We are stuck between two problems, with some people thinking only one of these is/would be a problem, and others not caring at all either way:  

* Local conference/meetup planning chatter overwhelms the listserv when it's on the main listserv
* People don't find out about local conferences/meetups they are interested in when local chatter is somewhere else. 

My first thought is, gee, this really calls for some kind of threaded "forum" software, where people can subscribe to only the threads they want. But then I remember, a) that kind of software always sucks, and b) there must be a better "web 2.0y" way to do it. 

Just as hypothetical brainstorming, what if we did this:

1.  Local code4lib groups are "required" (ie, strongly strongly strongly encouraged, we can't really require anyone to do anything) to, if they have a local listserv at all, have it listserv in some place that:
     a)  Has _publically viewable archives_
     b) Has an RSS-or-Atom feed of those archives, which requires no authentication to subscribe to
[Google groups is one very easy way to get both those things, but certainly not the only one]
2. All those local listservs are listed on a wiki page, which local groups are "required" to add their listserv to. 
3. We set up a "planet" aggregator of all those listserv's RSS.  

4. Profit!  That is, now:  * People can sign up for an individual listserv they want, if they want. * People can view the up-to-date 'archives' of an individual listserv on the web if they want; * people can view the up-to-date 'archives' of the _aggregated_ C4L Local communication, via the aggregator.    Using one of many free on the web RSS-to-email services, people can sign up for an email subscription for the AGGREGATED C4L Local traffic, getting what some want to get with just one more subscription. 

That last part about the RSS-to-email thing is important for our 'requirements', but is the kind of sketchiest.  Potentially better is if we write our OWN RSS-to-email service (maybe that will only allow subscriptions to the C4L Aggregator or one of it's components), which we know will work okay, and which does some clever mail header munging so hitting "reply to all" on an email you get from the aggregator rss-to-email will send your message to the original listserv, so you really can treat your aggregator subscription just like a listserv if you want. 


Just brainstorming here. 

Jonathan

________________________________________
From: Code for Libraries [[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Gabriel Farrell [[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Friday, April 09, 2010 4:47 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [CODE4LIB] Code4Lib North planning continues

I'm hoping to attend the upcoming code4libnorth meeting because I
heart Canada, but I'd rather not join yet another mailing list. If it
gets canceled or something tell us on this list or put it on the wiki
page, please?


On Thu, Apr 8, 2010 at 11:46 AM, Walker, David <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> I'm not on that conference list, so don't really know how much traffic it gets.
>
> But it seems to me that, since these regional conferences are mostly being held at different times of the year from the main conference, the overlap would be minimal.
>
> Or not.  I don't know.
>
> --Dave
>
> ==================
> David Walker
> Library Web Services Manager
> California State University
> http://xerxes.calstate.edu
> ________________________________________
> From: Code for Libraries [[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of William Denton [[log in to unmask]]
> Sent: Thursday, April 08, 2010 7:45 AM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: [CODE4LIB] Code4Lib North planning continues
>
> On 8 April 2010, Walker, David quoted:
>
>>> I think a good compromise is to have local meeting
>>> conversations on the code4libcon google group.
>
> That list is for organizing the main conference, with details about
> getting rooms, food, shuttle buses, hotel booking agents, who can MC
> Thursday afternoon, etc.  Mixing that with organizational details *and*
> general discussion about all local chapter meetings would confuse
> everything, I think.
>
> Bill
> --
> William Denton, Toronto : miskatonic.org www.frbr.org openfrbr.org
>