Volunteering for the UCR London Committee during the last three months gave me the opportunity to observe, activate and join several discussions and to consolidate findings from previous researches and experiences that I am glad to briefly share here.
Relevance of my contributions to the threads I joined or activated has been up to 84% on average. Topics covered are becoming evidently mainstream through the offerings of courses, events, public debates.
Here is a structured analysis of the messages I delivered through JISC Mailing lists between 15-8 and 15-11 2010:
- http://www.brunellalongo.info/ucr/BL-UCRG-London.pdf
For those who are interested in text /tag analysis and free tools to visualise tag clouds, a Wordle representing the contents of my messages on the grounds of columns 'Subject' and 'Topics covered' of the above spreadsheet is also available at:
- http://www.brunellalongo.it/ucr/BL-UCRG-London-cloud.pdf
I have appreciated the possibility to observe differences in information behaviours, style of management of list-owners and interpretation of JISC policies among diverse mailing lists.
Some observed behaviours resulted almost invisible and not perceived at all but nevertheless very negative for the integrity of the archives (like the removal of messages, the manipulation of contents in order not to make them visible through the archives, spam associated to single threads made visible through Google search).
Examples of behaviours noticed that were very instrumental and theatrical though not less offensive and negatively impacting the flow of the discussions:
- the deletion of the subject of messages in order not to appear associated with certain threads and to demotivate further replies
- the modification of others' questions in order to change the meaning of others' statements and questions
- the removal of subscribers by list owners without providing any reasonable explanation and in the absence of any guideline or policy
- personal attacks including allegations about the mental health status of the author of messages commenting data in the public domain.
I will be pleased to share further reflections about information policies, online information behaviours, impact of mailing lists and their archive/search utilities in other occasions and please do not hesitate to ask further clarifications if you plan to use any of these findings to produce / improve your own information policies and guidelines on social media (context is crucial).
The role of mailing list coordinator is now available within the committee and if you are a member of UCR London group interested in this volunteering opportunity please contact Vicky Robertson.
Kind Regards
Brunella Longo
7 New College Court
London NW3 5EX
T +44 (0)20 72095014 (home) - +44 (0) 75 49921488 (mobile)
http://www.brunellalongo.info
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