An Educator's Guide to E-Mail Lists      (Revised Feb. 1, 1993)

     Finding e-mail lists is sometimes difficult for the novice, but
once you've done so, though they are all excellent in their several ways,
none seems quite satisfactory for the busy educator.  They are either too
long, too brief in descriptions or confined to only one type of list.
I've begun to arrange my own though it is another unsatisfactory
compromise, as well as adding the risk of typos, categorical bloopers,etc.
It's still in draft form but it might be helpful to some.  It's gotten
long, too, now, but it's shorter than most and the headings help.

     Lists change, come and go, so there's no guarantee any one list
will still be available when you try it, even if the address and
instructions given are correct.

     Most of those below are Bitnet Listserv lists or follow the
conventions established by Bitnet.  You send email addressed to
           listserv@address     without a Subject, just the first
line message of:   Subscribe listname Your-Name.

     The one-word "@... addresses"  following the listname and description
below are almost all Bitnet addresses.  Those on Bitnet, need not
include the   .bitnet   part of the address, but on our Internet
system--and I suppose most others--you must end a bitnet address
with   .bitnet   added in the way given below, as well as append "listserv"
to the front end..(If the address does not begin with "@" [for "at"],
do not prepend "listserv" or append "bitnet", follow Example 2, below.)

     EXAMPLE 1:  "ADLTED-L    Canadian adult education network @uregina1."
Here you would send the subscribe message to:  listserv@uregina1  --if
you were on bitnet, but to:  listserv@uregina1.bitnet   --if you are on
Internet. First line of message: Subscribe Adlted-L (your 1st & last name)

     You can tell a Bitnet address from an Internet address below by the
period (".") after the "@address." or by the fact that a U.S. Internet
address always ends with ".edu", ".com", ".org", ".net" or some other
3-letter combination.  Internet addresses in other countries always end
in a 2-letter code, as ".ca" for Canada, ".uk" for United Kingdom, etc.

     Remember, you always send all listserver commands like Subscribe and
Unsubscribe to a listserver--never to the List itself.  Listservers, whatever
they're called, are just computers programmed to automatically handle
the details of subscribing, mailing, etc.  But some modify or don't follow
the conventions for subscribing above or are still tended "by hand"!.

    So instead you send an email message to an individual or to a -request
address or just an address.  The addresses below usually indicate that
and the message is usually the same required above, though you probably
should add your exact email address as well...unless it bounces that way.

     EXAMPLE 2:--
"TRAVEL-ADVISORIES  distributed from U.S. State Dept.. -request@stolaf.edu"

        here email to: travel-advisories-request@stolaf.edu     a message
        like:  Subscribe Travel-Advisories  John Doe  Jdoe@blank.bb.UUU.edu
        so that if the distribution mechanism is tended by hand, your email
        address can be easily picked up.  This is NOT necessary for the
        usual programmed response described above, where your email address
        is taken automatically from the "From: " line of your header.  (See
        example of message for Bitnet LISTSERV and imitators above.)
     Another example of the second type==
        " SIS          Strategic Info. Systems for executive planning
                mailbase@mailbase.ac.uk"
        Address subscribe message to:  mailbase@mailbase.ac.uk
     Still another--
        " GRAD-ADV    Advisors of undergrads on grad schools; grad catalog db.  
                archive@mento.acs.unc.edu"
        Send message to:  archive@mento.acs.unc.edu
     Another Internet address example--
        "CAIRNET    California Assn. for institutional research list.  @uci.edu"
        Send message to:  listserv@uci.edu       No ".bitnet" suffix necessary.

     The following is only an arbitrary sample of the email lists that
might be of interest to one or another group of educators, no doubt
with some clinkers among them, arranged according to my own notions, mostly
from the long file obtained by sending the email message:  List Global
to:                   listserv@vm1.nodak.edu

     If you have problems, questions or corrections, additions, email me at:
                      pgsmith@educ.umass.edu
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
  Prescott Smith   -  Univ. of Mass/Amherst   -  pgsmith@educ.umass.edu
     Ednet - a forum exploring the educational potential of the Internet
   e-mail to:  Listserv@nic.umass.edu   1st line:  Sub Ednet (Your Name)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Instructions for FTP'ing updates of this file are below.
A list of Usenet Newsgroups under similar Education headings is
also available.  Length: 47K.

                        ftp nic.umass.edu
                login:  anonymous          (or user anonymous)
             password:  (Your email address)
                        cd pub/ednet
                        get educatrs.lst
                        get edusenet.gde
                        bye

 
.