Linking a Diverse Country: Mailing Lists in India
They're less glamourous than web-sites, at first glance don't seem asobviously useful as e-mail, and definitely not as luring as chat. Yet, thesimple but priceless tool of mailing-lists, which comes from an earlierInternet era, has an important role to play in a vast and diverse countrylike India.
This is clearly shown from experiences from the field.
From pointers to locate texts in Sanskrit, to developmental information useto India, expats chatting and fighting via the Net, news from a range ofsources, and even GNU/Linux techies sharing vital information ... all thisand more is making itself available on India-related mailing lists.
Mailing-lists are indeed a treasure trove of information, and vitally usefulfor a country like India. Inexpensive to operate, a well-run list can bringin immense results. Setting up a list is easy, but keeping it going isdifficult.
Says Jeanu J Mathews, based in the US: "Internet-based mailing lists haveall the standard conveniences that anything based on the Internet has. Butabove and beyond that (some like the) SAJA (South Asian JournalistsAssociation, run by Prof Sreenath Sreenivasan of Columbia University) is anexcellent networking vehicle and the members, though often close-minded intheir outlooks, are very helpful to aspiring journalists such as myself. Iam very greatful for the same."
Mailing-lists are seldom advertised. You probably won't find a directory forthem. But the good ones get noticed fast. These grow in popularity throughword-of-mouth.
Today, there are 'families' of mailing-lists like the Indnet.org networkwhich offers lists guiding you about emigration law, economic news, plaindiscussion, headline-news about India, library science, an employmentbulletin, and even a matrimonial digest. Some have upto 5000+ members.
First the basics. A mailing list -- or discussion list -- comprises a groupof people that read each others emails. Subscribers to a mailing list sendmessages to one central email address. A special software program thendistributes this message among dozens or hundreds of the list's subscribers.
This means certain advantages. It's like having a meeting which goes onforever without tiring you (hopefully). Besides, your meeting allowseveryone to talk whenever convenient to you, without cutting into someoneelse's time. You intervene when you please, and at your own convenience.Most interestingly, once set up, all this cost very little money. (Freelist-hosting sites offer certain services, though these are showing signs ofbeing curtailed.)
If lists can be so useful, why has India overlooked the potential of thehumble 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 andmid-nineties. We in India too went along with the 'fad' of the times, ratherthan exploring the potential of this appropriate tool. Perhaps it also tooktime to understand what mailing lists were all about.
Then too, you need time, perserverence and patience to build up a mailinglist. As one would guess, there's little money in this tool -- though itspotential to build community, share information, link up people and evenmobilise action sometimes is immense.
In the 'nineties, the IndiaLink network of NGOs set up a handful ofinteresting lists, like the IL-environment. This linked green campaignersacross the country, from the humble concerned citizens to persons likeunion minister Maneka Gandhi and wildlife campaigner from Mumbai BittuSehgal. But lists tend to be unpredictable, and these fell into disuse.
Social campaigners have been quick to realise the potential of software.Harsh Kapoor based in France runs an interesting mailing list that seeks tocampaign against the increased communal polarisation of a civilization knownas India. Kapoor's SACW is an "informal, independent an non-profit" citizenswire service run by South Asia Citizens Web since 1996.
In the past couple of years, many across India have realised the potentialof unglamourous mailing lists, if necessary using free list-sites. Likeyahoogroups.com. Search this site, and you could get a few hundred listswith the word "India" prominently listed in them.
But this is not enough.
Says New York-based UNDP policy analyst Vikas Nath:"Somehow South Asia has not picked up on mailing lists inspite of havinggood connectivity in comparison to other regions. I guess, the problem iswith find good lead organisations to start mailing lists. Looking at India:most of the NGOs do not have an effective email/ web strategy. This is evenmore striking since we are the ones who could most benefit from the mailinglists."
"Not many people in South Asia can afford to subscribe more than one or twogood environment or development related publications. But if we were to haveeffective mailing lists which for example circulate relevant articles andpostings, then they would prove to be immensely useful," adds Nath. Heexplains that in Bangladesh, there are cases of group of doctors and healthprofessionals making available health related databases or articlesavailable in the West to email subscribers.
Nath should know. He himself started two mailing lists. One is onDigitalGovernance at http://www.digitalgovernance.org and has over 1000subscribers now, around 600 from Asia region. The other, DevNetJobs is runwith the support of other volunteers at http://www.devnetjobs.org (it hasalmost 15000 subscribers, with around 8000 from the Indian sub-continent.
Shaji John shortly celebrates the 'first birthday' of her friends_of_UP mailing list.
Says John: "The group is formatted as a knowledge community for socialchange in UP and in its short period of existence grown to about 150members." A sociologist, she worked with several NGOs. Work takes John todifferent "hard to reach" areas, from where the mailing list is kept goingvia cybercafes in Lucknow, Kanpur, Allahabad, Jansi or even Banda.
"It will be too mcuh to assume all your dispatches will be read with greatattention by all... to some it might be even a bit of a nuisance..right?That said, I must note I do get occasional support mail from some memberswhom I know nothing more than their ids and that goes a long way insustaining me," says Shaji John.
Says Roger Harris, a close watcher of the ICT-for-development campaignworldwide: "Part of the trouble is list messages can range from incrediblyuseful to iritatingly banal, and what's one to one person may be the otherto another. No way to decide without spoiling things. For India, the bigthing must surely be local languages as soon as possible. Also probablymore local initiatives."
Swati Sani is one of those who runs a list for thepeople of the central Indian city of Nagpur, most of whom are stayingoutside the city or the country. It's athttp://groups.yahoo.com/group/nagpurcity/
"The list was started in July 1999. Since then many people have found theirlong lost friends and have used the list for various other purposes rangingfrom finding about courses in universities, exchanging recipes to exchangingview on politics," says Sani.
Some strange things have come out of the list.
An infant girl, concidentally also called Swati, had been adopted from anorphanage in Nagpur by a Dane family some 16 years ago. As the girl grew upshe wanted to find out more about her biological parents. Through this listshe was able to contact a member who helped her trace her biological mother.Now, the girl's mother's family and her step-siblings are being helped bythe Dane couple.
It was the night of September 11, 2001. All the telephone lines from NY andNJ area were down. But internet was working. There are dozens of Nagpuriansliving in that area. "We sent a message to our list asking anyone wanting tocontact anyone back in Nagpur to send us a mail with their contact phonenumber and the name. We kept checking mail every half an hour and I don'treally remember the number of phone calls we made that night. But yes thegratitude earned that night was the best reward ever," says Sani.
But this is not about social work alone. It's about allowing people tocommunicate, exchange ideas, network and share goals on a scale seldom doneotherwise on a people-to-people basis.
Goa Schools Computers Project, now drawing attention for the way it has beendrawing practical support from expat Goan communities, was first sounded outvia the GoaNet mailing list. Given its high ratio of expats, and differencesin perceptions, there are also other Goa-linked lists like Goa-Goans andGoanCauses on Yahoogroups.
Carneiro set up GoaNet in August 1994 says: "In September of 1993 I movedfrom Nairobi, Kenya, to Boston, Massachusetts, USA, to go to university.Kenya had an established Goan network with two Goan clubs in Nairobi. And,many of my social activities revolved around these two clubs and the Goan inthe area. However, in the US no such network existed."
Not just isolated, this 18-year-old then didn't even know how to use acomputer. His sister wrangled a job in a university computer lab, so hecould learn more. He picked up a lot, and during work hours would use theInternet Relay Chat, or IRC. "Missing the Goan network in Kenya, and havingno way of connecting Goan around the Boston area at that stage, I turned tothe Internet," he recalls. The rest, as they say, is history.
GoaNet networked Goans around Boston and New England, which might havecatalysed the formeration of the New England Goans Association. It hasbrought literally hundreds of Goans back in touch with their distant homestate, which their ancestors had left two or more generations ago, in somecases.
Says Carneiro: "The main utility of this list is to network Goans around theworld. Goanet is a medium by which we can get the latest news from Goan,discuss issues pertinent to the region or to Goans, hear about social eventsorganized around the world and much more. It is a place where we can postobituraries or report notable achievements. The main thing is that it bringsGoans around the world that much closer to each other."
"I am most satisfied when I see the community taking full advantage of thelist's potential. Whether it be through having good debates, or finding along lost friend, so long as the list is lively and being used I love it,"he adds. "I get lots of satisfaction when someone writes to me to tell methat they have found an old friend on Goanet. I love those personal emails."
Bangalore-based Udhay Shankar N describes some of themailing lists he has been part of. These give an idea of the potential ofmailing-lists. For instance: cooking-pot ("private list of Indian techies,membership by invite only"), Linux-India-General ("fairly noisy nowadays,but still has nostalgia value since I helped set up"), Cybercom andInteractInn-L ("list-owner Vani Murarka was one of my correspondents beforeshe founded the list"). Given his techie-orientation Udhay is also amoderator at India-GII, and is on claw-in, exchinnet, and free-india (seedetails in the box alongside).
After a recent workshop in Chennai on 'Knowledge Sharing for InternationalDevelopment', a mailing list was set up for the purpose. Similar lists wereset up after workshops on spreading literacy (held in Ahmedabad) and tocampaign for the legalisation of community radio (held in Hyderabad). Thecampaign for legalising community radio in India has got added momentumthanks to continued and sustained interactions via the list, along after theworkshop ended.
Today, India can boast of lists set up for even the stray village.(SaligaoNet, run from Goa, has a membership of around 120+, mostlyexpat-based, from this village close to the North Goa coast. It has keptbusy in raising funds to encourage the magazine-reading habit locally, buildawareness about pollution problems and water depletion in the area.)
Other lists are set up by alumni of various institutions, and GNU/Linuxclubs spread across India. Journalists, naturally, being in thecommunication business, have naturally set up a number of lists. There'se-journo, NMW list for women journos, India-EJ and ThirdWorld-EJ forenvironmental journalists both run out of India, Indian Online Media Forumat Yahoogroups, besides others.
Some of the INDNET lists, also set up by NRIs ages ago -- in the lateeighties -- are extemely well run.
The India Network Foundation is a non-profit organization founded to servethe Asian Indian community around the world, and researchers and scholarsinterested in learning about India. Started as the first internet resourcefor India related news and events in 1988, the INF calls itself "the firstand foremost resource on India and India related issues."
Today, it's a nonprofit, charitable, educational and community organizationfounded by Dr. K.V. Rao "to serve the Asian Indian Community around theworld and to help developmental projects in India." Its lists includedigests ranging from news to matrimonial, and specialized forums suchImmigration Law Forum. Membership in the India Network is "open to anyoneinterested in India and India related information". All for free!
J Kappil runs the NRI News group
There lists are also giving Indians a chance to see another reality, beyondthe media-depicted situation. pray4peace at Yahoogroups is run by the PeaceRevival Association of Youth based in Pakistan. "This email list seeks topromote the Peace Awareness Program through interactive learning andestablishing a network of peace loving people all over the globe andparticularly in our area of action -- i.e. Central and South Asiancountries," say its promoters.
Says Eustaquio Santimano, a Goan based in Denmark: "A bit ofhow it all got started .... Over the years, having made contact (via theNet) with many of our school buddies from Don Bosco Panjim, we decided inSeptember 1999 to create a Bosco_Net mailing list. After a little persuasionfrom well-wishers we opened our forum to help link-up Don Bosco studentsfrom all over the world." Today they have members from Bosco schools fromIndia, Philippines, USA and even Egypt.
Today, this links alumni from institutions in Matunga, Lonavala, Goa, andeven a school or two in Latin America. "Presently we have around 330 membersfrom all over the world. Out of which 215 are registered with the mailinglist at http://www.goacom.com/bosco_net," Santimano said.
GII, run out of Delhi, calls itself a list meant to discuss "India's bumpyprogress on the global infohighway". Some discussions focus on the status oftelecom in India, how it compares to other countries, regulatory issues(pricing, monopolies, privatising, structuring), need for changes to Indianlaws, law on the right to privacy or freedom of expression in cyberspace,and implications of new technologies for India telecom. It also looks atmatters pertaining to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI)
Lists also help collaboration across international boundaries, beyond SouthAsia.
Recently-launched Solaris is run out of Delhi's sarai.net. But discussionstend to be led by international participants keen to understand "criticalissues of the Internet and development". This list is a new electronicmailinglist on IT and "Development" related issues in the "non-Westernworld".
Says this list, in a bluntly critical voice: "Information technology hasn'tsolved world poverty. It arguably has contributed even further to thegrowing income inequality on both a global and national scale while the alltoo easy rhetoric of UN initiatives, and DotForce and other Digital Divideprograms appear to be recycling outdated neo-liberal dotcom models."
For some reason, mailing lists focussing on developmental issues and peopleby those struggling to make their point -- whether it is education,literacy, community radio, the environment, women in journalism -- seem tobe more effective in taking off. Perhaps this is because of the creativeenergy flowing out of such groups.
For instance Pragati -- which means "progress" in Sanskrit -- is anewsletter from Jiva's education department, a voluntary network run fromthe outskirts of Delhi. It provides updates on educational trends, IT inEducation, useful learning resources, methods to enhance teaching, thedevelopment of ICOT (India's Curriculum of Tomorrow), and other teachers.
"It is meant for teachers, principals, educators, parents, administrators,policy makers, and anyone concerned about the state of education in Indiaand internationally," says Steve Rudolf, the young American keen aboutgiving a boost to such IT-fuelled education ventures in India.
GNU/Linux is another network which is active via mailinglists. Earlier, theLIG (Linux India General) mailing list used to go into overdrive eachevening, India time, as tired young programmers took to the keyboards tospeak on a subject that sparked off passion in them. The GNU/Linux networkalso has its complimentary LIH and LIP ('help' and 'programmers') lists,while regional GNU/Linux groups have at least two dozen mailing-lists onYahoogroups alone. Of these some are very active, others tend to be slackand non-functional.
The South Asian Journalists Association, based among expats working in theUS, has its own discussion lists network at www.saja.org/lists Many havegood words to say about the efficacy of this set of mailing-lists.
One of the most interesting mailing lists on IT in South Asia is run by Irfan Khan in Karachi. Four years old now, the listwas started jointly by Khan who is in his early 'thirties and Sean Kline.
"(In 1997-8) the Internet was taking South Asia by storm, and both of uswere interested in its application to equitable social and economicdevelopment. Both were already subscribed to AFRIK-IT and we used it as amodel for our list," says Khan. It now has 250 subscribers, including inIndia.
It's hosted by APNIC free of charge as a publicservice. "From the feedback, I gather that it is considered highly useful asan information 'clearing and forwarding' mechanism," says Khan. It isstrictly not-for-profit, and it takes an average of an hour a day to keepthe list going.
On his own list, Khan would like to see ways of improving the "weak areas"of discussion and feedback. Says he: "Around 10 percent of our subscribersare active in one way or the another. This should change to activeparticipation of a greater number of subscribers. Somehow or the other,s-asia-it has not become a *discussion* list as we wanted it to be. It ismore of a news and information list -- which is okay in its own."
Women are not completely out in the cold either.
SAWNET is a mailing list by and for South Asian women's issues. Susan Chacko was involved in starting it about 10 years ago, and "it's generally thriving", says she.
It has about 800 subscribers who are all over the world (including SouthAsia) but mostly in the US/Europe. Most of the subscribers are ethnicallyfrom the subcontinent, but there are some who are from other parts of theworld as well and are simply interested in South Asia or women's issues.
"The most unusual feature of the list is that it's limited to women. Thiswas decided by a vote of the membership when it started, and has beenratified a few times by subsequent votes," says she.
The obvious strength is that people who might not otherwise get in contacthave made connections through the list. "I've made several friends who areinterested in the same issues as I am. The weakness is that only women withemail access can subscribe. Ten years ago, this was typically a grad studentin a computer-science department, or a faculty member in a US university.Things have changed a lot, but still, there are a lot of women withoutemail, so there's still a limited group who can access Sawnet," adds SusanChacko.
Says B.M.Bharadwaja: "On the cultural/nationalistic side; I know of onequite popular (as far as number of members and posts) called "IndianCivilization" has large number of posts daily and quite insightfuldiscussions relating to ancient and modern india and Hindu culture. One morecalled "Roots" which is more specific to contributions of ancient India tothe world and re-discovering our roots".
The Interact Inn All India Mailing List has been an interesting place, meantto allow Indians talk to each other, despite the barriers of distance. Itwas launched by Bangalore-based (earlier in Kolkata) Vani Murarka.
Says Ms Murarka: "(This list aims) to make the Internet a more useful mediumfor people _in_ India." The emphasis is on people "in" India, rather thanIndians abroad, probably because NRIs have had it easier in taking to theNet in a big way from an early stage.
In the case of India, till the late 'nineties, it was difficult to getaccess to the Net. Abroad, expat communities of South Asian origin --specially university students in the US -- were encouraged to set up mailinglists on a range of issues. That was why GoaNet was set up in 1995 by then18-year-old Herman Carneiro, to grow into a network that encompasses anumber of related lists and today has an estimated 4000 readers. Not a badfigure for India's smallest state!
This encouraged many other Goa-linked experimental lists to be set up. Somefrom this western coastal Indian state have taken root quite well. GoaCom, a local web based firm, hosts nearly two dozen mailinglists. Many are run on not-for-profit lines. Though some are still to beactivated adquately, others are quite active.
Lists have widely varying tones. Moderators of the fairly active 'Sliklist'say it's "a place to have knowledgable, civil and most of all, funconversations about technology, philosophy, culture and whatever else wewant to talk about. We have only two rules: no ad hominem (personalattacks), and no spam."
Some lists are tame, others are boisterous -- wild might be a better word.Lists also tend to promptly get inactive. Others drag on, some facemonotonous infighting. But lists can also be useful and a surprisinglyconvenient, and shockingly inexpensive way of sharing information across acountry the size and diversity of India.
To cope with the defeaning silence that can kill many new lists, twostrategies usually work. Firstly, you need a 'critical mass' in terms ofyour number of members, before a list gets activated with life of its own.Secondly, every list badly needs a committed core group that will nurtureand promote it, specially in its early stages... till the 'critical mass' ofmembership is generated.
Software of a wide range has been used to run mailing lists. Earlier,Majordomo used to be popular. This was built at a time when Net access waslimited, and it allowed users to 'work' mailing-lists almost wholly bye-mail. Along the way, Listserv and other software became popular. So muchso that at one time 'mailing lists' became synonymous with the term'listserv'. Today, GNU/Linux products like Mailman -- that are part of theFree Software campaign, offering freedom both to developers and in terms ofaffordable prices, are proliferating on a number of India-run mailing-lists.
Lists can be either moderated or unmoderated. Moderation improves thequality of the postings allowed through, but somehow reduces the spontaneityof the debate. Some lists are announcement-only lists, not allowing fordiscussions by members.
Silk-List, a place for "knowledgable, civil and fun conversations abouttechnology, philosophy, culture and whatever else we want to talk about"says it has only two rules: no ad hominem (personal attacks), and no spam.
With their range and diversity, mailing lists promise to link a vast anddiverse country in an inexpensive and effective manner. But do we have thepatience to build them up, utilise them towards a positive goal, and alsotackle challenges like the need for building suitable content, offeringwider accessibility within the nation, and also importantly offeringnon-English language solutions so that the millions can talk to oneanother?
Links to some lists...
Silklist. For knowledgeable and fun conversations about technology,philosophy, culture...
FSF-India. Free Software Foundation, India.
NWM: Women in Media mailing list - nwm_mumbai@www.symonds.net
pray4peace: Peace Revival Association of Youth based in Pakistan.
SAJA E-mail Discussion List. South Asian Journalists Association.
SAWNET: For South Asian women's issues.
Sasialit: The South Asian Literature list.
BYTESFORALL-READERS: For discussions on BytesForAll issues.
INDIANFOOTBALL: The Indian Football Fans Cyber Club
The Interact Inn All India Mailing List!Website
Cyberlaw-india · e-commerce, media, Internet law in India
Organic Indian. Organic farming and promoting organic products.
Solaris. IT and 'development' related issues for the non-Western world.
Pragati. Jiva's updates on educational trends, useful learning resources
NRI E-Group. For all Indian origin people overseas/India.
BoscoNet: For alumni of Don Bosco institutions in India, elsewhere
Exchinnet · India Internet Exchange
free-india · Forum For Right to Electronic Expression
South Asia Citizens' Web: Independent update on South Asia
To subscribe: act-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
Online Journalists
To subscribe click here
NRI news
Contact the moderator: J.Kappil
Sarai reader-list (Delhi): Discussion list on media and the city.
CRindia : Campaign to legalise community radio in India
Indialists.org: Check links to a range of lists.
GoaNet: Linking Goans across the globe
The Norwegian Forum for South Asia (NoFSA).
GII -- India's bumpy progress on the global infohighway
BSD India! Computing issues related to BSD
Onlinejournalists_of_India group
Pragati, periodic educational newsletter
S-Asia-IT: IT issues in South Asia
Indianfootball.com: Indian football
FSF-India Free Software Foundation-India
Gujarat Development
Subscribe to GUJARAT DEVELOPMENT
Vyakaran -- a listserv on Grammars of South Asia.
Contact: Tej K. Bhatia Professor Linguistics & Cognitive Sciences SyracuseUniversity
The Indian Football Fans Cyber Club Mailing List
Where to find a mailing list:
Liszt
Search by list's names or descriptions, words in messages of archives.
Topica
Searchable database plus free mail-list hosting service.
Tile.net
Includes alphabetical listing of lists, and domain where list is hosted
PAML (Publically Accessible Mailing Lists)
Maintained by Stephanie da Silva.
Prodigy has an index to its lists.
ForumOne has a site that lets you search for Web-based bulletin boards (notmailing lists).
Many other lists are hosted at websites scattered across the globe. It'sdifficult to keep track of which interesting lists open up, and when theyshut down. You might have to go by word-of-mouth and check with those whoshare your interests.
Yahoogroups (earlier eGroups), OneList, ListBot, Cool List, and other freelist-hosting sites let you search among the lists hosted at that site. Forsome reason, Yahoogroups has become popular among Indians wanting to create 'free' (or adware-sponsored) mailing lists.
Others offering hosting services also offer mailing-lists. Mark Symonds is popular among the GNU/Linux network in India, andoffers free to affordably-priced list hosting. Manaskriti's Vani Murarka also offers list-hosting services.
Note: An edited version of this appeared in expresscomputeronline.com
For more information please contact:
Frederick Noronha
Freelance Journalist
Goa India
Tel: 832 409490 / 409783
fredericknoronha@gmail.com
BYTESFORALL
GNU-LINUX
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