ABSTRACT
Although the Internet can be thought of as a vast repository of electronically accessible documents, images, and applications, this is not all that it is. While virtually everyone accessing the Internet is interested in using it in some instances as a source of information, there are many who use it as an invaluable medium of interpersonal communication and interaction. Electronic mail is the most visible and widely used instance of this. Two related resources that are used very extensively for such purposes are mailing lists and newsgroups.
Mailing lists and newsgroups focus on thousands of different subjects. There are lists and newsgroups dealing with every major discipline area of the social sciences. Many focus on specialist fields subsumed under them. So numerous are the lists, and so broad the range of topics dealt with by many, that it is at times difficult to establish where specific categories of information are likely to be posted. The same applies to newsgroups, although these are at least arranged in subject-specific hierarchies. Both mailing lists and newsgroups have much to offer students, teachers, and researchers. This chapter on mailing lists illustrates how to locate lists that meet particular interests, and how to issue basic commands relating to subscribing, unsubscribing, and managing data inflow.
