Re: OT-CHAT: Archives Tutorial

Dear Anner, Thank you so much for your very informative instructions on how
to master The Archives. I have printed 5 pages of your detailed email and
wish to thank you for all your time and effort that went into constructing
this email, probably the longest one I have received on Iris Talk. It will
be put to good use.Hope everyone else enjoys your efforts, Well Done. From
an appreciative Wendy. wendon@dcsi.net.au
----- Original Message -----
From: <ChatOWhitehall@aol.com>
To: <iris-talk@egroups.com>
Sent: Tuesday, July 18, 2000 7:51 AM
Subject: [iris-talk] OT-CHAT: Archives Tutorial


> Greetings.
>
> As promised, here is one person's idea about how to maximize enjoyment of
the
> Archives of this mailing list, the Iris-talk, once the Iris-L. The overall
> plan of action is to understand how it all fits together, learn how to
work
> around the cumbersome bits, and thus turn the limitations of the system to
> one's own undaunted advantage.
>
> Just as reading the posts you receive from the Iris list takes time, so
must
> reading the Archives take time, for the Archives are all the many posts
that
> have been made to the list through its long and merry history. That is all
> they are. Lots of posts, and a Search Engine, of which we will hear more
> later. Remember this: Getting at the good stuff can be as simple, or as
> complex, as you choose to make it.
>
> The subject of the list is Irises. All kinds: species and the hybrids made
> from species, bearded, beardless, crested and bulbous. Irises everywhere
from
> Alaska to Moscow and the antipodes: how to know them, how to grow them,
where
> to find them, how they differ, from whence they came, what they meant to
> gardeners once, and what they mean to gardeners now. Science, history,
> stories about people, all this and more is in the Archives, along with
> collateral issues like iris society matters, and a certain amount of
general
> horticultural info and rollicking good humor.
>
> Our Archives are hosted by Mallorn computing, along with the Archives of
> several other mailing lists. You can see a list of these other lists at
> <<http://www.mallorn.com/lists>> Feel free to snoop in other lists'
Archives,
> and search those, too!
>
> Now, in order to understand what is being talked about in any specialized
> discussion one has to know the lingo. Irises have a lingo, or more
> specifically a descriptive terminology, which is defined by the American
Iris
> Society. There are beardless irises, like Siberians, Japanese, Louisianas,
> Junos and Spurias. There are Arilbred irises, which are derived from
exotic
> desert Iris species. There are crested irises like Iris tectorum and Iris
> cristata, there are bulbous species like reticulatas, and there are
bearded
> irises, a very large group of garden irises.
>
> Now, all the bearded irises fall into size classifications, which
> classifications have standard abbreviations, much used on this list. You
will
> need to know these terms to understand any of the conversation about
irises
> in the posts, whether they are old posts in the Archives, or new posts
that
> come into your mailbox. So, if you don't know your TB from your BB, visit
the
> AIS webpage at <<http://www.irises.org >> and look at the section on
> Classification. While you are there go to the section on Bulletin excerpts
> and read the 'Glossary of Iris Terms.' This will introduce you to some
> additional useful terminology about color patterns and so forth. There is
not
> an immense amount of descriptive lingo to become familiar with, and most
of
> it is not difficult, but what there is important, if you are going to
> understand what folks on the list are talking about, or find your way
among
> the posts, whether old posts or new posts, you need to be comfortable with
> this material.
>
> Now, to go directly to the Iris Archives, go to
> <<http://www.mallorn.com/lists/iris-talk/>> You will see a screen which
> offers two options. One is the Search Option. One is the option of
selecting
> a specific month's posts. Let us deal with the latter first.
>
> To get a feel for the Archives or just amuse oneself reading therein one
can
> always simply open a Month and start browsing about. Do remember that some
> subjects will tend to appear on list in accord with the iris culture
> calendar. That is, many bloom reports will be in the Spring, although
rebloom
> reports may be in summer and autumn. Borer questions show up a lot in
borer
> season, although not exclusively. Digging questions appear at digging
time.
> So, sometimes a browse through certain carefully chosen months may be
> especially interesting and useful.
>
> To Browse a Month, select one and open it up by clicking. The posts be
> displayed by Thread. Threads are chains of responses. If you hit 'reply'
to
> this post I'm writing, it will show up as a response to mine. We will be a
> thread! If someone changes the subject line, a new thread will be born.
>
> Notice that an open post will offer several links at the bottom which give
> you the option of following the thread or moving around in other
directions.
> These include "Follow-ups."  One can use them to go forward in a
discussion
> without returning to the Thread page, but I have found that for most
purposes
> the simplest, fastest, and least confusing manner of navigation is just to
> hit my Back button when I am finished reading a post and return to the
Thread
> list rather than using those links. So my rhythm is open, read, back,
select,
> open, read, back, select, open, read...etc. If you do use the links and
get
> lost, just go to the very bottom of the page where there are links back to
> the main page.
>
> Of course, you don't have to read by Thread. You can read by Subject,
which
> does not suit me very well, or by Author, or by Date. Author is good if
you
> want to look at all the posts a specific person wrote in the Month.  Date
is
> good because it shows the posts just like they would be in your mailbox,
and
> is thus somewhat familiar. When displayed by Date, posts are listed with
the
> older posts on the bottom. So, starting at the bottom of any Month, you
can
> open up and read the posts in the sequence which they were received by the
> Archives. You can select posts by Subject line and open up the ones that
look
> like they might be interesting or relevant. It is just like having that
whole
> month's posts in your mailbox. Select, open, read, back, select, open,
read,
> back, ignore, select, read, back.
>
> The other Option on the Main Iris-talk page is Search. There is a Search
> Engine for the Archives that will obey your commands, most of the time, if
> you phrase them correctly and look just for those posts which discuss
things
> you are interested in. There are two elements of a search, one system
> limitation, and a couple of minor qualifiers. The first element the What
of
> you are looking for, that is, your Search Term. The Second is the When,
that
> is the Time Period which you want searched. The system limitation is the
> number of responses it can offer you all at once. The minor qualifiers
tell
> the Search Engine how carefully to read what you have specified for the
> Search Term. Let's discuss these one at a time.
>
> Now, defining your Search Term is the most important, most subtle, and
most
> challenging part of using the Archives. You want to think about your
inquiry
> very carefully, and pinpoint its essence. You want to decide exactly what
you
> want to read about, and find a word or words that will necessarily be
> involved in the discussion, for the Search Engine is looking not for
abstract
> concepts, nor subjective categories, nor vague impressionistic
suggestions,
> but for words, that is, for unique configurations of letters.
>
> For your Search Term you are looking for a good Key Word. The best Key
Word
> is not necessarily the one that will give the most responses overall. The
> best is the one that not only brings you the information you are looking
for,
> but also excludes information you are not looking for. Getting good at
> picking Search Terms takes some experience, but you will get better with
> practice.
>
> Your Search Term may be more than one word, combined with linking words
and
> parenthesis denoting groups. The rather complicated example given at the
> Search Page is this: ((blue AND flag) OR reticulata) NOT introduction).
This
> means you are looking for all posts in which both the words 'blue' and
> 'flag,' or 'reticulata' appear, but not the word "introduction." That is,
you
> want to find posts talking about Blue Flags or Reticulatas but not any
> addressing the Introduction of same. Note that the subjects you are
> interested are defined, and some unwanted aspects of the question are
> excluded. Fret not; most of the time you will be using only one or two
Search
> Terms together. Pick those well, and you may not need that NOT.
>
> The two Qualifiers on the search that I mentioned are the little boxes
that
> say Case Insensitive and Whole Word Match. Leave them at the default
setting
> (checked). If you need to fiddle with one at some point, you will discover
> that in trying to define your search. If you disengage Case Insensitive it
> will pay a lot of attention to capital letters, for instance. I never mess
> with these qualifiers, myself.
>
> Now, I mentioned a When. When is the Time Period you want the engine to
> search. You get to specify the Year or Years, and a Specific Month, or All
> Months. You do this by just checking or unchecking years, and using the
drop
> down menu for Months. We will return to this in a minute.
>
> The Search engine can only drop a maximum of 250 posts down for your
perusal.
> You can specify fewer or more by adjusting the quantity at the little box
on
> the screen. Now, to get the maximum possible number of posts which meet
your
> search criteria, open up the Number to the max, click all Years, and
specify
> all Months. But notice that if there are more than 250 found, you won't
see
> all of them, so sometimes it is best to open it to the max and take it
year
> by year. In other words, sometimes the search must be broken down into
> chronological pieces to make it manageable. Such is life.
>
> You can open the posts the Engine found and read them there at the Search
> page, select, open, back, select, open, back, but you don't have to. If
there
> are a lot of posts shown in a fairly tight time frame or time frames, I
often
> make a few notes as to when the subject I'm interested in was discussed at
> length, and then go directly to the Month/Year lists and read the whole
> discussion.
>
> For an example, lets take an easy subject with a potentially cumbersome
> search like the iris borer. Okay, you can use 'borer' for search term and
> probably pull up a zillion posts on same, only some of which will be
> displayed because the engine can't show them all. So perhaps it would be a
> good idea to pin that search down more. Want information about the moth?
Try
> 'borer' AND 'moth.' Want information about controls, well, you might have
to
> try several approaches using the word 'borer' with other words like
> 'control,' or 'insecticide,' or 'chemical,' 'organic,' 'kill,' or others.
Let
> do another. Need some information about 'soft rot'? Try 'soft' AND 'rot.'
You
> should get some posts on the subject and in those you should run into some
> other good soft rot Key Words like 'erwinia' which is part of the name of
the
> bacteria that is the pathogen.
>
> The more precisely you can define your question, and the more precise the
> Search Term you can design, the more precise your answer will be. Where a
> proper noun can be used for a Search Term, it may work out very well,
> although it may also not. If you try to use 'Hager' you will pull up a
slew
> of stuff about Ben Hager the hybridizer, and also a slew of stuff posted
by
> Dennis Hager over the last few years. In any word driven search you just
have
> to roll with the coincidences and take advantage of the serendipitous.
>
> It is sometimes a lot easier to re-find things in the Archives that you
> remember reading when they were first posted than it is to search for
> information on broad general topics that have received a lot of diffuse
> discussion, since often you will recall who made the post, or have a time
> frame in mind, or you will recall a turn of phrase or an odd bit that you
can
> use for a search term. On the other hand there are more broad general
> discussions and once you figure out when they took place, moving through
them
> is just a point, click, and back, away.
>
> Wandering around in the Archives is a great way to get a bit more
Iris-talk
> in your life when the list is slow because people are off digging their
> plants or whatever. I encourage people to read a few months now and then.
> Settle in with a cup of something nice to drink, maybe a cookie, and just
> start reading. You will become more accustomed to it the more you visit,
and
> that will make dealing with the Search Engine--that poor thing, just no
> imagination at all---all the easier. Don't try to remember everything you
> read, just let it wash over you, and enjoy it. Once you have been into the
> belly of Our Archives Beast and heard its stories, it will not intimidate
> you. There is nothing spooky there, indeed there is nothing there at all
but
> a bunch of people like you, talking about the flowers they love.
>
> Anner, in Virginia
> ChatOWhitehall@aol.com
>
>
>
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