I would posit that Slack replaced much of the conversation that used to
happen on the listserv, and that if you added the word totals from Slack
we'd see an increase from 2011. I know I frequently ask questions or share
musings in Slack, but don't send them to the listserv.

Best,
Eric


On Fri, Jan 14, 2022 at 2:45 PM Tim Spalding <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> "Mailing lists aren't what they used to be. Of the mailing lists in which I
> subscribe, zero discussion happens. There are really only announcements. I
> suppose the Code4Lib mailing list is no different."
>
> At the risk of starting a discussion where nobody discusses:
>
> 1. Why are mailing lists dead for discussion?
> 2. Has discussion of the topics here moved elsewhere? If so, where and why?
> 3. Is any of this about Code4Lib specifically, about libraries
> specifically, about coding and tech specifically… or is this just a symptom
> of larger phenomena? What phenomena?
>
> Best,
> Tim Spalding
> LibraryThing
>
>
>
> On Fri, Jan 14, 2022 at 3:03 PM Lolis, John <[log in to unmask]>
> wrote:
>
> > Yowzuh!  That's not only quite an opus, but also a thing of beauty you've
> > wrought.  Quite interesting, too.  I doff my virtual hat to you.
> >
> > John Lolis
> > Coordinator of Computer Systems
> >
> > 100 Martine Avenue
> > White Plains, NY  10601
> >
> > tel: 1.914.422.1497
> > fax: 1.914.422.1452
> >
> > https://whiteplainslibrary.org/
> >
> > *Some may say that perception is everything, but not from where I stand.*
> >
> >
> > On Fri, 14 Jan 2022 at 14:30, Eric Lease Morgan <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> >
> > >
> > > I have done a bit of compare & contrast when it comes to the Code4Lib
> > > mailing list. And I can demonstrate how discussions about specific
> > > computing issues in libraries have declined, and job postings have
> > > increased.
> > >
> > > In 2011, there were approximately 3,000 postings to the list for a
> total
> > > of .98 million words. By comparison, in 2021 there were 1700 postings
> > and a
> > > total of .5 million words. To put it another way, the mailing list's
> > volume
> > > has decreased by about half.
> > >
> > > I calculated quite a number of frequencies based on a wide variety of
> > > features (ngrams, parts-of-speech, named entities, etc.). In 2011 the
> > names
> > > of people dominated the entities, but in 2022 the names of
> organizations
> > > dominated. When I did topic modeling against 2011, themes included:
> > > "conference", "library", and "data". On the other hand, themes from
> 2022
> > > included: "library", "experience", and "digital".
> > >
> > > Probably the most telling model was the word collocations. While the
> > > attached images may be too small to appreciate all the nuances, the
> 2011
> > > graph includes the names of many individual people and computing issues
> > > like "data", "MARC", and "RDF". The 2021 graph has a much larger
> emphasis
> > > on "experience", and there is a set of related words regarding race &
> > > gender, which come from the boiler plate paragraphs of job postings.
> > >
> > > Mailing lists aren't what they used to be. Of the mailing lists in
> which
> > I
> > > subscribe, zero discussion happens. There are really only
> announcements.
> > I
> > > suppose the Code4Lib mailing list is no different.
> > >
> > > That said, the mailing list's subscription base continues to slowly
> > > increase. We are about 3,800 people strong. On the other hand, a robot
> is
> > > the most frequent poster to the list. Signs of the times?  :-D
> > >
> > > --
> > > Eric Lease Morgan
> > > Navari Family Center for Digital Scholarship
> > > Hesburgh Libraries
> > > University of Notre Dame
> > >
> > > 574/631-8604
> > > https://cds.library.nd.edu
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> >
>
>
> --
> Check out my library at http://www.librarything.com/profile/timspalding
>