The following is a message from Jean-Marc Dupont that got lost in cyberspace and didn't show up on CLICK4HP as intended on June 20th. The co-facilitators appreciate JM's point that discussion should continue on a topic for a longer period of time. We are working in an 'asynchronous' environment, and are not all on the list-serv at the same time- unlike chats, and do not have the opportunity of following a topic with all of its responses. Discussion on any topic should go on as long as anyone wishes to pursue it. - Alison Stirling <[log in to unmask]> or <[log in to unmask]> ********************************* Date: Thu, 20 Jun 1996 15:47: Subject: Discussion of the week #1 - CMC I want to start by thanking those of you who have suggested we work on topics to see how it goes for a while. I trust people who wish to post other comments not related specifically to the "topic of the week" will do so. One comment I have relates to the time factor to post and respond. Personally, I would have liked to continue the discussion on the first topic before moving on to the next. I say this for a few reasons: 1) many of us cannot participate actively on the listserv on a daily basis and thus lose the opportunity to join the debate before another topic is started; 2) while obviously people can still refer back to a previous topics anytime I presume, is this is done continuously, it may create some confusion for those unable to keep track of which discussion is taking place at any given time; and 3) we are all guilty at times of making too many assumptions in terms of people's time, understanding and capabilities. We will never be at a stage where everyone on a listserv is at the same stage. I may be actually moving on to topic two myself here ("The difference between literal versus virtual communities"), but one thing I have noticed is that literal time and space provide us with a flow of communication we are born to understand (some may argue) and socialized to accept (some may not). I suspect "left brain" folks (y'know those of us who think conceptually first, always arrive on time, rely on structure, etc) may have an easier time with CMC (I think you mean computer-mediated communication here, right?) than the left brainers. I'm not sure of all this, but I can say that because of my time constraints and busy schedule I have not been able to follow the CMC discussion as much as I've wanted to: I've had to "flag" the postings that have dealt with the discussion and download them to read later; then I decided one day I had to set my preferences to "digest" because my in-box had over 140 messages in it; then I had to read them in order so I could get an idea about what was discussed; then I felt a certain responsibility to contribute to the discussion; then I had to make time to write a reply, etc... This really doesn't say much except that for me, CMC, while critical in keeping me connected when geography makes it difficult, has its pluses and minuses. Just like in literal communities, where I find myself overbooked for meetings and unable to keep up, Here in cyberspace I also have had to make decisions around "how much can I contribute?" Because of the huge potential I don't want to miss anything (yes, I'm a left brainer!). However, while virtual space and time is different from literal space and time, you still need real time to contribute to the discussion space. I suspect this may be a reason people decide to sign off certain listservs. Volume is volume. For me, the digest format at least reduces volume in my in-box. This is quickly becoming too long-winded, so one last comment: Thank you so very much Liz, Alison and Sam for your support and hard work on Click4HP. If you could just give some of us a little more time to contribute to your "topics of the week" (good title eh) that would be great. As far as your guidance,skills at summarizing, patience at explaining, etc... keep up the great work. JM Dupont <[log in to unmask] and http://www.web.net/~jmdupont... soon to become [log in to unmask] and http://www.web.net/~comsys>