Museo&Web
Planning Kit for a Quality Site for Small and Medium Sized Museums
Discussion groups
This service is dedicated to a Group of people who discuss specific topics pertinent to the activities and the heritage conserved. Its aim is to promote active collaboration between professionals in the sector, in order to promote exchange of experience and knowledge.
Internet discussion groups are identified by the list of e-mail address of the members. Each time a member sends an e-mail to a discussion group, this mail is forwarded to all the members, as are the replies. This effectively creates round table discussions that can involve many people in various parts of the world. The mail thus sent can be viewed, with or without restricted access, directly on the server.
In order to avoid the risk of spam mail, the list is usually run by a moderator. Enrolment in the group is via e-mail request to the moderator, indicating – where necessary – qualification, personal data and addresses. Moderated lists do not accept mail sent by non-members. The moderator receives and reads all mails sent by the group members and decides whether to forward them. This decision is based on criteria declared openly on enrolment. The moderator is thus responsible for approving new enrolments and for validating publication of messages.
Attachments to e-mails are usually discouraged and members can un-enrol at any time.
Some internet sites allow for creation of discussion groups. The rights to privacy and protection of personal data are guaranteed and the service is free, financed by advertising banners on the host page.