[Air-L] Utility of listserv vs. (something like a) Facebook board?
Richard Forno
rforno at infowarrior.org
Mon Aug 5 08:43:06 PDT 2013
I agree 100% with Jeremy on his comments re: email and listservs. I (and many of us) get tons of mail each day from a variety of lists. That's what conversation threading and/or folders and/or procmail rules are for. Makes things *very* manageable.
Sure, like most listservs, the volume of traffic peaks-and-drops over time based on the discussion/topic of the day, but (to me) AIR-L's never risen to the level of ZMGITSBROKEN. Besides, as with most of my lists, AIR-L goes to a folder, so it's not disruptive to my daily 'flow' and just I peruse when I can.
FWIW saying, I'm not on FB and would loudly protest any move toward that site or other less-than-open type of information exchange / communicative environments.
-- rick
------
Richard F. Forno, Ph.D.
Director, Graduate Cybersecurity Program
A/Director, UMBC Center for Cybersecurity
cybersecurity.umbc.edu
On Aug 5, 2013, at 9:39 AM, Jeremy hunsinger wrote:
> we have a facebook page, etc. google+ one, and there has been one on almost
> every social media platform. What has not been on those platforms is the
> majority of AoIR users, even on fb, the number of users is less than the
> number of subscribers.
>
> as for email listserves... this is what they were designed to do, allow
> groups to discuss things, while allowing each individual member to manage
> their own mail as appropriate. email is nice like that, each person is
> personally responsible for their own 'user experience' which is generally
> not true on social media platforms or the web, where you must depend on a
> designer to provide platform options. On email you can control everything
> once you put it arrives on your computer, which is why so many people still
> resist webmail options, but that aside, there are innumerable options to
> make the listserve experience better on your own machine.
>
>
> On Mon, Aug 5, 2013 at 8:20 AM, Nicholas Bowman <
> Nicholas.Bowman at mail.wvu.edu> wrote:
>
>> To clarify: (1) I am most certainly *not* recommending that need a
>> synchronous channel, and (2) Perhaps if our collective culture at AoIR is
>> for e-mail-based communication, this is not so bad after all. I think my
>> own concern is that at times, it can be difficult to track so many
>> different concepts being shared on busy days - especially trying to follow
>> in on a conversation that might already have five or six responses (I
>> notice, at least by own perception) that a lot of folks will send across
>> the same answer to a question - likely because [like myself] they've only
>> had a chance to read the first query in the e-mail chain).
>> Of course, any social network adoption (proprietary or otherwise) requires
>> a massive migration of users to said platform and as been brought up, the
>> e-mail system likely has the greatest reach. Nonetheless, I'd like to see
>> some thought (sometime) about creating a more persistent space for
>> AoIR-based discussion - sort of an oasis in the sand of the Internet for we
>> 'net researchers. =)
>>
>>>>> "Nicholas Bowman" <Nicholas.Bowman at mail.wvu.edu> 05-Aug-13 14:05 >>>
>> I suppose my argument is that perhaps we're assuming that "it ain't
>> broken"? Surely as a group of Internet scholars we can perhaps recognize
>> potential limitations with a asynchronous network to hold mass
>> transactional conversations in an communication system with limited
>> permanence (e-mails, unless we store them in our files, are rather
>> disposable) and bandwidth (one message at a time).
>>
>> Not only would having a hosted space for discussions cut down on traffic
>> via the listserv (more of a potential annoyance for some members, myself
>> not really included in that group) but it might actually spark the sort of
>> discussion that many of those individuals posting questions are looking for
>> - persistent discussions within a hosted realm in which answers can be
>> logged, stored, and retrieved asynchronously at any time. Considering the
>> number of such discussions that seem to "fizzle out" once the next question
>> is posted via e-mail, I'm merely wondering if current listserv users are
>> getting the depth of discussion that hey are actually looking for.
>> Moreover, such an "opt-in" permanently-hosted solution might well allow for
>> more questions by those who might be too shy to "blast" their queries to a
>> listserv of scholars.
>>
>> But I acknowledge that I am taking a "it's possibly broken" approach, and
>> that might be my own fatal flaw. If we're collectively comfortable with the
>> current structure and it seems to work, I will happily digress. =) (I also
>> recognize that perhaps the "answer" is to post questions via the listserv,
>> but to send answers directly to the scholar(s) asking the question). See,
>> it's summertime so it's that time for academics where we find ourselves
>> with too much time to think -indeed, a dangerous thing.
>>
>> I'm not very concerned about e-mail volume, but rather the utility and
>> functionality of using a e-mail listserv for these conversations - again,
>> working to create a sort of "persistent hosting board" for research and
>> academic inquiries that might actually spark the sort of conversations in a
>> more organized fashion than the current e-mail system might allow
>> (recognizing the irony of having this discussion via e-mail, which might
>> indicate that indeed the system is fine).
>>
>> Nonetheless, thanks for indulging my (newcomer) thoughts here.
>>
>> NOTE: To be clear, I am *not* advocating that we use a proprietary network
>> (I was careful to mention this in my initial post for precisely the reasons
>> that are brought up here) but rather only used Facebook as an example of an
>> activity used by another organization that has seen benefits (decreased
>> e-mail clutter, increased collaboration between members - particular the
>> sort of 'ad hoc' collaboration that comes from smaller discussion items
>> such as those posed to AoIR listserv).
>>
>>>>> Ulf-Dietrich Reips <u.reips at ikerbasque.org> 05-Aug-13 13:43 >>>
>> Dear Nicholas, Nadia and others:
>> I entirely agree that it would be at odds with the openness
>> principles of AoIR (or any other academic community) to force its
>> members into communicating via a proprietary network.
>>
>> Further, e-mail/listserv has a wider reach than social media/Facebook.
>> And yes, it ain't broken.
>>
>> Down the road, if AoIR decides to move communications to an open
>> source social network, then you may want to consider Social Lab
>> (http://sociallab.es). Our related publication just went in press:
>> Garaizar, P. & Reips, U.-D. (in press). Build your own social network
>> laboratory with Social Lab: a tool for research in social media.
>> Behavior Research Methods.
>> Happy to send preprints, if anyone is interested.
>>
>> Cheers
>> Ulf
>>
>> At 11:20 Uhr +0200 5.8.2013, Prof. Dr. Nadia Kutscher wrote:
>>> Dear Nicholas,
>>>
>>> thanks for this suggestion. As a person critical to the digital
>>> enclosure of Facebook etc. I would suggest if there should be
>>> something like that at all to set up a structure not based on a
>>> system such as Facebook but being open without contributing to data
>>> mining etc.
>>>
>>> Best regards
>>>
>>> Nadia Kutscher
>>>
>>> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>>> Prof. Dr. Nadia Kutscher
>>> Catholic University of Applied Sciences NRW
>>> Department Cologne
>>> Woerthstr. 10
>>> D-50668 Koeln
>>> Germany
>>> Phone: +49-(0)221 7757 186
>>> Fax: +49-(0)221 7757 180
>>> E-Mail: n.kutscher at katho-nrw.de
>>> Please note: From September 1st 2013 I am starting a new
>>> professorship at University of Vechta. New e-mail address:
>>> nadia.kutscher at uni-vechta.de
>>> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Nicholas Bowman <Nicholas.Bowman at mail.wvu.edu> hat geschrieben:
>>>
>>> AoIR pals!
>>>
>>> As a new member to the organization, I had wondered perhaps if this
>>> e-mail listserv really is the best space for many of the
>>> transactional-type discussions that happen between members. On the
>>> one hand, it's very cool (and inspiring) to see such a vibrant
>>> discussion between motivated and intelligent people, but on the
>>> other hand there are days in which I will receive as many as 20
>>> different AoIR e-mails - often a chronology of a conversation
>>> between a few members that I might or might not be specifically
>>> involved in (besides my tangential connection to both as an AoIR
>>> member).
>>>
>>> To this end, I wonder if the organization has (or might) consider
>>> using a different channel for these transactional-type discussions,
>>> such as a closed Facebook page, that provides members an "opt-in"
>>> and persistent space for more detailed discussions. As the Web and
>>> Publications Editor for the Mass Communication of NCA (National
>>> Communication Association), I have facilitated such a page for our
>>> 1200+ members for the better half of three years, and we've seen
>>> quite a few members (about 500 currently "following" the page) log
>>> in and share research and scholarly opinions in the space - which
>>> has taken quite a bit of pressure off of our listserv. I realize of
>>> course there are likely many reasons why we don't have such a space,
>>> but I'm just wondering if using the current AoIR listserv as a
>>> bulletin board and discussion place is the most functional use of
>>> the technology; as a new member, it can often times be overwhelming.
>>>
>>> Of course, should there be any interest in such a project - using
>>> Facebook, or some other technology that is more easily
>>> assessible/less likely to see us all anti-aging cream on a daily
>>> basis - I'd be more than happy to assist. Or, I'll just continue to
>>> acclimate to the AoIR listserv, as I go find it generally useful.
>>>
>>> Just a few thoughts from a new member - I do not mean to shake the
>>> apple tree so please to not take this note as anything more than an
>>> "outside looking in" observation. Glad to be a member, and eager for
>>> my first AoIR this Fall in Denver. =)
>>>
>>>
>>> ~nick
>>>
>>> Nicholas David Bowman, Ph.D.
>>> ( http://ndbowman.info/ )Assistant Professor of Communication Studies;
>>> Research Associate, Media and Interaction Lab
>>> West Virginia University
>>>
>>> Web and Publications Editor, Mass Communication Division
>>> National Communication Association
>>>
>>> Vice-Chair, Game Studies Interest Group
>>> International Communication Association
>>>
>>> Interim Social Media Director
>>> Eastern Communication Association
>>> ______________________
>>> Twitter @bowmanspartan
>>> Skype ID: nicholasdbowman
>>> On Media Theory... ( http://onmediatheory.blogspot.com/ )
>>>
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>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
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>>
>
>
>
> --
> jeremy hunsinger
> Center for Digital Discourse and Culture
> Virginia Tech
>
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---
Just because i'm near the punchbowl doesn't mean I'm also drinking from it.
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