Electronic Communication Procedure Guide

The Artemis Electronic Communications infrastructure includes a variety of different communications environments, each with their own procedures for setting up discussion forums. As new Artemis technical committees or discussion groups are formed or existing committees begin to use electronic communications, this guide will provide a set of instructions for setting up those different communications environments.

Members of the Artemis Society International Electronic Communications Technical Committee (ECTC) will handle the job of setting up the communications services for individual committees and discussion groups, but once those services are in place each committee or discussion group will be responsible for managing and maintaining their use of the services.

Since the Artemis Soociety communications environment is still (and always) "under construction", this procedure guide is not complete. Some of the instructions listed here refer to services that are not yet implemented. Additional instructions will be added as new services are put in place.

Mailing Lists

Since mailing lists are the backbone of the Artemis electronic communications environment, each committee or discussion group should have its own mailing list. Mailing lists are maintained on the asi.org server and each list has a designated list owner who will maintain the list (list maintenance can be done remotely through e-mail messages). Three different kinds of mailing lists are available:

• Team - Team mailing lists are created and controlled by Team Director. All new Artemis Society mailing lists are Team lists, forums to support an Artemis Society or Moon Society team. Exceptions to this rule may be approved by a member of the ASI board should extraordinary circumstances arise. Members use Team Director to join the teams, subscribe to their mailing lists, and maintain their email addresses and other information. Non-members cannot participate in Team lists.

• Open - Open mailing lists allow anyone to subscribe *themselves* to the mailing list. If the requested subscription address does not match the sending e-mail address, the request is forwarded to the list owner for approval. The list owner is copied on any subscription request, successful or not, so that they can stay informed about who is on the list.

• Closed - Closed mailing lists allow only subscription requests to be issued by the list owner. Subscription requests from anyone else are automatically forwarded to the list owner for approval.

• Auto - Auto mailing lists allow anyone to subscribe anyone, without any restrictions. The list owner is copied on all subscription requests so that they can stay informed about who is on the list. The Artemis Society does not operate, and will not approve, any Auto mailing lists.

In addition to different posting restrictions, several other options are available for mailing lists. A mailing list can be set up with a "digest" option that allows individual list members to specify that they want to receive all mail from the list in a periodic digest, instead of continuously as mail is sent to the list. A mailing list can be "moderated", which requires all messages sent to the list to be approved by a list "moderator" before they are posted to the list. Only the list moderator can send messages directly to the mailing list itself. Messages sent to mailing lists can be archived on the asi.org server and made accessible to ftp transfers, requests made by e-mail, or from web pages on the ASI web site.

How to set up a mailing list

1. Find the appropriate list name in the Listservers web page - Standard list names have been identified already for most technical committees and discussion groups. If the list you want set up does not appear in the Listservers web page, send a proposed addition to the Listservers list to the ECTC for approval before continuing this process.

2. To create a new team, use the form in the Members-Only Section to provide the following information to the listmaster.

   If you are a member of Artemis Society International or an associate member via the Moon Society, but do not have access to the members-only area, request your own account using Team Director to request your personal account.

   It's best to use the form to request a new team, but if for some reason you cannot use the form, or if you want to set up a mailing list that is not part of a team environment, send a request to <listmaster@asi.org> for a new list with this information.

   • List Name - The mailing address of the list (i.e. asi-ecomm).

   • List Owner's E-mail Address - The e-mail address of the person who will maintain the list. The owner will receive all bounce errors from list messages as well as some or all list subscription requests as described above.

   • List Password - All administration of the list by the list owner will use a password that is used to verify that you are the owner.

   • Archives maintained for the list? - If you want archives of past list messages to be available by e-mail, ftp, or the web, answer Yes. Unless there is a very good reason to keep the list discussions very private (such as the Board lists), we recommend that archives be kept.

   • Digests available for the list? - If you want a digested version of the list to be available, answer Yes. Digested lists are actually separate lists (with the name <listname>-digest), but they get all of the messages from the normal list. If you expect the list to have a large volume, or if someone has already asked about a digest version, you should make a digest version available.

   • List Description - A 50 character maximum description of the list, which is displayed by the listserver "lists" command. You should provide a useful description of each list.

   • List Information Paragraph - A paragraph description of the list, which is used in response to the listserver "info" command and as part of the message sent to new subscribers. You should provide a summary of the purpose of the list, what topics are appropriate for the list, and any other relevent information.

   • Moderated List? - If you want to control every message that is sent to the list, answer Yes. Every message that would normally go to the list is forwarded to the list owner, who returns the message to the listserver with an "approve" command attached for those messages which are appropriate for the list. Using a moderated list can be very time-consuming for the list owner, but may be necessary for those lists that need to have the discussion tightly monitored.

   • Subscribe Policy - A choice of "Open", "Auto", or "Closed", as described above in the section on types of lists. Most ASI mailing lists should be "Open", with the exception of private discussions which should be "Closed".

   • Hidden List? - If you don't want the list to show up in the listserver "lists" command, answer Yes. Unless there is a really strong reason to keep the list secret, we recommend keeping the list visible.

   • Subject Prefix - The listserver has the option to prepend a specific word to the beginning of the subject line for each message for a list. This allows people to selectively read or categorize the mail they receive based on keywords in the subject line. We recommend that this feature be used and you should specify a word for the list surrounded by square brackets (the asi-ecomm list uses [ECOMM] for instance).

   • Private Get? - If you want only subscribers to the list to be able to get archive files for the list, answer Yes.

   • Private Index? - If you want only subscribers to the list to be able to get a file index for archive files, answer Yes.

   • Private Info? - If you want only subscribers to the list to be able to use the "Info" command to get the paragraph of information for the list, answer Yes.

   • Private Which? - If you want only subscribers to the list to be able to use the "Which" command to find out which lists they or someone else is subscribed to, answer Yes.

   • Private Who? - If you want only the subscribers to the list to be able to use the "Who" command to get the list of subscribers to the list, answer Yes.

   • Message Headers - If you have any special header lines that you want included in each message header sent to the list, specify them here. We may come up with standard header lines for all of the lists in the future, but for now we recommend that you leave these blank.

   • Message Fronter - If you have any special text that you want prepended to every message sent to the list, specify it here. We haven't seen this used much, so we recommend that you leave it blank.

   • Message Footer - If you have any special text that you want appended to the end of every message sent to the list, specify it here. Unless you have a compelling set of text or instructions that should be included at the bottom of every message, we recommend that you leave it blank.

3. Once the new team is created, announce the new mailing list to "artemis-list" inviting those interested to participate. If the list is "open", subscription requests are handled automatically. No further action by the list owner is necessary. If the list is "closed", subscription requests are forwarded to the list owner.

4. The team lead uses Team Director to maintain the mailing list and team membership. In the rare case of a list that is not controlled by Team director, the list owner will need to send one or more e-mail messages to the listserver to add members to the list. To add an e-mail address to a list, send an e-mail message to <majordomo@asi.org> with a line in the BODY of the message consisting of "approve <list password> subscribe <list name> <e-mail address>". You can include multiple approve commands in the same message. To remove someone from the list, the list owner can use the command "approve <list password> unsubscribe <list name> <e-mail address>".

Newsgroups

The Artemis newsgroups are not yet available. When they are, use these instructions to set up a newsgroup for a committee or discussion group.

Newsgroups (also referred to as Usenet News) provide a convenient alternative to mailing lists since messages in newsgroups can be browsed from time to time, compared to the immediate delivery of e-mail. Although not a required feature, to avoid isolating discussions in different areas we strongly recommend that any Artemis newsgroup be connected to a mailing list through an automated gateway. Using such a gateway will allow discussions to take place on both the mailing list and the newsgroup, providing the best of both worlds. Similar to mailing lists, newsgroups can be public, where anyone can post, or moderated, where all postings must be approved by a moderator. Private newsgroups will be available through the use of a private news server that will be accessible only to Artemis Society members and private newsgroups can be moderated as well.

How to set up a newsgroup

1. Find the appropriate newsgroup in the Listservers web page - The newsgroup should match the mailing list identified in the previous section. If the newsgroup you want set up does not appear in the Listservers web page, send a proposed addition to the Listservers list to the ECTC for approval before continuing this process.

2. Send a request to <newsmaster@asi.org> for a new newsgroup with the following information:
   • Specify the name of the new newsgroup.

   • Specify the type of newsgroup (public or private).

   • Specify if the newsgroup will be moderated. If it will be a moderated newsgroup, specify the e-mail address of the newsgroup moderator.

   • Specify which mailing list should be connected to the newsgroup through the automated gateway.

On-line Services

At this time, there are no on-line services with an Artemis Project presence.

Web Pages

The Artemis Web Site is the primary source of information about the Artemis Project and the Artemis Society. Each technical committee or discussion group should have one or more web pages on the Artemis web site that describes the committee or discussion group and provides information about joining the committee or discussion group. To make it easy for people to join a committee or volunteer for specific tasks, web forms can be set up that automatically generate e-mail requests to someone on the committee. Committees may also wish to include current membership information and current project information on the web pages as well. For an example of some committee web pages, look at the ECTC web pages. For detailed instructions on designing and submitting web pages for the ASI web site, see the following documents:

• ASI Web Pages Procedure Guide.
• ASI Data Book Writing Style Guide.
• ASI Data Book HTML Formatting Guide.
• ASI Data Book Document Template.

How to set up Web pages

If you are interested in publishing documents on the ASI web site, you should first obtain a WebSite Director user name and password by connecting to http://www.asi.org/wsd/ and filling in the form on the entry screen. Maintenance of the ASI Web Site is handled by the ASI web team. Obtaining a user login will permit efficient communications between you and web team members who may be working on your document. Questions about web documents should be sent to the web team at <asi-web@asi.org>.

If you are comfortable with creating HTML documents, you can send finished web documents to the web team, or you can simply send text documents and the web team will format them for you. Documents may be submitted via email to: <submit-doc@asi.org>, or (preferably) by logging into WebSite Director at http://www.asi.org/wsd/ and uploading the document directly into the Initial Entry stage in WebSite Director. If you submit the document by uploading, fill in the document information data on the Document Info screen, and include any miscellaneous information you feel is needed on the Comments screen. If you submit by email, please include the following information in the body of the mail message:

• Author's Name (As you want it to appear in the document heading)
• Document name and location.
• Document Title

The following information may also be needed, depending on circumstances (use the Document Comments for this):

• Links to your new document - All documents will be listed in the Table of Contents for the directory in which they are located. You may also wish to specify one or more existing documents that should contain links to your new document.

• Information for web forms to join the committee and/or volunteer for tasks:
  • Specify the e-mail address to send form submissions to.
  • If using a volunteer form, specify a list of tasks to use for a choice list.

• Graphics - If your document contains embedded graphics, submit them separately by email to <artemis@asi.org>. Also include, in the body of the message accompanying the image, the data for the Imagery Library index. It's easiest if you send the html with everything filled in except the image number; then it can just be added to the existing file. You can get the format for the Imagery Library index from /images/index-1997.html. See the ASI Web Pages Procedure Guide for more detailed information on submitting graphic images.

Private Directories for Artemis Society Teams

In addition to the private web spaces that Team Director maintains for the Artemis Project Teams, WebSite Director permits password-protected private directories to be created within the public web space, with access limited to registered users.

Technical committees may find this feature useful as a forum for review and comment on work in progress, prior to formal publishing on the public-access parts of the Web Site. It permits documents to be published using all the web management features and templates of WebSite Director, but kept private within the team until they are ready for publication on the Public or Members-Only web sites.

Creation of private directories is handled by the Electronic Communications Technical Committee. If you have a need for a private directory, please send an email to the ECTC at <asi-ecomm@asi.org> describing your requirements.

Announcements

No one will know about the new mailing list, newsgroup, or web pages unless you publicize them. News is published by the ASI newsmonger. Send a description of the new committee or discussion group or other news to <newsmonger@asi.org>, including the address of the mailing list, name of the newsgroup, and the URL of any web pages.

If you find any mistakes in this procedure guide, or if some of the instructions are not completely clear, please send an email describing the problem to the Web Team at <asi-web@asi.org>.