1. Principle

The electronic conference is a simple and quick means of communication (thanks to the e-mail) for debating and exchanging information among several participants, on a specific topic, and under the supervision of the coordinator (moderator).

Objectives

To produce a synthesis of contributions (to lead to an interesting support of scientific interest) on subjects which are of interest for the LEAD research;
To develop partnerships by making contacts around a theme;
To increase the potential interest around events of this kind in the LEAD website and to increase its visiting rate or simply make it more known;
To produce information for the Web site.
Some precise details on the terms employed:

The mailing list is the list of participants

The electronic conference covers a " topic ". There are one or several coordinators (moderators) on a certain topic.

The theme is divided into "Sessions" (or under - themes). There are one or several coordinators (moderators) for each session.

1 session = 1 document + 1 discussion + 1 synthesis

2. How it works

Role of the coordinator

Initially, the coordinator should provide an introduction document (2-3 pages) on a particular subject in order to start the corresponding mechanism of discussion. This paper should introduce the subject, define the objectives and the questions important to approach the discussion. Once completed, this document is distributed to the lists of participants and made accessible via Web.

Then, he/she receives all contributions sent by participants replying to the introduction document. The subsequent actions are gathering and filtering the discussions which will be of interest to all participants, and also drawing up the summary, comments and remarks. During this operation the moderators coordinating the discussion brings their own remarks based on their own experience.

Last, the moderator prepares a summary of all contributions to be sent to the list.

Role of the server

The Server MailServ (mailserv@mailserv. fao. org), accepted by the Organization of the United Nations FAO, manages the lists of participants of the created groups. People in charge of the lists (“list owners”) can request the server to perform several actions such as making a list of the participants, or making a list of the messages sent ...

The server is also used for facilitating the distribution of the e-mails between readers, participants and moderators, since all messages use a single address.

Role of the participant

Subscribe

To participate it is mandatory to be registered in the mailing list, which - as its name indicates- distributes the messages of the conference.

You can be registered by sending your application to the manager of the LEAD platform (), indicating for which conference you would like to subscribe.

Or you can subscribe directly to the conference you want, sending a message to mailserv@mailserv.fao.org, leaving the email "subject" empty and filling the body of your message with: SUBSCRIBE + "name of the conference"
Example, to be registered to the list of the pastoralism electronic conference : subscribe LEAD-FAUNE-ECONF-L

Once subscribed, you should receive a confirmation message like this one:
" The address: pierre.dupond@cirad.fr has been added to the LEAD-FAUNE-ECONF-L mailing list by pierre DUPOND < pierre.dupond@cirad.fr>." ... Followed by a welcome message.

Unsubscribe

You can remove your address from the list of participants at any time by sending a message to the manager of the LEAD platform ();
or by sending directly a message to mailserv@mailserv.fao.org, leaving the email "subject" empty and filling the body of your message with: UNSUBSCRIBE +"name of the conference".
Example, to be unsubscribe to the list of the electronic conference on the pastoralism: unsubscribe LEAD-FAUNE-ECONF-L

IMPORTANT: Send the message to mailserv@mailserv.fao.org or to the manager of the platform, and not to the LIST of PARTICIPANTS!

Participating… or not!

The participant who has subscribed receives all messages delivered by other members of the list and then he/she can act as a simple reader or participate actively by sending its contribution. Comments and contributions should be sent to the email address of the E-conference:

For example: LEAD-GLD-NETWORK-L@mailserv.fao.org; LEAD-FAUNE-ECONF-L@mailserv.fao.org etc...

Your contribution can be of different types:

Direct participation in discussions;
Examples of successful researches and investigations by different people at local, national and international levels;
Comparison/remark from own experience
Comments /questions/documents/communications/examples of similar themes of discussions
All the contributions will be supervised by the moderators of the conference and the director of the Virtual Research Center and Development before being sent to the other participants. We will make sure that the messages are not duplicated, that there is no error in the mailing lists and that the discussion is controlled and directed.

In conclusion, each contribution follows the following course:

1- Sending of the message (e-mail) to the address of a server
2- Message automatically transfer from server to the coordinator
3- Confirmation or refusal (3') of the message by the coordinator + correction & comment eventually added, and message sent back to the server
4- The server automatically redistributes the message to the list of participants