Any thought of moving DDN to Moodle? I think Moodle provides a centralized platform and better features than the email listing. It provides functions where we can build library related to DDN issues, members can conduct training, discussions etc. all within one location.
The 'meaning' of DDN has changed since the beginning of DDN. What I see the future of DDN should go beyond discussions. Cindy ============= cindyho...@gmail.com --- On Wed, 31/12/08, Claude Almansi <claude.alma...@gmail.com> wrote: From: Claude Almansi <claude.alma...@gmail.com> Subject: Re: [DDN] in search of volunteer moderators (was The future of DDN) To: "The Digital Divide Network discussion group" <digitaldivide@digitaldivide.net> Date: Wednesday, 31 December, 2008, 11:13 AM Thanks for your constructive personal opinion, Taran: it is all the more valuable because of your experience as admin. I've only been a user - well, theoretically managing some on-site discussions for a while before they got scrapped, but their were very few posts there. Between your lines: On Tue, Dec 30, 2008 at 11:36 PM, Taran Rampersad <taran.a.ramper...@gmail.com> wrote: > Personal opinion, meant constructively: > > DigitalDivide.net used to count, I think. I've gone through with admin > powers and removed spam blog postings, deleted spam users, and so forth. > I'm not sure exactly when that problem started - probably along the > timeline that all the spam comments on the blogs started showing up. The > explanation for how all of that happened and was handled is a bit > sketchy, so it's difficult to say. As far as I remember, there was a chonological coincidence between the rise of spam comments to blog entries and the big hacking of the on-site discussion boards during the 2nd WSIS in 2005. Spammers started using redirecting scripts in their profiles and in their comments. So script use was made impossible by admins. Then they directed to other free-hosted pages where they used those scripts. Etc. But already before that, the mailing-list had become the main exchange tool for DDNers, I think. We'd post to our DDN blogs, but often just fed them from another blog through RSS. I've been doing that for a while, because the DDN blog filter always tells me I'm attempting to post improper stuff I am unable to identify if I attempt to do it straight, whereas it doesn't if the same stuff comes through RSS. > > The email list is stifled. And honestly, if I did have the time and > energy to volunteer for moderating this email list, I would. But I have > moderated email lists and discussion boards before, and they can be very > problematic. Moderation requires someone whose eyes are on every message > and who has the time to do things. Yes, the e-mail list is stifled. But isn't it because people hesitate to post to it because they don't know when the post will get through? And couldn't moderation be technically simplified in part by making it "plain-text no-attachments only" (I'm thinking of Andy's message about people attempting to post messages with huge attachments)? Sure, moderation can be problematic: in the 3 Italian ones I mentioned before, I was made asst-manager because they had gone haywire in various ways, yet all based on the fact that the archives were private. People started to behave more decently after we made them public - after due consultation none of the trolls paid attention to: they left and limited themselves to sending the managers personal insults and threats. The archives of the DDN list are already public, so this should probably limit trolling. Present and past moderators could perhaps tell what proportion of trolling and spam they have to delete? > > And all of this gets back to the future of DDN because in my mind there > is a question that there is a future of DDN. > > I think a lot of things are the result of the best intentions. If there > is to be a future of DDN, we need to move past that and move into what > the community wants. And while the community has pointed out that > discussion has been stunted by moderation, the truth is that the wiki > was presented and remains largely unused. There may still be a psychological reluctance to use wikis, even among DDNers. In other socially oriented projects and actions I participate in, the mailing-list seems to remain the prefered vehicle. Other tools get used by smaller sub-groups (wikis for the preparation of a statement then submitted to the list, e.g.). That might be a Digital Divide issue we might address. > > So before we get into technicalities again, as well as human moderation > of email messages, I suggest that people on the list consider whether > they want DDN to have a future. That seems to be missing. From there, we > can decide what that future will be. Personally, I do. "Web 2.0" - many applications of which I discovered thanks to DDN mailing list discussions - raised great enthusiasm and hopes, but it might time for an assessment of their actual opportunities, uses and implications. Some "Feature Story" articles (see <http://www.digitaldivide.net/articles/index.php>) are about this. > > But first, people have to decide that they want it - and decide what > they are willing to do toward a future of DDN. Hence my willingness to co-moderate the mailing-list. Not only to prevent spam, trolling and behemoth attachments, but to try and incite people to share again there the DDN-related experiences they are involved in elsewhere: exploration of new tools, accessibility and usability issues, their usefulness for the promotion of education, health, welfare and human rights in general, blocks against them and how to cirvumvent them - etc. Best Claude -- Claude Almansi _______________________________________________ DIGITALDIVIDE mailing list DIGITALDIVIDE@digitaldivide.net http://digitaldivide.net/mailman/listinfo/digitaldivide To unsubscribe, send a message to digitaldivide-requ...@digitaldivide.net with the word UNSUBSCRIBE in the body of the message. _______________________________________________ DIGITALDIVIDE mailing list DIGITALDIVIDE@digitaldivide.net http://digitaldivide.net/mailman/listinfo/digitaldivide To unsubscribe, send a message to digitaldivide-requ...@digitaldivide.net with the word UNSUBSCRIBE in the body of the message.
