Hello again,
Following the changeover of the Mailbase email lists (including the
crit-geog-forum) to the JISCMail system I have updated the forum's
information files.
Attached is the updated 'welcome' file that gives information on the list,
including how to suspend or leave the list.
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Critical Geography Forum
Electronic Mail Discussion Group
Introduction v3.8
(ref NPJ - 4 December, 2000 - documenting change to JISCMail)
*************************************************************
1 WELCOME
Welcome to the Critical Geography Forum. This document describes the
purpose and operation of the electronic mailing list crit-geog-forum.
Please save it for future reference.
2 WHAT IS CRITICAL GEOGRAPHY FORUM ?
2.1 Origins
Critical Geography Forum is an international discussion group which uses
electronic mail technology (hence e-mail list) to allow members to share
ideas, raise questions, provide answers and air opinions. It was
originally set up in the wake of the merger between the Institute of
British Geographers (IBG) and the Royal Geographical Society (RGS) to
provide a forum for discussion among critical and radical geographers.
The Forum exists now as a network of geographers and others which seeks to
promote:
a) the development and dissemination of critical and radical
perspectives in geography and related disciplines;
b) critical and radical research, publication and educational
activities undertaken by geographers;
c) links between academic geographers and radical political
activists and activities;
d) equality of opportunity;
by, among other things,
i) enabling communication and debate between geographers in all
kinds of educational and research institutions, between geographers
and others in related disciplines, and between academics and the
wider community;
ii) supporting the work of marginalised and under-represented groups
in geography;
iii) campaigning for reform in educational and academic institutions;
iv) emphasising work which improves understanding of, and seeks to
combat, unequal and oppressive power relations;
v) highlighting ethical and political issues in the practice of
geographical research and education.
2.2 List Admistration
The first list administrater was Joe Painter (Durham), followed in 1997 by
Christopher Ray (Newcastle), then Pam Shurmer (Portsmouth), Adam Tickell
(Southampton) and Denis Linehan (University College Cork) . The current
list adminstrators are Lawrie Berg (Victoria), Moya Kneafsey (Coventry),
and Niall Johnson (Cambridge).
The responsibility for the administration of the list is passed between
members every 12 months or so. If you are interested in taking up this
responsibility for the year 2001 please contact the listowners. The
listowner's role is basically just to try and make sure everything runs
smoothly. The list is open and unmoderated, so the listowners are
facilitators rather than gatekeepers.
2.3 Purpose
The list may be used for the discussion of any topic related to
critical/radical geography whether of a substantive or an
institutional nature. Such topics might include (but are not
limited to):
- the IBG-RGS merger and its consequences
- alternative imagined communities for geographers
- calls for papers
- notices of meetings, conferences, reading groups, etc.
- ways of building networks and links
- ways of supporting research and publication from critical perspectives
- the role and character of academic institutions and professional
organisations
- reports on research
- conference reports
- substantive and theoretical issues of current debate
The list can also be used to distribute documents via the Critical
Geography Forum Website. For details on how to do this see section 5.
3 HOW DOES IT WORK?
3.1 The JISCMail system
Critical Geography Forum used to use the Mailbase system. As of November
2000 the Mailbase functions were passed over to JISCMail. The JISCMail
computer receives messages from subscribers to the list and forwards a
copy of each message to each of the other subscribers. JISCMail is funded
centrally for the academic community and the service is free to
subscribers.
(For more information about JISCMail visit their website at
http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk or contact [log in to unmask])
3.2 Who can join?
Anyone with access to electronic mail can be a subscriber, although
the list will obviously be of most interest to academic geographers.
3.3 How do I join?
To join the Critical Geography Forum click on the Join or Leave link from
the forum's webpage at
http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/crit-geog-forum.html
Alternatively you can send this command message
JOIN crit-geog-forum first_name(s) last_name
(substituting your own first and last names as appropriate) as the
only text of an e-mail message to:
[log in to unmask]
For example:
From: [log in to unmask]
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject:
Message: JOIN crit-geog-forum Joe Painter
If you have any problems please contact:
[log in to unmask]
3.4 How do I leave?
To leave the list click on the Join or Leave link from the forum's webpage
at http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/crit-geog-forum.html
Alternatively you can send this command message:
leave crit-geog-forum
stop
as the sole text of an e-mail message to:
[log in to unmask]
3.5 How do I send a message?
To send a message to all the other subscribers on the list simply send
it as e-mail to:
[log in to unmask]
exactly as if you were sending e-mail to a person. All the other
subscribers will then automatically receive your message.
3.6 When you receive a message from crit-geog-forum
If you wish to take up the points raised in a message from another
subscriber, or to provide answers to questions and so on, you have two
options:
a) Select 'reply' if you want to respond privately to the individual
who posted the message.
b) Send your response to all subscribers, by sending it to
[log in to unmask]
3.7 Suspending your mail
If you are going away for a while, the best thing to do is to suspend your
membership by sending the command
set crit-geog-forum nomail
in the body of an email to [log in to unmask]
And on your return send the command
set crit-geog-forum mail
to the same address. This ensures that your mailbox doesn't get clogged
up.
3.8 Very important
Please make sure that you send messages for distribution to
[log in to unmask] and commands to
[log in to unmask] It is not uncommon for messages reading
join J.Bloggs and so on to be sent accidentally to everyone on a
mailing list, rather than to the mailbase computer.
As the CGF grows to approaching 600 members the routine administrative
tasks that the 'owners' have to deal with also grow. If an e-mail address
changes or the in-box gets full, error messages are sent to the owners for
each message posted to the list and typically that means that each posting
results in 4 or 5 errors. On bad days we can get upwards of 50 error
messages. Sometimes computer services departments change long addresses
without telling users (the alias stays the same) and this can also cause
problems.
As a result, we have decided to become more proactive in removing
addresses from the list and will now immediately remove people whose
mailboxes are full. We will continue to contact institutions to check on
other error messages but if no reply is received within a reasonable
period these addresses will also be removed. This is NOT an attempt at
censorship and the only criterion for removing people will be that the
messages do not get through.
If you are moving, please ensure that you send the message
leave crit-geog-forum
to [log in to unmask]
If you do not receive mail from the list and think that you should be, you
can check your membership status by sending the command
review crit-geog-forum
in the body of an email to [log in to unmask]
You will receive an email listing the members of the forum.
You can also find out what JISCMail lists you belong to by sending the
message
query *
to [log in to unmask]
If you have been removed in error, you can re-subscribe by clicking on the
Join or Leave link from the forum's webpage at
http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/crit-geog-forum.html
Alternatively you can send this command message
JOIN crit-geog-forum first_name(s) last_name
(substituting your own first and last names as appropriate) as the
only text of an e-mail message to:
[log in to unmask]
The lists archives are kept indefinitely on the web and you can check
messages that you may have missed at
http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/crit-geog-forum.html
3.9 Who's there?
To find out who else has subscribed to the list send the following
command:
review crit-geog-forum
as the sole text of an e-mail message to [log in to unmask]
3.10 Archives
The mailbase computer retains an archive of past messages. The
easiest way to review them if you have access to the World Wide Web
is through the crit-geog-forum page on the mailbase Web server. The
address (URL) is:
http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/crit-geog-forum.html
4.0 NETIQUETTE
4.1 Disclosure
In order to facilitate the development of the list, all new members are
encouraged to disclose some basic information of who they are, in terms of
research, community or political interests. New members should consider
disclosure within a week or so of joining the list. This is new
development, introduced in January 1998. Existing disclosures of members
are stored in message archive and may be viewed on the Critical Geography
Forum Website at http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/crit-geog-forum.html
4.2 Netiquette
Please follow the usual rules of netiquette (internet etiquette), such as
avoiding sending abusive messages (flames). Moods such as irony are
commonly indicated by the use of a smiley face, thus:
:-)
Capital letters imply SHOUTING. For emphasis, underlining can be implied
by using an underscore character immediately before and after the section
_to be underlined_.
Anonymous postings and 'false' email identities are discouraged. However,
if a need arises to send an anonymous email to the list, please contact
the listowners who shall be able to assist.
4.3 File attachments
Please _avoid_ attaching files to your emails. There are a number of
reasons for doing this. These include the fact that many people simply do
not read attachments, often because they are in formats they can not open
or read. Another reason is that files can clog up email systems badly.
Furthermore files can all too easily contain viruses. So if you need to
include text in your emails please include it as standard ASCII text
rather than as a formatted file.
5.0 Distribution of Documents using the Critical Geography Forum Website
An opportunity exists on the Critical Geography Website to distribute
documents via the WWW. Given recent debates on this List concerning the
problems and politics related with publishing material, List Members may
be interested in this development.
5.1 How do I submit documents ?
Under the conditions of the system the placing of documents on-line has to
be done through the List Administrator. Therefore, to put your document on
the WWW you must email a copy of the document to the List Administrator as
an email file attachment.
The list administrator responsible for the website is Niall Johnson who
can be reached at [log in to unmask]
The file-attachment to your email should be saved as a basic text file
first. Most Wordprocessing packages will allow you to do this using the
"save as" option when you save the file.If you don't have a clue what how
to attach files to your email, don't panic! Email the list administrator
and we will sort something out.
Members should also try to ensure that documents are under 6000 words, as
at the moment space on this website is limited. Members should also be
aware if demand for this space becomes too great then the length of time a
document can stay up on the website may also have to be restricted, in
order to allow fair-play (ooops! more sporting metaphors...). However all
documents submitted will be archived as I have cunning plans to develop
the website further if the demand for the distribution of documents is
high enough. If space is available, documents will be put on on-line
within 24 hours.
5.2 How to Access Documents submitted.
The location of the Critical Geography Forum Website is as follows:
http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/crit-geog-forum.html
When you access the site you are given several options.
Click on the link "Files associated with your list"
It is here that your submitted documents will be found.
5.3 Announcing Documents to the List
Once authors have established that their submission has gone on-line they
should announce it themselves to the list, telling us what it is about,
etc.
5.4 Will the Documents be Refereed ?
No. The documents will be totally unrefereed. However, documents with
racist, abusive and sexist content are not acceptable.
6.0 FEEDBACK
If you have any comments about this introduction or suggestions for
improvements in future versions, please send them by e-mail directly to
[log in to unmask] If the issue is one in which other subscribers are
likely to be interested, then please also send the message to the whole
list.
7.0 LISTOWNER
In mailbase jargon, the administrator of the list is known as the
listowner. The listowners for Critical Geography Forum are:
Lawrence Berg - [log in to unmask]
Moya Kneafsey - [log in to unmask]
Niall Johnson - [log in to unmask]
All the listowners can be reached by sending an email to this address:
[log in to unmask]
8.0 THIS DOCUMENT
This document was last modified by Niall Johnson 4 December, 2000.
----
au revoir
niall johnson
Email: [log in to unmask]
Department of Geography and Sidney Sussex College
University of Cambridge Cambridge
United Kingdom CB2 3EN United Kingdom CB2 3HU
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