[sustran] Methodological note (accessing mailings from past exchanges)

[eric.britton at ecoplan.org]

Crude but sometimes effective:

In the context of two of our more recent spirited and useful exchanges
(examples: "Brainpower needed", Negative thoughts on metro in general)  we
have been asked by several people on several of these lists concerning
whether or not there might be some easy way to access all the materials that
eventually get posted here or there on a given topic.  There may  be several
ways to do this, but here is one that we find handy:

For example, for the two above topics, you can turn to the @Access on the
Web site at http://www.ecoplan.org/access and slither down the menu to the
Search button, where you can enter these or other key words, preferable in
quotes (for more information on Search Tips, click the Search/Research link
on the top of the menu for any of our sites where you will find full
details).  This will lead you to a list of references.  If it is too long,
just narrow it with a few more well chosen key words. And where it brings
you into an eGroups discussion forum, you may find it handy to sort by
Subject, which will bring up all the indicated subject titles in the same
place (more or less, since some may have "Re:" before them and others "FW:",
so you may have to thrash around a bit. Still no one claimed that this was
perfect.)

Alternatively, if you wish to see what someone, say, "Paula Negron Poblete"
or "Kerry Wood" for example, had to say on some topic, it will suffice to
run your search for their names.  Or for a city... ditto.

Likewise, you will find some pretty useful search functions with quite a
large reach at our various other sites, such as for Car Free Days,
Carsharing, @ccess Mobility Solutions, etc.

Finally, if you want to search specific lists, including Sustran, utsg,
transport-Communications, Eltis, etc., this can be done quickly and easily
by going to the Search/Research page of each site.

To conclude, our objective behind this all is to develop systems which can
allow us all to make use of these exchanges beyond the first time they pop
up on our screens, since some of them, if not all, provide useful counsel
and insight indeed.  It seems a great pity just to throw them away. After
all, there is a lot of information, perspective, views and, yes, even
knowledge there.

Any further comments, suggestions, or help on this will be most welcome.
All of this of course is work in progress.


Eric Britton

ecopl at n ___  technology, economy, society  ___
Le Frene, 8/10 rue Joseph Bara, 75006 Paris, France
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