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`Young Mr. Renihan' is a perfect example of the phenomenon I described at the Med_Rel session at Kalamazoo, a casual user trying to find serious information. He also represents an interesting problem for academics (and by that I mean most if not all the regular denizens of this list, whether they are part of a recognised institution or not). Non-academics now have easy access to academic forums. Traditional academic forums were selective by their location, by their entry criteria, and by their cost. Now anyone can jump in, with queries, with opinions, and with all sorts of other interventions. This can have potentially damaging consequences, as the `refugees' from the Old Norse Net flame war can testify. More insidiously, the `tone' of a list can drift away from an `academic' level towards a `general' level, and discussion can become dominated by `fringe' groups. The fate of any list with the word `Celtic' or the phrase `Dark Age' in the title is instructive. AnSaxNet, for example, now has elaborate security procedures to discourage non-academic participation. The phenomenon of junior and high school students (and even primary school students) quizzing academic forums is on the increase, and accelerating. Teachers are being told over and over that the `net' will solve all their information gathering problems, often by self-serving individuals such as systems salespeople and computer magazine journalists, but also by politicians. The `net' is being presented to them as a replacement for traditional research. As the vast majority of teachers have little knowledge of the `net' (as indeed do the politicians), they are buying this argument. It is the teachers we must educate. They need to understand that the Net is not a repository of all information, and more importantly they must be taught that information of the net must be treated with the same scepticism as printed media. They need to have the importance of traditional library resources emphasised to them, and they have to be persuaded to teach both source criticism (in its most basic sense) and nettiquette. It is not in their interest to teach students to just `go ask an expert', because the student learns very little. Nor is it in their interest to have the discussion lists cluttered up with high school students, because it will result in the slamming of the door in their face. In other words, they themselves will not be able to learn from this forum if it is necessary to prove a research interest or academic affiliation to get on, nor will they be able to refer particularly bright and promising senior students who could benefit from the forum. Ron PS. George: I promise I'll post my paper to you very soon! I'm desperately trying to beat the marking deadline, and shouldn't even be doing this, but I couldn't resist :-) -- Dr. Ronald A. Ross School of History and Welsh History University of Wales (Bangor) Siliwen Road Bangor, Gwynedd, Wales. LL57 2DG Telephone 01248-382154 E-mail [log in to unmask] %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%