eGroups

Submitted by anna on Wed, 11/21/2007 - 12:59.

What are eGroups?

Historically, eGroups was the name given to one of the first online mailing list management websites.

eGroups.com was an email list management web site. The site allowed users to create their own mailing lists and allowed others to sign up for membership on the list. The web site provided archives of the messages as well as list management functionality. Each group also had a shared calendar, file space, group chat, and a simple database. It was bought by Yahoo! and became part of Yahoo! Groups. [From Wikipedia]

Today, eGroups is used to generally describe any mailing list that is accessible via a website. People can read and reply to messages, or create new messages by going to a website URL (eg http://www.yahoo.co.uk/mygroup) and typing into online forms.

Files (word processor, spreadsheets, photos, sound files etc) can be attached to messages and files are kept on the eGroup website for easy access, at at any time. eGroups may also provide a shared calendar function, polling functions, simple databases etc.

eGroups can be public (open) or private (closed) and can be free, or there may be a charge for hosting.

eGroup owners can carry out administrative tasks such as adding new members, removing members, creating or changing passwords etc, through an administrative webpage.

Common eGroups

University services
If you're a student at a university, you'll probably find that the university offers various online services, including eGroups, which would be free of charge.

Yahoo Groups

You can create an eGroup on Yahoo.co.uk by following 3 steps

1. Select a category or group (you need to assign your group to an existing category)
2. Group names - eg Take Back the Tech UK News
3. Create a group email address (eg resistanceisIT [at] yahoogroups [dot] com)
4. Describe the group - eg "News and updates from the Take Back the Tech UK campaign."
5. Attach an email address to the group (eg karenb_apc1 at yahoo.co.uk)
6. You can then customise your group (whether the group is public or private, decide who can join the group, whether or not messages are archived, what other features you will allow for the group - for example, file attaches, uploading photos, having a shared calendar etc.

d-groups

Dgroups is an online home for groups and communities interested in international development. It is a free service, with no advertising, which is designed to accommodate low bandwidth users, and particularly, users in the global south.

In Dgroups, one can find the online tools and services needed to support the activities of a team, a group, a network, a partnership or a community. Dgroups is also a place to find groups who are interested in the same topics in international development as you.

Social Networking Sites offering eGroups

Facebook, Myspace, and Bebo.com all offer online eGroups. As with yahoo groups, you can control who has access to your groups, they can be open, or closed and you can integrate all of the functionality of social networking into your eGroup.

Notes

  • Privacy - creating your own space:
    The default settings for many eGroup services is 'public' or 'open' - meaning anyone from the general public can join your group, and join, or listen in, to your group discussion. Pay particular attention to the customisation options for your eGroup and make sure you have the privacy your group decides.

  • Privacy - protecting your personal information: Protection of your personal information, or group information, is critical. Read through the privacy statement or, if you'd like a quick assessment of various companies privacy policies, review Privacy International's recent privacy surveyed most of the major online sites and search engines. Please review the table and be aware of the extent to which your potential eGroup hosted is enhancing privacy (or not).
  • Advertising: Most free services will have advertising on their sites, and on (or around) your group. If you are prepared to have advertising associated with your egroup (ie, people will see ads when they visit the eGroup space), make sure you are comfortable with the advertising policy (and the ads!).