The Bio-IT EMBL chat
Bio-IT EMBL chat
EMBL’s Bio-IT chat has been initiated in 2017 to facilitate internal real-time interactions between people at EMBL, to promote group discussions and sharing of information.
As of 2021 more than 1000 users are registered with over 120 active daily. In part due to the 2020 SARS-CoV-2 pandemic situation, the platform gained particular relevance and became a central hub for communication between members of all EMBL sites.
Sounds great! How do I to join?
If you are an active EMBL employee you can access https://chat.embl.org and login with your EMBL credentials by following the instructions below.
Upon visiting EMBL’s chat landing page you will be greeted with:
and upon clicking the purple GitLab button you will be redirected to the login portal:
Our Mattermost chat uses EMBL’s GitLab system to validate user accounts.
You may notice the different login possibilities: “EMBL login”, “EMBL SSO login” and “Standard login”.
In general, we recommend you choose “EMBL login” and, if located at the EBI, “EMBL SSO login”.
After logging in with GitLab you will need to authorize chat.embl.org.
and you are done!
What if I’m outside EMBL?
https://chat.embl.org is reachable from anywhere where you have an internet connection.
Can I use the chat from my desktop, tablet or phone?
The EMBL Bio-IT chat is powered by an open-source chat platform called Mattermost.
The most common way to access the chat is through a browser (such as Firefox, Chrome, Safari, …) but native applications also exist for Android, iOS and all major operating systems.
As we are hosting the free open-source community edition of Mattermost, also known as Enterprise E0, push notifications on mobile apps are currently not available.
How do I invite collaborators?
For privacy and confidentially reasons we limit access to EMBL employees and collaborators with an e-visitor account.
How private are private channels?
Private channels are only visible to members and can not be joined freely. New members must be added manually by any member of the channel.
Mattermost does not have the concept of channel owners or moderators so all members are equal.
I would like to discuss sensitive topics, how secure is the chat?
All communication through the chat follows IP 68 and IP 54 and is considered confidential (comparable to e-mail).
EMBL’s chat server is hosted at EMBL Heidelberg on infrastructure provided by Heidelberg IT Services and is maintained by a small team.
Communication with the Mattermost server uses TLS/SSL encryption which secures transit. Fully end-to-end encrypted communication is not possible with this platform.
Conversations and attachments, be them in public, private channels or via direct communication, are stored in Mattermost’s database unless deleted by the sender or a server administrator.
Can I delete a channel and all its content?
Deleting a channel and all its history is possible but not available through the Mattermost interface. Please see the next question for whom to contact if this need arises.
Who should I contact in case of issues?
EMBL Bio-IT chat is maintained by Jelle Scholtalbers and Renato Alves and support requests can be sent to gitadmins@embl.de
Jelle Scholtalbers and Renato Alves,
EMBL’s Chat team