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Dear all I thought you should all be aware of the following. I feel that the mailbase service is absolutely essential and strategic for UK academic and scientific development. You may be asked for views - I hope they would be supportive. Rick ---- Forwarded Message Follows ------- Date sent: Mon, 1 Mar 1999 15:49:30 +0000 (GMT) Send reply to: [log in to unmask] Subject: Message from User Group about Mailbase future From: Elaine Blair <[log in to unmask]> To: [log in to unmask] Colleagues I am writing as Chairman of the Mailbase User Group to bring you up-to-date with developments in the funding of Mailbase and, consequently, its future. Part of the support organisation for Mailbase is a user group selected from a wide range of disciplines and backgrounds. We meet with Mailbase staff from time to time and are consulted/give views about the operation and development of the service. The User Group is very concerned about some of the possibilities which the current review is considering and I have been asked by the Group to write to you to bring these concerns to your attention. (Information about the User Group is at: http://www.mailbase.ac.uk/mbug/) Higher Education, through a body called the Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC), itself funded by the four funding councils for HE in the United Kingdom. JISC is conducting a review of this funding (which in 1998/99 amounted to approximately 250,000 pounds sterling). Funding at approximately this level is currently only confirmed for the 1999/00 financial year. JISC has asked that a report is provided for its consideration and this is being carried out on its behalf by a consultant. As part of this he will be undertaking a sample of 500 users and list owners. It is important to distinguish between the basic mailing list service and the many value-added services which Mailbase offers. We feel that knowledge of the latter is not as widely understood as it ought to be and it is consequently those services which are most at risk. The value-added services include: A. Support for owners, including documentation, web interface development, training seminars and telephone/email helpdesk. B. Discussion support to ensure that list owners can obtain advice and assistance to try and raise the usefulness of lists and the quality of the discussion. This includes a managed view of list coverage and subject so that a coherent set of lists can be encouraged and also so that appropriate techniques for stimulating and moderating discussion can be offered to list owners. C. Support for the concept of email as an interactive electronic discussion medium. Advertisements, articles in appropriate journals and other publications, speakers at conference sessions etc. D. User support, including documentation, web access to searchable archives. Private lists as well as public ones. This is all in addition to a high quality list service dealing with a large volume of mail to and between many users. While the funding source of the service demands that the lists are for the benefit of the teaching, research and management interests of the UK HE sector, list membership includes all those from outside the sector whose participation is essential to the success of many lists. Could I ask you to consider whether you support the continued existence of the value-added aspects of this service in something like their present form and what you feel might be lost if those services were substantially curtailed. You may wish to consult members of your lists. In any event, we feel that it is important that those list members who are selected (randomly) and invited to complete a survey realise the importance of the process to which they are contributing. There will be a general note to this effect sent to the mailbase-news list. The review process will be informed also by the views of UCISA (The Universities and Colleges Information Systems Association), of which the Director of your Computing Service (or equivalent title) will be a member. The JANET National User Group (JNUG) are also being consulted; that body will probably have a member from within your Institution. You may wish to discuss any views you have with them. I shall be writing as chairman of the Mailbase User Group to the ACN (the Advisory Committee on Networking) which is the JISC body which is conducting the review and determining the future funding level of the service; I should be happy to receive any information which you feel will inform the User Group's rresponse. (This would need to be with me by 15th March, any contribution should be sent to [log in to unmask]) If you need further information about the work of Mailbase and the services currently provided, please consult the paper at: http://www.mailbase.ac.uk/docs/more-mailbase.html I am sorry that this message has been so long (and infested with the acronyms with which this area of activity is so plentifully supplied) but I hope that you will understand the reasons for our concern. Yours sincerely Jim Whitaker Chairman Mailbase User Group =================================== ***************************************************************** * J.S.M. Whitaker [log in to unmask] * IT Support Manager * Academic Office Tel: 0121-414 3811 * (Secretary 0121-414 3812) * The University of Birmingham Fax: 0121-414 6864 * Edgbaston * Birmingham B15 2TT ***************************************************************** 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.ifcc.org http://www.yichi.org.uk %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%