Mailbase: communication and collaboration

Mailbase: communication and collaboration

Elaine Blair, Mailbase User Support and Training Officer

Mailbase enables UK academics, research staff and associated support staff to communicate and collaborate using Mailbase lists. Mailbase lists cover a wide range of subject areas and include groups of lists concerned with the CTI. All publicly available lists, archives and memberships can be searched using the Mailbase World Wide Web Service. Mailbase also offers a high level of user support. Mailbase is the UK's major electronic mailing list service for HE staff. It enables groups of academics, researchers and support staff to communicate and collaborate using Mailbase lists. Groups use Mailbase for:

informal discussion
advertising vacant posts
queries and enquiries
co-authoring papers
distributing research material and data
advertising conferences and seminars
locating colleagues with a similar specialist interest
electronic meetings

Mailbase is run by a team based in the Computing Service at the University of Newcastle and is funded by the Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) of the Higher Education Funding Councils of England, Scotland and Wales and the Department of Education for Northern Ireland.

Mailing lists

Currently (1 October 1996) Mailbase hosts 1,400 lists and has 100,000 individual members. Mailbase lists can be stand alone, part of a 'family' of lists, belong to a special subject group or one of the other groups. Mailbase supports four special subject groups (Library, HE Admin, Medical and Social Science). The other groups of lists on Mailbase are CHEST, CTI, eLib and TLTP.
A number of the CTI centres have one or more lists on Mailbase. There is also a general list called cti-centres "for all those interested in the activities of the CTI."
Some of the lists of use to educators in the Built Environment are as follows:
adam-news - an open discussion list for the ADAM (Art, Design, Architecture and Media information gateway) project.
built-environment - a list for the discussion of issues within the built environment; encompassing Building, Surveying, Architecture, and Civil/Mechanical/Services Engineering.
ibpsa - IBPSA (International Building Performance Simulation Association) is an organisation devoted to the improvement of the built environment through simulation. Topics of interest: design; building physics; air quality and comfort; control systems; software engineering; validation; and user training.
ibpsa-futures - IBPSA (International Building Performance Simulation Association) is devoted to the improvement of the built environment through simulation. The ibpsa-futures discussion list is specifically devoted to issues related to future directions and developments in building performance simulation.
landscape-research - for discussion of inter-disciplinary landscape studies, including geography, planning, landscape architecture, art history, environmental studies, psychology. Information will concern conferences, publications, workshops and other issues of relevance to the Landscape Research Group.
total-quality-construction - a forum for the exchange of ideas and information by researchers and practitioners involved in the pursuit of excellence in the construction sector.
All the above lists are open for self-subscription. If you find that your area of interest is not represented on Mailbase, please inquire about the setting up of a new list.

Talking to Mailbase

To join one of the above lists, simply send the following message (substituting appropriately) to mailbase@mailbase.ac.uk
join listname yourname
For an electronic copy of the guide to using Mailbase, send the following message to mailbase@mailbase.ac.uk
send mailbase user-guide

Mailbase World Wide Web Service

In addition to the e-mail service, the Mailbase World Wide Web Service offers online documentation and allows all publicly available Mailbase lists, list archives and memberships to be searched. The Mailbase home page can be found at: http://www.mailbase.ac.uk/
The use of hypermail means that any URLs included in e-mail messages become live 'clickeable' hyperlinks when the messages are archived.

A recent addition to the documentation section on the Web is the group hints document, available at: http://www.mailbase.ac.uk/docs/hintgp.html
This is a collection of notes on running successful mailing lists that group co-ordinators, list owners and 'would-be' list owners should find useful.

User Support

Mailbase offers a high level of user support. Help on using mailbase is available by sending the word 'help' to: mailbase@mailbase.ac.uk
Problems or queries that require human intervention can be addressed to your list owner (substitute the name of the list) at: listname-request@mailbase.ac.uk
The Mailbase Helpline will be happy to deal with general queries and can be found at:
mailbase-helpline@mailbase.ac.uk
If you are organising or are represented at a workshop, meeting or conference, we would be happy to supply you with Mailbase flyers and posters.

For further information please contact the Mailbase Team via e-mail at:
mailbase-helpline@mailbase.ac.uk
Postal address : Mailbase
University Computing Service
University of Newcastle
Newcastle NE1 7RU.
Telephone: (0191) 222 8080

		Mailbase: communication and collaboration Elaine Blair, Mailbase User Support and Training Officer
Mailbase enables UK academics, research staff and associated support staff to communicate and collaborate using Mailbase lists. Mailbase lists cover a wide range of subject areas and include groups of lists concerned with the CTI. All publicly available lists, archives and memberships can be searched using the Mailbase World Wide Web Service. Mailbase also offers a high level of user support.		Mailbase is the UK's major electronic mailing list service for HE staff. It enables groups of academics, researchers and support staff to communicate and collaborate using Mailbase lists. Groups use Mailbase for: informal discussion advertising vacant posts queries and enquiries co-authoring papers distributing research material and data advertising conferences and seminars locating colleagues with a similar specialist interest electronic meetings Mailbase is run by a team based in the Computing Service at the University of Newcastle and is funded by the Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) of the Higher Education Funding Councils of England, Scotland and Wales and the Department of Education for Northern Ireland.
		Mailing lists
		Currently (1 October 1996) Mailbase hosts 1,400 lists and has 100,000 individual members. Mailbase lists can be stand alone, part of a 'family' of lists, belong to a special subject group or one of the other groups. Mailbase supports four special subject groups (Library, HE Admin, Medical and Social Science). The other groups of lists on Mailbase are CHEST, CTI, eLib and TLTP. A number of the CTI centres have one or more lists on Mailbase. There is also a general list called cti-centres "for all those interested in the activities of the CTI." Some of the lists of use to educators in the Built Environment are as follows: adam-news - an open discussion list for the ADAM (Art, Design, Architecture and Media information gateway) project. built-environment - a list for the discussion of issues within the built environment; encompassing Building, Surveying, Architecture, and Civil/Mechanical/Services Engineering. ibpsa - IBPSA (International Building Performance Simulation Association) is an organisation devoted to the improvement of the built environment through simulation. Topics of interest: design; building physics; air quality and comfort; control systems; software engineering; validation; and user training. ibpsa-futures - IBPSA (International Building Performance Simulation Association) is devoted to the improvement of the built environment through simulation. The ibpsa-futures discussion list is specifically devoted to issues related to future directions and developments in building performance simulation. landscape-research - for discussion of inter-disciplinary landscape studies, including geography, planning, landscape architecture, art history, environmental studies, psychology. Information will concern conferences, publications, workshops and other issues of relevance to the Landscape Research Group. total-quality-construction - a forum for the exchange of ideas and information by researchers and practitioners involved in the pursuit of excellence in the construction sector. All the above lists are open for self-subscription. If you find that your area of interest is not represented on Mailbase, please inquire about the setting up of a new list.
		Talking to Mailbase
		To join one of the above lists, simply send the following message (substituting appropriately) to mailbase@mailbase.ac.uk join listname yourname For an electronic copy of the guide to using Mailbase, send the following message to mailbase@mailbase.ac.uk send mailbase user-guide
		Mailbase World Wide Web Service
		In addition to the e-mail service, the Mailbase World Wide Web Service offers online documentation and allows all publicly available Mailbase lists, list archives and memberships to be searched. The Mailbase home page can be found at: http://www.mailbase.ac.uk/ The use of hypermail means that any URLs included in e-mail messages become live 'clickeable' hyperlinks when the messages are archived.
		A recent addition to the documentation section on the Web is the group hints document, available at: http://www.mailbase.ac.uk/docs/hintgp.html This is a collection of notes on running successful mailing lists that group co-ordinators, list owners and 'would-be' list owners should find useful.
		User Support
		Mailbase offers a high level of user support. Help on using mailbase is available by sending the word 'help' to: mailbase@mailbase.ac.uk Problems or queries that require human intervention can be addressed to your list owner (substitute the name of the list) at: listname-request@mailbase.ac.uk The Mailbase Helpline will be happy to deal with general queries and can be found at: mailbase-helpline@mailbase.ac.uk If you are organising or are represented at a workshop, meeting or conference, we would be happy to supply you with Mailbase flyers and posters. For further information please contact the Mailbase Team via e-mail at: mailbase-helpline@mailbase.ac.uk Postal address : Mailbase University Computing Service University of Newcastle Newcastle NE1 7RU. Telephone: (0191) 222 8080