Notes on Revisiting, Rather than Reinventing, the Wheel: Interviews with Online Community Managers by Jennifer Lentfer
A handshake still matters
How can Appropedia people meet? Meet within a context of like-minded people, at RCC events, academic conferences or EWB events? Local coordinators and local communities of volunteers/participants/Appropedians?
Healthcare Information for All by 2015
Healthcare Information for All by 2015, HIFA2015, is a global email forum promoting the availability and use of relevant, reliable healthcare information for providers in low‐income settings.
HIFA aims to facilitate communication, understanding and advocacy among all stakeholders; it does not itself act as a provider of healthcare information.
They use reader‐focused moderation (RFM). About RFM:
- "RFM aims to meet the needs of e-mail readers, who, in large lists (more than 100) are inevitably a much larger group than contributors"
- "ensure the greatest possible value to the greatest number of members. Members can
be assured that every message they receive will be relevant to the purpose of the group, easy to read, fully understandable, and without unintentional errors. This means that every message is proofread before forwarding to the group. Any queries are dealt with off-list by direct communication between the moderator and the author of the message. The moderator aims to meet the needs of readers while helping the author express what they want to say."
- "To make it work, it is vital that the moderator maintains a conscientious
sense of commitment and service to both author and reader" An assessment:
- Very intensive - not feasible for Appropedia now.
- Seems to lie between a discussion list (unmoderated) and a newsletter (curated).
- Has obvious advantages for the readers. Can we get some of the advantages through a clear posting policy?