28 Discussion Groups - Information Venues (Information Research)
Description
This article is from the Information Research FAQ, by David Novak david@spireproject.com with numerous contributions by others.
28 Discussion Groups - Information Venues (Information Research)
links and more at http://spireproject.com/discuss.htm
Mailing Lists, Newsgroups, Associations - each are focal points of
discussion, exchange of information and professional development.
Sometimes called Special Interest Groups (SIGs), these are the original
sources of many fine research resources. Brilliant research sites in
their own right, a mailing list, newsgroup or association can also be a
fine contact point for experts, or the site of focused, specialized
libraries.
The copyright mailing list is a group of more than 100 lawyers who
focus on copyright. This list, and their Copyright FAQ, are the best
resources on copyright law in the world; current, factual, and
peer-reviewed. This is not unusual for a mailing list. As a source of
experts, I once found an accomplished but poorly published scientist
from an old message in a mailing list archive.
Having said this, discussion groups are not organized for casual
searching. Even when discussion is archived and searchable, finding and
searching past discussion tends to be difficult. There is more to this
resource than just asking a question but the other options are not
simple.
Mailing Lists
* Tile.Net/Lists (http://tile.net/lists/) has a fine index of mailing
lists.
* Liszt is the second place to look.
* The Directory of Scholarly and Professional E-Conferences, known also
as the Kovacs Lists is third.
* subject guides listed in the Argus Clearinghouse also refer to
relevant mailing lists.
Search several list directories for more rewarding results. Also keep
in mind some lists have too little or too much traffic for your
purpose. Find a list with a manageable number of messages and a wide
enough membership. This takes a little effort in interrogating the list
management software for the number of forum members, a look at past
discussion, perhaps a look for supporting websites.
Newsgroups
If you have a newsgroup reader, you have a file called news.rc on your
computer which lists all the available on your computer. List.com also
has a searchable list of newsgroups. Duke University can help you find
additional newsgroups that exist but require you to ask your ISP to
bring in.
A more effective approach is to undertake a search of past newsgroup
posts and select from the response a list of likely newsgroups to
consider. Altavista allows searches of recent newsgroup messages.
Deja.com has an even larger archive (to before March '95).
Another option is to search for an FAQ (like this one). Most summarize
past discussion on successful newsgroups. The FAQ may be a brilliant
informative document in itself, or the definitive pointer to further
tools and resources. By virtue of its public origin, FAQs are far more
likely to attract the peer review often very lacking from other
resources. They are also open invitations to communicate with the
knowledgeable FAQ maintainers.
* FAQs can be searched by title by sites like Oxford University and
Universiteit Utrecht (Netherlands), or if you know a newsgroup, visit
an html FAQ archive like the one at http://www.faqs.org
Associations
Associations are more involved than their internet companion.
Associations are also more into paper publishing, conferencing and
collating specialist statistics. As an example, the Australian
Booksellers Association publishes the best benchmark statistics on this
topic. When approaching an association, consider asking for their
publications list.
Directory of Associations are national directories. The [US]
Encyclopedia of Associations is produced by Gale Research. The
Directory of Australian Associations is the definitive Australian
source. Directory of Associations in Canada. Directory of Association
of Asia.
Some association directories have emerged online, like Directory of the
American Society of Association Executives. Unfortunately, the database
is small & Americanocentric. A search for 'book' did get me the address
of the American Booksellers Association, but not others. Of course if
you have a name, you could also use a meta-search engine like
Debriefing. Alternatively, the Library of Congress Online Catalogue
allows us to search for association as an author.
Conclusions
There are three important research applications for mailing lists.1)
Research through past discussion, 2) Directly ask members for
assistance, 3) Become a participative member to pick up and exchange
information. On a personal side, mailing lists are easy to use and a
minimal investment in time (the information comes to you). However,
mailing lists are difficult to develop and maintain. Few reach the
potential brilliance of this form of communication, so many of the
forums you come across will be non-existent or on their death-bed.
Mailing lists depend on four vital ingredients - Content,
Participation, IT-support, and Management. Often, one of these go wrong
and the forum dies. As a member, there are important obligations
starting with participation, and ending with forum etiquette.
The better forums are private. Membership is not automatic, the list
manager has more control, and often, more control and effort is
expended developing interesting content and discussion. If you find a
closed or private forum, persevere.
Associations
When a group of like-minded individuals come together to achieve an
aim, they often create an association. What better place to research.
Even better, associations often interpret their purpose as a place to
pool and distribute information. Larger associations often maintain a
small library of their own and many associations publish documents
about their area of interest. Furthermore, if you are seeking an expert
in a given field, associations are sure to have one, or two, or many.
For the smaller associations, be polite but firm in describing your
interest and be ready to buy whatever small book they do publish in
your quest for further information.
The FAQ
An FAQ is created to enhance the discussion of a newsgroup. After a
time, the initial members of a newsgroup would have discussed many of
the standard topics to death, which newcomers will still find
interesting. To prevent only discussing introductory topics (and
annoying long-term members) an FAQ is created to record answers to
standard questions.
Because one of the primary functions of a special interest group is
resource discovery - and because FAQs are collectively created, they
are valuable and generally reliable. I consider the Official Copyright
FAQ the best document in the world on copyright law.
As an aside, many FAQs are also available as web pages. Trouble is,
without an system to vet true newsgroup FAQs, you are far more likely
to encounter FAQs which have not been vetted by the news.answers team.
The Official Copyright FAQ is 70+ pages of topical and factual detail
with links to further information. There are several other copyright
FAQs with less than 10 pages, (and not particularly concerned with
providing information). Access an established FAQ archive for your
FAQs. www.faqs.org has a small list (http://www.faqs.org/#FAQHTML).
Another longer list resides midway down this document
(http://www.faqs.org/faqs/news-answers/introduction).
Special interest groups are problematic because the task of preparing
and presenting guidance is secondary to their main aims. Those that do
actively publish do so through books (with the association as the
author) or articles or newsprint... Sometimes, as in mailing lists,
almost as an afterthought, past discussion is indexed and searchable.
This situation is not likely to change. Technology could potentially
aggregate past discussion from many mailing lists, but too much
commercialism would swiftly kill open discussion. Then again, existing
efforts like the archive of the business librarians list have taken a
very proprietary view of messages within their discussion. Notice also
that a database of newsletters failed commercially a few years back for
lack of interest. No dramatic improvements are likely to emerge from
this direction.
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