From: jkp@cs.HUT.FI (Jyrki Kuoppala)
Subject: New groups for Usenet University
Followup-To: alt.uu.future,alt.education.distance
Reply-To: jkp@cs.HUT.FI (Jyrki Kuoppala)
Organization: Helsinki University of Technology, Finland
Date: Wed, 22 Jul 1992 14:44:02 GMT

These new groups (created 22 July 1992) are part of the Usenet
University.  For futher information on UU, see directory pub/doc/uu on
the machine nic.funet.fi.

A "material" group means that the group exists for postings of
course material, announcements, pointers to material and resources,
essays, etc. relevant to the "department" of the group and/or the
topic.  This group is for one-time articles / posts - discussions are
_not_ suitable for this newsgroup but should instead be held in a
corresponding .misc group.  Followups should be directed and posted
there.  On some UU groups (where there is a volunteer teacher /
teachers) the material will be mostly for course-like work, on others
for self-study, on others the main info will be something else.  The
conventions will form as time passes and while there are none, a wide
range of relevant postings will appear.  Later, different styles of
learning will perhaps spin off different newsgroups.

A "misc" group exists for discussions on learning, followups on the
"material" group articles, and other discussion relevant to the
department or topic.

For all departments / topics, there are as of yet no "material" groups
but instead only .misc groups - in that case, articles fitting in the
material group should be posted with "MATERIAL" as the first word in
the Subject: field of the article.

The following groups have been created 1992, July 22nd:

alt.uu.lang.misc

This is a group for the "language department" of UU.  This is the
"main group" for learning languages, linguistics etc. - later there
will be more specific groups for different topic in the field.

alt.uu.math.misc

This is a group for the "math department" of UU.  This is the
"main group" for learning mathematics - later there
will be more specific groups for different topic in the field.

alt.uu.comp.misc

This is a group for the "computer department" of UU.  This is the
"main group" for learning things to do with computers - later there
will be more specific groups for different topic in the field.  Both
"computing science" and "using computers as tools" topics are suitable
under this department, at first at least.  Some of the computing
science topics perhaps will fit better under math - the choice is left
to each participant.

alt.uu.lang.esperanto.misc

This is a group for learning Esperanto.  This is the 
"main group" for learning Esperanto - later there
will be more specific groups for different topics in the field.

alt.uu.misc.misc

This is a group for learning about topics not suitable for other
groups of UU.  This is the "catch-all" group, "misc department" of UU.

alt.uu.virtual-worlds.misc

This is a group for learning about virtual worlds or virtual reality.

alt.uu.tools

This is a group for discussing tools useful in UU and self-education /
distance education, what tools are recommended to be used with UU,
what tools are helpful, where to get such tools, etc.  Examples of the
tools include machinery for viewing languages other than English on
computers, possible UU "courseware" (for studying UU course pacakges) etc.

alt.uu.announce

This is a group for announcements of UU.


Some groups _not_ created yet, but which have been discussed and
perhaps could soon be created:

alt.uu.med.misc
alt.uu.media.misc
alt.uu.geography.misc
alt.uu.philosophy.misc
alt.uu.lang.russian.misc
alt.uu.comp.gnu.elisp.misc

some new proposals / ones which might be useful soon:

- UU pub: misc. unofficial discussions. alt.uu.coffeeroom?
alt.uu.admin		For discussions on administrating UU,
                        perhaps/instead also a motion/email-vote run
                        adminstration.  I'm not sure if this is
                        needed quite yet, uu.future might be enough
                        for now.  A split on the subject should
                        be thought out between admin/future.
                        Some other name could be more appropriate.
alt.uu.comp.gnu.misc

Material groups, how soon are they needed if at all?

alt.uu.misc.material
alt.uu.virtual-worlds.material
alt.uu.lang.esperanto.material
etc.

I suggest the discussions on creating new alt.uu.math.* groups etc.
should be carried out in alt.uu.math.misc, etc. - perhaps also
crossposted to alt.uu.future.

I'm again off-line for a week or so and won't be able to post, but
will be able to read all the posts and my mail when I get back
on-line.

//Jyrki
Xref: sparky alt.uu.future:121 alt.education.distance:245