PCST Electronic Discussion
Much of the activity of the International Network on Public Communication of Science and Technology takes place via electronic discussions. The primary locale for these discussions is PCST-L, an electronic mailing list devoted to public communication of science and technology.
PCST-L provides an opportunity for discussion, exchange and cooperation among practitioners, researchers, and scientists with an active professional interest in science popularization and related topics. The audience includes science journalists, public information officers at both profit and nonprofit institutions and organizations, museum educators, scientific popularizers, communication researchers, journalism educators, and others. The list is explicitly intended to cross international, cultural, and professional boundaries.
The list is sponsored by the International Network on Public Communication of Science and Technology, established in Poitiers, France, in 1989. For information on its activities, see its website at . The list is technically-hosted at Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, USA.
The list is semi-moderated, meaning that contributions are routed through designated moderator(s) for approval. The current moderator is Matthew Nisbet . Messages are either accepted or rejected in their entirety, not edited. The purpose is to reduce noise by discarding messages meant for one subscriber only, off-topic messages, disruptive messages, misdirected messages and commands, etc. No on-topic messages are rejected unless, in the moderator(s) s judgment, they will be seen as disruptive or offensive.
Any rejected message will be returned to the individual who sent it.
To subscribe to PCST-L, send the following command via electronic mail to
subscribe PCST-L firstname lastname
Where “firstname” is your first/personal name and “lastname” is your last/family name.
If you have any questions about PCST-L, contact Matthew Nisbet, the list moderator, at.
If you have any questions about the Cornell Information Technologies list processor, contact the list server manager, at .