Re: [ARSCLIST] ruminations on the ARSClist-was: message board vs. listserv

[Brandon Burke <burke@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Thanks David and others.  Good points, all.

More than anything, I suppose I was trying to get a handle on how *active* 
most list members are -- not only as contributors but as readers as 
well.  I for one, will admit to deleting most posts but, to David's point, 
and owing to the diverse membership of ARSC, not all threads will appeal to 
all members.

Fair enough.

In the interests of honesty, I should say that most replies in favor of the 
current listserv system are from highly active contributors.  This would 
include, but is not limited to, folks who spend a generous amount of time 
at digital workstations, (presumably) making them more likely receive 
ARSClist messages "as they happen".  To the contrary, at least one member 
mentioned that trying to catch up to the list, in cases where one has been 
away from the computer for expended periods of time, is next to impossible.

Another point: Because most replies in favor of keeping a listserv came 
from active contributors, it is perhaps not surprising that there was 
little mention of  the cumbersome search function and the fact that one 
must click each individual post as s/he browses though a conversation in 
the online archives.  (The solution being the ability to view threads as 
entire "conversations" rather than isolated emails.)

I guess the question is, how much are we tailoring this thing to our own 
needs and conveniences vs. perhaps making the list's contents easier to 
navigate for the greater archival/collector/discographer/etc 
community?  No, this is not a rhetorical question.  I'm asking because an 
answer in either direction will, in turn, answer almost all of my questions 
above.

Seems we're providing a bountiful wealth of knowledge to the 
public...provided they're wiling to cross a swamp to get it.  (Again, this 
goes back to the question about whom our target audiences are for these 
posts.)

again thanks,
Brandon



_______________________________________
Brandon Burke
Assistant Archivist for Audiovisual Collections
Hoover Institution Archives
Stanford University
Stanford, CA 94305-6010
voice: 650.724.9711
fax: 650.725.3445
email: burke@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx