National Institute for Literacy Discussion List Guidelines

The purpose of the National Institute for Literacy's Discussion Lists is to bring together literacy stakeholders - researchers, policymakers, administrators, practitioners, and students - to discuss critical issues in the latest research, promising policies and practices as well as to share resources and experience. The discussion lists provide a forum to ask questions of subject experts and keep up-to-date on literacy. The National Institute for Literacy partners with literacy organizations that provide specialized and knowledgeable staff to facilitate and moderate the discussion lists. Under a policy governing these lists, the list moderator will follow a review process before messages are distributed to list subscribers. Each list has a specific purpose established around subject matter, content and professional development topics.

Discussion list participants are encouraged to focus their contributions to the list on the specific subject areas and goals posted on each of the lists' archive pages. Comments, suggestions, references, and ideas posted to the discussion lists should serve as resources for enhancing the field's capacity and knowledge base

List subscribers are expected to follow the Netiquette rules posted below. Subscribers should include their name, email address and program or affiliation at the end of each message.

The Institute encourages open discourse and an exchange of information, ideas, and practices among all list subscribers. Differences in perspectives and ideas are strongly encouraged, especially when conducted in the spirit of inquiry, curiosity, and mutual respect.

All messages posted to the list are archived. When sending posts to the lists, subscribers agree to have messages archived on the Institute's web pages. This means that not only are all messages stored and searchable in the Discussion List archives, but they are also available for search on the World Wide Web.

The Institute funds the discussion lists through LINCS, using funds appropriated to the National Institute for Literacy by U.S. Congress. Messages posted to the discussion lists and the archives do not represent the views or opinions of the National Institute for Literacy, the discussion list moderator or the sponsor organization. In addition, the National Institute for Literacy does not endorse or promote resources or products discussed or mentioned in postings to the lists. The Institute's lists cannot be used as a promotion tool for commercial products or resources. It is permissible for a list subscriber to post a message that refers to a resource or product only in the context of a discussion that relates to the topics of the list, and only if the list subscriber does not stand to gain financially from the posting of the message. However, any message that mentions or discusses a resource or product and whose primary purpose is to generate financial benefit for the subscriber posting the message is not permitted and will not be posted to a list. Discussion list moderators and Institute staff will make decisions about the appropriateness of a post.

Questions about the National Institute for Literacy's Discussion Lists and the policies governing those lists may be directed to the Institute at info@nifl.gov.

The Institute has found that learning is promoted by dialogue in a spirit of inquiry, curiosity, and mutual respect. Please conduct your discussions in that spirit on the lists.

The following is a list of some of the more common rules associated with netiquette:

• You may wish to introduce yourself to other list members when posting to the list for the first time.
• The header information is not displayed on all mail systems; therefore, including your name, contact information, and program or affiliation will better allow others to respond to your message.
• Be concise. Messages more than two screens in length are difficult for some participants to read. Shorter, to the point messages move the discussion along at a lively pace.
• Before you send a reply, consider whether it should go to everyone on the list or just to the person posting the message. If you think your reply will be of general interest, then send it to the list; if not, be careful to reply only to the message originator. When replying to an individual, make sure that person's email address is the only one appearing in the "To" box."
• When you are replying to a posted message, it helps readers if you quote the part of the message (usually not the whole message) that you are replying to. All list readers will then respond to your message in the proper context. If the message thread gets too long, remove the older postings at the beginning of the thread.
• If you are responding to a posting but want to change the topic of a discussion thread, remember to change the subject line in the email to give members information about the new direction in the conversation.
• Email messages typed in all capitals are considered shouting and in discussion forums are considered rude, so please be considerate and for emphasis use *emphasis* or _emphasis_ instead of all capitals.
• Comments made in jest on a mailing list may not always appear that way to other readers. Sarcasm rarely works on the internet and is often misunderstood. Please be careful using humor on the lists.