Discussion Forums and Lists in Medicine

Nora Oliveri

There are more than 4,000 lists on health-related topics, which deal with the most varied themes one can imagine. Learn here how to use them.

[ LISTSERV Commands | Lists in Medicine and Health | Conclusions |To Know More | The Author ]

Discussion forum and distribution lists via electronic mail (email) can be used on the Internet as useful tools to serve discussion groups interested in a specific topic, the distribution of newsletters and other publications, announcements, etc. These lists are nothing more than sets of email addresses which form spontaneously on the Internet when its participants share an interest in a certain subject and use email programs for communication, from any part of the world.

The easiest way to organize a private distribution list is through an internal list called and alias or nickname. This option comes with most email programs where all email addresses can be listed, such as Eudora, Netscape Mail, Internet Explorer Mail, etc. The message is sent once to the alias and it is distributed to every group member. The disadvantage is that, since the list of participants is not centralized in a server, available to all, but only in the participant's computers, it is highly ineffective to update once a participant subscribes to or signs off the list.

Thus the best solution is to use more advanced programs, which manage the lists automatically, allowing the inclusion of thousands of subscribers and the automatic distribution of every message sent to the addresses on the list. Some of the most renowned list management management software tools are Listserv, Listproc, Majordomo and Mailbase. Electronic mailing list management systems are called listservers.

Listserv Commands

In order to use a listserver, the user sends commands on the body of the message to the listserver address, where it is located. For example, the international list DERM-L, of discussion on dermatology, is hosted on the server named YALEVM.CIS.YALE.EDU (at the Yale University, in the USA), and it uses the Listserv program. Each kind of listserver program has a slightly different set of commands. In the table below we give the main commands for Listserv, using the aforementioned example:

Any of these commands should be sent do the following address, in the example: LISTSERV @YALEVM.CIS.YALE.EDU. Thus, when subscribing to other lists, it is enough to know what are their addresses and send similar commands, substituting the list's names in the messages. The  "subject" field is usually ignored and the command lines (you can send more than one in a single message) are written in the message's body.

By subscribing to a list the user will automatically receive a subscription aknwledgement message from the listserver, the instructions for sending messages to the list and how to unsubscribe. From this moment on, the user will start to receive all messages which are sent to the list, and will be able to send messages to it, too.

Some lists have a moderator or a coordinator and these can either be open to the public or closed for determined groups of users. The moderator may decide to distribute the message to all subscribers or not, depending on the message appropriateness, interest, pertinence, or any other specific criteria laid down for that list. Some lists are closed to public subscription via the SUBSCRIBE command and accept only subscription requests directed to the moderator (usually these lists have an address such like AI-MEDICINE-REQUEST, see below for some examples). .

The respect of basic rules of courtesy and other aspects of "netiquette" are usually taken in consideration. Some lists serving people in developing countries, for example, where the costs of connecting to Internet may be excessive or the user is charged by providers on the basis of the volume of kilobytes downloaded, may only admit messages not exceeding a certain number of lines. A good idea upon entering a new list, is to check whether it has a so-called FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) file, which lists the group's aims, rules of participation and conduct, frequent questions about the subject matter, the name and address of the moderator, etc.

There are many more commands available for listserver utilization, and since other listserver programs have different commands, you should ask also for the help file, by sending a HELP command, which always work regardless of the server software. For example, the Majordomo program does not require that the person's name is added to the SUBSCRIBE command, while the sign-off command is called UNSUBSCRIBE, and it must be followed by the list's name and the email address from where the subscription was made in the first place.

Lists in Medicine and Health

There are more than 4,000 lists on health related topics, which deal with the most varied themes we can imagine. and which can be obtained from different servers. Therefore, the first problem is how to locate the address of a given list and its topics. There are some places where you cand find them, such asE:

• By using published directories, such as the Internet Yellow Lists, which are available in printed form, CD-ROM and on the Internet itself;
• By going to some WWW addresses which have general or specialized directories and catalogs of listserver addresses, and which can be searched by using keywords or by navigating through a categories tree. One of the best is Liszt, with more than 72,000 discussion lista in all areas of interest. Another one is Catalist, the official site for the Listserv software, which monitors more than 15,000 lists;
• There are several on-line directories of discussion lists related to Medicine and Health. One of the best is Medical Matrix. Another site with many interesting lists is Health On the Net (which was featured as the Site of the Month in the last issue of Intermedic);
• Read also the chapter on discussion lists in the book by Hogarth & Hutchinson (1997), which contains an extensive and most complete roster.

Liszt, an on-line directory of list servers on the Internet

We list below a few selected examples of discussion lists of general interest in Medicine and Health, Medical Informatics, Telemedicine and related topics. Some Brazilian lists have also been added. In order to subscribe to the list directly from this article, please click on the listserver's address and your email program will open. What you need then is just to write the SUBSCRIBE command line into the message area and send it, according to the instruction we gave above.

Conclusions

In conclusion, the distribution lists and other discussion forums offer users interested in a given subject a whole world of communication and exchange with fellows all around the globe, contributing to the phenomenon of  "virtual communities" that have made the Internet so popular and unique. A world worth discovering.

To Know More

1. Electronic Messages and Mailing Lists. In: An Internet Guide for the Medical Professional. Michael Hogarth e David Hutchinson, 2nd Edition, New Wind Publ., 1996
2. Internet, Telematics and Health. Marcelo Sosa-Iudicissa, Nora Oliveri, Carlos A. Gamboa e Jean Roberts (Eds.) Amsterdam: IOS Press, 1997 (see the book review in this issue of Intermedic)
3. Von Rospach, C. - USENET Netiquette.

The Author

The author is a physician, specialized in ophtalmology and medical informatics and resides in Buenos Aires, Argentina. She is the founder and president of the Fundacion de Informática Médica and it's the current chairperson of the Working Group 9 of the International Association of Medical Informatics (Informatics for Development). She is also a Health Applications specialist with IBM Argentina.

Email: fim@pccp.com.ar

Published by: Center for Biomedical Informatics State University of Campinas © 1997 Renato M.E. Sabbatini

Sponsored by: Searle Brazil