This is a short outline of the becoming, being and revocation of the xlists
over time. It is probably more enlightening together with its diagram. You
can see it that way on:
http://cite.ped.gu.se/Eklanda/Research/xlists.html
Best wishes
Eva
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A SHORT DRY CHRONICLE OF THE XLISTS
There are xlist archives reachable by FTP and dating back to
November-December 1987. However, according to the welcome document that was
prepared in 1991 and used as an introduction for xlist newcomers untill
1995, the computer mediated history of the x-cluster of discussions goes
back to 1984. The institutional grounding of the lists goes even further
back: to the early 70s, when the Laboratory of Comparative Human Cognition
was founded as a research unit at the Rockefeller University. In 1978 the
LCHC moved to the University of California, San Diego, where it still
exists, and where also the server supporting the xlist communication has
been located since the start in 1984.
At first there was only a single distribution list, the XLCHC. The origin
myth provided in the 1991 welcoming document explains the dual significance
of the "X": it stands as a sign both for the function to keep up a
communication channel for ex-LCHCers and for the function to allow
ex-ternal participation by scholars and graduate students from all around
the world in this "medium for discussion of research on learning and
development with a general concern for issues of education in modern
technological societies and a special concern about the ways in which
educational systems are a source of socially engendered social inequality"
(Welcome document, xfamily, 91-09-23).
The message flow in the early years was modest in comparison to the xlists
as I have known them for nearly four years now. For example, the number of
messages posted in the first set of four quarters was roughly a tenth of
the number posted in the ninth set of four quarters. Nevertheless, worries
about owerflowing mailspaces were more frequent back then than they are
now, which illustrates the technosocial development that has taken place in
less than ten years.
In 1989 the idea of multiple lists was introduced, addressing concerns
about how best to stimulate a wider circle of active contributors to the
electronic discussions. In the following years a number of new xlists were
instituted. Some of these were active for only a short period, others had a
fairly stable function as thematic communication channels.
In 1994 the number of lists had proliferated so as to be somewhat
confusing, and a structural reform was carried out in May 94, merging
similar lists into one and pruning away inactive ones. The number of lists
was cut from 10 or 11 down to 5. Then, in the summer of 1995 another
restructuring merged all the remaining lists (more or less) into one single
list, the XMCA.
*Lists before May 1994*
XLCHC: general forum. Started in 1984. FTP archives from fall 1987.
XLIT: literacy related topics. Started in fall 1989.
XCLASS: applied educational research. Started in winter 1989.
XACT: activity theory. Archiving starts in spring 1990, but the actual list
may have started earlier.
XORGAN: organization of the xlists. Started in winter 1990. Intermittently
active, when needed.
XCOMP: computer related topics. Started in winter 1990 (after some false
starts the preceding year). Activity fairly low all through.
XHIST: history of psychology. Started in spring 1991. Fairly inactive after
its first year.
XGRAD: for graduate students. Started in spring 1991. Mostly inactive after
fall 1993.
XAFTER: after school activities. Started in fall 1991. Mostly inactive
after fall 1993.
XWORK: work related topics. Archiving starts in winter 1991. The list had a
predecessor located on a server in Finland and preparing for the Activity
Theory Conference in Lahti, May 1990, but never got very active.
XWAR: sidechanneling of the aftermath of Gulf War discussions in 1991.
Temporary.
*Lists May 1994 to May 1995*
XLCHC: general forum. Subsumes XACT and XHISTORY.
XEDU: educational research. Merger of XCLASS, XLIT and XCOMP.
XGRAD: for graduate students. No archives - no activity.
XWORK: work related topics. Never a very active list.
XORGAN: organization of the xlists. Active through the summer of 1995.
XPRACTICE: collaborative production of a chapter in the Handbook of Child
Development. Started in January 1995, active through the spring and summer
of 1995.
*From September 1995*
XMCA: general forum. Lots of activity!
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Dr Eva Ekeblad
Goteborg University
Dept. of Education & Educational Research
Box 1010 S-431 26 Molndal, SWEDEN
eva.ekeblad who-is-at ped.gu.se
http://cite.ped.gu.se/Eklanda/texter/eva.html#English
-moved my homepage to a safer place...
Tel: (Int +46 31) 773 22 75 Fax: (Int +46 31) 773 23 91
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