Friends,
You are amazing. I checked my mailbox after a few days today and there were 82
unread mails. And I am using this address for PEN-L only.
Like Michael, I also like to hear from other countries and I am writing this
mail to tell this to the friends from these countries.
Prior to June 18, 1999, which was the beginning of my participation in this
so-called "anti-globalization" movement, I had nothing to do with these
internet mailing lists. But since then I have been on a few. I know this list
is not one of those "anti-globalization" lists but some similarities must
exist. So, let me mention a few observations of mine from the international
lists I have been on since that date.
1) Most of these international lists are dominated by anglo-americans.
One reason for this is that on such lists english is the language of
communication. I don't think I need to explain why this is so to the
subscribers of this list.
Of course, another reason is that anglo-americans have easier access to the
internet and have more time to spend there.
I know from my experience that it took me a while to find the courage to engage
in the discussions on these lists because I am not as fluent as most of the
native speakers. Moreover, I live in the US and have to use this language to
get by. Most of those who don't live in an english speaking country and don't
use the english language in their daily lives don't feel fluent enough to post
to such lists. I guess, what we, the non-native speakers, need to realize that
it is OK to make language mistakes.
2) Most of these lists are dominated by posters from the first world.
Most posters from the non-english speaking countries are from the first world.
One potential reason is that, despite lack of real democracy, these countries
are not as repressive as the non-first world countries and hence their people
are less concerned with revealing their views to the "big brothers" on the net.
I remember how scared I was when I sent my first post to an anti-establishment
list. You don't want to spend any time in a Turkish prison, believe me. Are
prisons in S. Korea or Argentina significantly different? Who guarantees that
PEN-L is not open to some "big brothers"? I don't think we can do much about
this though.
The following are related with academic lists but similar non-academic lists
with "experts" on them work more or less the same.
3) Most of us who subscribe to these lists are not necessarily experts of
economics, political science, sociology, history, Marxology and the like. When
a few experts start to debate among themselves, many are scared to join in.
What if non-experts sound dumb to the experts? What can the experts do to
encourage the non-experts to express their opinion?
4) There exists a pecking order in academic circles, starting from better known
US Schools to lesser known US schools to Canadian to UK to Europe to so forth.
Some of the academic lists I know of suffer from this problem seriously,
although I am not sure how relevant this is to PEN-L. On the other hand, in
every academic circle, some people are better known than the others and unless
they encourage those who are not as well-known as they are, the not so
well-known choose to remain silent.
5) Of course, some people like to talk more and others less but this is
irrespective of any systemic problems.
Assuming that you don't disagree with my observations above, my question is as
follows:
How can we encourage those subscribers from S. Korea, Indoneasia, Brazil,
Argentina, Turkey and the like, some of whom most likely are non-experts and
some of whom most likely are not-so-well-known experts to join the discussions?
Best,
Sabri
--- Michael Perelman <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> We have people on the list from Turkey, Argentina, Korea, and many other
> places where very important changes are taking place. Unfortunately, we
> hear almost nothing from the people on the ground in days places.
>
> Instead, we hear a great deal about the United States and Canada, but
> not the rest the world. Take a minute. But let us hear from you.
>
> --
>
> Michael Perelman
> Economics Department
> California State University
> [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Chico, CA 95929
> 530-898-5321
> fax 530-898-5901
>
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