From an article by Mick Jacobsen about building an online community. Maybe some people here participated in that discussion group in 1994:
http://tametheweb.com/category/tech-...n/?iphone=true
I’ve always been fascinated by social interaction online, all the way back to 1994 when I started a discussion list for Fleetwood Mac and Stevie Nicks fans on my old Mac with a dial-up connection. I didn’t know it then, but I was attempting to bring together a community–to make some connections between various folks who shared an interest and to let them talk to each other.
Now, more than 12 years later, I realize it was one of many early examples of building a virtual community and the beginnings of social networks. Social networking services (SNS) are Web-based sites that “provide a collection of various ways for users to interact, such as chat, messaging, email, video, voice chat, file sharing, blogging, discussion groups,” according to Wikipedia. And these days it’s easier than ever to create a social space for you and your group–staff, users, etc.–with some free and simple Web 2.0 tools. Let’s take a look at what any size library, library organization, or state library agency could do for free!