Re: collaborative accronym list compiling

Judy Diamondstone (diamonju who-is-at rci.rutgers.edu)
Sat, 13 Jul 1996 11:02:02 -0400

Angel's thoughtful and realistic discussion of face issues regarding
participation on xmca offered an excellent recommendation on
handling the question of acronyms. A collaborative, ongoing
compilation could be extremely useful to newcomers, even those who
have become relative oldtimers. Also an intriguing possibility for
updating the discussion list format: developing some "legitimate
routines" that streamline the choices we already have
for how to participate - setting up a system to key certain
types of recurrent messages, like recurrent questions about
acronyms, on the subject line, once they have been identified as
"typical" of some aspect of xmca participation. It could be
a very interesting and useful project [for _someone_...]

Judy

>
>(1) Even in a relatively supportive culture, (some) members (can be old
>or new) would still hesitate to ask questions about short-forms because
>of many reasons, e.g., face-consciousness, fear of crowding other
>people's mail boxes, fear of asking questions that have been asked
>before, etc.
>
>(2) Some members (xmca-subscribers) have expressed their wish to have
>a less crowded mail box some time ago. Thier voices have not re-emerged
>given the general xmca culture to support questions from all members (new
>and old). That doesn't mean that their expectations are gone.. Some of
>them may simply unsubscribe, some might feel that their voices don't
>count in this culture;
>
>(3) I like the supportive culture of xmca, but could also sense the
>tensions between different expectations and considerations;
>we do not live in an ideal world where one can find perfect solutions to
>every problem, but still no harm trying to search for relatively optimal
>practices; so, here are my suggestions (perhaps rather unbaked and naiive):
>
>(i) To routinize questions about short-forms by using a stock subject
>line, e.g, accronym query, to preface a simple question about accronyms,
>and to describe this practice in the message to new members;
>
>(ii) Subscribers who do not want to spend time reading these questions
>can have a stock subject line to help them to screen messages in the
>mail box;
>
>(iii) the questions and answers can be collaboratively constructed by all
>members who are willing to read and respond to messages under this stock
>subject line; thus, it's an ongoing collaborative accronym list compiling
>and revision effort;
>
>My sense is that some simple routines that are legitimate (or have been
>made legitimate by regular practice) can be a help to those who hesitate
>or experienc obstacles in venturing out to write to xmca as a form of
>participation (while listening and reading is another form of
>participation too). We need multiple forms of participation, different
>degrees of participation (e.g., some are too busy and want to read only
>selected messages and want to have a quick way of screening messages for
>their own purposes); we have to consider all these different constraints
>and expectations in our search for relatively optimal practices that can
>take into account different people's different voices or needs.
>
>Oh, well, I hope this message is not another message that crowds your
>mail box; if it is, I hope my subjcet line has been at leat relatively
>informative so that you can spend little time in deciding to delete it or to
>read on.
>
>Cheers,
>Angel
>--------------
>Angel Lin
>e-mail: enangel who-is-at cityu.edu.hk
>
>
>

....................
Judy Diamondstone diamonju who-is-at rci.rutgers.edu
Graduate School of Education Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey
10 Seminary Place New Brunswick, NJ 08903

Wise men [sic] see outlines, therefore they draw them - Wm. Blake