Re: [asa] Flood of emails

We've been through this a few times before. I agree with what John says
below regarding the uptake problem. My effort to establish a private board
on my own has floundered I think largely for that reason. The boardmaster
has to be active in letting the community know what's new -- although
bulletin board systems allow people to receive emails of recently updated
posts if they so elect.
The big downside to the email list is that the email list exchanges are
publicly archived and that the list is unrestricted. Everything you say
here becomes a matter of public record, things can get attributed to ASA
that shouldn't be, and lots of ASA members with varying perspectives don't
participate as a result. For these reasons, it would be great to have a
well-promoted, diverse, private ASA board, along with a more diverse,
substantive, moderated public ASA blog.

A private board would also allow for "spiritual" things like
mentoring, prayer requests, and genuinely tolerant and loving communication
among people who disagree. Unfortunately, one needs to come to the email
list with a bit of thick-skinned defensiveness, and I'm afraid that many
newbies who are just beginning to seriously explore the intersection of
Christian faith and science can get pummeled in a way that isn't
faith-enhancing. It would be great to have a genuinely "safe space" for
exploration.
On Dec 11, 2007 10:17 AM, John Walley <john_walley@yahoo.com> wrote:

> In marketing parlance, the forum is a discontinuous innovation while email
> is continuous. Continuous innovations facilitate uptake while
> discontinuous
> ones don't.
>
> People are in the habit of checking their email daily and therefore read
> ASA
> emails that they would otherwise likely not read if they had to go out of
> their way to do so. I STRONGLY prefer email to forums or blogs. In fact, I
> hate blogs and never use them. I agree it is a good decision to stay with
> email if the intent is to facilitate discussion.
>
> One thing you can do in your email is to setup a filter in your Outlook or
> mail client to forward all incoming ASA emails to a certain folder and you
> can read them later without polluting all your other incoming personal
> email.
>
> John
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: asa-owner@lists.calvin.edu [mailto:asa-owner@lists.calvin.edu] On
> Behalf Of George Cooper
> Sent: Tuesday, December 11, 2007 9:32 AM
> To: asa@calvin.edu
> Subject: Fw: [asa] Flood of emails
>
> Thanks Terry, that means that most everyone at least knows about it. I
> am
> still curious, however, why emails are prefered. I find both equally
> personable, but the forum has several advantages.
>
> I'll keep checking the email flood by asking "How high's the water Mama?"
> and see if it, hopefully, keeps a risin'. :)
>
> GeorgeA
>
>
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: "Terry M. Gray" <grayt@lamar.colostate.edu>
> > To: "George Cooper" <georgecooper@sbcglobal.net>
> > Sent: Monday, December 10, 2007 10:52 PM
> > Subject: Re: [asa] Flood of emails
> >
> >
> >> George,
> >>
> >> Several times we have polled our group here about this and each time a
> >> slight majority expresses preference for continuing with an email
> based
> >> discussion rather than a forum based version.
> >>
> >> That's why we continue.
> >>
> >> TG
> >>
> >> On Dec 10, 2007, at 7:54 AM, George Cooper wrote:
> >>
> >>> Yes, it is a more than I would like to see, but it is hard not to
> >>> address these interesting topics.
> >>>
> >>> I would like to know why the ASA forum
> >>> [http://www.asa3.org/members-only/ASAforum/ ] is not being utilized.
> It
>
> >>> is much more orgainized, and it provides a great reference for future
> >>> use. The phpbb format is quite popular and works smoothly. I can
> even
>
> >>> edit my poor grammar.
> >>>
> >>> Are there some good reasons why we are only using emails instead? I
> >>> feel like we are out in the rain with our backs to our home's open
> >>> door.
> >>>
> >>> GeorgeA
> >>>
> >>> PS - Oh, and in the forum we don't have to redo our emails because we
> >>> forgot to address them to the group.
> >>
> >> ________________
> >> Terry M. Gray, Ph.D.
> >> Computer Support Scientist
> >> Chemistry Department
> >> Colorado State University
> >> Fort Collins, CO 80523
> >> (o) 970-491-7003 (f) 970-491-1801
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >
>
>
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Received on Tue Dec 11 10:35:37 2007