Module Two - Task One

What are the pros and cons of Email Lists versus Discussion Boards?

Email Lists and Discussion Boards can be described as continuous discussions on a particular topic. Information posted to Email Lists are not maintained on a single server and is open to everyone on the web, whereas information posted to a Discussion Board is “kept on a single server maintained by the owner or originator of the discussion board” (Tyson n.d.).

Both Email Lists and Discussion Boards are effective forms of communication when an immediate answer is not required; you want a discussion with more than one person; you want to be involved in a discussion with a group of people interested in the same topic; need/want to provide extensive information about that topic (Tyson n.d.).

From the limited experience that I have with Email Lists and Discussion Boards, I would suggest that the positives and negatives of these forms of communication are:

PROS

Email Lists

• Contributors appear to be enthusiastic about their topic
  
• Other contributors email addresses are easily found
  
• Emails can be sent to a lot of people at once instead of individually
  
• An email can be sent to an individual rather than the whole group
  
• Great for hobby enthusiasts

Discussion Board

• Topics are ordered, participants respond to a particular topic
• Able to select which topic to read
• Email address is kept confidential – unless participant actually gives it out

CONS

Email Lists

• Topics all over the place, not sorted into sub-topics
• Clogs up email inbox
• Lot of irrelevant messages to sort through
• Digest email sent as an attachment – problems with opening attachment
• Need a lot of time to sort through the emails

Discussion Board

• Threads sometime appear to be disjointed
• Cannot reply to a single person without the whole community being privy to your message
• Unable to add attachments

From what I could see Email Lists and Discussions Boards were quite similar in many respects. They both “serve to connect people with shared interests so that they may form kinds of communities based on that interest”(Module Two readings). Both have negative sides, but the positives would appear to outweigh the negatives.

Personally I do not think I will stay subscribed to the Email Lists that I joined as I find that the volume of emails coming through is very laborious. I have tried the Digest function but have had difficulties in opening the attachments. However, I would have no hesitation in looking for or joining an email list if I was after some very specific information.

I do enjoy the participation of the Discussion Boards, but again will probably dropout, as time is a huge factor in keeping up-to-date with what has been said and responding.

Are there certain kinds of communication or purposes more suited to one than the other?

Information sent to an Email List or Discussion Board becomes public property/information, and as stated earlier this is great if:

• you do not require an immediate answer;
  
• you want a discussion with more than one person;
  
• you don't mind being involved in a discussion with a group of people interested in the same topic who are likely to give you heaps of different answers to your question/request;
• need/want to provide extensive information about that topic (Tyson n.d.).

Are there certain kinds or communication/purposes more suited to one than the other? - hmm, that is a hard one! I guess so but I am not sure how to define the differences. To me the Email List seems like a good idea for general interest hobby type stuff where there may be no correct way of doing something but lots of good suggestions on how to get the task done. Whereas the Discussion Board seems to be more targeted toward the serious discussion/debating type topics.