The GEOGRAPH electronic mailing list: The emergence a new scholarly community

Abstract

The recent introduction and very rapid dissemination of information and communication technologies are changing the nature of scholarship and disciplinary networking. The major electronic communication innovations linking individuals in widely separated locations are email (electronic mail), EMLs (electronic mailing lists), newsgroups, and WWW (World Wide Web). We consider them within the context of newly formed "electronic scholarly communities"; these identify colleagues who use computers to request and share information almost instantly. We examine the uses and users of the GEOGRAPH EML based on an email survey mailed to subscribers and a content analysis of six months of this EML. GEOGRAPH was launched in 1989 and currently has nearly 600 subscribers from all over the world. A large volume of messages appears on a wide variety of topics and with many different individuals contributing. The users are all ages and tend to work in universities. Most readers reside in North America and Europe and the largest email volume is within individual countries and within these regions. The readership is slowly becoming more international. Because of the rapid phase of technological development and adoption of new electronic communication innovations, the short and long term impacts of email, EMLs, and WWW on individual professional development and disciplinary and interdisciplinary discourse remain subjects meriting further inquiry.