This is an internet dialog among people interested in the Learning Organization concept, as described by Peter M. Senge in The Fifth Discipline, (1990, New York, Currency Doubleday).

Click here to go to the Learning-Org Dialog

Information about the Mailing List & Archive (These are links within this page...)

• What is the "Learning-org mailing list"?
  
• What are my options for participating in the Learning-Org list?
  
• What is a Digest?
  
• Subscribing to Learning-org
  
• Posting to the List
  
• Introducing Yourself
  
• Mailing List Eqiquette
  
• Learning-org Archive
  
• Policies
  
• Sponsorship
  
• Spreading the Word
  

This is available to anyone who can send and receive Internet email messages (including America On Line, eWorld, Compuserve, Prodigy, local Internet providers, and most corporate e-mail systems).

We focus on practitioners, i.e. those working to build learning organizations, but our group is very diverse. Most of our messages are thoughtful and inquiring. Our aim is that the discussion on this mailing list be conducted in the spirit of learning and exploration. Messages with an authoritarian tone are discouraged and "flaming" is not permitted.

In other words, we are conducting a dialogue about building learning organizations, and you are welcome to join us.

The Learning-org list was launched in June 1994 and now has a large base of participants. This a world-wide facility, with strong international representation.

English is the primary language for Learning-org.

1) You can receive Learning-org daily in your email in-box, either

   1a) You can receive individual messages (10-30/day).
      This is called the "main list" (learning-org). 
      
      ...Or...
          
   1b) You can receive one longer "Digest" message each day; this is
      a compilation of all the individual messages on the main list and
      this is called the "Digest list" (learning-org-digest).
              
2) You can read the messages in the Learning-org archive

...and, in any case...

3) You can create messages and send them to the list. 

If you like to be selective in reading list messages based on the "Subject:" line, then you'll probably want to receive the individual messages. If you would rather download all the list messages to read later or print them out to read on your train ride home, then the digest version is for you.

In either case you can create new messages and reply to messages of others.

1) To subscribe for individual messages send an email to:    
      majordomo@world.std.com

   The subject line is ignored; begin the msg with two lines:
      subscribe learning-org
      end

2) To subscribe for a daily Digest of messages, send email to:
      majordomo@world.std.com
   
   The subject line is ignored; begin the msg with two lines:
      subscribe learning-org-digest
      end

keep the Welcome message for future reference!!

If you have problems or receive an error response that you cannot handle yourself, then forward to your hosts

      learning-org-approval@world.std.com

3) To change from individual messages to Digest, send email to
      majordomo@world.std.com
  
   The subject line is ignored; begin the msg with these three lines:
      subscribe learning-org-digest
      unsubscribe learning-org
      end

4) To change from Digest to individual messages, send a message
similar to the one in #3 above, but move the two characters "un"...;
it's easier to do than to explain.

5) To leave Learning-org, refer to the Welcome message you received and
saved for reference. If that's lost, send a message to
      majordomo@world.std.com
   
   The subject line is ignored; begin the msg with three lines
      unsubscribe learning-org
      unsubscribe learning-org-digest
      end

Again, if problems, forward the error msg to

   learning-org-approval@world.std.com

For those familiar with LISTSERV type mailing lists -- Majordomo performs most of the same functions, but the commands are different. Please follow the examples above, not the forms you have used with LISTSERV.

...Or... Depending on your email reader, you can probably just take any Learning-org message and reply to it.

...Or... Use the links on the web pages.

RETURN => to list of topics

Introducing Yourself

• Describe your experience with the learning organization concepts
• Say something about the questions you have, what you are curious about.
• Put "Intro -- your name" in the subject line.

In addition, note these elements of good Internet etiquette:

1. In replying to a msg, think about whether you want to reply a) directly to the writer, or b) to the whole mailing list. You might say different things in a one-on-one conversation than you would in a very large gathering! Learn how to do each of these in your mail reader.

2. Please pay attention to the "Subject:" line of your msg. If you are continuing the same thread, keep the same subject line.
   • For example, if you are responding to a message with "Subject: Widgets LO123" then your reply should have the subject line "Subject: Re: Widgets LO123"
   • If you are starting a new subject, then use a new subject line.
   • If you are replying to a digest message, you will have to type in the subject line yourself; please do so carefully. Consistent subject lines are important to subscribers who are selecting which messages to read based on the subject line. They are also important for making the archive usable.

3. Help your readers identify the message to which you are replying. Start your message with something like:
   • On March 1, Joe Smith wrote in LO123, "brief quote... Just enough so readers can tell what you are replying to."
   • Or, at minimum, "Replying to LO123 --"

4. Sign your message with name and email address at the end. Some people set up their mailing program to add a "sig" at the end of each of their messages automatically. See Emily Postnews for advice about "really long sigs with lots of clever and interesting quotes and intricate drawings that readers just love to see over and over in all your messages." In other words, we suggest you keep your sig short (e.g. four lines max).

   The reason for putting your email address at the end of the message is that some mail readers do not display the "From:" address in the message header, and their users would otherwise be unable to contact you directly.

The URL is http://www.learning-org.com

It's hard to describe the Web, and I won't try here, except to say that it's the fastest growing element of the internet, and has tremendous promise for ease of use, once your browser is set-up.

If you have a Web Browser, you can find messages by date, thread, subject, or author. You can read what you want, when you want, and your Browser will probably keep track of what you've seen vs. what's new to you. You can continue a discussion thread right from your Browser or start a new topic. In short, this is not just an archive for use once in a while to find a lost message, but a different way to participate fully in the Learning-Org discussions.

AT THIS TIME, the LO archives are NOT available by FTP. They may become available again by FTP in the future, but not now.
ftp to: TBD and the directory is TBD

See any of the popular Internet guide books for how to ftp.

1. You own your own words. Participants in the list should not take the writings of another and reuse them (except in the dialogue here) without permission of the writer. In posting, you may place your copyright on your message. The message archive is accessible to anyone on the Internet and carries a notice: "All msgs Copyright (c) -their author- unless otherwise noted".

2. Spirit: Learning is promoted by dialogue in a spirit of inquiry, curiosity, and mutual respect. We conduct our discussion in that spirit. Thus, our discussion will be less strident, less authoritarian, less confrontational, less "knowing" than on many Internet forums.

3. The list is moderated. This means that your host sees each message before it is distributed to the list. This insures that errant messages don't get distributed, and we screen messages which are off topic or contrary to the spirit of the list. In each such case, we communicate with the msg author.

4. Learning-org is strictly a volunteer effort. There is no customer service number or staff, and your host cannot provide help with communications or getting started on the Internet. If you need such help, we suggest you make arrangements with a public access provider in your area or talk to your system administrator (if you have one). I recommend for Macintosh users The Internet Starter Kit by Adam Engst, and there are many other Internet books. But, by far the best way to get going on the Internet is to find a friend who can help.

This facility has been created by Rick Karash and Charlie Kiefer as a service to the community, and the (modest) costs are supported by Innovation Associates, Inc. (In U.S. 781-398-8500 or innov-assoc@world.std.com; in Canada 905-731-7991.

   ---start of instructions---
For info about Learning-Org -- the internet disucssion of the Learning Organization --

Via the Web, the URL is http://www.learning-org.com/ 

By email, please msg to our faithful robot, majordomo@world.std.com

The subject line is ignored; begin your msg with these two
lines:

  info learning-org
  end

If problems, please *forward* whatever you have to Richard Karash, host,
at learning-org-approval@world.std.com
   ---end of instructions---

Learning-org and the format of our message identifiers (LO1234, etc.) are trademarks of Richard Karash.

      Richard Karash ("Rick")    |   <http://world.std.com/~rkarash>
  Speaker, Facilitator, Trainer  |     email: rkarash@karash.com
"Towards learning organizations" | Host for Learning-Org Mailing List
(617)227-0106, fax (617)523-3839 |     <http://www.learning-org.com>

The End