To recognize the first year anniversary of LACTNET, we the co-owners are sharing the following history with you all. We hope you enjoy learning where we began and where we are now. Much has happened--many things far beyond our imaginings. From the smallest beginnings... March 3, 1995, the first message was posted on LACTNET with our server site then being at Georgia Tech. The Olympics were happening there in Georgia, and the server at Georgia Tech was going to be heavily used by those activities, so we needed to move. We are now proudly part of the the University of Massachusetts Medical Center. Norm Aleks, the sysop at UMMED, himself a medical student, offered us space, assistance, and encouragement in our endeavors, and continues to this day to be a source of great help to us in the running of Lactnet. He surely will know more about Lactation than any of his other medical student colleagues, we are sure... : ) The Librarian at the Med School, AnnaNaomi S., also has been very supportive of our efforts to further the professional promotion of breastfeeding and lactation on a worldwide basis...and had given us the go ahead on the UMass Server..which we truly appreciate! Thanks Norm and AnnaNaomi! We were so very pleased when UMass contacted us and stated that our goals meshed with theirs in offering such "housing" for our list, and are hoping to have a long and fruitful friendship with those at UMASS Med School. Following is the very first message that was posted on that momentous day when LACTNET was officially "born." ======================================================================== Date: Fri, 3 Mar 1995 23:02:53 EST Reply-To: "\"LACTNET\" discussion list" <[log in to unmask]> Sender: "\"LACTNET\" discussion list" <[log in to unmask]> From: Melissa Vickers <[log in to unmask]> Subject: New LC Series?? Kathleen A., I noticed in the new LLLI catalog (that I wish I had money to buy books with reckless abandon from) that the "Second Series of LC Units" will be available "soon." Are you still editor for the series, and/or do you know anything about this? I'm curious as to whether these will be updates on old ones or new topics or what. Also curious as to how many will be coming out and how much the set is likely to run. Also, has anybody read or seen these from the catalog: BF the Adopted Baby Nursing Mother's Guide to Weaning Beyond the Breast-Bottle Controversy Kangaroo Care: The Best You Can Do to Help Your Preterm Infant A Parent's Guide to Autism BF: Terms, Techniques, Problem Solving As APL for Tennessee I have limited funds for purchasing resource material for our area and am considering some of the above. How I love collecting books! I even get to read one or two now and then! I would appreciate any input any of you might have. Thanks! Melissa in TN where the daffodils and crocuses are blooming and snow is predicted this evening.... ==================================================================== Our intent was to provide an electronic means by which isolated LCs could develop and maintain contact with others in the field. Melissa Vickers, a friend and LC and LLLeader in Tenessee, was one of the main reasons I wanted to develop Lactnet.(I being KBruce). I wanted to be able to connect her up with a bunch of other like minded individuals....and it just goes to show you that she approves, and was the first poster on LACTNET!! Thanks Melissa!!!! for coming back on-line. I missed ya... : ) Little did we know how many people would sign on and begin sharing information! We have grown to 900 subscribers as of today, our one year anniv. (March 3, 1996). Early in June of 1995, KB and KGA made a private bet with one another re: how many subscribers LACTNET would have by September 1. KB bet 200; KGA bet 300. Although KGA "won" the dinner reward--simply because her estimate was closer--neither co-owner came even close! By that date, more than 500 people had subscribed, and since the July 1995 ILCA Conference (where nearly 1000 business cards were distributed--all, including the sample card stapled to the box, had disappeared within the first 8 hours of the conference opening!) LACTNET has been growing at an average rate of 10-15 new subscribers per day. Numerous countries are now represented, including Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, China, Mexico, Canada, Sweden, Germany, France, Columbia, Puerto Rico, Guam, South Africa , Switzerland, Israel, Norway, Brazil...I know we are forgetting some.!!! To see who is on Lactnet, do a review Lactnet by name, to the [log in to unmask] address!! Our goal to provide a means by which isolated LCs could link to one another is working far beyond our expectations. Additional networking opportunities have developed out of our initial email discussions. a) LACTNET LUNCHes have now occurred at several different sites--providing an opportunity for LACTNETters to attach faces to the names they have been reading and corresponding with for weeks or months. These gatherings have generated much hilarity and good fellowship and pictures of some of these gatherings will be part of a planned POSTER at the 1996 ILCA Conference. (At one such lunch, a LACTNET t-shirt served as a flag identifying where to sit!) b) The 75 LACTNET t-shirts that were designed and distributed in 1995 will soon be joined by a new batch of shirts in 1996--with a slightly different design, but the same intent: to enable LACTNETters to identify one another easily. c) A WEB page, Lactation and Related Resources, developed by the co-owners of LACTNET and housed and paid for by KGA on her personal email account, has also served as a means by which the existence of LACTNET and other related lactation resources have been disseminated. Creation of this page was accomplished with the assistance of a skilled individual who is knowledgeable in HTML (Hypertext Markup Language..the language of Web pages..) , which neither of us knows well, although we both attempted to learn (Is this a sign that one truly cannot teach "older" LCs new tricks?! :-) ) The only problem this creates is a delay in making changes, since availability of this individual is dependent on his job-related activities and travel plans away from the computer. As a service to other groups/institutions/associations with a breastfeeding-related orientation, a listing of related links was added upon request of several of these organizations. Although the WEB page did not include a "counter" until several months after it was developed, in the first few months of its existence, our Lactation and Related Resource page has recorded more than 2000 "hits" or times when someone called it up and read the information it contains. We hope that such "hits" will enable those related organizations/institutions/etc. to be reached when the need to do so arises. These Web pages are continually evolving and changing as needs and information becomes available to us. Unfortunately, the most remembered contacts that each of us has had from the WEB page has been a small number of potentially pornographic inquiries! Of interest to you--as it was to us--is the common complaint of many new LACTNETters: the volume of mail is overwhelming! However, over time, many users have learned to be more selective about what they read and what they respond to. In addition, following the overwhelming number of errors from "overfull mailboxes" of persons who conferenced and did not set themselves to nomail, we created commands that sets each new subscriber to receiving DIGESTS for LACTNET messages unless they specifically request individual mailings. The DIGEST setting also cuts down on the cost of subscribing for those persons who are paying by the number of messages received by their server. As the LACTNET list has evolved, the rules and regulations designed to keep our list free of "flaming" has expanded. Most of you have understood our aim, recognizing that the list is designed to help everyone and we must all be cordial in our replies to avoid "flaming" and other impertinences. So far, LACTNET is one of the most pleasant and professional lists on line, we are told. And that says something about all of you.... So, let's here it for LACTNET..Happy Birthday to you...Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday dear Lactnet, ....etc. Warmly , Kathy Auerbach, and Kathleen Bruce Kathleen B. Bruce, BSN, IBCLC, LLLeader, co-owner Lactnet, LLLOL, Corgi-L LACTNET WWW site: http://www.mcs.com/~auerbach/lactation.html Personal WWW page: http://together.net/~kbruce/kbbhome.html