Date: Thu, 15 Jun 1995 01:21:09 -0400 From: BITNET list server at ULKYVM To: Subject: Welcome to CARR-L! This list for computer-assisted research and reporting was set up to provide an electronic place where both working journalists and journalism educators can "meet" and discuss "cyberspace." Although many other subjects can be discussed, this list of topics gives some indication of the scope of CARR-L: Which text retrieval/search program should we buy? Is there a net source for background information on hurricanes? Where can I get hourly weather maps and how do I get them into PageMaker? What is the best way to get the rest of the newsroom to use electronic mail? If we "publish" on the network, what is the status of the copyright? Can I use Internet messages in my story? Should I use Internet messages? What is the best electronic camera for our system? Where do we get state-level information in electronic form and how do we know what is available? What are the journalistic ethics of using and massaging public access information? Which campus newspapers are online? Findings of online goodies that might be of interest to editors, reporters, or teachers Desktop publishing/pre-press Reviews of software Using computers to teach various journalism courses News and views Job announcements So, the list is focussed on using computers to help professional journalists and news librarians in researching, compiling, or distributing information either in traditional print form or electronically. CARR-L is *not* a general research list. It might be helpful to think of CARR-L as a virtual newsroom. People exchange an amazing range of information in a very wide range of subjects, but there is not usually time or interest to carry on extended discussions of peripheral concern. When journalists want to relax and consider the state of the world, they retire to a local watering hole after work. Keep in mind that most journalists just don't have the time to engage in general banter and most journalists are still paying for their own net access. But do feel free to participate. CARR-L belongs to you, the users. It is only through active use that a "virtual community" will evolve. The list is "self-moderated"--you are responsible for what you post. Remember a note to LISTSERV@ULKYVM goes only to a machine and must be a command, while a note to CARR-L will be sent to everybody on the list. 1. What is the network address of CARR-L? The address of CARR-L is CARR-L@ULKYVM or CARR-L@ULKYVM.LOUISVILLE.EDU 2. What if I have technical questions about how to get CARR-L? If you run into difficulties: 1. Consult a local network whiz. 2. Contact the list owner, Elliott Parker (3ZLUFUR@CMUVM.CSV.CMICH.EDU or 3ZLUFUR@CMUVM) A local contact is usually preferable because each site has a unique combination of hardware and software. 3. How do I leave the list? To unsubscribe and leave the list, send the command SIGNOFF CARR-L to ULKYVM.LOUISVILLE.EDU Note the command must go to the listserv, not CARR-L. This command must also come from the address from which you originally subscribed, so the listserv can find the exact match. 4. How to I post a message to everybody on CARR-L? By all means post to the List, keeping in mind the focus of the list. Postings are strongly encouraged. Information from other sources, either online or hardcopy is valuable. If you do repost something from another source, it is only ethical and helpful to give credit to the original poster along with the full citation. If you forward something from CARR-L make sure you give credit to the original poster and/or source. Much written work today is already is some kind of word processing format and it is usually simple to convert it to plain ASCII for distribution over the networks. The list is not moderated, but you must be subscribed to the List before listserv will let you post. You can often assist other subscribers by asking questions related to Computer-assisted Journalism. No question is "too simple." If you have a question, someone else probably also wants the answer. Keep your messages short to conserve bandwidth and save the resources of those subscribers who must pay to receive messages. Some gateways also limit the size of mail they accept. If your message is longer than about 20K, you might consider posting a short abstract and invite interested readers to request the complete version from you. If you have a longer posting of general interest, contact the List Owner to see if it can be archived on the file server so people can request it. Use a descriptive subject line. Many people decide whether they want to read a message based on the content of the subject line. Sign all your messages. It helps to have at least a name to associate with a post and some mailers strip off the header, so the receiver cannot reply unless there is some kind of internal address. A "nom de liste" is acceptable. Be tolerant of newcomers. We were all new to this medium at one time, we are all still learning, and procedures are still being refined. 5. What is "Listserv" and what else will it do? "Listserv" is actually a program written by Eric Thomas and you send email commands to the machine, rather than a person. In the following, the command is written in upper case and any parameters are in lower case. When you send the command, the case is not important. All commands must be sent to LISTSERV@ULKYVM.LOUISVILLE.EDU (Internet) or LISTSERV@ULKYVM (Bitnet). Depending on your mailer, you may have to use LISTSERV@ULKYVM.BITNET. 6. How does somebody subscribe to the list? Send the one line SUBscribe CARR-L to LISTSERV@ULKYVM (or LISTSERV@ULKYVM.BITNET, if necessary), using your-real-name, not a computer ID. (Obviously, if you're reading this, you already are a subscriber, but it is easy enough to forward this note to someone who has never heard of CARR-L or even Bitnet, for that matter.) 7. How can I get a list of everybody that is subscribed to CARR-L? Send the line REView CARR-L to LISTSERV@ULKYVM.LOUISVILLE.EDU and a list of 1000+ names will be sent to you as email. 8. Can I see what has been on CARR-L in the past? Each message is archived in a "notebook." One notebook contains everything that has been sent to CARR-L for a week. For instance, to get the notebook for the first week of March 1995, send the command GET CARR-L LOG9503A to LISTSERV@ULKYVM.LOUISVILLE.EDU. The first two digits indicate the year, the next two indicate the month and the trailing letter indicates the week of the month. Although these notebooks can be retrieved in toto, it is more efficient to search the archives and get only the messages of interest. 9. OK, how do I search for a specific subject? One of the most underused features of Listserv is the searching feature. A short tutorial on searching is available by sending email to LISTSERV@ULKYVM.LOUISVILLE.EDU with just the one line GET DATABASE SEARCH f=mail in the body. The document will be returned as email. It explains not only how to search the archives for specific words, but how to get a "table of contents" of past postings. 10. How do I just "suspend" CARR-L for a while? If you don't want to receive mail temporarily (if you are leaving for the summer, for example), send: SET CARR-L NOMAIL To start it again when you return, send: SET CARR-L MAIL 11. Why don't I get any messages any more? Why did I get a note saying I "was set to NOMAIL?" For various reasons, such as a change in site name or just a glitch someplace in the network, your mail may start bouncing and I will set your subscription to NOMAIL to stop any more mail being sent. This is not very common, but if you have not been receiving mail for a while and want to check on your subscription and find out what the defaults are for your subscription, send: QUERY CARR-L 12. I want to follow CARR-L, but I don't want messages arriving all day. Send the command SET CARR-L DIGEST to LISTSERV and Listserv will save all the messages for the day and send them in one batch every day. 13. I don't even have time to read the digest . . . Send the command SET CARR-L INDEX to LISTSERV and you will get only a list of subject lines once a day with instructions on how to get any particular message you might want. To change back to the regular postings from either DIGEST or INDEX, send LISTSERV the command SET CARR-L MAIL 14. CARR-L has two "topics" defined: Jobs and Fwd. A lot of material on CARR-L is forwarded from other lists. If you already monitor other lists and do not want to see these messages, send the following line in an email message to LISTSERV@ULKYVM or LISTSERV@ULKYVM.LOUISVILLE.EDU SET CARR-L TOPICS: -FWD Similarly, if you do not want to see any messages dealing with jobs or job openings, send SET CARR-L TOPICS: -JOBS You will still receive any message that does not have either FWD: or JOBS: at the beginning of the subject line. If you do nothing, you get all the messages. This is the default for all new subscribers. On the sending end, if you are forwarding something or announcing/looking for a job, make sure FWD: or JOBS: is the very first thing in the subject line. The colon is required, but fwd: and jobs: are case in-sensitive. These tags at the beginning of the subject line is the only way +the Listserv program knows what to send to particular subscribers. 15. How can I get more information about the Listserv program? To get more information on the listserv program, send the following: GET LISTSERV MEMO 16. How can I find out what files are available? To get files from the CARR-L filelist send email to LISTSERV@ULKYVM (or@ULKYVM.LOUISVILLE.EDU) with a GET command in the body. For example, if you want a copy of Mark Leff's list of BBSs put the following line in the body of the mail GET MEDIA BBSLIST F=mail More than one request can be put in one message, as long as each is on a separate line. All will be returned as email. To see a list of available files, send the command INDEX CARR-L to LISTSERV@ULKYVM (or @ULKYVM.LOUISVILLE.EDU). Note for the index, "GET" is not used. 17. List etiquette The cryptic, often-uninflected style of email writing can result in messages being interpreted in much harsher terms than the writer intended. All too often, this leads to "flame wars" resulting in waste of computer resources, hurt feelings, and a general disaffection. Biting criticism and personal attacks are unfunny and unwanted. Remember, there is a real person on the other end. You are responsible for what you write. Finally, be aware that it is a trivial job for "someone" to monitor electronic mail or any discussion list. It is also extremely easy to save any message and to forward it electronically or repost to another list tomorrow or in 10 years. 18. Are there any other lists about journalism? CARR-L is specifically interested in using computers to do better journalism. Other journalism-related lists have their own focus. Some that may be of interest are: JOURNET for journalism educators; online-news for online newspapers and magazines and for general journalism; and, the Society of Professional Journalists list, spj-online. To subscribe to JOURNET, send email to LISTSERV@QUCDN (or LISTSERV@QUCDN.QUEENS.CA) and in the body, put just the line SUB JOURNET replacing "your_name" with your real (not a computer ID) name and dropping the <>. To subscribe to the online-news list, send email to MAJORDOMO@MARKETPLACE.COM and in the body put the line subscribe online-news followed by a few lines of introduction. To subscribe to the SPJ list, send email to LISTSERV@PSUVM.PSU.EDU and in the body put the line SUB SPJ-L again using your real name. A "list," really an entire suite of lists, is COMSERVE which is concerned with the entire field of human communication. To get more information on COMSERVE, send email to support@rpitsvm (or support@vm.its.rpi.edu). A human being will give you more information. For hosting CARR-L thanks to the U. of Louisville. Elliott Parker List Owner, CARR-L Department of Journalism Central Michigan University Mt. Pleasant, MI 48859 USA Office tele: +1 (517) 774-3196 Bitnet: 3ZLUFUR@CMUVM Internet: elliott.parker@cmich.edu Less certain possibilities: eparker@igc.apc.org Compuserve: 70701,520 The WELL: eparker@well.sf.ca.us