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In a message dated 4/1/2004 7:57:14 AM Eastern Standard Time, <a href="/cgi-bin/wa?LOGON=A3%3Dind0404%26L%3DRECMGMT-L%26E%3D8bit%26P%3D29455%26B%3D--%26T%3Dtext%252Fplain%3B%2520charset%3Diso-8859-1" >[log in to unmask]</a> writes:

> I am most curious about the member forum. I recommended a study of how the forum is used.

was this recommendation made to the ARMA board? and when?


> Studies of professional listservs have nearly always demonstrated that despite strong opinions expressed, that they were use for the purposes for which they were created.

Are any of these studies available online? If they are would you provide the links to them. I would be interested in reading them as would some others.

> In addition, the usage patterns for our forum also match average usage patterns of a wide range of chat
> rooms.

Carol I would like to make clear to all that the terms listserv, forum and chat rooms are not synomous, and that each has its advantages and disadvantages.

Forums/Bulletin boards are somewhat static and require that one continually visit the site to see new postings. Most require that you be a member in order to post messages, others have no such restriction.

here are two examples of BBS

http://www.bigsoccer.com/

http://forum.dallasmetropolis.com/


Listserv's (and listserv is a trademark as is lyris another type of software) that delivers the postings to an individual's email box in near-real time. almost always they require a subscription, most have their archives available to the public. A subscriber has 3 options available to them individual postings, daily digest and nomail. Most email lists are hosted by educational institutions. These lists can exist as either moderated or unmoderated.

Chat rooms are live real time interactive places. Chat rooms are hosted by AOL, YAHOO, MSN and others. lively places and rarely used for professional purposes.


and there is one other and it is a hybrid. The most common one is the Yahoo group employs email as a means of communicating, has chat capability while at the same time offering other services such as file sharing, links, calendaring, and polling. Work groups such as ARMA's standards taskforces use Yahoo groups as a tool in the development of standards or guidelines. I have heard that some companies do use groups internally for a variety of purposes. Some companies do not allow employees to access groups through their firewalls.


Peter A. Kurilecz CRM, CA
Richmond, Va
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