About discussions

The Rural Finance Learning Centre is capable of hosting discussions where members can exchange messages about topics of common interest. You can find any on-going discussions by clicking on the discussions link in the top navigation bar. Discussions can be started within the RFLC or links can be provided to discussions being hosted on a server elsewhere, if that is useful to RFLC members.

A wide range of organisations, networks and groups do set up and maintain online mailing/discussion lists or listservs either on their own web servers or using a prescribed search engine such as Yahoo. Some of these lists also have online archives, but many do not. Some lists are moderated, some are not. Frequently access to a list requires you to be a member of a specific organisation, network or group. A listserv member may contribute ideas, questions and answers to the list or may choose to just sit back and monitor the discussion. Listservs are conducted asynchronously.

Lists can be archived in the Rural Finance Learning Centre. The discussion topic must be relevant to rural, micro or development finance and the permission of the list owner must be obtained.

The discussions gateway is also able to host discussions that are restricted to specific groups. If you see a topic listed in the side navigation bar which you cannot access that is because it is limited to certain members only.

Participating in discussions

Participating in discussions that are hosted by the RFLC is quite simple but you must be a registered member of the RFLC. Click to open up the discussion in which you are interested. You will enter the "Discussion Room" where you can view all entries (postings) in several ways e.g. subject lines only, chronological order or threaded. Threads are groups of e-mail messages that are all responding to one original e-mail message.

If you are not logged into the RFLC, you can only view postings. If you are logged in, you can reply to existing postings or start up some new debates. New debate postings do not need Topic Editor approval. To add a posting to an external list, click the link that appears on the right side of the title bar containing the Thread and Chronological View choices and it will open your default email editor with the correct address of the listserv already entered in the address line.

To join external listservs or discussion groups, you will have to subscribe to it using the email address provided.

Suggesting discussions

If you are a registered member of the RFLC, you can suggest a discussion topic that you would like to see added to this section of the Learning Centre, just as you would suggest a knowledge object that you would like to see added to a topic in the resources gateway.

• After login, go to the Discussion Gateway and click on the +suggest link after selecting the discussion option in the box provided. The suggest/add discussion form will appear.
• Choose whether it is a new discussion you are suggesting to be hosted on the RFLC or an external discussion (e.g., Listerver, webforum, newsgroup) that you want to feature in the RFLC.
• Then following the on-screen examples, enter the information (metadata) requested in the fields provided.
• Make sure you include an adequate description, so that other members know what the discussion is about and enter keywords specific to the subject of your discussion.
• If you think it would be useful to archive the messages from an external discussion, you can suggest that a Mailinglist Listener is set up in the RFLC. To do this, select the option to archive in the suggest form and the Chief Editor will contact you to obtain the required details.
• When you have finished entering data, click on Submit. You will be notified within a few days, via your Inbox, whether your Topic Discussion has been accepted by the Chief Editor.

Archiving external mailing lists

To capture the messages from external online mailing/discussion lists for archiving in the Rural Finance Learning Centre, a mailbox has to be set up external to the Learning Centre. This mailbox can be set up on an FAO server, where the RFLC is currently hosted, or on your own web server. This mailbox (email address) must then be subscribed to the mailing/discussion list according to the guidelines of that specific list. Once the mailbox has been set up, an Archive Mailing List/Discussion KO can be added by the Chief Editor in the Rural Finance Learning Centre.