Hands-on #1: E-mail & Listservs

NOTE: Anything appearing in bold is a command or address that you must type exactly as shown. Many computer systems are case sensitive, so make it a practice to type upper- and lower-case letters exactly as shown in any computer instructions.

1. Log in to your computer account on one of the NMSU UNIX machines: dante, hector, verdi or paris. At the DANTE prompt (a % sign), type the command pine. This brings up (invokes) Pine, a widely used UNIX software that allows you to send, receive, save, and print electronic-mail (e-mail) messages. Take a few minutes to look at the various Pine features displayed on the screen. We will discuss many of these features in class next Monday, August 24th.

2. Subscribe to LSC311-02, the electronic discussion group (list) created for our class.
Type c to compose a message.
Send a message exactly like the one shown below. But please type your real name, not the words first name last name.
You are sending a message to a computer, so if you type something wrong the computer will bounce the message back to you and say it doesn't understand what you want.

To :listproc@nmsu.edu

Cc :

Attchmnt:

Subject :

----- Message Text -----

subscribe lsc311-02 your first name last name

3. Send the message. Hold down the Control key and then type X.

4. Type m to go back to the main Pine menu

5. Now type q to quit Pine and go back to your DANTE prompt.

6. This part of the assignment requires you to browse and search through a directory of of electronic discussion groups, commonly known as listservs. After you have chosen a listserv that looks interesting to you, you will subscribe to that list. Go to LISZT, a well known listserv directory.

Once in LISZT, you can either use Liszt Select! to select a category of LISTSERV to browse, or search for a specific area of interest by entering one or several search terms in the box.

7. From one or more subject area(s) of interest, choose one to two lists that you might like to join. Write down the information about the list(s) you chose in the spaces below:

	List name	   Listserver address 	          List address														
EX:     QUAKE-L		listserv@listserv.nodak.edu	quake-l@listserv.nodak.edu

• The List name is what it's called. It usually has an -l on the end

• The Listserver address is the computer you send list commands to. These commands are typically one word commands, such as subscribe or unsubscribe or help.

• IMPORTANT!The listserver is a machine. You don't send conversational messages to it, only commands
• The LIST Address, or the LIST, is where you send messages for others to read.
• The LIST is not a machine. The LIST comprises a groupo of people who read the messages posted.

8. Subscribe to one of the lists you chose in #7 above. Follow the exact same procedure you used to join the LSC311-02 list. Instead of sending the message to listserv@nmsu.edu, send it to the listserver address of the list you want to join.

To subscribe type:

subscribe name-of-list-you-want-to-join your name.

9. Return to your DANTE prompt and launch into PINE as noted in #1 above. Subscribe to your listserv according to #8 above.

10. Type I to see if there are any messages for you in your Inbox. Is there a message regarding LSC311-02?

11. Compose a brief message to the LSC311-02 listserv introducing yourself to the rest of the class. This message will go to everyone who is on LSC311-02, so don't disclose anything about yourself that you wouldn't want the entire class (including the instructor) to know about you. After you have sent your message, quit Pine.

12. At the DANTE prompt, type logout to end your session.

13. Remain subscribed to at least one academic discussion list for approximately one month, regularly reading the messages that appear on the list. If the list you joined has a very large volume of mail, don't feel compelled to read every message or to read all of every message. After a month, post to the LSC 311-02 listserv one or two paragraphs that briefly describe one list and your experiences on it.

Here are questions to help you organize your discussion:

What kinds of things did the members of the list talk about?

How good were the members about sticking to the topic of the list?

Were there heated arguments (flame wars)?

How friendly was this list?

What was the volume of mail on the list?

How many message on the average day?

Did the members of the list seem knowledgeable?

What useful information, if any, did you obtain via the list?

What did you learn from being on the list?

Will you remain subscribed to the list?

Did you post any messages to the list?

If so, what was the response from the other members of the list?

14. After you have completed this part of your assignment, you can either keep subscribing to the lists or else unsubscribe. It's up to you. To unsubscribe from a list, send a message to the listserv and not the list! This is similar to the example above BUT! use the command unsubscribe in place of the command subscribe. Don't add your name at the end. For example, to unsubscribe from LSC311-02 after the semester has ended, you will send a message to listproc@nmsu.edu and the message will read:


unsubscribe LSC311-02

---

---

by Susan E. Beck
New Mexico State University
Las Cruces, NM

---

You are welcome to use and copy these materials for educational purposes, but please credit the source as: LSC 311 Information Literacy, New Mexico State University, and cite the individual author of the modules you use. All commercial rights are reserved. Send comments or suggestions to: Susan E. Beck at susabeck@lib.nmsu.edu