboard, then click ‘Payments & Tax’ and then click ‘Refund Settings’. You will need to select ‘On a case-by-case basis’ and click ‘Save’.

eventbrite 12.png

How to issue a refund

Go to the left-hand sidebar on your event dashboard, click ‘Manage Attendees’ and then ‘Orders’. To issue a refund, you will need either their name, email or order number. You can then use the search bar to search for this information. Press enter on the keyboard to generate the report.

eventbrite 13.png

Once you have found the order to be refunded, on the right side of the order information, click ‘Actions’, and on the drop box menu that opens select ‘Issue Refund’. Then fill out the refund details, including the refund reason, which tickets you want to refund and the amount you want to refund (this should be 100%, unless the purchaser has asked to donate some of the cost of the ticket). Then click continue, add any 'Notes to the buyer' and then click 'Issue Refund'.

evenrbrite 14.png

Eventbrite

Creating your event: Order Confirmation and Order From

Once someone buys a ticket, they will be shown an order confirmation page. It’s helpful to include some basic information, including event accessibility, timings, and an email so people can ask questions.

You should then also put this information on the email confirmation that people will receive.

To edit this page, on your event dashboard go to the left bar and click ‘Order Options’ and then click ‘Order Confirmation’. Then you can add details to the the confirmation webpage and the email confirmation in the boxes below. Make sure to use the XR email you used for the account and public enquiries, in the 'Default 'Reply-To' Email Address' box.

Once you have added the text you want, click ‘Save’ at the bottom right-hand of the screen.

eventbrite 15 ?.png

Order form

You can choose to ask more questions during the order, such as phone numbers. Eventbrite automatically collects full names, and email addresses, this can not be turned off. We recommend keeping the settings standard as you are unlikely to need to collect more than names and emails: do not collect more data than you need to. However, you may want to change the settings so it collects information on each attendee, as if a rebel books two tickets, then you only have the information for that one rebel. By collecting for each attendee you can easily track attendees on the day of the event. This will also mean you can email important updates to all attendees and not just to the person who made the booking.

To change this setting, you need to click ‘Order Options’ on the left hand side bar, then click ‘Order Form’. Then under “Collect information from’ click ‘Each attendee’ and then click 'Save' on the bottom right.

eventbrite 16.png

Eventbrite

Creating your event: Publishing and finding your event in your Eventbrite account

Once you are happy to publish your events, and have double checked all the text, information and settings are correct, then you can publish by going onto the events dashboard. Then clicking ‘4: Publish’ on the left hand side bar. This will give you an option to preview the event, as well as being able to decide if you want to publish straight away or schedule publishing for later. Once you are happy click ‘Publish’ on the bottom right corner.

Eventbrite 17.png

XR Volunteer Agreement and GDPR

Eventbrite has the ability to let you email ticket holders directly through Eventbrite. This functionality is only meant to be used to send email relating to that specific event. This does not mean you can then use this function to email about XR, just about the event you are organising.

Everyone who has access to the data from Eventbrite should sign the XR Volunteer Agreement here : XR Volunteer Agreement

You should only share data on a needs basis to rebels who signed the above agreement and dispose of any data you stored after using it.

Find out more about GPDR here : GDPR and Personal Data

How to find your event in your Eventbrite account

Log in and then click on the icon in the top right hand corner- which will be your account email or name. Then click ‘Manage my Events’. From here you can find all the events you are planning.

You will be taken to this page, which will list your next event. Click the 3 dots on the right hand side of the event title, and this will open up several options. ‘Copy URL’, can be used to share your event, and ‘Edit’, which takes you back to the event page, and you can use the same process as when making your event. Just make sure to click save on each page or setting you edit.

eventbrite 18.png

If you are running more than one event, you may need to click the calendar icon in the left sidebar, which says ‘Event’ as you hover over it with your mouse. Click this, and it will take you to all your upcoming events. This page will also tell you how many tickets are have been bought and the amount of money raised. Clicking your event will take you to the event dashboard.

19.png

The event dashboard will also tell you about ticket sales, page views, and links to share the event.

eventbrite 20.png

Eventbrite

How to send an update email and how to access your attendee list

Sometimes you may need to send an update about your event, such as changes to the time or place. There is also an automatic 2-day reminder email that Eventbrite sets up to remind people about the event.

To send an update email to your ticket holders, you need to go to the Event Dashboard (as described on the previous page), and on the left-hand side-bar, click ‘Manage Attendees’, which will open a new menu on the page, then click ‘Emails to Attendees’ in the left sidebar.

To send a new email click the orange ‘Create New Attendee Email‘ button on the right side of the screen.

eventbrite 21.png

This will then open a new page where you enter the name of your group; your reply to an email address; and the subject title of your email. To send to all ticket holders, select ‘All Attendees’ in the ‘To’ drop-down menu. Then you can add your text in the large text box labelled ‘Message’.

eventbrite 22.png

Once you’re happy with your email, you can send a test to your own email, to make sure you are happy with how the email looks, or for someone else to proofread the email. Enter your email (or your proofreaders email) in the ‘Send Test Message To’ text box and click ‘Send Test’. Then you can review if the email looks good.

Then you can either schedule the email for a specific day and time, or send the email straight away. Once ready click ‘Send Now’ to send the email straight away or ‘Save’ if you choose to schedule the email.

The email must be about the event onnly, with no other updates or email shout-outs.

eventbrite 23.png

How to access your attendee list

Accessing your attendee list can make it easier on the day to track who has and hasn’t turned up, and to an extra layer of security so that only people who are meant to be there are at the event. This can be done by ticking people’s names off against the list as they arrive at the event. There are also options to use your phones to check people into the event with an app, but on paper is a simple way to keep track.

To download the attendee list, on your Event Dashboard, go to the left sidebar, click ‘Manage Attendees’ then click ‘Attendee List’. This will then take you to a new page and give the option to ‘Download List as a PDF” button, click this and it will open a new tab with your attendee list.

eventbrite 24.png

Your attendee list should look something like the image below, which you can then print off or save. Remember to safely shred or dispose of this list once you are done with it. Only people who have signed the XR Volunteer Agreement and need to see this information should have access to this list.

eventbrite 25.png

Making simple QR codes

MakeAQRCodeShort.png

This is a QR Code. When you scan it with a QR code scanner app on a smartphone you can quickly get to a website, online document, or anything else with a URL. Here’s how to make one:

  1. Copy the website URL you want the code to take you to- eg: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ETk_vHQ8meD5xcFWn4v3jKqK8P8sjGGdra774KeYVks/edit?usp=sharing

  2. Go to https://xrb.link/ to shorten the URL.
    You need to do this because long links (like the one above) make complicated QR codes, which are harder for phones to scan. Without URL shortening, the QR code would look like this:

MakeAQRCodeLong.png

1.png

  1. Click shorten and your shortened link will appear.

2.png

  1. Click copy.

  2. Go to any of the many free QR code creation websites Eg:

It's best not to use any tracking offered by these sites - as it can sometimes put a expiry time on your QR code and stop it working. If you need tracking - contact that Data Insights and Analytics team on their mattermost reception here

  1. Click in the main box and paste the short URL into the window like this:

3.png

  1. Click Download and wait (ignore the box that pops up, you don’t need to fill anything in). When the download box pops up, choose save and save it where you want. Depending on how your computer is set up, the QR code may download automatically and save to your 'Downloads' folder.

4.png

  1. And that’s it, you have simple QR code which you can put on your leaflets, stickers and posters so people can get to your sign-up sheet, website, fundraider, Facebook page or whatever you want!

MakeAQRCodeShort.png

Zoom

Zoom

The basics of participating in XR Zoom meetings

Important Info

Zoom isn't secure as can give access to recordings, chat and live transcripts to the authorities. If discussing anything sensitive or spicy, don't add personal information to the chat and if you have the Closed Captions running, be aware that the Live Transcript will record everything that's said during the meeting which people can then save.

Comparing Zoom and the Big Blue Button

A short presentation comparing Zoom and Big Blue Button is available here

Using Zoom in a Session

When in Zoom, how do I mute myself / unmute and manage other Zoom settings?
Once logged into Zoom, you will want to ensure you are muted unless you are speaking.

See below image of the settings available in Zoom

In the above image you can see the Mute button on the bottom left-hand side of the Zoom meetings control panel.

Notes on when to keep yourself muted

When should I turn my camera off?

How do I write in the chat?

What must I do if I want to speak?

As mentioned earlier, to manage people speaking over one another, we have a method in XR for communicating whilst on Zoom and these are also used for in-person meetings - so, good to know!

Please note: - When you put one finger up to speak, you are added to a queue, as there may be a few people at one time who also want to communicate.

Zoom

Getting started on Zoom and troubleshooting

Helpful YouTube videos on all things Zoom!

Tech support direct from Zoom

Zoom's technical support pages will always give you the most up-to-date information. If you need to learn the basics of using Zoom, go to their page Getting Started with Zoom Meetings

Using Zoom on a computer- with Zoom installed

Downloading the Zoom app to your computer will give you more functionality than joining a meeting directly in your browser. There are two ways to join a meeting:

Then do ONE of the following:

Using Zoom on a computer- via a web browser

  1. Click the meeting invite link you received from the host (the session facilitator/ person who invited you), for example in your email or calendar invitation.
  2. On your web browser (open up a new page from your internet browser, i.e. click on either Chrome, Firefox etc), a pop-up window will prompt you to open or download the application.
  3. In the pop-up window, click Cancel (do not download Zoom)
  4. At the bottom of the page, click the 'Join From your Browser' link.
    Note: If you don’t see the link to join from the browser, the host may not have it enabled and you will have to join the Zoom Session by opening the Zoom client (app) or downloading it first.
  5. In the pop-up window at the top-left corner of the screen, click Allow to allow Zoom permission for your microphone and camera.
  6. In the Your Name field, enter a display name.
    (Optional) Select the Remember my name for future meetings check box.
  7. Click Join. You will join the Session as a guest.

Using Zoom on a phone

If you want to join a meeting from an Android or iOS device, you must download the Zoom mobile app.

Problems or Issues

That you have pop-ups blocked.

Try restarting and refreshing your computer.

Clear cache or browsing data

I cannot find the email for the Zoom Session for which I registered.

Zoom Controls

When in Zoom, how do I mute myself / unmute and manage other Zoom settings?
Once logged into Zoom, you will want to ensure you are muted unless you are speaking.

See below image of the settings available in Zoom

In the above image you can see the Mute button on the bottom left-hand side of the Zoom meetings control panel.

Notes on when to keep yourself muted

Zoom

Zoom Advice - Hosting Meetings

Make a plan

Plan a rehearsal

Set up early

Recruit a co-host

Send a welcome message to attendees

Mute participants upon entry

Prepare a greeting slide

Consider recording

More tips for a seamless zoom session

How to enable closed captions

captions button.PNG

How to admit participants from Waiting Room / How to unlock it

How to screen share

You may use this function to show slides etc but you will not be able to see your script

Watch Zoom support video on screen sharing

How to create break-out rooms

Watch Zoom support video on use of breakout rooms

Zoom

Creating Zoom events which require registration

If you’re planning to hold and advertise a meeting on Zoom please ensure that the meeting is set up securely to avoid unexpected guests.

See guidelines below on how to set up a recurring registration Zoom link or watch the support video for advice on how to:

To create a Zoom link which requires registration:

  1. Sign in to your Zoom account using a web browser: https://zoom.us
  2. In the navigation menu, click Meetings.
  3. Click Schedule a Meeting or edit an existing meeting.
  4. In the Registration section, select the Required checkbox.
  5. Click Save.

After scheduling the meeting, the Registration, Email Settings, and Branding tabs will appear.

To create a recurring Zoom link so you can use one Zoom link for multiple events:

How to video

  1. Sign in to the Zoom desktop client or via a browser: https://zoom.us
  2. On the Home tab, click Schedule. This will open a new window.
  3. Below the Time Zone option, select the check box next to Recurring Meeting.
  4. Edit the following recurrence options:
  1. Edit other meeting options as needed.
  2. Click Save

Extra info: click here

Big Blue Button

Big Blue Button

Big Blue Button Basics

Big Blue Button, or BBB, is an alternative to Zoom. It is free to use, and there are no time limits on using it.

BBB is at meet2.organise.earth

Why use the Big Blue Button?

Zoom is the most commonly used video conferencing tool however it doesn’t belong to XR so isn’t secure. If your topic of discussion is extremely sensitive and you don't want any interception then you should NOT be using Zoom. Zoom can view recordings of meetings and view messages and access links sent via Zoom chat. Big Blue Button is XR’s own video conferencing tool and more secure than Zoom. BBB is held on our XR secure servers and runs on renewable energy.

A short presentation comparing Zoom and Big Blue Button is available here.

A recorded video of the above presentation is here.

How to Use BBB Video

If you prefer visual learning to the instructions below, you can watch this video guide to learn the basics of using Big Blue Button.
Note: The video guide refers to an icon in Mattermost to start a Big Blue Button call without an account. Unfortunately, this is no longer available.

Requesting A BBB Account

The advantage to having an account for your XR group is that anyone (irrespective of whether they have a Hub log-in or not) can access a BBB meeting. Once you have an account, you can create as many 'rooms' as you like within your account (giving each room a name such as Anchor Group, M&M, Actions etc) and each room has a unique URL [address]. You copy the URL for the room and send that with the date and time of the meeting. Then attendees click on the link at the start of the meeting, add their name and the BBB will open in a new Windows tab. So an LG can have a BBB account and then run their XR meetings even if not everyone present is on Mattermost & the Hub.

To get an account --

Joining a call

When you click the link to join the call you will be asked to connect your audio and webcam. Select Microphone, and check that if you speak you hear yourself coming back through your device. Don't worry, no one else can hear this!

Welcome to BBB! This large Welcome screen takes up most of the window, but if you click the blue box in the top right corner it will go away and there will be more space to see other people on the call. Down the left-hand side you can see who else has joined, and if they are connected to video and audio, and the Public Chat area.

If you can't see the columns on the left, look for the little person icon in the top left corner and click that to open up the sidebar.

In the main window, you will see a few blue buttons, and this is where you can control your Audio and Video. Click the microphone to mute or unmute yourself.

The button that looks like a video camera is to turn on your webcam. Like your audio, when you first use the 'log in to the meeting', there will be a pop-up window where you can choose your settings, and you will see a preview screen. Your camera should be automatically detected your camera, so unless you want to choose a different webcam, just click Start Sharing.

To screen share on BBB you have to follow a couple of steps. Unlike Zoom where one person is the host and has control over the whole call, everyone is equal on BBB. Look for the blue button at the bottom of the screen with a + in it. Click this, and you will get the option to Take Presenter. Once you have done this you will get an extra option next to your video and audio buttons to Share your screen.

Once screen sharing begins it will give you a delightful "rabbit hole" effect of windows within windows -- don't worry, once you switch to a different tab or window this will disappear -- just don't use the BBB tab to open the website you want to share, or you will automatically come out of the session!

Note that you cannot screen share on a mobile device.

There are a few other options if you click the three vertical dots in the top right of the window.

At the end of the meeting you can go here to End meeting or Leave meeting -- or you can just close the tab in your browser and you will have left! Once everyone has left the meeting, even if no one clicks End, it will automatically finish.

You can have a meeting on BBB for as long as you like, there is no time limit.

Big Blue Button on a Mobile

As with using BBB on a computer, when you log in you will need to confirm your microphone and camera settings -- it will detect them automatically from your device, so you don't need to change anything. Your phone may also ask you to 'Allow' BBB to use your microphone and camera, click 'Allow' to both of these.

Get rid of the Welcome screen to make more space to see the other folks on your call!

To pull up the list of the other people on the call and the Public Chat, click the little person icon in the top left of the screen. Click the same icon to minimise this column so you can see who you are speaking to again.

Click on the three vertical dots on the top right hand of the screen, or close the internet browser to leave the call.

Big Blue Button

Automatic Closed Captions in Big Blue Button

Background

BBB introduced automatic closed captions in version 2.6. Both options for manual and automatic closed captions exist which can be confusing.

The automatic transcription is only available for browsers that support Speech Recognition (Google Chrome, MS Edge, and Safari). If you join with non-supported browsers, you will see a warning at the bottom of the join audio dialogue - "Your browser doesn't support speech recognition. Your audio won't be transcribed".

Using Automatic Closed Captions

There are two aspects to Automatic Closed Captions:

To have your spoken words automatically transcribed you need to select the option when connecting to the meeting. You cannot do it once in the meeting, however you can leave the meeting and rejoin to select this option. BBB Enable Transcription SMALL.jpg

Selecting the correct language is important as it helps the translation engine.

This option is not available on iPhone or on Android, as per the screen shot below:

BBB Auto Transcription on Mobile (1).jpg

To View captions on a Desktop/Laptop computer

When one or more users have enabled transcription, a CC button will appear. To view the transcriptions for those with ‘CC’ in their “who is talking” icon, press the CC button. The ‘CC’ button is in the bottom left of the BBB screen. BBB Desktop Enable CC SMALL.png

To View captions on Mobile device

For mobile devices, the ‘CC’ button acceible via the three dots menu at the top right corner. Then select "Start closed captions".

BBB Mobile Enable CC MEDIUM.jpg

Maximum Confusion – Manual and Automatic Closed Captions Together

It is possible to have both Manual and Automatic Closed Captions. Manual closed captions is where someone manually types the words of the speaker into the meeting captions. This is mostly used for translations. Below shows the ability to enable the viewing of the two different kinds of captions. The left hand CC option is for viewing manual captions. The right hand CC with the up arrow is for viewing automatic captions.

BBB Receive CC Controls MEDIUM.jpg

Manual Closed Captions info here.

Rebel Toolkit

Searching the Rebel Toolkit

The Rebel Toolkit has a search function available from the box at the top of every page, or, on narrow screens, from the menu. Below is an example of this.

Search : nonviolent direct action
View result here - this picks up part of the RT where any of those words appear.

Contributing to the Rebel Toolkit

The Rebel Toolkit design, structure and style is managed by the Rebel Toolkit team, but the content is a collaborative piece of work. Many XRUK circles maintain and update their own content. Also any individual, community or local group could submit content to be woven into the appropriate book. More information can be found here.