Email Lists:
Email based
Classed as ‘Narrowcasting’
More of a private forum
Is a ‘Push’ model
Better for low volumes of traffic
Newsgroups:
Internet based
Classed as ‘Broadcasting’
More of a public forum
Is a ‘Pull’ model
Better suited for high volumes of traffic
What are the pros and cons of email lists versus discussion boards?
Email Lists - Pros:
- As it takes more effort to subscribe to a mailing list, the subscribers or more likely to really want to be there, hence they tend to stay on topic more.
- Tend to be more monitored
- Threads tend to move along faster
- Have the convenience of having the information emailed to you
- Normally free of pop-ups and adds
Email Lists - Cons:
- Can receive large amounts of unwanted email
- Unsubscribing from an Email List can be a complicated process
- Can miss all the history from your mailing list prior to your subscription
- Searching for topics can be time consuming
Newsgroups - Pros:
- Threaded discussion
- Good archiving structure
- Easily accessible and easy to participate
- More personable eg post counts, avatars etc
- More anonymous
Newsgroups – Cons:
- Threads can tend to move slower
- May need to download Newsreader software
- Tendency for some posts to go off topic and to sometimes contain irrelevant information.
- New users can be prone to ‘flaming’
Are there certain kinds of communication or purposes more suited to one than the other?
Email lists are probably suited better for smaller discussion groups that pertain to specific topics whereas Newsgroups tend to be better suited to larger more generalized topic discussions.
More Conjecture......
There also seems to be a common view proposed by your average/casual internet user. This seems to emerge when exploring the subject of Email Lists and Newsgroups. In a practical sense, this type of internet user has a preference for Web Forums as opposed to the latter two. The main reason being simplicity and that Usenet and Email Lists were created at a time when the users were more technically minded. Here is a quote that expresses this point of view:
"Back in the day", most Internet users knew about Usenet because they were technically-minded people and in one manner or another knew about all the major technologies that dominated the network. These days, most people on the Internet aren't technical people……
….To most people, the Internet is two things: the Web and e-mail (and for those who use web-based e-mail, they might even consider the Internet to be just the Web)…….
……This, then, begs the question: does Usenet serve a purpose any longer? Before the advent of the Web, or at least forums on the Web, Usenet was the place to go if you wanted to discussions - everything from sociology to gaming to software to politics. Well, Usenet and mailing lists. But now you have more people aware of and using web forums, what point does Usenet serve? It's an extra hassle to set up on your computer when you've already got a browser installed which most everyone already knows how to use. You also don't have to worry about interruptions in the newsfeed……." Akira, Mythosa. "Random Encounters, Usenet vs. Web Forums ." December 03, 2004.http://www.mythosa.net/2004/12/usenet-vs-web-forums.html (accessed March 15, 2007).
As an advanced internet user, it is obviously important to be aware of these information methods and how they are communicated, both from a conceptual and practical perspective and to know that we have resources such as these at our disposal if we need them. However, I tend to agree with writer of the above quote, from a practical standpoint, and feel that they make some very valid points. Prior to Module 2, I have never really paid much attention to Newsgroups nor Email Lists, more due to a lack of knowledge about their use or existence as an information gathering tool, than anything else. But now, even having the required knowledge to be able to use them, it would be unlikely that I would do so, due to the fact that I don’t like drawn out procedures when it comes to communicating information.
No comments:
Post a Comment