New USENET GIS newsgroup

[Rob Knauerhase]

In an E-mail message, Duane F Marble said:
>Why do we need another GIS-L? If it were going to be moderated it might
>be useful.

The newsgroup shouldn't (and won't) be _another_ GIS-L; rather, it will be
another method of distribution of the current GIS-L.  This has several
advantages:

- sites that receive USEnet news will be able to access the list as a
  newsgroup, rather than sending several copies of each letter to individual
  users at each site.

- Members of the list can read USEnet news at their convenience.  With a
  newsgroup, people don't have to have cluttered mailboxes and can "catch up"
  quickly when they haven't read for a while.  Most modern newsreaders have
  rather advanced thread-following and search/kill features as well, which
  makes reading the list more productive.

- LISTSERV, while venerable, is quite old and based heavily on BITNET
  transport (slow and cumbersome).  Additionally, large clunky IBM mainframes
  are more and more frequently being replaced by the MIS community.  USEnet,
  on the other hand, is modern and up-to-date; people describe it as "like
  Tetris for people who haven't forgotten how to read."

- Lastly (and this is a double-edged sword), having a newsgroup will open the
  list to a larger community, many of whom will be scientists in related
  fields or have other unique approaches and answers to questions.

Basically, since people have arranged a bridge between GIS-L and the newsgroup,
nothing will be lost and a lot will be gained.  

Rob Knauerhase
--
Rob Knauerhase
rob at zorro.cecer.army.mil Construction Engineering Research Lab, Corps of Eng.
knauer at cs.uiuc.edu       UIUC Dept. of Computer Science, Gigabit Study Group