- Distribution List: email is sent out to a group of people by one or
several persons who have the list set up on their accounts. In this
sense of the term it is not many-to-many communication, and therefore
not strictly group communication. If people in the group have set up
similar distribution lists and are aware of that fact, and there is
some notion of the people in the distribution list consituting a group
who can all contact each other as a group, then this does become a form of group communication.
- Mailing List: email is sent out to a group of people who have options
to subscribe to the list (i.e. receive any mail sent to it),
unsubscribe, or post messages that will be distributed to the whole
list. Some people use the term mailing list to apply to distribution
lists, but it is usefuI prefer to maintain the distinction.
- Listserv: can either refer to the software of this name that allows a
mailing list to function, or can be a generic name for all such
software, or a generic name for all mailing lists.
- Conference: a particular subject of discussion is, by implication, part
of a wider set of discussions being run using particular 'conferencing'
software. The notion of a 'conference' implies that participants will
be able to: see the headers of all the contributions made on the particular subject,
follow threads of debate, have some near-real-time opportunites for communication
with other members of the conference (e.g. 'chat' features). If there are no
near-real-time features then 'conference' is an up-market synonym
for bulletin board.
- Bulletin Board: a bulletin board and a bulletin board system (BBS) have
different meanings (See BBS below). A bulletin board is a specific area of a BBS usually dedicated to a specific topic , to which all messages sent by users are accessible to read.
- BBS: a BBS refers to some software on a particular machine which allows
users of other machines to dial in using modems and interface with the
software. Normally this will be a very small number of users at one
time (quite often there will only be one or perhaps two modems on the
machine that is hosting the BBS). The software generally then presents
the user with a menu of choices that may include some games, but will
be likely to offer a set of discussion or software areas: the bulletin
boards.
- Discussion Area: another name for a bulletin board.
- Noticeboard: another name for a bulletin board.
- Newsgroup: a Newsgroup is the name for a particular discussion area
within the whole of USENET NEWS. Particular features of Newsgroups are the whole
naming structure based on subject domains, the threading of messages,
and the fact that the messages are moved around from server to server.
This latter aspect of USENET means that for any individual their access
to a Newsgroup is determined by whether their own network, or any
network they have access to, has decided to carry the particular
Newsgroup, or Newsgroups in general. Usenet can be acessed via Netscape. Several thousand Usenet Newsgroups are accessible via your Poptel account.
- Forum: a forum is a generic name for any topic or interest based
electronic group communication whether by use of a mailing list or a
bulletin board. Discussion areas on CompuServe are referred to using
this name, and fit the notion of 'bulletin board'.
- Interest Group: an Interest Group is another generic name for electronic
group communication.
- Electronic Journal: an electronic journal does not fit into the
category group communication. Though the method of distribution of such
a journal may be by email, as opposed to a web site or a file on gopher
or ftp server, the process is fundamentally one of one-to-many, rather
than many-to-many. They are now commonly known as "E-zines".
Training report sheet
Different Types Of Asynchronous Communication