Statement of Being

Hugh Jarvis (ANTOWNER@UBVM.BITNET)
Thu, 15 Sep 1994 17:28:31 EDT

Anthro-l is the general anthropology listserver. It is dedicated to
providing information and an arena for discussion on any anthropological
subject. It spans archaeology, social and cultural anthropology,
linguistic anthropology and physical anthropology. However, it is truly
multidisciplinary in nature, and frequently drifts into related areas
of other social and hard sciences. Anthro-l is supported by the State
University of New York at Buffalo. Started by Ezra Zubrow in June 1988,
it is now run by Hugh Jarvis, also from the Anthropology Department. It
is intended to provide information about current anthropological events,
employment opportunities, research questions, as well to help locate
answers for numerous cooperation and information requests. Discussions
may be conducted on the list or taken into a more private atmosphere.
We encourage people to post any information that they feel might be of
interest to the group. While some members are senior faculty, the
list has subscribers from a wide range of backgrounds. All are welcome.

Anthro-l is an unmoderated list. This format was chosen to provide
complete freedom to its subscribers to indulge in whatever lines of f
anthropological thought they might desire. To date this policy has led
to a varied and interesting series of discussions.

PLEASE NOTE. Should you find that the occasional posting is not to your
personal or intellectual taste, you are free and encouraged to:
simply ignore and discard the message(s); send your own thoughts to
the original sender, or better yet, the whole list; or drop a note to a
sympathetic ear (namely the list owner - me). If you find someone's
messages offensive, chances are you are not the only one. Don't be shy.
Make your voice heard. We value your thoughts. While this is not a
moderated forum, the list owner(s) retains the option of cautioning any
who appear to be using the list for ad hominem attacks, malicious
purposes, or advertising without permission. Should there be repeat
offenses, the list owner will feel obliged to bar the offender from
the list entirely. But in general, most users are quite friendly and
courteous, and such action is seldom even considered.

Three versions of the list are available: you can be placed on the
main distribution list and receive all postings as they become
available; you can receive a daily lumped digest version with an
attached table of contents; or you can receive an indexed version in
which you will only receive the name and address of each original
sender, and the time, date, subject, and number of lines of their
message. This last is very handy for those who don't have time to
read through all the messages. To get the first, send SET ANTHRO-L
MAIL to LISTSERV@UBVM (it's the default). To get the second, use SET
ANTHRO-L DIGest, while SET ANTHRO-L INDex gets the third.

Messages are archived and are available by FTP from the listserver.
While the list has its largest readership in the United States, it
Please note, however, that the archive only keeps the last three
months worth of postings. To get the listing, send INDEX ANTHRO-L.

Anthro-l strives to be an international forum. We have members in a
good dozen countries, from the Americas, Europe, and Asia. While
English is the preferred and common language, others are welcome.

Should you wish to make reference to a posting that you read on Anthro-l
please first consider whether the message was intended for widespread
distribution and contact the author for permission. Then, one means of
citing the reference is given in the example below. The subject header
can serve as the title. Postings can be considered a form of published
document, but please remember to check with the author first as they
may not have intended it for that purpose.

Graber, Robert
1993 Universal Laws: D-N, Neolithic. Posting on General
Anthropology Bulletin Board (anthro-l@ubvm.cc.buffalo.edu).
15 Feb. Ms. in files of author.

There is now a book out which can aid in citation of email postings.
Contact one of the authors Xia Li for more info (xli@moose.uvm.edu).

Li, Xia and Nancy B. Crane
1993 Electronic Style: A Guide to Citing Electronic
Information. Westport: Meckler. ISBN 0-88736-909-X
$15.00 US.

At present Anthro-l is engaged in some projects. Danny Yee
is building a series of biographies of anthrpologists.
That file is available from the listserver by sending the command
get anthro-l bio to listserv@ubvm.bitnet or @ubvm.cc.buffalo.edu.
There is also WEDA - The World Email Directory of Anthropologists
which is constantly being updated and expanded. To get information
on that directory, send the command get anthro-l wedainfo to the
listserver. We especially welcome addresses from outside continental
North America.

You might also be interested to know that a new electronic journal,
called the Journal of World Anthropology (JWA) is available free
through on the net, to subscribers of the list jwa. To subscribe to
jwa, send the command sub jwa last_name first_name to the listserver.
through GOPHER and FTP software, and will house an enormous range

For more information, please feel free to contact the owners at
antowner@ubvm.bitnet or antowner@ubvm.cc.buffalo.edu

To subscribe or be removed from the list, send a message to
listserv@ubvm.bitnet or listserv@ubvm.cc.buffalo.edu
with sub anthro-l last_name first_name, or unsub anthro-l.

All postings from Anthro-l are archived for a period of several
months. To access these archives, send a message to listserv@ubvm
with index anthro-l for a list of the archive file names and dates.
get anthr0-l logxxx will access the individual archive files. Note:
you are only currently allowed to receive one of these files a day
to keep transmissions down.

Hope you enjoy Anthro-l....

Ezra Zubrow (founder)
Hugh Jarvis (manager)
(co-owners of Anthro-l)

There follows a review of Anthro-l which mas posted on LIBREF-L
on Tue, 26 May 1992. Please address any inquiries about this
review may be sent to R. Muns srcmuns@umslvma.bitnet.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

LIST REVIEW SERVICE ISSN: 1060-8192

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Vol. 1, No. 8 ANTHRO-L (General Anthropology) 25 MAY 1992
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Published bi-weekly, when school is in session, by The University
of Missouri, St. Louis Libraries. Raleigh C. Muns, editor.

.................................

SYNOPSIS OF ONE WEEK'S ACTIVITY -
.................................

Name of List Reviewed: ANTHRO-L
Location: LISTSERV@UBVM (Bitnet)
Listowner: Ezra Zubrow, Hugh Jarvis
BITNET: ANTOWNER@UBVM

Number of Subscribers: 429 in 20 countries.
Period Monitored: 13 MAY 92 - 19 MAY 92 (inclusive)
No. Messages Week Monitored: 19
No. Queries Posted: 03 (16 % of total activity)
No. Non-queries Posted: 16 (84 % of total activity)
Lines Sent (w/o headers): 1019 (app. 44 screens of 23 lines)
Note: one message 608 lines long
Msgs. Posted Prev. 3 Months: 862
Searchable Archives: Yes
.................................
REVIEW -
.................................
ANTHRO-L, self-described as a "General Anthropology Bulletin Board,"
focused primarily on issues of an administrative nature during the week
monitored. Sample topics were
Governmental oversight of academic research.
The scheduled demise of the anthropology department
at San Diego State University.
Queries and answers about the heads of various
anthropology departments.

More than half of the text received came from a single message
via the Asia Watch people regarding the abuse of East Timorese laborers
by the Indonesian government. The 608 lines of text supplied chronology,
names, and background. The message also contained three appendices
consisting of source documents (e.g., statements, petitions, signatories)
from Timorese involved in the labor abuse. Such a message is the sort to
file away to impress non-net colleagues as to the quality of information
available in the aether.

Nonetheless, the overall tone of the list failed to arouse my prurient
interest. I explored the indices of the list's archives in order to
expand my knowledge about the list's subject scope. (Like a restaurant
reviewer, I'm aware of the methodological pitfalls in assuming that one
bad pizza is representative of the menu each and every day.)

Pepperoni and anchovies abound in ANTHRO-L as I found, and explored, in
the list's archives the following topics:
Excision & Cliterodectomy
Liklik tok
Pidgin vs. Doodspeak (aka cyberspeak, aka ...)
Deviance Syllabus

There's nothing like eavesdropping on correspondence on fascinating
topics amongst experts in their field to recharge one's fascination with
LISTSERVs! Some of the Deviance Syllabus reading list has already been
incorporated into my recreational reading plans for the summer.
Speaking tentatively as a non-anthropologist, ANTHRO-L looks like
a good bet for the unconnected professional to take the computer net-
work plunge. Speaking confidently as an information junky, this list is
a very, very good read.
-R. Muns
.................................
SUGGESTED USES FOR LIST -
.................................

1) Eclectic education for undergraduate anthropology
students.
2) Contact tool for academic anthropologists.
3) Anthropology problem solving tool (e.g., "Where is ...").
4) Entertainment.
.................................
Copyright 1992. Raleigh C. Muns (Reference Librarian)
Thomas Jefferson Library, University of Missouri, St. Louis
8001 Natural Bridge Road, St. Louis, MO 63121 (ph:(314) 553-5059)

BITNET ADDRESS: SRCMUNS@UMSLVMA