"I love Justcomm.org"

2022-08-25 08:22:07

Communications for Justice - justcomm.orgHome of Cohousing-L Listserv Contact: fholson [at] cohousing.org ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------On Friday, Oct 6, 2017 I attended a lecture at the University of Minnesotaby David R. Williams, PhdProfessor of Public Health and Professor of African and African American Studies and Sociology at Harvardthat makes a very convincing statistical case thatRacism makes us sickHis presentation is available online via:Beyond Health Care: Why We Get Sick and What To Do About It(The U's description of the UMN lecture is couched in less direct terms on the event page)There are several Youtube videos by professor Williams that cover much the same material:How Social Policy Shapes Health - The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and MedicineImproving America's Health and Reducing Disparities - NIH Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Researchon "The Agenda" on Ontario TVHow racism makes us sick - TEDMED talk------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Page indexFAQ for all Justcomm Lists mostly on using lists and policies (including Cohousing-L) Freethinking ForumCohousing-L specific (additional) FAQs Fred's DTV notesAbout Communications for Justice N Mpls TransitWhat is a Listserv? List of public lists organized by Justcomm.orgCorePlusList organizational structure Less can be more ... the 'too much email' problemListPlusWeb Internet presence approach List hosting services with Justcomm No cost, no ads, (for accepted groups).ISP with listserv hosting recommendationEffective email use Yahoo Groups critiqueWeb page template to facilitate repeated visits to selected web sites: Visits Visits (old)Don't want to change addresses again? Get a permanent email address. Check out: E-mail Forwarding AliasesOnline Viewer for PDF, PostScript and MSWord files without downloadingI now recommend s.coop Making a shorter link for web references for use in email etc.Communications for Justice (Justcomm) is a small unincorporatednonprofit organization based physically in Minnesota, USA and on theInternet that facilitates communications to promote justice.Justcomm's initial focus is the use of listserv's ( Mailing Lists )to facilitate communications for justice. Specifically, thrulistserv management, hosting, and passing on these skills. Good "lists"these days have a web component too and making the best use of both topromote justice is Justcomm's goal.Justice Justcomm has a very broad interpretation of the term justice. Webelieve ALL people have the right to reach their potential, be healthy,and a part of loving families. Families should be part of supportive andcooperative communities. People should live in healthy and sustainableenvironments with some beauty. The practical aspect of justice iseconomic justice. We believe that we can not achieve true justice untilracial justice is achieved. Gender justice is also a part of our visionof justice. We recognize that competition is a powerful motivatingforce but that it must be constrained by democratic forces to promotethe common good. Thru democratic governmental, political,non-governmental and faith organizations are the way we work towardjustice. (working draft statement 2/17/04)What is a Listserv? An Internet email "listserv" aka "mailing list" or "egroup" is adiscussion or announcement facility that delivers messages by email togroups of people. While listservs have various limitations, they havethe great advantage of delivering information to people who use emailregularly so that it comes to their attention promptly. (Rather thanexpecting people to "go" somewhere online (web site or newsgroup)periodically which requires much more of the participant.) Some veryactive discussions amongst highly motivated participants may be betterserved by web based discussion systems. I look forward to systems thatallow participation either way (at the the option of the participant)without compromising the listserv features. Even very active discussionsshould have an email option including an "index" or "summary" mode thatsends a short email that summarizes activity and reminds the subscriberto "go" browse the discussion.See my experiment Cohousing-L summary mode listand related FAQ itemListservs with well organized, searchable archives (and summary mode)have some of the advantages of web based systems. Posting for nonindividual message mode subscribers does tend to be awkward (requiresmore effort to handle subject line and quoting). For more informationsee: About mailing lists (listserv's)CorePlusList Another focus of Justcomm is a model of small organization("CorePlusList") which assumes a core group of people who are active inthe organization but that the organization has a much larger, usuallyinactive group of supporters. A low frequency, low volume announcementlist with optimally edited information keeps the supporters "in touch"and available so that when the organization needs exceptional supportfrom them it can be efficiently done. The classic case would be theNeighborhood Peace organization which has a small core but has much ofthe neighborhood on the mailing list.Less can be more ... the 'too much email' problem The "low frequency, low volume ... with optimally edited information"('optimal volume') aspect of a good announcement system stated above isvery important. Without this many people would not have time orwillingness to get ANY mailings. Another key aspect is the wisdom toknow when it is appropriate to call for exceptional support. Assuringthat mailings have optimal volume is a prime responsibility of the coregroup so as to allow busy people to stay in touch. The optimal volume ofan announcement list is relative. It depends on the topic and how thattopic ranks in constituent's priorities and the quality and nature ofthe information. Tho mailing lists accommodate a wide range of mailfrequency, there is a minimum below which the list of addresses startsto become obsolete. Like a paper mailing list, only thru use do addresschanges get identified, updated or removed. A few mailings per year is aminimum.ListPlusWeb Justcomm is also developing a listserv/web site model ("ListPlusWeb"model) that makes optimal use of BOTH of the main parts of theInternet (email and the web) for small organizations. The goal is todistribute news of the organization and keep current informationon the web site AND require minimal effort. Essentially themodel makes the archives of the group's mailing list(s) a prominent,easy to find part of the group's web site. The main effort required iscomposing and sending "low frequency, low volume optimally editedinformation" by email to the listserv.Organizations can use Justcomm services without the implementingListPlusWeb, but we encourage it's consideration. As an example see Hopework.org - a small Minnesota FolkSchoolNote that the notion of CorePlusList and ListPlusWeb work nicely togetherbut how they apply to a specific organization varies.Justcomm hosts lists for approved lists that meet our broad goalswithout charge out of our own accounts (at domains justcomm.org andcohousing.org). Some organizations choose to have their own domain andaccount. For details about having a list hosted at Justcomm.org , emailFred. -->Justcomm uses the Mailman listserv software to host mailing lists.Mailman is "open source" (like Linux) and currently under active furtherdevelopment tho version 2.16 is already very capable. For details aboutMailman see: Mailman website.Public lists organized by Justcomm.org List name /= discussion or announcement Cohousing-L d Collaborative housing Info Page Archives Web site: www.l.cohousing.org Pax-salon a St Paul Peace Salon Info Page Archives Web site: www.justcomm.org/pax-salon Mn-prog-events a Progressive announcements Info Page Archives Web site: www.justcomm.org/mn-prog-eventsISP with listserv hosting recommendationTigertech.net is the ISP I highly recommend. The Mailman listserv system that Justcomm uses has custom installedMhonarc web archives and the Namazu search tool. It runs atTigertech.net. To experience searchable archives of this facility, trybrowsing and searching the 40,000+ messages of theCohousing-L archivesor one of the other Justcomm lists (below).If your organization needs an ISP, I highly recommend Tigertech,I've never experienced such consistently prompt, helpfulsupport (by email) anywhere else. My experience has been that theyusually beat their prediction of a response within 2 hours on weekdaysand 8 hours on weekends. Usually there is a comprehensible, useful replythe next time I check my mail. (See blog entry of example )But Tigertech seems to be so well designed that unless you needsomething special it just runs well. I particularly like the web basedadministration facilities that allow me to do many functions that Idreaded waiting on the phone to get done by other ISPs. This includescreating Mailman lists (the Mailman package as installed other placesrarely includes this yet unless you have Mailman admin (shell) access).Tigertech's basic $120/year package includes web pages, email forwardingaliases, popmail boxes, Mailman listservs, Wordpress among other things.Note that the Tigertech Web Hosting package does not provide dialup orother access to the net.Power for Tigertech is Environmentally friendly, carbon neutralI am a bit embarrassed to be so effusive about Tigertech ( readmy / Justcomm's reservations about "competition" in theJustice section - pretty strong words for aScandinavian :) But I am just so impressed with Tigertech. And theyseem like nice folks. They declined to let me invest in Tigertech.Tigertech does have a very strict policy to prevent Spam from being sentthru it's servers. These policies have seemed overly strict to meand take more effort on the part of the list organizer than unilaterallysubscribing people.Essentially Tigertech requires a verifiable electronic affirmative indicationof desire to subscribe - subsribe themselves via the web or respond to an"inviation email". Addresses from a paper signup list can not besubscribed by the list manager; these people can be "invited". Typically asignificant number of people fail to respond. To get a given group allsubscribed typically requires followup to the the invitation.Tigertech does have a referral program that gives Justcomm (cohousing-L)a credit (typically $25 over a year) if you become a Tigertech customer afterhaving used the following link to get more information about Tigertech.netBack up to info about Communications for JusticeEffective email use A carefully crafted email message communicates much more effectively thana hastily composed message. This is particularly true when communicatingwith multiple people. If one expects recipients to take time to readone's email, one should be prepared to take a bit of time in composing it.Rule one is related to the 'too much email problem'discussed above. Delete quoted material from replies thatis not needed. Delete headings and verbage of forwarded messages thatdistract from what you are trying to communicate.Rule two. Craft the subject line carefully. Most people's emailsoftware displays the subject line much more often and more prominentlythan the body of the message. If the subject line conveys some notionof the contents of the body, recipients are much more likely to read thebody of the message. The subject line is like a property in a verydesirable location, location, location.Of course the more well written your message the better. And remembercontext and the recipient's point of view. If you assume things that therecipient is unaware of your chances of communicating clearly are muchreduced.Once in a while I get a message that leaves a lot unsaid and I decideto treat it as a puzzle and try to figure out what they had in mindwith the result that I spend much more time on the message than Iwould otherwise. But dont't count on this happening.Critique of Yahoo Groups Note that the Yahoo Groups service was terminated December 2020.Group archives had been terminated earlier.Yahoo Groups is a free advertizing supported listservservice. Many organizations use Yahoo Groups. Yahoo Groups includeother features such as (1) Info page (my term), 2) searchable archives,3) calendar, 4) photo storage and 5) file storage. However, few groups useanything but the listserv features.Anyone can (and does :) start a Yahoo Group at no charge and withoutrequesting permission. Just click a link and follow directions. Thisis Yahoo Groups most attractive feature.The Subscribers "My Groups" page is helpful to people who subscribe tomultiple Yahoo groups.The advertising is the biggest disadvantage in my opinion. The ads atthe bottom of email messages distributed are easy to ignore. The ads inthe archives are more annoying - particularly when you click on amessage and get just an ad and a link to the message. (1/08: I have not seenthis in a while; have they stopped doing this? I suspect that if they getenough complaints they back away from annoying new ways to deliver adslike when...) On at least one occasion Yahoo has tried to move ads tothe top of email messages but has recinded this after a huge outcry inopposition.List management problems. After starting a list, there are ongoingtasks. Yahoo does not offer much support to list managers. In myexperience, requests for assistance go unanswered. There are mutualsupport listserv's but they don't tend to be too helpful. Most Yahoogroup list managers are not too experienced - people with more listservexperience often use other listserv's.One specific problem is that Yahoo Groups does not notify the listmanager by email when a post to a list is "rejected" which can happenfor a variety of reasons.Months can go by before a manager becomes aware of a rejected messagethat should have been distributed. Most managers do not routinelyconsult the web page ( >Management >Message Posts). This page listsrejects (mixed in with successful posts). It would be a big nuisance tovisit this web page (for each list) in case there is something thatneeds attention. In addition, there is no way to review rejects to seeif they should be distributed. But then there is no easy way todistribute wrongly rejected posts anyway. Tho one could advise theposter whose message was rejected of the reason for the rejection or toresend the message.Dealing with rejects can be one of the most frequent list managementtasks, tho it depends on on the nature of the list and subscribers. Isuppose in a sense Yahoogroups makes this task easier but making it suchthat most managers don't do it for a Yahoogroup :)For more about rejects, see What's a "rejected" posting ?Mailman (the listserv used by Justcomm) offers much betterfacilities and notices for rejects.For more information about Justcomm, send email toFred H Olson: fholson [at] cohousing.orgFred's link page