Listservs

11. TECH TIP – Listservs

First of all, what are they? I go to my trusty Google – define:listservs. “A listserv is an electronic mailing list. They are usually subject specific and members of the list must ‘subscribe’ to it in order to receive and send email to the list.”

Second, no it is not misspelled – despite my trusty Word spellchecker underlining the word in red every time I type it – it is spelled without an “e” at the end.

A listserv is group of people who have a common interest in a subject area. They subscribe to a listserv and then communicate with each other by email. When one person in the listserv sends an email to the listserv, everyone in the listserv can read it. If one person sends a question to the listserv, anyone in the listserv can respond to it and everyone in the listserv can read the response. You can learn a lot of stuff in a listserv - or just have fun!

There are literally thousands of listservs on virtually any topic…music, sports, quilting, dieting, politics, parenting, cooking, gardening, health, education…practically any topic has a listserv. If you want to find a list of listservs on a particular topic, go to Google and type in list of listservs +[the topic]. Example: list of listservs +classical music. There are dozens of listservs to choose from.

If you join a listserv, be prepared to get a lot of email – if there are a lot of people in the listserv, and if they like to communicate with each other. I have been on listservs that generate 50 emails or more a day and some that generate one email a month. You subscribe to a listserv simply by sending the listserv your name and your email address. You can subscribe either by email or throught the listserv’s website (if they have one). In a day or two, you will begin receiving the listserv’s daily emails. If you don't like the listserv, simply unsubscribe.

A lot of listservs post the emails on the internet. These “archives” can then be read by anyone, even if you are not a member of that listserv. In the 1990’s, I belonged to a listserv called EdTech (stands for Educational Technology). There are over 3500 people in that listserv. If you click on the link below, you can actually read a “post” that I sent the listserv in 1996 in response to a question someone submitted. (Notice what platform I used back then)
http://www.h-net.org/~edweb/archives/jul96/0049.html

The EdTech listserv is still very active today.
http://www.h-net.msu.edu/~edweb/

OK – here are some links to check out.

Here’s a site that lists several hundred educational listservs. Also has a brief explanation of listservs and how to subscribe.
http://www.edwebproject.org/lists.html

Another large list of educational listservs.
http://www.mste.uiuc.edu/listservs/subjectsearch.html

Another huge list of teacher related listservs. This site explains a little more in detail how to subscribe to a listserv via email - good information here.
http://www.theteachersguide.com/listservs.html

And, yes, the non-educational listservs - go to Yahoo they have a huge list of general listservs on virtually any topic.
http://groups.yahoo.com/

One final hint on listservs: When you subscribe to a listserv, the email may get overwhelming – especially if it is a very active listserv and you get more than just a few emails everyday. You can set up your email client to have your listserv emails placed right in a special mailbox (folder) as you download your email. They won’t all get dumped in your Inbox. You can then read them at your leisure. In Outlook Express, you do this through Message Rules (in the Tools drop-down menu).