Since its beginning in November 1994, the GLOBALRN (formerly CULTURE-AND-NURSING) list has grown to over 700 members from 23 different countries. If this is your first experience on an Internet disussion list, the idea of simultaneously "talking" with hundreds of people can be both daunting and confusing. I've gathered together a few pointers on how discussion lists work to ease your foray into this exciting medium. The concept of the electronic discussion list is similar to gathering all of the participants together into a large lecture hall. Everyone is interested in the same topic (culture and health care) and everyone can hear everyone else speak without difficulty. After awhile, someone stands up and asks a question, such as: "Does anyone here have any experience with incorporating traditional healers into the nursing care plan?" Several things might happen in this "virtual" lecture hall:

1. It may remain quiet if no one knows the answer to the question.
2. Someone may stand up and relate their experience on the issue.
3. Someone may stand up and refer the individual to resources or individuals who could help.
4. Someone may stand up and disagree with the reasoning behind the question itself.

Any one of these responses (except #1) could start a whole new line of responses from the rest of the participants. If the responses are related to the original question, then they are considered part of the same "thread". If the responses are not related to the original question, then another "thread" is started. There may be several threads going on at the same time in the same discussion group. Everyone who is in the room can "hear" each discussion going on and can choose to participate or sit back and listen (often called "lurking" in netspeak). To stay with the lecture hall analogy, participants also have the option to "talk" to other participants outside of the lecture hall. It's similar to pulling someone aside after leaving the room and saying "I think I may have the resources you are interested in. I'll e-mail them to you Monday" The person who needs the resources still gets an answer, but the rest of the group missed out on the benefit of the information, since the discussion took place outside of the larger group. I hope I haven't totally confused anyone, but I'll press on anyway. From time to time you will receive a message that has a similar header to the following:

From: Jane Culture

Reply to: List for nurses and other health care professionals interested <GLOBALRN@ITSSRV1.UCSF.EDU>

To: Multiple recipients of list GLOBALRN <GLOBALRN@ITSSRV1.UCSF.EDU>

Subject: Involving traditional healers in care plans

If you reply TO: <GLOBALRN@ITSSRV1.UCSF.EDU>, everyone on the list will see and benefit from your response. In Netspeak terms, this is called sending a message to the LIST. You do not need to CC: anyone if they are also on the list. You also don't need to CC: the sender of the question, since they will automatically receive your response if you send it to the whole list. Many mail programs will allow you to reply automatically to the message and will query you as to whether or not you wish to reply to everyone on the list. Answering "yes" to this question is the same as sending your response to GLOBALRN@itssrv1.ucsf.edu

The Listserver

The Listserver is the actual software program which handles all the messages on the GLOBALRN dicussion list. It also handles new subscriptions, sign-offs and other administrative details. When you send a question or reply to the list, the listserver distributes that message to all members subscribed to the list. The majority of the time, you will have no need to send a message to the listserver itself. Here are a few situations which may require you to send a message (called a COMMAND) to the LISTSERVER:

1. You want to join or leave the list
2. You want to temporarily suspend mail, but remain on the list
3. You want to change your address
4. You want to retrieve or search for topics in the archives
5. You want to receive all mail for the day in one message (DIGEST) vs. a lot of separate messages.

For example, to stop receiving mail from GLOBALRN while you are on vaction, you would send the following command in the body of an e-mail message (leave the subject header blank):

SET GLOBALRN NOMAIL

Send this command to:

listserv@listserv.ucsf.edu

This is called sending a COMMAND to the listserver. Note that the address for the LISTSERVER is different from the LIST address. If you send a command to the list address, not only will the command fail, but you will have sent your command to all 700+ members of the list. Other commands are:

SIGNOFF GLOBALRN (leave the list)

SET GLOBALRN NOMAIL (Suspend messages from the list)

SET GLOBALRN MAIL (Resume messages)

SET GLOBALRN DIGEST (Receive messages in one piece of mail)

Netiquette

It is important to be as specific as possible about filling in the SUBJECT: blank in your mail message. Many people rely on the subject header to delete "threads" that they are not interested in. Related to this, if you are resonding to a message, and you are changing the topic in your reply, make sure that you edit the subject header to reflect this change. Otherwise, people on the list may automatically delete your message because the subject header shows a topic that they weren't interested in. If you are replying to a message, and your mail program automatically places the first message in your reply, edit the first message down to the minimum necessary to show what you are responding to. This is especially true of replying to long messages. Some list members pay for Internet access time, so time spent scrolling through screens of a message that has already been posted can cause increased cost for some people.

Some communication studies have shown that 55% of communication is done through body language, position, spacing, etc. Another 38% is done through voice (tone, pace, speed, etc). The remaining 7% is done through the words alone. On the Internet, all you see are the words. What may seem like humor on your part, could be perceived as anger to someone else when they read your words. There have been many passionate discussions on GLOBALRN, and a wide diversity of opinion has appeared on several key issues (Racism, stereotypes, and awareness training to name a few). Challenging, discussing, deconstructing, and debating the ideas, concepts, and theories that appear on GLOBALRN is encouraged. Personal attacks of individuals (flaming) are definitely discouraged on this discussion list. If you feel the need to respond to someone on the personal level, please do it "off-line", not on the list.

Advertising

Advertising is generally discouraged on discussion lists, but there are exceptions. If the advertisement has to do with the field of culture and health directly, then most members of GLOBALRN (we did an informal poll) felt that they would like to see the message posted on the list. Examples of this would be:

1. New books, films, videos, or other resources for culture and health
2. Continuing education trips to other countries for cultural study
3. Faculty openings at colleges and universities.
4. Job openings related to culture and health.

Jump In!!!

Please don't be shy about posting questions or issues you want to discuss to the list members. There is a wealth of experience on this list and I hope that we all can learn from each other. The best way to see how the list operates is to dive in and ask a question or respond to a topic that has been raised. Please let me know if you have any questions about using the list. (You can also let me know if the lecture hall analogy made sense... I'm looking for a good way to explain discussion lists to others new to the Net)

Thanks,

Chuck Pitkofsky, MS, RN chuckp@itsa.ucsf.edu
List Manager - GLOBALRN
415-546-7822

University of California
San Francisco
School of Nursing

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