At 08:45 PM 4/29/98 -0400, Michel O'Neill wrote:
>Et oui ! Click4hp will celebrate its second year of existence friday may 1.

I was thinking about this just the other day Michel so thanks for the kind
words and jumping in to draw our attention to this!


>As someone who subscribes to a variety of health promotion listservs, I
>must admit that it is still my favorite. There is steady but not too heavy
>trafic, the variety of topics is quite interesting and despite its frequent
Ontario focus, the fact that about 500 people (out of which, according to
Alison Stiling, at least 200 are outside of Canada) are still subscrbing
after 2 years is probably a testimony that it really meets a need.

Interesting you note these factors for success:

-not too heavy traffic
-variety of topics
-broad membership

and these potential pitfalls:

-Ontario focus...there are probably more...

What are the other things that people like about this list? See as things
which could be modified or changed to make it better?

Maybe we will get closer to having someone want to do the research if we can
draw out the factors...:-)

>So thanks again to Alison, Liz and Sam for the original idea and for
keeping on the monitoring and facilitating work even if less intensively
than at the outset; the thing has a life of its own now.

hmmm listserv group development...group theory would tell us we are in the
preforming stage - but I have never felt like we actually went through a
storming stage - at least not to the degree that I have seen on other lists.
I often turn to group theory as a faciltator online to see what insights I
can garner and to see how to respond in way which moves the group along (and
I will admit, to ensure I am not just reacting to a button being pushed!)

> I still think that an
>empirical study of the operation of this listserv would make a wonderful
>thesis because it is a good case study of something that works in the world
of electronic information.


As a little listserv who had its humble beginnings as a "lead in" to a
conference workshop Alison and I did almost two years ago about the internet
and health promotion, it has certainly grown to be a community with a
purpose (although I would argue modified from it's original intent) and, a
sense of distributed ownership that keeps it sustainable and for the most
part, self mananged.

I wonder if the intense facilitation at the beginning influenced this
outcome and if so to what degree?


So any takers out there for Michel's suggestion??


Liz Rykert