I thought members might like to see the following message about
the retirement of the founder of mailbase. It includes a short history
of the service which may be illuminating. I think it illustrates the
impact of the internet over the past decade, an impact which we
are in danger of taking for granted.
I am sure that all members would wish to thank Jill Foster for her
foresight in establishing the service from which so many have
benefited and to hope she has a happy and enjoyable retirement.
Rick Jones
------- Forwarded Message Follows -------
Date sent: Fri, 28 Jan 2000 14:50:46 +0000 (GMT)
Send reply to: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Goodbye to Jill Foster
From: Mailbase Helpline <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask]
------------
Jill leaves Mailbase
------------
Today we have to say goodbye to Jill Foster, the Mailbase founder.
Jill established the Mailbase service ten years ago and has directed
it ever since, running a UK academic mailing list service which is
unequalled in the rest of Europe - being in use by some 50% of UK HE
staff.
Jill has been planning her retirement since the summer, and intends
(among other things) to travel to Australia, to cycle the length of
the Danube, and to play a lot more tennis.
-----------------
Mailbase History
-----------------
Mailbase began in 1989 when Jill submitted a proposal to the Computer
Board for a project which would allow ACADEMICS OF ALL DISCIPLINES to
use the network for group communication and collaborative research,
and it was launched in 1990 with the snappy title of "the National
Information Services Project (NISP)".
So right from the beginning, Jill had the vision to see that networks
were not just for the "techies" but could benefit everyone, whatever
their technical know-how.
Many of our early lists were for library groups, and on the 10th March
1990 the very first messages were sent to lis-ill (inter-library
loans), lis-scotland and lis-research (Research Council libraries).
All three lists are still going strong today.
And in 1992, Jill's annual report proudly announced "Mailbase has been
proactive in bringing this services to non-traditional users. New lists
include Liturgy and Medieval and Renaissance Music."
After six months, in June 1990, Mailbase had 22 lists, and 673 list
members who had managed to send a total of 192 messages! And in
September Jill and the team celebrated setting up the 50th list.
Today Mailbase has 2,636 discussion lists, and 192,745 members
worldwide, and we still think that the most important part of our
service is the support we give our users.
---------------------
And a personal note
---------------------
Peter Kemp, director of the Mailbase Steering Group, recently sent
this message to our owner-talk list:
"I have had the privilege of working with Jill for nearly twenty
years. During that time, she has achieved a great many things, but two
are particularly relevant.
She has persistently taken the side of the network user in lots of
forums around the world and has played no small part in ensuring that
the Internet is a genuinely useful tool for managing our daily
workload. That is basically what is behind both Mailbase and
Netskills - an understanding of what we need to exploit the network
and a determination to deliver this.
Second, she has built up a community to support us, which comprises both
the Mailbase staff in Newcastle and volunteer listowners like yourselves.
It is precisely because of this work of Jill's that Mailbase is such an
important part of our working lives."
So, on the behalf of all our users, we'd like to thank Jill.
-------------------------------------------
Bronwen Reid
Email [log in to unmask]
Web http://www.mailbase.ac.uk
-------------------------------------------
Dr Rick Jones
Director of Chemical Pathology and Immunology
Institute of Pathology
Tel:(44)-113-233-5677
Fax:(44)-113-233-5672
http://www.acb.org.uk
http://www.yichi.org.uk
http://www.leeds.ac.uk/rdinfo //Winner - Best Health Database HC99
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