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

[Eric Jacobs <ericj@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Brandon, well said - spoken like a true archivist!

There is a wealth of knowledge embedded in these threads, and finding
those nuggets and the related posts isn't always easy, especially for
ARSCLIST newcomers.

So as much as ARSC focuses on sound collections, perhaps more attention
should be paid to preserving the valuable discussions about sound
collecting, and archiving that knowledge in a slightly more usable
format (although less interactive and immediate).

Personally, I like the interactivity and immediacy - but that's because
I lean more towards active participation rather than lurking.  However,
I suspect that lurkers represent the majority of the membership.

One nice thing about forums/boards is that you can start dividing
subject matter into categories, like "mechanical media" and "magnetic
media", or "cataloging" and "storage".  This makes for a great tool
to learn more about recorded sound collections.  And for those with
a particular focus, it helps weed out subjects not of interest.

To pseudo-paraphrase Brandon, the question to ask perhaps:

Does the ARSCList want to leave an easily accessible legacy of
knowledge for others, or does the ARSCList want to be a "place"
where people with similar interests hang out and share knowledge.

With a bigger picture in mind, I'm willing to give up some immediacy
and interactivity in order to promote better sharing of knowledge.

And with that, I cast one vote for the message board.

Eric Jacobs
The Audio Archive
tel: 408.221.2128
fax: 408.549.9867
mailto:EricJ@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx



-----Original Message-----
From: Association for Recorded Sound Discussion List
[mailto:ARSCLIST@xxxxxxx]On Behalf Of Brandon Burke
Sent: Tuesday, December 13, 2005 1:09 PM
To: ARSCLIST@xxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] ruminations on the ARSClist-was: message board
vs. listserv


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