Communication channels

Matrix / Element

About

Matrix is an instant messaging protocol used to provide chat rooms. Compared to other solutions, such as Slack, Matrix provides end-to-end encryption and runs on distributed servers. Some universities or university departments in Switzerland and Germany run their own Matrix servers. More details about Matrix can be found here. To see how Matrix compares to some of the alternatives, click here.

To communicate using the Matrix protocol, you need a so called Matrix client. Element is a popular one, which can used in a web browser, a desktop app or on a mobile phone.

How to join

The ID of the RSE matrix space (the umbrella for our chat rooms) is #rse-ch:matrix.org.

This link will offer you several options to connect: https://m.ethz.ch/#/#rse-ch:matrix.org

In case you work for ETH Zurich you can find some help at the ETH wiki.
If you are a student, you can use the same instructions but replace staffchat by student.
In all other cases check out if your institution offers matrix accounts, or read the matrix documentation how to create one.
Please check this post on “how to get started with Element & Matrix” also.

RSS Feed

An RSS feed is a way for a website to announce updates to so-called RSS readers (also called aggregators). The advantage of this method is that the RSS reader collects news from many sources, such as newspapers or blogs. If you use an RSS reader resp. aggregator, you can follow sources from one place.

Here are some options to follow an RSS feed:

feedly.com is a popular RSS aggregator which works in the browser.
The Thunderbird email client supports RSS feeds. This blog post explains the details.
feedrabbit.com delivers updates to RSS feeds per email. The service is free for up to 10 feeds.

Wikipedia offers a comprehensive list of RSS readers and aggregators.

ℹ️

To subscribe to updates from the blog from an RSS reader, please add the URL https://rse.ethz.ch/blog/index.xml to your aggregator. For event updates use https://rse.ethz.ch/blog/index.xml.

Mailing List

Our mailing list provides updates about our events and activities. Currently we are sending up to 3 emails per month.

The mailing list is provided by https://sympa.ethz.ch/. The URL to manage a subscription is https://sympa.ethz.ch/sympa/subscribe/rse-community.

After registering, you will receive an email to confirm that you are registering for yourself.