Using E-Mail and Bulletin Boards

E-Mail

You will learn very quickly that the electronic mailbox is an invaluable resource in doing modern research. Every Web browser provides the opportunity to send mail to the site you are visiting, provided the site lists their e-mail address or provides a hypertext link to an address. To receive e-mail, you must have a mail service provider or your own telephone line with a personal server. For tutorials on e-mail, see the following sites:

SFA's Information Technology Help Directory & Services
Tutorial on Using Pine, the menu driven text Mail Package: http://www.washington.edu/pine/tutorial/index.html
Other email tutorials: http://www.gky.com.au/emailtut.htm
Microsoft Internet Explorer Mail Tutorial
 
On Electronic Mail: Some Guidelines
On Netiquette
Elements of E-Text Style
 

Mailing Lists

Using your e-mail connection, you can subscribe to various mailing lists. Mailing lists are usually very specialized and allow one to participate in electronic conversations around the world. By subscribing, you get persmission to receive and sent e-mail on matters of interest to you. The lists work though programs called LISTSERVs which automate the basic commands; idexes of the various mailing lists are now popular on the WWW and offer invaluable resources to those in need of answers to specific questions.

Specific Discussion Groups of Interest to Historians

Discussion groups which target your interests are an excellent way to share ideas with others. While there are innuerable discussion groups in operation on the Internet, here is a sample of the ones which researchers in history will find interesting.

  • The Humanities Network (H-Net) is an international initiative which assists humanities scholars and teachers to go on-line, using their personal computers. H-Net operates daily newsletters, maintaines 77 electronic discussion networks or "Lists" where scholars receive messages in their computer E-Mail boxes in North America, Europe, Africa, and the Pacific. These "Lists" are searchableand informative. It is interactive and has no subscription charges. Each network has its own "personality," is edited by a team of scholars, and has a board of editors; most are cosponsored by a professional society. H-Net has over 39,000 subscribers and includes professionals and students. It also provides Job Guides and a "list of lists" page. The site is maintained by Michegan State University. The H-Net Home Page is located at http://h-net.msu.edu/. The H-Net provides Links to Additional Sites in the Humanities such as demographic, economic, links to certain history and politcal science databases. Here are some examples:
  • Links to general historical databases at George Mason University
  • Guide to History Sources at the University of Kansas
  • University of Virginia Institute for Advanced Technology in the Humanities
  • University of California Los Angeles National Center for History in the Schools
  • Library of Congress "American Memory" [photos]
  • British museums
  • National Public Radio (USA)
  • American Studies: with links to hundreds of sites
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