Log of the workshop on Wednesday, April 26, 1995 7:12:09 pm Diversity University MOOtime (EDT)
On behalf of the Librarians Online Support Team, (L.O.S.T) I am very glad to welcome all of you to our second workshop. The idea of this organization was the result of Cathy and myself chatting about all the internet access that is being given to librarians, and yet there seems to be a lack of peer support in many areas.
So we thought that the moo environment could provide a very good place to have such a support group. Geographically we are all spread out all over North America, but we can enter DU and communicate.
We hope that you find today's workshop worthwhile and enjoyable, and return and take part in more of our activities.
Ringer says, "Our speaker for tonight is Di, Diane Kovacs " Ringer says, "and now, i will turn the session over to Di. "
Di says, "Let's go ahead and get started, First I'll introduce myself..."
Di says, "Well my name is Diane Kovacs and obviously I'm the
instructor tonight."
Di says, "I've been a reference librarian at Kent State Univ, in Kent Ohio for
the last five years but as of July 31, 1995 I plan to resign and cocnentrate
on my own training and consulting business. 8)."
Di says, "I love being a reference librarian and hope that this new business
will let me do all the parts I really love....Okay so lets get started."
Di says, "The plan for tonight is to have the lecture, then I'll demo a gopher
resource, then questions and answers."
Di says, "Welcome to the Du Workshop on using E-conferences (listservs)."
Di says, "E-conferences is an umbrella term which covers things like discussion lists newsgroups, mailing lists and those things run by the Listserv software. Listserv is only one of the kinds of software that can be used to run e-conferences. "
Di says, "Many people seem to have adopted the habit of calling all e-conferences Listserv...or listservers . 8) (The previous is a smiley face with glasses) "
Di says, "In the moo environment I would have emoted. In e-conferences which are not interactive people often use "emoticons" like 8) :smiles "
Di says, "This lecture is a very brief discussion of why one would want to subscribe or read (in the case of newsgroups) an e-conference (listserv). "
Di says, "After we finish the lecture part of this workshop. We will use the gopherslates to connect to the Directory of Scholarly E-conferences. "
Di says, "The Directory is keyword searchable and its an excellent way of locating e-conferences that you might be interested in. "
Di says, "You all received a copy of an exercise which covered how to subscribe and unsubscribe and set nomail and digest and so on for Listserv based discussions? "
Di says, "Hopefully you did that exercise before attending this workshop and you will have questions later. "
Di says, "The Directory of Scholarly E-conferences also has a readme file which reviews the methods for subscribing to e-conferences. "
Di says, "There are three very important reasons for you to be interested in e-conferences. "
Di says, "They key issues here are "similar interests" and "given subject area""
Di says, "You can use the Directory of Scholarly E-conferences to select e-conferences that might be of professional or personal interest to you. "
Di says, "You can also use it to find e-conferences to monitor that might be used to announce new or newly discovered Internet resources in a given subject area."
Di says, "For example I used to monitor Shaksper (Shakespeare discussion) so I could know when new literature resources were created on the Internet."
Di says, "I have collaborated on many projects both on and off the Internet."
Di says, "Most of the people I've worked with though I initially met through an e-conference."
Di says, "A group of us discussing virtual publishing on a now defunct discussion called Arachnet decided to create _The Electronic Journal on Virtual Culture_ a peer-reviewed electronic journal which is now published under the auspices of DU!"
Di says, "On Libref-L or Publib-L (discussions for reference librarians and public librarians) professionals exchange ideas, reviews, plans and opinions on a daily basis."
Di says, "There are also lots of "fun" discussions which may or may not be listed in the Directory of Scholarly E-conferences"
Di says, "When we go look at the Directory of Scholarly E-conferences through our gopherslates later...you will see several fields in each entry which explain the purpose of the discussion and provides information about how to subscribe.."
Di says, "The Subscription information: field is the one to pay attention to."
Di says, "The majority of e-conference software uses email to distribute messages posted (jargon for emailed to a discussion) by an individual subscriber to the whole list of people who have subscribed to a given discussion."
Di says, "Usenet news is different in that it requires you to use some version of newsreader software to read it and it and you connect to the newsfeed at your site if you have one. Usenet news is some of the best and the worst of the Internet. Most of the pornography discussions are there for example. But also most of the computer professional and research discussions are through Usenet News. "
Di says, "In the exercise that you were sent before this workshop you subscribed to a listserv based e-conference by sending email to the listserv@vm.temple.edu To subscribe to other email based discussions you do virtually the same thing. "
Di says, "The key to success is that you send email to the right server address...e.g, Libref-L is run by listserv@kentvm.kent.edu So you would need to send email to listserv@kentvm.kent.edu with message sub libref-L Yourfirstname Yourlastname "
Di says, "Some other types of e-conference software are called majordomo or listproc or comserve"
Di says, "The same instructions apply to those kinds of software. Address email to majorodomo@list.site.. Where list.site is the actual place the majorodomo or listproc is located. "
Di says, "If you see a -request in the subscription information then you are most likely sending a message to a human. If you add other information e.g, hello and thank you to a subscription message that you send to a listserv, majordomo or listproc address the program will be very confused. However, you can add some information when you are sending your request to another human."
Di says, "This is the end of the first lecture. Next I'm going to demonstrate how to "use the gopherslates (blueg, pinkg, etc. on each of your tables) to connect to the Directory of Scholarly E-conferences (its on a gopher at the University of Sasketchewan). After that we'll have time for general questions and answers."
Di says, "Did everyone see the lecture clearly? Are there any
questions?"
EllenE-lib speaks up, "Not from me, I got it all."
DavidH-lib speaks up, "clear as a bell"
Di says, "good"
Di smiles.
Ringer speaks up, "okay all here are fine"
Di says, "I should have asked to begin with ... What e-conferences
(listservs) are you subscribed to...go ahead and just speak up...."
EllenE-lib speaks up, "exlibris and autocat and a quentin tarantino fan list
and usmarc and oh I don't know..."
LizF-lib speaks up, "libref-l and stumpers come to mind"
Ringer speaks up, "web4libraries, publib-net . moo-cows"
LynneP-lib speaks up, "buslib and something about world wide web, don't
remember the name"
Cathy speaks up, "VIRTED"
DavidH-lib speaks up, "libref-l, amercath, govdoc-l (for a while),
communet"
Ninja_Librarian speaks up, "At one time libref-l and some others."
LynneP-lib speaks up, "oh yeah web4libraries"
Di says, "anyone else?"
Ringer speaks up, "oh yes contech and it was equine-l that got me onto a
moo"
Di says, "I subscribe to Nettrain and of course libref-l and govdoc-l ( I have
to) and DOROTHYL (mystery literature), listown-l and a couple others. I set
all of them to digest."
Di says, "The exercise covers how to set to DIGEST....Would anyone like me to
review that?"
EllenE-lib speaks up, "Yes, please."
LizF-lib speaks up, "sure!"
LynneP-lib speaks up, "yes please"
Ringer speaks up, "yes please "
Cathy speaks up, "di maybe you'd better since folks didn't get their email
homework it looks like"
DavidH-lib speaks up, "mais oui"
Di says, "The Digest opion is currently only available for listserv run
e-conferences, majordomo and listproc are planning for next revisions."
Di says, "basically you address email to listserv@wherever.edu (where the
e-confernce is)"
Di says, "leave the subject line empty or just type spaces into it (some
mailers won't let you leave it blank."
Di says, "Then the message text must read: set libref-l digest"
Di says, "You can of course substitute whatever list you want for
libref-l."
DavidH-lib speaks up, "I know one that isn't digested--how common is that
nowadays?"
Di says, "Two thing might happen: 1. The listserv will tell you it can't do
that. or 2. The software that only uses the name listserv as an alias will
say it can't do that."
Di says, "In the case of #1 contact the listowner ...you can get the name and
email address from the Directory of Scholarly E-conferences or by sending the
message: rev listname short to the listserv at that site."
Di says, "in the case of #2 you're asking a listproc or majordomo that only
has listserv as an alias to do what it can't yet. The listowner in case #1
can add the digest option to their header. They can email me if they need
assistance."
LizF-lib speaks up, "how does digest work?"
LynneP-lib speaks up, "does it allow you to see the whole thing if you want
to?"
LynneP-lib speaks up, "please tell us what digest does exactly."
Di says, "What does digest do when you get it?"
Di says, "DIGEST takes the full text of all the messages posted in a given day
and puts them into a single email message. All of the subject lines are at
the top so you can browse through them to see if you care to read down
through the full-text of the messages..."
Di says, "Depending on your mailer editor you can usually do a search for a
keyword so you don't have to page all the way down screen by screen to see
the one message you are interested in."
Di says, "Digest can be a problem for some people who have mailers set up that
filter email messages over a certain size...check with your systems
folks/postmaster if you have problems with this."
Di says, "Anymore questions?"
Ringer speaks up, "what about on native VAX mail?"
Ringer speaks up, "do you know how that deals?"
Di says, "The Vax mailer ( I use this on my
account;;;librk329@zeus.kent.edu)"
Di says, "The Vax mailer is perfectly capable of dealing with large email
messages."
Ringer speaks up, "yes and can it search also?"
Di says, "oops...Yes the Vax editor can search...to be honest I can't remember
the exact key sequence. Its gold something...I can find out for you."
Di says, "The mailer setup on any system is adjustable by the systems folks.
Sometimes they need a little nudge though."
LynneP-lib speaks up, "I know that a lot of times I have to read the message
to know if I'm interested in it or not."
Di says, "Yes digest solves some problems and creates others. DOROTHYL had to
go to digest only for all subscribers. It generates more than 50 messages
per day and was swamping Kent's computer systems."
LynneP-lib speaks up, "sometimes you can find things of interest by reading
messages that you don't think will be interesting to begin with"
Di says, "Other questions?"
Ringer speaks up, "some folks use digest so they can reduce connect
time.. "
Ringer speaks up, "right?"
Ringer speaks up, "just download the whole file and read off line?"
Di says, "Ringer, yes definitely...some people just download their digests."
DavidH-lib speaks up, "could you say something about cross-posting--how is it
done"
Di says, "Cross-posting should be done very very judiciously....let me give
you some guidelines...."
Di says, "1. Always ask for permission from the person who originally posted a
message before you forward it elsewhere."
Di says, "2. If you are originating a message to multiple groups please state
that somewhere in your message text."
Di says, "Technically you simply email the message to more than one address in
the case of #2."
Di says, "In the case of #1 you "forward" the mail to another address."
Di says, "Does that answer your questions?"
DavidH-lib speaks up, "yes, thanks"
Di says, "This is good...8).... How many of you have used the Directory of
Scholarly E-conferences before? Either in gopher, e-text or the ARL print
version?"
EllenE-lib speaks up, "Not me."
Di says, "Go ahead and just speakup."
Cathy speaks up, "I have"
LynneP-lib speaks up, "not me"
DavidH-lib speaks up, "I have--it's great!"
DavidW-lib speaks up, "Not I"
Di says, "Okay...lets go ahead..."
Di says, "First I just want all of you to look secg"
Di says, "I'm going to explain to you what I'm doing and then ask you to type
look secg"
Di says, "After that You'll have the opportunity to use blueg or pinkg to do
your own exploring."
Di says, "for future reference you might want to make note of the gopher
address: refmac.kent.edu so you can get to it from outside the Moo...or
just email me for directions to the other formats.....diane@kovacs.com"
Di says, "I'am now look(ing) at secg"
Ringer speaks up, "you can type details 1 on secg to see the bookmark"
Di says, "wonderful! "
Di says, "Now I am typing: pick 1 on secg"
LynneP-lib speaks up, "is this a telnet or what?"
Di picks '1. Scholarly Electronic Conferences (menu)' on SECg.
Di says, "Now go ahead and type: look secg again"
Di says, "this is not a telnet, it's a gopher connection. gopher to
gopher that is."
Cathy speaks up, "I see it....20 items listed right?"
Di says, "I hope you are looking at the gopher server at the University of
Sasketchewan."
Di says, "nope in fact their are 21 on the first screen of the menu."
Di says, "The Directory got really really big lately. ;_)"
Cathy speaks up, "oops...didn't count right I guess"
Di says, "okay...just look secg again. Next I am going to type: pick 2 on
secg"
Di says, "That is how to search by keyword (single word only at thispoint)."
Di picks '2. Search Directory of Scholarly Electronic Conferences (search)' on SECg.
Di searches for diversity on SECg.
Cathy starts to watch SECg.
Di says, "Go ahead and look secg again.... I saw Search for what? Enter search
line or @abort:"
Di says, ""then I typed: diversity as my keyword...this is just a discussion
name list"
Di says, "to see the full entry I'll pick one of the line numbers on secg..."
Di says, "Did everyone see DU MOO on line 6? Let me know if you didn't?"
Di says, "I'm going to now type pick 6 on secg to see the full entry for DU."
Di picks '6. Discussion Name: DU MOO Topic Information: Diversity University is designed as a virtual campus. ' on SECg.
Di says, "Go ahead and look secg again...."
Ninja_Librarian starts to watch SECg.
Di looks at the next page on SECg.
Di says, "I typed Next on Secg to see the rest."
Di says, "Did you see the line: Subscription Information: Telnet:
erau.db.erau.edu ?"
Di says, "Just say no if you didn't"
Cathy speaks up, "I think it needs an update"
Di says, "Definitely...the 9th revision was completed on 1/1/95 so we didn't
get the change in DU in time. I keep meaning to go and correct but its on
so many sites that I only got the ones I have control over...its one of the
problems with text files on the 'net."
Di says, "How are you all doing? Are you ready to play with blueg and pinkg
to find stuff you are interested in?"
LynneP-lib speaks up, "yes please"
EllenE-lib speaks up, "Sure."
Di says, "I'm going to type : reset secg so someone can use that one too if
you want. Go ahead and take breaks if you need to."
Di resets SECg.
Di says, "the formal part of this session is over. I'll be around for awhile
to help with questions . Its been fun 8)...Thank you all for coming. "
Di bows
Ringer clapps for Di.
Ninja_Librarian applauds.
Di says, "thank you thank you...."
LynneP-lib speaks up, "thanks for the great presentation Di"
Ninja_Librarian speaks up, "Thanks for a great presentation, Diane."