SEELANGS, R.I.P.?
Alexandra Popoff
shura at SASKTEL.NET
Tue Mar 20 22:54:09 UTC 2012
I want to thank Prof. Eliot Borenstein for sharing useful information
and discussing some alternatives to SEELANGS.
Alexandra Popoff
Eliot Borenstein wrote:
> Dear Comrades in Slavdom,
>
> The current exchange of screeds about Pussy Riot has finally
> crystalized something for me: SEELANGS, in its current incarnation,
> has outlived its usefulness.
>
> When it began in the 1990s, it was a fairly innovative, unprecedented
> means for Slavists to communicate with each other. In the nearly two
> decades that I have been on SEELANGS (may Veles have mercy on me!),
> I've observed a fairly predictable climate pattern for this list. For
> weeks or even months at time, it will be used to exchange information
> about what might be called "important trivia": details about
> translations, textbooks, online resources, and breaking news about the
> fall of the yers. Then something vaguely political, ideological, or
> controversial comes up, the trolls come out of hiding, and flame wars
> ensue. The the fires are put out, and we're back to discussing stress
> patterns and pedagogy.
>
> But as the Internet has evolved, much of what has always been annoying
> about SEELANGS has become almost unbearable. Because SEELANGS, as an
> unmoderated list, simply should no longer exist.
>
> I submit that the age of mass-subscriber, unmoderated lists has long
> since passed. Many of us are also on the various H-NET lists
> (particularly H-RUSSIA), and those are largely non-intrusive: they
> amount to announcements, research queries, and the like. While
> complaining about SEELANGS is a common pastime among many Slavists I
> know, H-RUSSIA doesn't usually excite as much animus.
>
> The solution is not moderation (at least, not in the administrative
> sense of the word). The solution is moving to an entirely different
> platform.
>
> Consider this: in the best of times, most of the information exchange
> on SEELANGS is of an interest to only a small subset of its
> subscribers. But we stay on, because we don't want to miss something
> unpredictably relevant. Eventually a political topic emerges, and,
> for a week or so, the list degenerates into competitive victimology.
> And many of us get annoyed that our "inboxes are being clogged up" by
> this stuff.
>
> The problem here is that the material is irrelevant, but not
> irrelevant enough. Personally, I read this material with a morbid
> fascination, and then berate myself for losing time on it. And I
> suspect I'm not alone. But think how different the Pussy Riot
> discussion would have felt if it had been a thread on a blog. On a
> listserv, it feels like spam. On a blog, it's just another thread.
>
> A blog would rid us of the many minor irritations that listserv
> technology inflicts, to wit:
>
> 1) Endlessly embedded message threats (really annoying on a portable
> device).
>
> 2) Cyrillic encoding problems (messages that turn into a series of
> question marks)
>
> 3) Painfully embarrassing misaddressed messages (replying to the list
> instead of the to the post's author)
>
> The objection might be raised that people are unlikely to visit the
> blog, and will miss valuable information. This is easily addressed by
> retaining the skeleton of the SEELANGS list and linking it to the
> blog. The blog could, by default, send out daily or weekly summaries
> of the topics on which there have been postings (not unlike the table
> of contents in the "digest" setting of the list).
>
> Social media would be an even better solution, but I don't think the
> time has come yet. I suspect there is a significant portion of
> SEELANGERS who hate Facebook, and would refuse to join (I share their
> feeling--I only joined Facebook so as not to feel like Grandpa
> Simpson). Google+ looks to be about as popular as the Microsoft Zune,
> and if there is no critical mass, there is no point.
>
> I send this out for consideration--I don't really know how such a
> thing would be decided or approved. I'm planning in the
> not-too-distant future to announce what I hope will be a vibrant and
> useful web presence for NYU's new Jordan Family Center for the
> Advanced Study of Russia, but this would obviously not be an
> appropriate home for an endeavor like SEELANGS. Somehow, the AATSEEL
> membership should consider the possible options. But in any case, I
> really think it's time to put this creaky old technology to rest.
>
>
>
> Eliot Borenstein, Acting Chair
> Collegiate Professor
> Professor, Russian & Slavic Studies
> Provostial Fellow
> New York University
> 19 University Place, Room 210
> New York, NY 10003
> (212) 998-8676 (office)
> 212-995-4163 (fax)
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
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