Instructions for posting to the discussion list

On the course syllabus, you will find there are frequent required "postings," with specific due dates: for example: "For 2/2, write and post to the list a description of a personal experience of yours that illustrates the difference between an oral and a print culture."

But these requirements are just a mimumum, and are designed to help get the conversation started. The idea is that you will continue the conversation, with each other and with me, as your interests dictate. Use the discussion lists to help sharpen your understandings by interacting with the other students. So do not be afraid to post questions, reactions, disagreements, thoughts. Make it fun and enlightening. Postings to the discussion list are required, beginning the first full week of class through the last week of classes. If you join the class after the first week of classes, it is your responsibility to make up your postings to the list.

The way you participate is that, you use any computer connected to the internet, open a browser, and go to the website of the list: http://list.uvm.edu/archives/socmatrix.html.  Before posting for the first time, you must sign on to the list. Be sure to use your formal or "alias" UVM email address (e.g., thomas.streeter@uvm.edu -- not tstreete@zoo.uvm.edu) and select any password that you can be sure to remember; the listserver will email you a link; check your email, and then clicking on the link should register you. You can then select the most recent month's "archive" and read the postings, and then post your own. (When you do post, check your own postings on the list via the web to make sure what you wrote actually gets posted.) Sometimes there will be an assigned topic for you to discuss. Sometimes you will choose a topic or two that seem interesting to you, read the latest postings, and then sign on (using your regular "zoo" email name and password) and post your own message or two. Always double-check the website to make sure your posting was recorded. (It's generally a good idea to compose your messages in a text-editor or word processor and save them to a disk before pasting them into the web email form.)

Technical Problems: There are often technical problems with the list. They are annoying, if inevitable. But they can always be solved. Please, please, please: If you have technical problems with the list, contact me or computer tech support immediately; I'll be happy to help you. Do not think that, because  you've got some technical problem, that gets you off the hook for postings. Technical problems are not an excuse for missed or late postings!

First Step: Find the correct topic, press "reply"

The lists work this way: for each assignment, you should find the correct topic or subject heading in the mailing list archive, read at least some of what's already been posted, and then hit reply to compose your message. Do not hit "Post a new message," unless you are certain that you are the first one to post for a given assignment. If you do, you'll create a new "thread" and the list will fill up with confusingly different threads.

Read others' comments before posting your own

Remember, once you're in the right place, start by reading other's postings. There will be a temptation to just quickly type in some comments of your own and leave it at that. You've got an assignment to complete, it may be late at night, you'll want to get it over with, and reading other people's stuff can sometimes be tedious. But that approach just produces more tedious postings, and does not fully engage your mind. If you really read other people's stuff and think about it, if you let yourself get involved in the online discussion, you'll get more engaged and motivated, your thinking will get sharper, and you'll get more out of it. So after you've read the other postings, then post your own.

Keep postings thoughtful and to the point

What makes a good posting? Postings do not have to be formal or perfectly phrased; the occasional typo or awkward sentence is OK, and sometimes a brief joke can help liven things up. But it is important to keep the postings thoughtful and to the point. If the posting is about an article, try to quote directly from the article. Personal experience is sometimes useful, but make sure that you explain why it's relevant to the reading or issue under discussion. Avoid simply stating likes and dislikes about media without any connection to the readings, and avoid just talking about something that reminds you of something else.

Remember that Intelligent thoughtful disagreement is good

Do not be afraid to disagree. The poet William Blake once said something like "Without disagreements, there will be no progress." Thoughtful debate helps people figure things out. I'd rather read heated arguments online than a bunch of vague postings where everybody takes a middle position or concludes "it all depends on your perspective." The trick, though, is to keep disagreements respectful and intelligent. Just telling someone you think they're wrong or an idiot is no help; give people reasons why you think they're wrong, and present those reasons in a way intended to persuade the other person, not attack them.

Examples of postings

Here's an example of a pretty good posting (in response to the question, "Is Mobile Privatization Good or Bad?"). Note that it quotes the reading, and makes a thoughtful, original point involving the theory:
Mobile privatization has its positives and negatives like anything else but I  believe that it has allowed society to grow and become more flexible. For example, the article states, "For mobility was only in part the impulse of an independent curiosity: the wish to go out and see new places. It was essentially an impulse formed in the breakdown and dissolution of older and smaller kinds of settlement and productive labour. The new and larger settlements and industrial organizations required major internal mobility, at a primary level, and this was joined by secondary consequences in the dispersal of extended families and in the needs of new kinds of social organization." I think this type of mobile privatization is good for a society to grow and become more adaptable. It might have seemed hard at first, for my parents generation, but the more familar you become with it teh easier it is and it becomes more of a way of life.
Here's an example of a mediocre posting. Note that it does not quote the reading and it does not make a very original or insightful point:
I think that today mobile privitization has both pros and cons. Today it is so easy to communicate with friends and family over the internet, through email and also through instant messenger. This also saves alot of money, compared to having to talk on the phone for long hours to people who are far away. Email is a great source of communication. On the other hand, you can say that people spend their whole days on the computer, isolating themsleves behind a computer screen.