Colin wrote
>I presume by digest or
>summary is meant abstract, and is there someone out there with the time to
>do it??
Just to clarify for everyone, unfortunately 'digest' in the JISCmail sense
doesn't mean a 'human authored' digest - its simply a list and copy of all
the messages sent in a particular time (generally each day). It serves to
reduce the volume of email that folk have to cope with, but doesn't
necessarily pull out 'the important bits'. To do this sort of work needs
someone to go through the list messages. So far with FISH we've only done
this in the context of our e-conferences, rather than as general practice.
Perhaps its something we need to take on (any volunteers? - perhaps from our
attending members? - contact me off-list).
In the meantime there are a couple of New Years resolutions that might ease
the problem for the archivally minded among us:-
1) don't use the 'Reply' button indiscriminately. If you want to comment on
a message that has been sent, cut and copy the relevant part(s) of the
message into a new email, add your comments and send that. This keeps the
messages shorter (and saves download times, bandwidth, space etc) and easier
to understand - particularly in the digest format. Do remember to
acknowledge the original author to avoid confusion.
2) do make careful use of the Subject line in your messages. Replies sent in
response to earlier messages should have the same subject line to help
organise the messages in the archive on the web site, and in the digests.
New topics in the discussion should have a clear descriptive subject line,
with the main subject towards the beginning (as some mail software only
displays the first 20 characters or so).
But anyway - before we get to the season for New Years Resolutions, can I
wish all subscribers a happy and peaceful Christmas. As Jason mentioned I'll
be happy to reopen discussion on the new terminologies in the week beginning
7th January.
Best wishes all
Edmund Lee
Forum Co-ordinator
Forum on Information Standards in Heritage
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