[okfn-help] help with mailing lists

[James Casbon]

2010/1/25 Jo Walsh <jo at frot.org>:
> dear all,
>
> I would like some help - I want to start a mailing list. I also don't want
> to start another mailing list. So. Simple, practical bit first:
>
> edinburgh at lists.okfn.org - this is for organising a mini-OKCon in Edinburgh.
> If it turned into a news list that would be fine with me too.
> Who should I nudge to help set this up - Martin, James...?

I'm not really up to speed with the mailing lists - I think Rufus
might be the one to help.  I'm willing to have a look though.

>
> Okay, here goes the tortuous bit:
>
> I already am list owner for two open geodata mailing lists... why would I
> want to start a third one?
>
> geo-discuss at lists.okfn.org - this dates from the publicgeodata.org campaign,
> the early days of OSM etc, mainly used for policy talk.
>
> geodata at lists.osgeo.org - the mailing list for the geodata committee of
> OSGeo. Quite a few public administration peeps there.
>
> Both of these lists have become very quiet over the last couple of years.
> Last summer I proposed to kill off the geo-discuss list and invite its
> members to the geodata list. No-one objected, I never did it.
>
> Recently Jonny started a stub for a geodata working group for CKAN, to work
> on a priority package collection and maybe geodata-specific metadata
> plugins: http://wiki.okfn.org/wg/geodata
>
> We had a cheerful and productive conversation with some people from the
> Centre for Geospatial Science in Nottingham about next steps for it:
>
> Wanting this geodata WG group to be two things:
>
> - a coordinating effort for work on CKAN package listings, adding
> geo-metadata to anything with a location
> - a space for people to share ideas about what they're working on, with half
> an eye on building a "coalition of the willing" for open and geospatial
> funding calls.
>
> If the two tasks stay in the same place, less chance of a group effort
> turning into a talking shop and slowly losing momentum.
>
> Perhaps I'd be happier starting a posterous group blog, inviting people to
> email that rather than email a list.
>
> In short:
>
> - Option 1 - just start a new WG list, stop worrying about the other lists
> - Option 2 - try to move the WG conversation to one of the existing lists,
> or merge them and ditto (but there are an awful lot of people who don't
> really know one another on both of those lists)
> - Option 3 - don't start a new list, but try to coordinate the WG through
> other means (like a group blog)

I think 3 has a lot of advantages in terms of outreach and ease of
use.  I find managing mailing list memberships more painful than RSS
feeds, personally.   Depends how techie you think your audience is
really.  What do you think?

Sorry not much help - but let me know if you want to pursue mailman.

James