Email is the main way we communicate to organise expo. It is essentially obligatory to participate in this. Joining the email list does not commit you to come, it's just a mailing list.
Sign up to get emails here: lists.wookware.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/expo". This is a new email list created in 2018 (moved outside Cambridge University) so if you think you are already on the list but you joined before 2018, and you haven't been getting many emails recently, you are probably on the wrong list. So visit that webpage and sign up to the new expo list.
You will be sent email requesting confirmation, to prevent others from gratuitously subscribing you. This is a private list, which means that the list of members is not available to non-members.
The email list is old-school: text only, no fancy formatting and only small file attachments allowed.
Once you have signed up, you can also choose whether or not to be visible to the other people on the list. To see the other members of the list ("subscribers" to the list) look at the roster. (A link to this roster is at the bottom of your sign-in page.)
For more specific, ephemeral and real-time communications we have a 'space' 'LoserExpo' on Matrix. This space contains a set of channels. There is the main Expo channel, which everyone should join, and a set of others for Training, Finance, Meetings, Surveying, Website nerding, Gear, Food, Objectives, Mentorship, Data Entry etc. Anyone can add more if needed. It's recommended to join this to know what's going on and have a place to ask questions.
There are lots of ways to use Matrix, but for most people the simplest is to use Element (as a phone app, a website, or a desktop app). Join LoserExpo
Normally you will get sent an invite after signing up to the mailing list. That's a somewhat generic-looking mail from element.io "Someone has invited you to a space".
For those with old-school tendencies, the IRC channel we have had for a couple of decades '#expo', (now on libera.org), is bridged to the 'Expo' matrix room so it can be used from IRC too.
If using an older client that does not understand spaces you can get to all the channels directly, but if you just join LoserExpo, as above, you should get all of these automatically:
As of 2022 we also have an Expo Signal chat which is useful for phone-based comms during expo.
CUCC EXPO 20xx - private. This year's Expo Group on Facebook. Please use Matrix/Element for general chat as it is accessible by all.
Cambridge University Caving Expedition - public. The public face of the CUCC Expo on Facebook.
During expo we publish public discoveries on the latter.
@CUCC_Expo. This is our Twitter feed but posting is intermittent. We had nothing during 2019 but loads of stuff during 2017 and 2018.
cambridge_uni_caving_expo is our Instagram feed. Only 30 posts, but some wonderful photography. If you are looking for an expo-related background for your computer, this is the place. But there's also very good stuff on the ukcaving blogs too.
#expo - public. An open-access open-access real-time IRC channel (ephemeral, not archived) for real-time discussions about everything but mostly software people. Bridged to Matrix
Also see CUCC on facebook: Cambridge University Caving Club (CUCC) - public.
We maintain a blog during expo on ukcaving.com . Since it is a blog, anyone on expo (with a ukcaving login) can post their own reports so it is more convenient for most than the facebook, twitter and instagram accounts which are each under the control on one person at a time. The 2018 blog is particularly detailed and well illustrated.
Note that when writing a blog you need to use a permanent location for photos, e.g. use instagram not Googledocs. All of Dan's photos on the 2019 blog have disappeared because he didn't realise this, so he had to post them all again.
Every year we try out new ways of organising ourselves: committee meeting minutes, recording decisions, organising transport etc. 2022 and 2023 is using trello.
We usually have a couple of Googledocs spreadsheets on the go, but details of how to get at these - and any other software tools we might find useful - will be distrributed via email and the expo mailing list.