October, 1994 Dear SIG-11 Email Members, Consider the following definition: guinea pig n. 1. A burrowing rodent often purchased by parents after being conned by their children. 2. A member of SIG 9 or SIG 11 who has been coerced into trying a LISTSERV as a means of electronic discussion. For those of you who attended the SIG meeting in Nashville, you may remember the discussion about electronic communication and some options which were being considered. By electronic communication, I am referring to computer- based dialog. RESNA, as an organization, is reviewing options and will decide on which method should be adopted by the organization as a whole. However, SIGs 9 & 11 have set-up a LISTSERV which we can use over the next several months to test out this concept. Hopefully, by next year's conference, we will have an idea about its use and the communication needs met by a LISTSERV and those unmet by this means. LISTSERV stands for "listserver"; it was originally a mailing-list server designed to make group communication simpler. LISTSERV has evolved into a more powerful tool, but serves the same basic needs. When people subscribe to a LISTSERV, they are placed on a mailing list and receive messages sent by other subscribers. Messages are sent to a central address where they are disseminated to all the subscribers. A LISTSERV allows everyone to read and then respond to everyone's messages. It is similar to a conversation. Of course, private mail can always be sent to a person's private address. LISTSERVs have their risks and limitations, but until we try one out, all concerns will be conjecture. The following page is a LISTSERV announcement which is generally created and disseminated to recruit new members. Since this is a trial LISTSERV, only SIG 9 & 11 members will be allowed to subscribe as well as a few random folks who will help us keep an eye on things. Directions for subscription and use follow. People with Internet access will be able to subscribe simply and with no cost. Those of you with CompuServe, Prodigy, America On-Line, etc., can subscribe using the Internet mail gateway. A few examples follow. At the conference meeting, I had passed out some lists of Free-Nets which can also be used to subscribe to the LISTSERV as long as they offer Internet e-mail addresses. In case your wondering, I was digging around trying to identify options for SIG 9 communication. I found a guy at St. John's University who would set up a LISTSERV for us to try at no cost. So... no effort and no cost... in other words, a no-brainer. If the idea fails, that's fine, but we're guaranteed to learn a few things on the way, and then the RESNA board can make a more informed decision about communication at an organization level. Please feel free to call, write, or e-mail for more information or if you need help subscribing. All SIG-9 members who have sent their e-mail addresses will automatically be subscribed. SIG-11 members must subscribe themselves. ======================================================================== RESNA on LISTSERV@SJUVM.STJOHNS.EDU Announcing RESNA, a discussion list for members of SIG 9 & 11 members to discuss issues related to assistive technology and the RESNA organization. It is an open, unmoderated discussion list meant to facilitate discussions and exchanges of ideas. RESNA will be used over the next several months to determine how the LISTSERV concept addresses the communication needs of RESNA members. Any SIG 9 or 11 member can subscribe to this list. All anyone needs is an Internet mail address, so those of you who use commercial systems (CompuServe, America On Line) can also subscribe using the Internet gateway. Some topics which are appropriate to discuss include: - feedback on the Nashville conference, and suggestions for Vancouver's - ideas for instructional courses, special sessions, and morning seminars - discussion of a particular piece of equipment (i.e., keyboard, headrest) - and of course, clinical problems or ideas for which you seek some answers Basically, anything having to do with RESNA or the assistive technology field can be discussed freely. To subscribe to RESNA, compose a mail message to LISTSERV@SJUVM.STJOHNS.EDU (Internet). Leave the SUBJECT field blank and include the following one line in the BODY of the message: SUBSCRIBE LISTNAME yourfirstname yourlastname For example: SUBSCRIBE RESNA LISA SIMPSON Folks who must pay for each Internet message, such as CompuServe subscribers, might want to combine all the posts into one daily message or just receive an index of the posts. These options are available by subscribing with the following additions: To combine posts into one daily message: SUBSCRIBE RESNA BART SIMPSON MAIL DIGEST To receive an index of the posts: SUBSCRIBE RESNA HOMER SIMPSON MAIL INDEX Once subscribed, messages can be sent to RESNA@SJUVM.STJOHNS.EDU which will then be distributed to all the subscribers. Remember, the address to subscribe is different from the address to post messages. Since the one list will be used by both SIG-9 and SIG-11 people, you might want to refer to the desired SIG in the body of your message to alert one SIG or the other (or both). If you have any questions, please feel free to contact Stephen Sprigle at 716/829-3141 or sprigle@acsu.buffalo.edu. I am not very experienced in listserv activities, but will track down answers as best I can. Have fun, Stephen Sprigle RESNA list coordinator David L. Jaffe SIG-11