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Greetings to everyone!

This afternoon I was going through some old files while organizing my new home office in Michigan and came across some documents associated with the beginnings of our listserv way back in JULY 13th of 1993 (25 years ago!).    As the membership is preparing for the Academy Meetings in Atlanta this August,  I thought it would be fun to share them with you!

Some facts of interest:

In the early days, the list was called ENTREP-L and housed at Kansas State University where I was teaching (I am now at Central Michigan).   This was before the good folks at PACE Univ. had begun to host the Academy Lists in one central location!

As of August 3^rd  1993 here were 63 members and the list had grown to 129 subscribers from 10 countries by October of that year. 

TODAY the list has 3128 Subscribers and is one of the top 3 lists on the Academy Server at PACE Univ.!!!  Only the BPS and OB lists have more members according to the stats on the AOMLISTS.PACE.EDU site.   (Note that HRNET is not hosted by PACE so I cannot report on their membership size and ranking.)

I am very happy that the list has survived and continues to play a role in making the Entrepreneurship Division such an exciting and successful part of the Academy!

Sincerely and VENTURES HO!            

John F.S. Bunch, Ph.D.

Central Michigan University

Bunch1j@cmich.edu

ANNOUNCING ENTREP-L

AN E-MAIL LIST FOR ENTREPRENEURSHIP DIVISION MEMBERS AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP EDUCATORS.

ENTREP-L is essentially an electronic mail forwarding system created to serve the Entrepreneurship Division of the Academy of Management. Any message that you send to the Listserver is automatically forwarded to all list subscribers. The list is currently very new and it's success will depend on the number of people who sign up and use it. (As of 8-3-93, however, 62 people had subscribed.) While ENTREP-L was created as a forum primarily for Academy of Management Entrepreneurship Division members, it is currently not a closed list. People not signed up can post to the list and anyone can sign on as a member. Hopefully, the list will serve as a communication link between not only Academy members, but also between the Academy and other professional groups interested in entrepreneurship education. The open nature of the list is, however, an experiment. We will see how it goes.

USES OF THIS LIST: I want to encourage public debates, discussions, and sharing of information on ENTREP-L. Uses of this list include (but are not limited to): 1) Notices for professional meetings; 2) Postings for jobs; 3) Calls for papers; 4) Discussions or debates on topics of interest; 5) Requests for information or help; and/or 6) Archives. The capacity exists to archive not only past list messages, but also other files (e.g., newsletters) that members want to make available electronically.

Folks can subscribe themselves to the ENTREP-L list by sending mail to LISTSERV@KSUVM.KSU.EDU with no subject line and with the body:

SUB ENTREP-L Firstname Lastname

When you send this message you will be added to the list and receive from the listserver a confirmation message which will include information on how to leave the list, how to review who is currently signed up on the list, and how to get more information on using lists on internet and bitnet.

Once again, I invite you to join this new electronic community. If you have any questions, problems, or suggestions feel free to contact me:

John F.S. Bunch

(91 3) 532-4352

Department of Management

BUNCH@KSUVM.KSU.EDU

College of Business Administration

Calvin Hall, Kansas State University

Manhattan, KS 66506

BUNCH@BUSINESS.CBA.KSU.EDU

[Note: Thanks are due to Phil Cochran who does such a great job moderating the IABS-L, and John Boudreau, who moderates the HRNet. Much of the above message is "borrowed" from the informative messages they have sent on their lists.]

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ACADEMY OF MANAGEMENT ENTREPRENEURSHIP DIVISION E-MAIL COMMITTEE OBJECTIVES 1993-1994 (PROPOSED)

1 . To increase the number of listmembers to 260 by October 1, 1994. This represents an 100% increase in membership over the course of the next year.

2 .   To increase the number of Division officers and committee members signed on to the list. I would like to have 100% of the officers and committee members who have the capability of using bitnet or internet to be signed on to the list by March 1, 1991 .

3 .   To have the Division Newsletter posted to the list. This will require that the Newsletter editor either post the articles directly to the list or send me the files on disk so that I can post the information.

4 .   To include the bitnet/ internet addresses of Division members and officers in all official membership lists and directories. To archive the membership directory on ENTREP-L so that Division members can refer to it electronically.

5 . To post and archive any Division meeting minutes and information bulletins.

To continue to encourage the posting of calls for papers and meeting announcements on the list by listmembers and Division officers.

To encourage the posting of reports from important meetings and events that are relevant to Division members . Information such as abstracts from papers and symposia presented at academic meetings (e.g. the USASBE fall conference) and news briefs concerning events such as the SBA town meetings are examples .

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ENTREP-L EMAIL

A BRIEF REPORT ON WHERE WE STAND

A' of February 4, 1994, we have 170 people from 11 countries signed on to the internet listserve ENTREP-L. Of the approx. 39 individuals serving the Entrepreneurship Division as either an officer, a committee head, or a committee member, however, 27 do not have known E-mail addresses.

Volunteers for e committee to help develop E-Mail as a communication mode useful to the Entrepreneurship Division currently include Frederic J. Herbert, George Graham, Patricio Greene, end Scott Kunkel. The committee has not become active but will in the near future.

Traffic on the list has been moderate relative to sone of the other lists in the Academy.  This is, however, not necessarity bad. Postings have included announcements for conferences, requests for help on research projects, job announcement•, and miscellaneous contributions concerning entrepreneurship education.

Statistics show that 137 messages have been posted to the averaging about 1 message per day since it was created on July 13, 1993. 54 individuals have posted mail to the list.

Membership by Country:

USA – 137

Canada – 11

Australia – 3

Norway – 3

Hong Kong – 3

Other – 9

Respectfully,

John Bunch

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Entrepreneurship Division Executive Committee

Mid-Winter Meeting 1997

Entrep-L Electronic Mail List Report

Prepared by John Bunch, KSU

OUTLINE

ACTIVITY SUMMARY (See Attachment)

ENTREP-L had 478 subscribers as of January 28th 187. Since the list was created July 13th, 1993, 1911 messages have been posted for at an average rate of 1.47 messages per day. In the last 175 days (approximately 5 1/2 months) 159 messages have been posted at an average rate of .9 messages per day. 33 countries are represented in the subscriber list and the largest proportion of subscriptions have been made using educational accounts (41.06%). Importantly, 33.6% of the list members subscribed using commercial service (COM), network (NET), or organizational (ORG), or governmental (GOV) accounts. Given that most of the Division's membership would likely be using educational email addresses, this suggests that the list may serve a valuable outreach function between the Division and business/government based constituencies.

ISSUES

Protection of subscriber list and access

The subscription list to ENTREP-L is currently open for review to anyone on the Internet. This means that using a simple "Review ENTREP-L" command, anyone can receive a list of all ENTREP-L subscribers and their email addresses. This raises the possibility that someone could acquire our subscription list and then use it to spamm the list membership with advertisements or other email material. I recommend that access to the review function be restricted and only allowed for noncommercial purposes unless access is approved by the Division Executive Committee. At a minimum, I recommend implement a policy statement asserting ownership and control of the subscription list and outlining appropriate uses for the information it contains. (See attached.)

General use and standards of conduct

New list members and others have, at times, sent messages to the list that could be seen as insensitive and/or inconsiderate of other members. While this has not been a big problem to date, it raises concerns about the standing of the list as a public forum. I recommend that the Executive committee approve a policy which asserts authority over ENTREP-L as a private and focused discussion group and gives the list manager the discretionary authority to cancel members' subscriptions when they are sending messages that are either off topic, or disruptive to the general flow of discussion on the list for other reasons.

Advertising and solicitation policy

Periodically, new members to the list post solicitations or commercial advertisements for products or services. Historically, I have sent them feedback stating that this activity was not appropriate for ENTREP-L. I have also suggested that when subscribers want to post material of a commercial nature, that they send it to me first for review. I recommend that this policy be approved by the board.

Migration of ENTREP-L to the Academy of Management server.

It may be possible to migrate the ENTREP-L list to the Academy of Management's server at Pace University. The advantage of this is that the list would have a permanent home. List Manager duties could then be shared by individuals at different institutions and list activity would not be disrupted should the list manager transfer to a new university or organization. I recommend that the Executive committee approve migrating the list to the Academy's server should it prove feasible.

List Manager Position

I have enjoyed serving the Division as the list manager for ENTREP-L over the last 4 years. It is likely that I will be leaving Kansas State University in May and this raises the question of whether the list could remain on the KSU listserver after that time. If possible, I hope to continue to serve as the list manager in the future, however, it is probably judicious to investigate a new home for the ENTREP-L list. Suggestions are welcome.