Brandon Walsh from UVA’s Scholars’ Lab shares his practical guide for setting up Slack for digital humanities teams, written in the context of onboarding Lisa Blackmore as the new Faculty Director of the UVA Library’s Digital Humanities Center.
Key Recommendations
Core Principles:
- Make Slack useful but unobtrusive
- Work when and how you want it to
- Not all communication is equally important
Essential Setup Steps:
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Download the app - Don’t use Slack in a web browser; get the standalone app
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Silence everything - Turn off all sounds; your computer shouldn’t make noises unless asked
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Disable bouncing - Uncheck “Bounce Slack’s icon when receiving a notification”
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Only badges, no banners - Use quiet badge notifications instead of flying alerts
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Limit notifications - Only get notified for direct messages and @mentions, not all channel activity
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Turn off email notifications - Unless you’re new and need reminders to check Slack
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Don’t put Slack on your phone - Keep work communication separate from personal life
Team Considerations:
- Know who uses Slack and how engaged they are
- Don’t try to change people’s communication styles unless they want to
- Remember free Slack plans have message limitations - don’t use for sensitive/permanent materials
Notification Settings Locations:
- Account Level - Email settings (web browser)
- App level - Sounds and notifications
- Team level - Settings for different Slack workspaces
- Channel level - Specific conversation spaces
- Device level - System push notifications
The author notes avoiding screenshots for sustainability - interface changes would make documentation obsolete.
Source: Scholars’ Lab Blog, University of Virginia
Author: Brandon Walsh
Date: August 25, 2025
Original URL: My Opinionated Slack Setup | Scholars' Lab