What we are calling the message service is really a product designed to facilitate NetNews. This document will attempt to give some background information on the NetNews technology we have employed.
What is it?
Briefly, the message server provides a means of coordinating and organizing discussions. One person can 'post' a message (such as a question) and another person can 'post' a 'reply' (such as an answer). In fact, several people can post replies and a simple question can turn into a complicated discussion between the parties. The message server is responsible for maintaining the integrity of the discussion 'thread', making sure responses match-up with their original posts and everything stays in order.
What does 'NetNews' mean?
NetNews is a common abbreviation for a particular type of message server. Technically, the term comes from the full name of the protocol (or communication method) used by the software. NNTP stands for Network News Transport Protocol -- NetNews for short. You will also hear it called Newsgroups or Internet News. In common use, the term is used to encompass an entire group of software, technologies and services. Often it is used to denote the software that manages threaded message discussions, both on the server and on the client.
History
A long time ago (in computer years), Internet Newsgroups were created. Since the predecessor to the Internet was a government funded network (ARPANET), many of the discussions were academic or research oriented. Many scientists and educators discussed important topics. The network (and newsgroups) allowed geographically separated people to exchange ideas and share knowledge. The great thing was that the system would maintain a history of the conversation (who said what, to whom, when, what context). Even if you showed up a week after the conversation took place, you could still read all the articles. You could even put your two-cents worth in and start the conversation anew.
The Internet is now a public forum and the largest message service is called Usenet. Today, Usenet is the collection of over 22,000 different newsgroups on every subject imaginable. Usenet is chaos at its best and worst. Nobody is really in charge of Usenet as a whole. Anyone with anything to say can (and usually will) find a place to say it. Consequentially, you may have to wade through twenty messages to find two that are of any use to you. There are still many knowledgeable people using Usenet for its original purpose, you just have to look around awhile to find them.
A detailed explanation of Usenet is beyond this discussion. If you would like more information, DejaNews has two documents that can give you more insight: Usenet Primer or Internet Discussion Groups Info.
Advantages
So, if there are so many things wrong with Usenet, why use it? ECSI is not actually using Usenet, we're using the same messaging technology as used by Usenet. We have created our own NetNews server (our message areas). These are completely under our control and are not shared with the Usenet servers. Participants have to be clients, employees or invited guests (User ID and Password). Since all our clients are professionals, we won't experience the same problems as the open Internet. We expect this to be an effective vehicle for discussions and announcements.
Why not just use the Web? The Web is a one-way street. We write things, you read them -- that's it. Now, you have a voice to communicate with us and your colleagues. The technologies are not mutually exclusive, they are complimentary.
Why is NetNews better than an email list? NetNews archives all the messages. It also handles threading which an email list doesn't handle too well. At all times you can see messages, in their context and order. Also, there are many NewsReader programs that provide much more sophisticated functions (such as searching across multiple groups). These programs work with any NetNews server (not just ours).
Why Web and Newsreader access to the same material? In short, no two people have the same tastes, abilities or desires. The Web interface is good for someone who doesn't use the message areas often or has no interest in installing additional software -- all you need is your browser. The Newsreader gives more powerful controls and a better user interface but requires installation, configuration and some learning curve. Best of all, you can use both if you please!