A newsgroup is a collection of messages concerning
a related topic. Think of a newsgroup as a bulletin board where
only messages concerning related topics are posted.
Usenet
Usenet is the network system that manages the newsgroups. Although
Usenet is a totally separate system, it can be accessed from all Internet
sites. Usenet messages are distributed around the world to all host
systems (the system your computer connects to when you have Internet
access). Your host system stores all of its Usenet messages, by newsgroup
topic, in a central place. Anyone connected to a host system can access
these newsgroup messages. Currently, there are thousands of different
newsgroups (or bulletin boards) covering almost every topic imaginable.
Some access systems divide Usenet into several
broad categories. Select a category to obtain a list of newsgroups
concerning the selected category; then, select a newsgroup of interest.
Other access systems permit you to build your own reading list so
that you see only messages concerning topics of interest to you.
In both types of access systems, newsgroups are arranged in a particular
hierarchy.
Category Names
Newsgroup names start with one of a series of broad category names.
For example, newsgroups beginning with "biz" concern business topics.
A series of more focused topics, separated by dots, follow
the broad topics name (example: biz.realestate.Michigan).
The broad category names of the official hierarchies that are distributed
to nearly every news site (host system) are shown below.
News articles are distributed by thousands of locations through
USENET (a network independent of, but accessed through, the Internet)
in topic groups called newsgroups. Every day hundreds of thousands
of articles of all types, having varying degrees of value, are distributed
through several thousand newsgroups. Most news users identify a
small number of newsgroups of interest to read and ignore the rest.
You can subscribe and unsubscribe to and from most newsgroups with
ease.
Newsgroup Names
How do you identify newsgroups to join? Newsgroups have multi-part
names separated by dots, as in news.announce.newusers (a
newsgroup containing introductory material for new news users).
Newsgroups are arranged into hierarchies. The first part of the
name identifies the general kind of newsgroup. Thus, all newsgroups
concerning recreation would have a name beginning with "rec". The
official hierarchies of top-level names of newsgroups that are distributed
universally are:
comp: computer
sci: science
rec: recreation
soc: social
news: Net news
talk: usually political discussions
misc: miscellaneous topics
Many less widely distributed sets of newsgroups names can be obtained
by reading the newsgroup named "news.list". The newsgroup name generally
identifies the type of news article it contains. An example would
be soc.culture.canada, a newsgroup containing articles about
Canada and its people.
News Reading Ability
You need a news-reading program. Most host-sites, the site through
which you obtain access to the Internet, will provide a news-reading
program. Generally, single letter commands will allow you to perform
the functions necessary to navigate through news reading activities
(such as subscribe and unsubscribe to and from newsgroups). Menu
choices and directions are clearly identified on the screens of
the news-reading program. The commands are not identified here since
they differ for the different news-reading programs.
Posting to a Newsgroup
You can post an article to a newsgroup you have joined through
use of the news-reading program commands. Obviously, since your
article may be distributed around the would, care must be taken
when posting articles (brevity is a must).
Objectionable Material
Since any newsgroup member may post an article (uncensored) world-wide,
use of newsgroup ( and list) activities by non-adults must be monitored.
Some newsgroups (lists) circulate material that may not be appropriate
for educational use. Some possibly offensive material that is being
retrieved for viewing may first appear on the screen as gibberish
(encoded information). Decoding is necessary to actually view the
material.
This is a partial list of articles for the newsgroup
misc.education.multimedia.
By selecting REQUEST: Curriculum Development Project the
article can be read.
Creation of a list requires the editor/owner
to assume some degree of responsibility for enlisting the help of
a Listserv administrator, initial organization and supervision,
and the continued success of the discussion group.
Steps
Steps to create a list include:
Locate a computer site running LISTSERV software preferably
near you for ease of communication. Send the command INFO LISTSERV
to the Listserv at your selected site to obtain documentation
concerning the creation of a list.
Request permission to use the software and disk space from the
Listserv administrator of your selected site. Generally the processing
time and disk space will be free of charge.
Decide on the initial aspects of the proposed list regarding:
Name of group
Purpose of group
Membership characteristics
Type of subscriptions (automatic or moderated)
Scope of group discussion
Editorial control
Source of and access to messages
Services - manual or automatic
Write brief documentation to introduce new list members.
Request the Listserv administrator to set up your list.
Send announcement of your new list to:
NEW-LIST@NDSUVM1 and
Arachnet@UT or Arachnet@VM
Responsibilities
Regular maintenance responsibilities of the editor/owner include:
Monitoring contributions for inappropriate postings or network
problems.
Monitoring and responding to subscription requests and distributing
the introductory software to new members, unless site software
performs these functions automatically.
Monitoring and responding to addressing or software problems.
Maintaining a good relationship with the Listserv administrator.
She or he will be of great help in time of need.
There is a set of guidelines to follow to create
a newsgroup. The Guidelines can be obtained via Internet by using
the FTP command to access "rtfm.mit.edu" to download the helper
document located at:
/pub/usenet/news.answers/usenet/creating-newsgroups/helper.
A quick overview of the Guidelines identifies five main stages.
Test the Waters
Discuss the idea of your proposed group. If an existing newsgroup
centers on a topic related to your proposal, poll newsgroup members
to test interest. Post an RFD
Post an RFD (Request for Discussion) to all interested groups
and to "news.announce.newsgroups" (n.a.n.) and "news.groups".
You must post your proposal to n.a.n. Review Reaction
During the next 30 days after the RFD, reaction to your proposal
will develop in the form of support, objection, or helpful suggestions.
Call for Votes
E-mail a voting request to rdippold@qualcomm.com. The official
CFV, (Call for Votes) will be handled by the votetaker. The voting
period is 22 days. Approval of a proposed newsgroup requires 100
more yes/create votes than No/Dont create votes AND at least two-thirds
of the votes must be in favor of creating the proposed newsgroup.
Count Votes
The voting results are posted then to the NET by the votetaker.
If the vote is in favor, the new newsgroup will be placed on the
NET in 5 days. If the vote is negative, another vote cannot be
taken for six months.
From: jdoe1@aol.com (Joe Doe)
Newsgroups: misc.education.multimedia
Subject: REQUEST: Curriculum Development Project
Date: 10 Jan 2002 15:59:14 GMT
SEEKING PROJECT COLLABORATION
-----------------------------------------------------
High School or equivalent level teacher is needed to collaborate
on a science curriculum development project. Four high school teachers
and two research physicists located in northern California, USA,
are working on developing an interdisciplinary learning module based
on the theme of global security.
Our initial focus is on the problem of the proliferation of nuclear
weapons throughout the world. We will be designing a five-day curriculum
that includes activities in several subject areas. We hope that
these activities will include utilizing telecommunications, through
the Internet, to allow students in a classroom in the USA to exchange
views with students in classrooms in other countries on various
aspects of this important world problem.
Many questions relating to the issue need to be explored from a
worldwide perspective in order for students to gain a more complete
understanding of the problem. These questions include:
What is your view of the monopoly on nuclear weapons held by
the existing nuclear powers?
(Is it fair? Why or why not?)
Does that monopoly make a non-nuclear weapon state feel more
or less safe?
Because this issue is of more immediate concern to certain regions
to the world today, we are seeking the collaboration of a teacher
with access to a secondary level classroom (16 to 18 year old students)
in a country in South Asia or the Middle East.
If you are interested please respond by E-mail to jdoe1@aol.com.
::: joe doe ::::::: jdoe1@aol.com ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
