• Making Mailing Lists Happen
  
• Canadian Women's Internet Association
  
• Lost in cyberspace
  
• SurferGrrrls:Look, Ethel! An Internet Guide For Us!
  
  

Women are using mailing lists to share their information, ask for help, offer support, discuss issues, develop ideas, share documents and plan events. With the growth in the number of mailing lists more women find themselves called upon to run a list. We have found ourselves asked to take on several lists, which encouraged us to look around the Internet and think about how lists are working and how moderators are handling the task.

Mailing lists are like working in a group, without the body language. The group/list has a life of its own. It's more than the sum total of list members. A moderator can take the responsibility of ensuring that mailing list life is lived to the fullest. Lists have a life span, such as an enthusiastic start, slow, then fast, then steady growth, with some members leaving and others joining. Mail may be sent by several members, then a few, then a quiet period. Moderators have to be able to tolerate some periods of silence, as you would in a group. Some lists fulfill the needs of those who wanted the list in the first place and then quietly fade away. Others erupt in controversy and can die by many members withdrawing. A few lists live a long virtual life.

There is skill in making encouraging interventions to the list so that others can contribute and a discussion ensues. Some moderators have encouraged everyone to write a short introduction of themselves for the whole list. It's like making sure that everyone gets to speak in the group early on so that they feel easier about contributing later on. Unfortunately diehard lurkers, the silent members who can be as many as 90% of a mailing list, will not be lured out by this tactic, nor any methods that I know about. Fortunately a mailing list usually develops into several hundred subscribers, so 10% active members can be very lively.

The reasons for mailing lists are many and varied, for example we've found that mailing lists tend to get suggested by a group of women at a conference as a way of keeping connected after we've all gone home. In this case we have all met and share a common experience. This saves time in the early life of a list, but can make it harder for new people to join the discussion. Meeting other list members is certainly not necessary for a very successful mailing list.

A reverse of this would be something like the Click4HP (Click for Health Promotion) list which was started to prepare participants for a conference. List members were informed about content of the forthcoming meeting. They were asked for input of their expectations, and discussions on some issues were started before conference. At this point some lists come to the end of their useful life, but this one went on to have post conference discussions, and then to share health promotion discussions. It's still alive and well 8 months later.

For me the Beijing '95 mailing list was very important because so much happened on that list while the Conference was going on. First hand accounts from events are wonderful for those of us who travel virtually. Such lists mean that we are not entirely dependent on a media account. This list still keeps up with post Beijing work.

The support mailing lists are many and varied. They can range from Internet Women-Help to a breast cancer mailing list. Subscribers have first hand discussions about their experiences and can offer or request information, advice and support . A mailing list of people with a common experience can really help. Subscribers share a clear common focus which can enable open discussion. I have great respect for the strong supportive interventions which occur on some of these lists.

Imaginative approaches to mailing lists include FAVNET's attempt to encourage all subscribers to send $5 to a different shelter each month, with the particular house of the month being suggested to the list by the moderator. Issue based mailing lists are especially popular, covering any topic you can think of, from events in Burma to a regional ecology. I am fond of the newsletter digests of news around the Internet, politics and technology, as well as Tourbus - a weekly selection of interesting Internet sites, closely followed by the Scout Report.

Want to start a list?
There's nothing to stop you from starting a mailing list - to keep a small number of people informed you don't even need fancy software, or friendly technical support. In most email programs it's possible to enter a list of email addresses, each with a comma at the end of the address then a space, then the next address - with nothing after the final address. When we ourselves do this we make our own address the last one on the list so that we know all the messages have gone - this isn't necessary, we are just still amazed that the technology works. Then we keep the list saved in the email program or in a word processor so that we don't need to type it out every time (with that rare possibility we can hit one wrong key). In our rural neighbourhood it's easy to pass on dates of events by this method. For bigger lists with members coming and going you could ask for help from your internet provider, your nearest Community Net, or a post secondary educational institution. We have found educational institutions to be particularly helpful as they often have great technical support and an interest in keeping in touch with new developments. None of these need to be in your backyard. With your everyday local connection you can run a list from a distance - in fact the womenspace mailing list is housed 1500 miles away at York University in Toronto.

You will also have to make a decision about whether or not you should moderate a list, that is every piece of email goes through your computer and you pass it on to the whole list. This method increases your work load and assumes you’ll have time every day to read all the mail and forward it. Some women’s lists have found that having a moderator can keep flames and spams from the list, so that subscribers never see irrelevant email. A moderated list needs the trust of subscribers, as it’s always possible for a moderator to intercept and delete mail without list members ever knowing. On an unmoderated list any member can mail directly to all subscribers. The person who began the list, the list owner, sometimes intervenes by emailing the whole list asking for the unhelpful mailing to stop. Both styles have their advantages and disadvantages - which you choose depends on you.

people keep her informed of women's mailing lists, and her comprehensive and very up to date List of Lists will give you places to announce your new list. Just don't spam every women's list that exists - if you could find the time to cover them all. Go to her Web site at
http://www-unix.umbc.edu/~korenman/ wmst/forums.html
While at Joan's site also check out her excellent list of commands and the explanations she uses for her mailing list. Not only are these available all the time, but she also routinely sends out a selection of commands, such as reminding her list subscribers how to unsubscribe when a holiday period is approaching.

Mailing lists are making an important contribution to developing new ways for us to work together across many boundaries, such as race, abilities and geography. Exploring such possibilities is still happening online.

So, good luck, and see you on your mailing list!

Email Jo at: diamond@fox.nstn.ca

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In January 1996, two employees of a Vancouver Internet provider, Lisa Voisin and Carol Wang, had the feeling that as female "techies" they were relatively unique in the Internet Industry. To boot, there was statistical evidence showing that women in general composed less than 30% of the entire Internet population. Lisa and Carol both feared that, unless something was done, this new frontier was in danger of becoming a boys’ club, where women were made to feel unwelcome or were put off by tales of cyberporn and online stalkings, popular in the media at the time.

There seemed to be not only a shortage of women’s resources on-line, but the resources one could find were mostly American; and web sites with "women-focused content" were still a scarcity. Virtual Sisterhood and Spiderwomen provided good beginnings, but there was still a lack of something distinctly Canadian that brought women together on a large scale.

Lisa and Carol felt their skills could be put to use to help women and to encourage them to get more involved in the Internet. They decided to reach out by creating a women’s community, where women could find other women on-line. A feverish weekend of searching and gathering resources culminated in the creation of a Canadian women’s resource web site, appropriately dubbed "www.women.ca." To further their purpose, they created two mailing lists: women-l, in which to discuss women’s issues in cyberspace; and maiden-l, to help women new to the Internet to learn necessary skills. The Canadian Women’s Internet Association had been born. Within a week, their main mailing list, women-l, had almost 40 subscribers. From those small beginnings, the CWIA just grew. Two more lists, biz-l and mom-l, have been added to meet the needs of a growing list of subscribers. Indeed, the CWIA specialized in niche filling, in being at the right place at the right time. They reached out and started to fill in the gaps they found in cyberspace: for Canadian women, for women new to the Internet, for business women, and for moms. Judy Michaud adds: "The past year has been spent on startup and housekeeping details, now is the time when we need to do some strategizing. Our largest problem is that even just maintaining the status quo requires so much time and energy; solutions such as fundraising must be put in place to prevent volunteer burnout." To this end, an advisory board has been put in place to help guide the future growth of the CWIA. "We’ve been volunteering all this time," says Lisa. "Although it says a lot for our dedication, it has its limitations."

One of the highlights of the CWIA’s activities for 1996 included an Online version of the National Women’s March Against Poverty, sponsored by NAC and the BC Federation of Labour, in May and June, 1996. For this "On-line" march, the CWIA created a Bread and Roses web site at: http://www.women.ca/womens-march/index.html as well as a guestbook (Supporting Wall) on which women from across the country could leave messages, demonstrating their support. Many web sites across the country "took home bread and roses" and linked back to the Women’s March site to show their support. The CWIA were also present at the Vancouver March events, providing a live link to the Internet at the event kickoff. .

Most recently, the CWIA has been involved in an Online Candlelight Vigil Across the Internet to raise awareness of violence against women. The official dates of the vigil were November 27th to December 6th, the anniversary of the Montreal Massacre. During those 10 days, 12,000 people visited the site, and 500 people e-mailed the CWIA worldwide, showing their support and letting the CWIA know they were linking to their site. The site at:
http://www.women.ca/violence/candle.html with its striking image of the glowing candle, created by another founding member, Thea Partridge, drew support from organizations like NOW (National Organization of Women), the National Library of Canada, Virtual Sisterhood, Women'sWeb, the BC Teacher's Federation and BC's Ministry of Women's Equality. "I spent hours just answering the email every day," says Lisa. "It was truly wonderful to receive such support for this cause from so many people."

In addition to the recently instated advisory board, the CWIA will be incorporating in the New Year. On the drawing board is an initiative for International Women's Day, and the co-sponsoring of a conference with the BC Library Association called "Making the Links," which will focus on Communities and the Internet in March, 1997.

With strategies and funding in place, the CWIA will be able to focus on outreach programs, such as assisting women's organizations who may lie outside the qualification parameters for existing funding in their efforts to get "wired."

There are also plans "in the works" for Canadian businesswomen's meets in both Vancouver and Toronto early in 1997. "We'd like to encourage community in every way possible," says Lisa. "If we can help women in business prosper by encouraging them to support each other, great! But we don't just focus on one particular group. We're trying to provide a platform for all women."

You can find the Canadian Women's Internet Association Home Page at:
http://www.women.ca/

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The change began with the first "flame" aimed at one of my posts. My first reaction was to pull back, avoid the controversy. Argument had always been an agony. Faced with an insulting stranger, my impulse was to run. Instead, I chose to face my fear and argue back. Online, things are so different. No one can outshout or interrupt. Radicals and ridicule can be deleted in a keystroke. Without a relentless or menacing physical presence, I can't be coerced into false agreements designed to keep the peace. There is always time to think things through.

One woman began to make outrageous claims against me. Stopping her vicious remarks became a compulsion. Anger overcame fear. As I became more confident, I was able to use my debate skills to win without being overly aggressive or abandoning my position. Victory was even more empowering when I realized she embodied a lifetime of cruel tactics which I had endured. A few on the list had defended my opponent; most agreed with me. One or two wrote privately, offering solace and support. The latter triggered a flood of tears. Never before had this happened. My family had always presented a united front. Suddenly, I realized my real life friends had followed suit. Had I cultivated them simply because I was used to this pattern?

Online, I began to seek more support, eventually finding a list limited to forty women who discussed our life's triumphs and disasters. Relationships and stereotypes were freely dissected. No one was shy about pointing out foibles or strengths equally. "Boundaries", "crazy makers", and "no" became new words in my vocabulary. It was the last my family hated most. I began to recognize many of their demands as unreasonable and refused to give in. Turmoil ensued. I quit seeing them, which was the biggest shock of all. Not one had anticipated that I, the adult, had this option.

Confounded, they were doubly convinced of my "internet addiction". If this is an addiction, it is to be accepted just as I am. My cyber friends know me from my words only and do not approach them with any preconceived bias or intent. Cyber friends do not need me to sacrifice my resources for their betterment, to spend my money on their lives. Even the time they require is minimal in relation to the emotional rewards I reap. It is liberating to be free from gender, race, responsibility, and age restrictions. Finally, I am only my thoughts and ideas in their purest sense.

My life is calmer now. Some people have chosen not to deal with me. Others never mention the internet, still mystified by the change. Those who remain have learned to accept my new boundaries and offer greater respect. For my part, I allow myself to savor my newly acquired power and control. For awhile, I worried I too would become abusive but my former frustrations, which might have caused this, have evaporated. I don't need retaliation, just freedom and acceptance...and cyberspace where I first discovered it.

Loretta Kemsley
Email:Scorpio@artnet.net

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"The keyboard is a greater equalizer than a Glock .45." ;nbslp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbslp;nbsp - SurferGrrrls

This book is awesome! I’m having so much trouble writing this review, because all I want to say is "Get this book! Read it! Buy it for every woman you know!" (And I’m not even getting a commission!) Gilbert and Kile have written an amazing guide/FAQ/ packed with great information about women in Cyberspace who are shaping this new medium. They give tips on hardware and software requirements for going online, and include some useful glossaries. They talk about how to find what you’re looking for on the Net. And best of all, they talk about women who have influenced/created computing history, as well as interviewing women who are currently doing outstanding work online. Instead of telling us that women should get interested in computers and the Internet and break into the boyz club, Gilbert and Kile show us that women are already playing and working with computers, and that we are out there on the Net in huge numbers.

The authors talk about the ways in which women are using the World Wide Web to (re)define our identities, and to get our views, agendas, interests and issues out to the world. They strongly believe that a woman’s place is in Cyberspace; the potential to network and learn from each other and be heard is enormous. They include some rad philosophical discussions, informed by Haraway, Leary, and McLuhan, of what the web means/is/enables. SurferGrrrls also includes a discussion of cybersex which is the most thoughtful and intelligent approach to this topic I have ever read or heard.

Gilbert and Kile create a CyborGrrl Oath: "We are wired women. We would rather be cyborgs than goddesses. We have made a special vow to help guide our sisters, our mothers, our daughters and our friends into a cyberscape of their own. We promise to support them--however initially technophobic--as they apprentice themselves in that realm. We live by the geekgirl code: "The keyboard is a greater equalizer than a Glock .45." We are wired in to Chaos and Gaia. We swell the listservs, we proliferate in the Usenet groups, we weave the Web, we chat and MOO, we upload and download, we help build and nurture our chosen online communities. We help imagine and create new applications and forms, always looking to that next horizon, always thoughtful about the interface of embodies humankind and the electronic projection of the highest mental faculties of our species. In the name of global good and human freedom, we vow never to surrender the Internet and its successors to dangerous, self-perpetuating myths of the technological incompetence of women."

Get this book! The only time I could put it down was when I was overwhelmed with the desire to log on and play!

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Part 1 Winter 1997, volume 2 no.3
Part 3 Winter 1997, volume 2 no.3
Part 3.2 Winter 1997, volume 2 no.3
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