Linking A Diverse Country: Mailing Lists In India

Linking A Diverse Country: Mailing Lists In India

By Frederick Noronha

They¿re less glamourous than web-sites, at first glance don¿t seem as obviously useful as e-mail, and definitely not as luring as chat. Yet, the simple but priceless tool of mailing-lists, which comes from an earlier Internet era, has an important role to play in a vast and diverse country like India.

This is clearly shown from experiences from the field.

From pointers to locate texts in Sanskrit, to developmental information use to India, expats chatting and fighting via the Net, news from a range of sources, and even GNU/Linux techies sharing vital information ... all this and more is making itself available on India-related mailing lists.

Mailing-lists are indeed a treasure trove of information, and vitally useful for a country like India. Inexpensive to operate, a well-run list can bring in immense results. Setting up a list is easy, but keeping it going is difficult.

Says Jeanu J Mathews, based in the US: "Internet-based mailing lists have all the standard conveniences that anything based on the Internet has. But above and beyond that (some like the) SAJA (South Asian Journalists Association, run by Prof Sreenath Sreenivasan of Columbia University) is an excellent networking vehicle and the members, though often close-minded in their outlooks, are very helpful to aspiring journalists such as myself. I am very greatful for the same."

Mailing-lists are seldom advertised. You probably won¿t find a directory for them. But the good ones get noticed fast. These grow in popularity through word-of-mouth. Today, there are ¿families¿ of mailing-lists like the Indnet.org network which offers lists guiding you about emigration law, economic news, plain discussion, headline-news about India, library science, an employment bulletin, and even a matrimonial digest. Some have upto 5000+ members.

First the basics. A mailing list -- or discussion list -- comprises a group of people that read each others emails. Subscribers to a mailing list send messages to one central email address. A special software program then distributes this message among dozens or hundreds of the list¿s subscribers.

This means certain advantages. It¿s like having a meeting which goes on forever without tiring you (hopefully). Besides, your meeting allows everyone to talk whenever convenient to you, without cutting into someone else¿s time. You intervene when you please, and at your own convenience. Most interestingly, once set up, all this cost very little money. (Free list-hosting sites offer certain services, though these are showing signs of being curtailed.)If lists can be so useful, why has India overlooked the potential of the humble mailing list?

One reason could be that when the Net first opened up in India in mid-1997, the allpowerful and fashionable web-site was already making waves. Mailing-lists were in the news internationally perhaps in the early and mid-nineties. We in India too went along with the ¿fad¿ of the times, rather than exploring the potential of this appropriate tool. Perhaps it also took time to understand what mailing lists were all about.

Then too, you need time, perserverence and patience to build up a mailing list. As one would guess, there¿s little money in this tool -- though its potential to build community, share information, link up people and even mobilise action sometimes is immense.