Electronic Discussion Lists Research Articles

Staff Performance Goals for Serials Functions

On October 15, 1999, Donnice Cochenour of Colorado State University posted an inquiry regarding staff productivity for serials check-in to the SERIALST electronic discussion list: “I'm interested i...

Gender and Technological Practice in Electronic Discussion Lists: An Examination of JESSE, the Library/Information Science Education Forum

Gender scholars have argued that existing social structures play an important role in the development and diffusion of technology. They have also suggested that technology is a multifaceted construct and that gender is implicated in all facets. As part of a larger and still-ongoing investigation, the research presented here focuses on one of the facets of a particular form of technology, namely, the practice of computer-mediated communication (CMC). The analysis of two subscription lists with a combined total of over 830 personal subscribers and 855 messages sent to the Library/Information Science Education Forum (JESSE) over a 20-month period suggests that gender has important implications in the practice of CMC. Males are more active than female subscribers and their contributions exceed their proportional representation. These findings add support to previous research on gender in electronic discussion lists.

Living the HyLiFe: Addressing the information needs of physiotherapists

Summary Physiotherapists need to access a wide range of literature in order to respond to such initiatives as continuing professional development, evidence-based practice and clinical governance. The findings of the first stage consultation of the Continuing Professional Development/Lifelong Learning project being undertaken by the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy confirm the importance of libraries in supporting learning. Library provision for physiotherapists has been and remains problematic. The requirement for NHS trusts to have a library and information strategy, together with the government's commitment to the National electronic Library for Health, and the drive towards equipping clinicians with health informatics skills, have the potential to affect clinicians' access to information. There has been a growth in electronic sources of information, ranging from databases to Internet health gateways, on-line journals and electronic discussion lists. The hybrid library concept seeks to draw together the whole range of traditional print-based and electronic formats in which information resources are currently delivered, and help library users to find the most appropriate resources for clinical or study purposes. Following the recognition that teaching and learning in the higher education sector would become increasingly electronic, the electronic Libraries Programme (eLib) was founded under the auspices of the Higher Education Funding Councils. Physiotherapists were one of the groups targeted under its HyLiFe hybrid library project at the University of Northumbria at Newcastle. This aimed to harness computer technology to locate and provide library and information resources, print or electronic, customised to specific user groups. This paper explores the HyLiFe computer interface in relation to its potential to address the concerns expressed by practising physiotherapists about the use of computer technology and accessing information. Collaboration between a number of key players in education and health is required if the infrastructure to support evidence-based practice is to be put in place.

ELECTRONIC COMMUNITIES: A FORUM FOR SUPPORTING WOMEN PROFESSIONALS AND STUDENTS IN TECHNICAL AND SCIENTIFIC FIELDS

In this article, we report on electronic discussion lists (e-lists) sponsored by MentorNet, the National Electronic Industrial Mentoring Network for Women in Engineering and Science. Using the Internet, the MentorNet program connects students in engineering and science with mentors working in industry. These e-lists are a feature of MentorNet’s larger electronic mentoring program and were sponsored to foster the establishment of community among women engineering and science students and men and women professionals in those fields. This research supports the hypothesis that electronic communications can be used to develop community among engineering and science students and professionals and identifies factors influencing the emergence of electronic communities (e-communities). The e-lists that emerged into self-sustaining ecommunities were focused on topic-based themes, such as balancing personal and work life, issues pertaining to women in engineering and science, and job searching. These e-communities were perceived to be safe places, embraced a diversity of opinions and experiences, and sanctioned personal and meaningful postings on the part of the participants. The e-communities maintained three to four simultaneous threaded discussions and were sustained by professionals who served as facilitators by seeding the e-lists with discussion topics. The e-lists were sponsored to provide women students participating in MentorNet with access to groups of technical and scientific professionals. In addition to providing benefits to the students, the elists also provided the professionals with opportunities to engage in peer mentoring with other, mostly female, technical and scientific professionals. We discuss the implications of our findings for developing e-communities and for serving the needs of women in technical and scientific fields.

Organic Chemistry Online: Building Collaborative Learning Communities through Electronic Communication Tools

In this article, we report on the use of group research projects in an undergraduate course in organic chemistry to build small learning communities. Students engaged in group research projects via online resources and developed reports that were published online. They also worked together in groups to review the online reports of their peers. This work was facilitated by use of electronic media, including the course Web site, email, and an electronic discussion list.

Communication and Communities of Chemists

The Internet has had a profound impact on the way that chemists communicate. Electronic journals, discussion lists, and other resources are fairly well established, but now “virtual communities” are starting to appear. This paper discusses the concept of community both from a social and from an economic viewpoint. In particular, three communities, or clubs, for chemists are compared. These are ChemCenter from the American Chemical Society, chemsoc from the Royal Society of Chemistry, and ChemWeb.com, organized by ChemWeb Inc. We conclude that all the communities are immature, but all are developing fast. Their success will depend on the extent to which they build up member loyalty and intellectual content over the next year or two.

General practitioners and the Internet: modelling a 'virtual community'.

Electronic discussion lists are used by many groups, including GPs, for communication and information sharing. The technology offers potential for formal learning and professional development. Various models have been proposed to describe the dynamics of such 'virtual' forums, and research is required to explore how such a discussion list might support professional development. We aimed to explore the use of the Internet-based discussion group gp-uk by GPs and their colleagues. We carried out a qualitative study of the electronic text generated by GPs and colleagues on an academic medical discussion group. The list gp-uk has features of a collaborative medium, in which the audience are also contributors. There is support for a 'critical mass' model, in which a relatively small number of members contribute on a regular basis. There is little support for a 'discretionary database' model of more formal sharing of specific factual information. The findings indicate a model for a 'virtual classroom' for computer-mediated learning and professional development. A critical mass of participants is a requisite, the list should be facilitated to guide discussions and supporting resources such as an Internet web-site should be provided.

Directory of Electronic Journals, Newsletters and Academic Discussion Lists

Directory of Electronic Journals, Newsletters and Academic Discussion Lists

Reported Speech and Survivor Identity in On‐Line Bone Marrow Transplantation Narratives

This paper investigates the language choices made by contributors to an electronic discussion list on bone marrow transplantation, called SupportBMT, and relates these to the construction of these contributors’ identities as survivors rather than as victims of a life‐threatening disease and/or of a life‐threatening medical treatment. Specifically, it examines the use of 142 instances of reported speech within 61 narratives posted to SupportBMT that recount conflict within a past medical encounter. Analyses of the illocutionary acts of these instances of reported speech, as well as the alternation between direct and indirect reported speech in these narratives, portray the patient as a strong self‐advocate and the physician as contributing to that positive image of the patient, either directly or indirectly. Findings suggest that survivors’ use of reported speech within such narratives provides a socialization model for newcomers to the community of those with such illnesses.

Computer mediated communication, the invisible college and visiting scholars: An exploratory study

ACADEMICS WHO COMMUNICATE WITH COLLEAGUES about cutting-edge scholarship often contribute more to their discipline. Using computer mediated communication (CMC) technologies such as electronic mail and academic discussion lists, scholars can easily connect with peers scattered around the globe. Since CMC makes academic discourse easy, scholars who communicate with computer technologies may have a greater potential to exchange information and begin contributing original scholarship to their discipline. The attitudes and opinions of visiting scholars at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst regarding academic use and benefits of CMC for global academic interaction were explored. Results showed that nearly all respondents used computer mediated communication, even if they did not use CMC prior to arriving at the University of Massachusetts. Much of their use concentrated on exchanging work-related messages with colleagues, especially colleagues at other institutions. For the most part, respondents were positive about the benefits derived from their use of computer mediated communication. Participants found the enhanced contact and collaboration with colleagues outside of the University of Massachusetts to be the greatest value. The respondents also predicted that CMC will be necessary for academics to be professionally active and competitive in the future and reported that CMC is changing the way academic researchers collaborate.

Facilitating Access to Agricultural and National Resource Information in the Developing World: what role for European cooperation?

Brief report on a meeting on Facilitating Access to Agricultural and Natural Resource Information in the Developing World: what role for European cooperation? Held in Maastricht, The Netherlands, on 10–11 October 1996. Participants discussed the question: How can real collaboration among European actors be fostered so that assistance provided to developing countries is of a high quality? Threeactions to improve cooperation in respect of European support to information development were proposed: establishing a World Wide Web site, an electronic discussion list and a follow-up group, which decided to concentrate initially on the themes of training, connectivity, experiences from the field, and policy development.

Look Who's Talking

This article analyses postings over a week-long period to two electronic discussion lists to position them as communication forms and to assess their potential value to journalism educators, students and researchers. The lists - Journet and Stumedia - feature advantages including networking and scholarly cooperation, knowledge acquisition, a sense of communion, and an opportunity to keep pace with innovation. Disadvantages are the sheer bulk of correspondence, low participation rates, maleness, US-centricity and the preponderance of 'junk mail'.

Directory of electronic journals, newsletters and academic discussion lists

Directory of electronic journals, newsletters and academic discussion lists

Bytes of Note: Linking up with Electronic Mail Discussion Lists

Bytes of Note: Linking up with Electronic Mail Discussion Lists

Promoting Global Resource Sharing and Cooperation:

This report gives the activities of three central programmes of the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) between about Aueust 1993 and Aueust 1995: Universal ~Gailabikotf~ P ublications (m)U,n iversal ~ i 6 h o ~ r a ~ h i c Control and Internat~onalM ARC WBCIM). and Universal Dataflow and Telecommunications (UDT). informadon for this summary has been obtained from a number of sources, including the UAP Newsletter Numbers 19 (May 1994) and 20 (September 1995); Internafional Cataloguing and Bibliographic Control Volume 22, Number 3 (July1 Scptember 1993) through Volume 24, Number 2 (ApriVJune 1995); UDTNewslelter Number 24 (Spring 1994) through Number 28 (Summer 1995); IFLA Journal Volume 20, Number 4 (1994) through Volume 21, Number 2 (1995); the IFLA-L electronic discussion list; the IFLA electronic home page; and proceedings of the 60th and 61st IFLA General Conferences in Havana and Istanbul.

Directory of electronic journals, newsletters and academic discussion lists

Directory of electronic journals, newsletters and academic discussion lists

An electronic discussion list in an undergraduate writing course

A required listserv, borders@uci.edu, electronically enhances composition instruction for seven combined classes in an undergraduate course on Argument and Research at the University of California at Irvine. E-mail is a convenience for these students, easing access to research information in the library and to their instructors and peers. Even more importantly, the listserv's electronic community provides a forum where students and instructors can model, rehearse, test the limits of, exchange, and reshape academic arguments. These seven instructors reflect in this paper on the objectives of their innovative approach and its implications for teaching and learning—particularly students' resistance to an inevitable electronic relocation of the teacher in cyberspace. They also offer some practical suggestions based on their experiences.

Directory of Electronic Journal, Newsletters and Academic Discussion Lists

Directory of Electronic Journal, Newsletters and Academic Discussion Lists

The performing arts: a guide to the reference literature

Find the best reference sources on theatre, dance, and related theatre arts quickly and efficiently with this new resource. Arranged by type of material, the book describes and evaluates the most significant directories, encyclopedias, handbooks, bibliographies, and other works on theatre and dance. Additional chapters discuss core periodicals, electronic discussion lists, useful associations, societies, and important libraries and archives of theatrical and dance materials. Entries are designed to help readers choose appropriate sources for their purposes. Emphasis is on recent English-language works, but the book also includes significant older and foreign works.

An Internet Primer for Music Librarians: Tools, Sources, Current Awareness

cusses various means of electronic communication-electronic mail, discussion lists and journals-as well as databases of digitally encoded music notation and sound. Since the publication of her article, network resources have grown at a phenomenal rate. New electronic journals are created seemingly each week; discussion groups are born; databases are uploaded and made available for searching or transferring to remote computers; software programs to help access this information are created for both the mainframe and personal computer; guides are written to facilitate network use. Music librarians must master the skills needed to use this virtual library as its resources become more prevalent and consequently more in demand from our constituents. The difficulty lies not in mastering the number or kind of electronic resources-the librarian has always managed to create order out of the chaos of resources available to our patrons. Rather, the difficulty lies in understanding the arrangement of resources, how they are accessed, and how to keep current with the appearance of new resources. Unlike the world of printed information, there is yet no commonly shared paradigm upon which one might draw to develop an overview of this world of networked information. Our standard reference sources, in spite of all they offer, cannot help locate archives of MIDI files, or databases of lyrics, or indexes of popular song available for searching online. This article must include the caveat found in all print communication regarding the Internet: by the time it is read, some of the details will