[KS] Moderated classroom

[Robert C. Provine]

REPLY sends your message to the whole list
__________________________________________

Date: Wed, 27 Sep 2000 14:15:42 -0600
From: Mark Peterson <Mark_Peterson at byu.edu>
Subject: Moderated classroom


Thank you, thank you, thank you.

I have been one of those who has wished that the quality of our Korean
Studies messages was better managed.  I am grateful you've taken this
courageous step to eliminate some of the clutter, and save us from the
"delete button" solution to the pointless messages that have been on the
increase lately.

I hope this step, that of going through a moderator, will indeed improve
the quality of the messages on the list.  In discussing this with one of
our colleagues on line, he pointed out that it is an application of
Gresham's Law -- bad money chases out good; in our case poorly
thought-out
discussion, meaningless point-counter-point, and mistakes have chased
out
some really excellent discussion.  I long for the days when Gari
Ledyard,
our dean of Korean Studies, and some others will get back on line. 
Gari's
comments were so useful and informative, and always well given.  And
other,
more-serious minded scholars have been less visible lately, maybe
feeling
pushed to the side.

I hope this means a revival of the list and of more meaningful
discussion.
Of course, news, opinion, requests for help, and other matters are
valid,
but too much of the chit chat, banter and disagreement over the
unimportant
has led to a real decline of our online format of late.

So, thank you Rob, and Stephen and Frank.  It was a difficult decision
for
you, I know.  I know you've been concerned that such a move is
tantamount
to censorship or suppression of the democratic openness of the
discussion,
but I for one think have trust in you as moderators, that your objective
is
not suppression or censorship, but that of lifting our discussion by
eliminating the dross and the time-wasters.  I, with you, hope that this
will encourage more of our membership -- and a broader representation of
our over 450? -- to speak up in an informed way on the issues of common
interest in Korean Studies.

It is a marvelous thing that we have now; I picture all of us sitting in
one large classroom.  As we began, and our nubmers gradually increased,
some would ask questions, and some who knew well the answers would
respond.
Others would ask and others would respond, and many just sat, listened
and
learned.  We started off well, with great discussions on interesting
topics.  Gradually, the classroom has gotten noisy, with distractions
here
and there, but now, gratefully, the classroom is called to order, and we
will be able to hear more of the substantive and less of the
distracting, I
hope.

with best regards,
Mark Peterson

>
>Off and on over the last few years there have been a good number of
>requests that this list exercise greater control over what gets posted
>on it.  Not least, this applies to the oops-I-pressed-the-wrong-button
>personal messages that go out to everyone.  But it also applies to a
>fair number of messages that have little applicability to the scholarly
>investigation of Korean studies, or which simply waste our time.
>
>I would remind you all of the basic description of the list:  "The list
>is open to all with a scholarly interest in Korean studies, and exists
>for the purpose of keeping the often isolated members of the Korean
>studies community in touch with each other and in fruitful
>communication.  All discussions are archived and may easily be retrieved
>by anyone with a Web browser.  The list welcomes academic discussions on
>any aspect of Korean studies and may also be used for posting
>announcements of publications, job vacancies, requests for bibliographic
>information, and so forth."  The core words here are "scholarly",
>"academic", and "Korean studies", and we urge all who submit postings to
>the list to be sure they have a scholarly or academic point to make, and
>that they make the point succinctly and clearly.
>
>General discussions of Korean society remain welcome, but should be
>informed by careful thought and reflection, as some of our recent ones
>have been.
>
>We're going to try the moderated approach at least for a trial period of
>three months or so, and in the first instance I will be the moderator.
>Please continue to send in messages, initiate new areas of discussion,
>and so forth -- it is not our intention to stop discussion, but merely
>to keep it within the guidelines of the list.
>
>Thanks in advance for your continued interest and participation!
>
>Rob Provine
>provine at wam.umd.edu