[Web4lib] Twenty years of posting to library e-mail discussion lists

[Morgan, James J]

In response to Bernie's appreciation of the library discussion lists, I can say that I think that the lists in general have always had many of the social and collaboration attributes now attributed to Web 2.0.
I used the example of the ezproxy list to create a very successful similar list in educational technology around a small vendor product.  When the list volume hits a critical mass, you have a dedicated community of supporters.
There have been several efforts to replace lists like ezproxy and the list I manage (angel-l) with newer communication forums, groups, wikis and other social media, but none have really taken off.  And the list software itself has begun evolving to match new capabilities as these become popular, such as web archives and rss feeds.
Jim Morgan
morganj at iupui.edu