3. Data and communicative context
3. Data and communicative contextThe email discussions used in this study are naturally occurring data from UK-based email discussion lists generated between March 1998 and October 1999, and collected from the Mailbase archives at [http://www.mailbase.ac.uk/lists] (now available from [http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk]).
For the study, 360 email messages were collected: 60 consecutive messages from each of six email discussion lists. Email discussions often take place in parallel, so that there may be several discussions taking place simultaneously on the same discussion list. Samples of 60 messages were chosen because it was found that this was sufficient to allow at least one (and normally more than one) entire discussion to start, develop, and reach completion in each sample.
The data samples are summarised below.
| No. of participants subscribed to list at 18 Jan. 2000 | No. of active speakers | No. of topics | Time period of data | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Writing development | 177 | 19 | 10 | 1 Mar 98 - 25 Mar 98 25 days |
| Business ethics | 135 | 16 | 23 | 2 Jul 98 - 2 Nov 98 124 days (Messages 1-47 all in July) |
| Feminist theology | 341 | 26 | 10 | 7 Sep 99-18 Sep 99 12 days |
| Humour research | 196 | 29 | 21 | 2 Jul 99 - 3 Oct 99 94 days |
| Probation practice | 205 | 28 | 23 | 7 Sep 99 - 27 Oct 99 51 days |
| Dyslexia | 317 | 29 | 13 | 25 Sep 99 - 11 Oct 99 17 days |
In the remainder of this paper, the email lists will be referred to by abbreviations as follows:
| WD | Writing development in higher education |
| BE | Business ethics |
| FT | Feminist theology |
| HR | Humour research |
| PP | Probation Practice |
| DX | Dyslexia |
All of the lists in the sample have an academic or professional focus. All are open lists (anyone can join), participation is voluntary, and the lists are unmoderated (i.e. all messages sent to the list are automatically sent to the other participants, without being read, filtered or edited by anyone). The email discussion lists are unusual, compared with spoken conversation, in that the purpose of each list is specified overtly, in two places: the list information and list introductions.
The list information is provided on the web site for each list. This information includes a brief summary of the purpose of the list. For example, the list information for Writing Development gives the following statement of the purpose of the list:
To encourage discussion and the exchange of good practice by those actively involved in teaching and research which help native English speakers in any discipline in higher education to improve their writing. (Mailbase 2000a)
These brief statements provide a reference point. Potential list members could use this information to decide whether the list is likely to be relevant to them, and existing members could use it to determine whether contributions are relevant. This suggests that contributors are expected to be aware that each list has a purpose and that this purpose has been defined.
The list introductions are posted to new members and are also available from the web site. At the time when the data were collected, the Business Ethics list had no introduction, but all the other lists in the data did have one. Thus all list members of the lists in the data (except Business Ethics) would have received a list introduction, and would have been able to find out about the purpose of the list in this way even if they have no access to the web site - or no inclination to look at it. List introductions vary in length. They appear to be written by the list owners and usually include a welcome message together with an outline of the purpose of the list, and may include other information. For example, the list introduction for Writing Development gives the following statement of the purpose of the list:
Welcome to writing-dev-he. This is a discussion list for academics who have responsibility (in teaching and/or research) for developing students' writing in any discipline in higher education in the UK.
PURPOSE
The list provides a friendly forum where members can
* exchange ideas, information and news
* share good practice
* ask for advice
* publicise events relevant to our subject
* decide for themselves how they want to use the list. (Mailbase 2000b)
These list introductions, like the brief summaries on the web site, suggest that contributors are expected to be aware that each list has a purpose and that this purpose has been defined. In some cases, the list introduction gives a more detailed account of the purpose of the list, and may also suggest the kind of contribution that is expected (see for example Humour Research, which suggests an informal approach, indicates the kind of people who might wish to participate, and suggests some types of material which would not be suitable for inclusion in messages).
