Dead Runners Society
Encyclopedia
ONLINE
ONLINE is a magazine for information systems first published in 1977. The publisher Online, Inc. was founded the year before. In May 2002, Information Today, Inc. acquired the assets of Online Inc....
running
Running
Running is a means of terrestrial locomotion allowing humans and other animals to move rapidly on foot. It is simply defined in athletics terms as a gait in which at regular points during the running cycle both feet are off the ground...
club. DRS is notable for its unusual role in the development of both the Internet
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
and the sport of running
Running
Running is a means of terrestrial locomotion allowing humans and other animals to move rapidly on foot. It is simply defined in athletics terms as a gait in which at regular points during the running cycle both feet are off the ground...
. Founded by Chris Conn in 1991 as an electronic mailing list
Electronic mailing list
An electronic mailing list is a special usage of email that allows for widespread distribution of information to many Internet users. It is similar to a traditional mailing list — a list of names and addresses — as might be kept by an organization for sending publications to...
, DRS pre-dates widespread use of the World Wide Web
World Wide Web
The World Wide Web is a system of interlinked hypertext documents accessed via the Internet...
. It is an early example of a virtual community
Virtual community
A virtual community is a social network of individuals who interact through specific media, potentially crossing geographical and political boundaries in order to pursue mutual interests or goals...
formed around a non-professional topic. Many early DRS members were computer professionals, librarians, academics and researchers. Membership broadened with the growing use of email
Email
Electronic mail, commonly known as email or e-mail, is a method of exchanging digital messages from an author to one or more recipients. Modern email operates across the Internet or other computer networks. Some early email systems required that the author and the recipient both be online at the...
in the mid-1990s. Annual World Conferences have been held since 1993.
Other DRS lists
The original DRS group, known as "the big list," now has about 1,700 members. Over the years, more than 20 sublists have been formed. Some deads subscribe to one (or more) of the sublists but are not subscribed to the big list or have set NOMAIL option on the big list. Sublists have a geographic or thematic focus.- An example of a geographic group is the SOBER Deads (Southern Ontario and Buffalo Expired Runners).
- An example of a thematic group is TRI-DRS. for dead runners who are interested in triathlons, duathlons, and other multi-sport events. It was founded by Loreen Kail.
- DRS-readers and DRS-mind are examples of thematic groups for discussions.
One of the most active sublists is DRS Italia, a group based in Italy. Messages are posted in the Italian language. DRS Italia members hosted DRS World Conference XV in Turin, Italy in May, 2007, while the U.S. Northwest branch (NoWDead) hosted the next World Conference in Tacoma, Washington
Tacoma, Washington
Tacoma is a mid-sized urban port city and the county seat of Pierce County, Washington, United States. The city is on Washington's Puget Sound, southwest of Seattle, northeast of the state capital, Olympia, and northwest of Mount Rainier National Park. The population was 198,397, according to...
in June, 2008. Three Dead Runners Society groups also operate on the facebook
Facebook
Facebook is a social networking service and website launched in February 2004, operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. , Facebook has more than 800 million active users. Users must register before using the site, after which they may create a personal profile, add other users as...
social networking website.
Members
DRS members are known as "deads." Online discussion includes everything from meditationMeditation
Meditation is any form of a family of practices in which practitioners train their minds or self-induce a mode of consciousness to realize some benefit....
to marathon
Marathon
The marathon is a long-distance running event with an official distance of 42.195 kilometres , that is usually run as a road race...
training—and even topics only marginally related to running. Deads also meet regularly at races
Road running
Road running is the sport of running on a measured course over an established road . These events would be classified as long distance according to athletics terminology, with distances typically ranging from 5 kilometers to 42.2 kilometers in the marathon. They may involve large numbers of runners...
. Deads range from beginning runners to elite athletes. One dead holds the world record for the one mile run for females age 70 and older. Other deads are coaches, race directors, writers and editors of running magazines, and developers of running-related software.
Deads say the civilized level of discourse and strong sense of community
Community
The term community has two distinct meanings:*a group of interacting people, possibly living in close proximity, and often refers to a group that shares some common values, and is attributed with social cohesion within a shared geographical location, generally in social units larger than a household...
sets DRS apart from other mailing lists.
Terminology
Over the years, the group has adopted, adapted, and coined various terms. Among them:- Clydesdale: a heavy runner
- Encounter: a face-to-face meeting of Dead Runners
- Filk: In DRS parlance, a running-related song in which new lyrics are written to an existing tune
- Goomies: Post-run snacks and drinks, e.g. bagels, bananas, sports drinks, and water
- Penguin: a slow runner (coined by John "the Penguin" Bingham)
- ORN: Obligatory Running Note. A brief note about a run appended to a message with no other running content
- VRP: Virtual Running Partner. A dead who encourages another via private email
- YMMV: Your Mileage May Vary. In DRS parlance, you may react differently to the shoe, medical treatment, training program, or other matter under discussion
History
The list founder is Chris Conn, a runner and software engineerSoftware engineer
A software engineer is an engineer who applies the principles of software engineering to the design, development, testing, and evaluation of the software and systems that make computers or anything containing software, such as computer chips, work.- Overview :...
in Austin, Texas
Austin, Texas
Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of :Texas and the seat of Travis County. Located in Central Texas on the eastern edge of the American Southwest, it is the fourth-largest city in Texas and the 14th most populous city in the United States. It was the third-fastest-growing large city in...
. The Dead Runners Society is incorporated in Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
as a non-profit organization
Non-profit organization
Nonprofit organization is neither a legal nor technical definition but generally refers to an organization that uses surplus revenues to achieve its goals, rather than distributing them as profit or dividends...
.
Name
The Dead Runners Society's name derives from the film Dead Poets SocietyDead Poets Society
Dead Poets Society is a 1989 American drama film directed by Peter Weir and starring Robin Williams. Set at the conservative and aristocratic Welton Academy in Vermont in 1959, it tells the story of an English teacher who inspires his students through his teaching of poetry.The script was written...
which had as its motto Carpe Diem
Carpe diem
Carpe diem is a phrase from a Latin poem by Horace that has become an aphorism. It is popularly translated as "seize the day"...
—Seize The Day. The Dead Runners Society amended this to Carpe Viam—Seize the Way (or Seize the Roadway).
DRS conferences
Since 1993, the DRS has been holding annual conferences in different cities, with the abbreviation DRSWCn. To encourage attendance, the host city generally creates a Web-based guide to their city's attractions.- 2012, World Conference 2012: Austin, Texas, U.S.A.
- 2010, World Conference XVIII: Gainesville, Florida, U.S.A. - CANCELLED
- 2009, World Conference XVII: St. Louis, Missouri, U.S.A.
- 2008, World Conference XVI: Tacoma, Washington, U.S.A.
- 2007, World Conference XV: Torino, ItalyItalyItaly , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
- 2006, World Conference XIV: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
- 2005, World Conference XIII: Tucson, Arizona, U.S.A.
- 2004, World Conference XII: Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.A.
- 2003, World Conference XI: Cupertino, California, U.S.A.
- 2002, World Conference X: Indianapolis, Indiana, U.S.A.
- 2001, World Conference IX: Albuquerque, New Mexico, U.S.A.
- 2000, World Conference VIII: New York, New York, U.S.A. VIII
- 1999, World Conference VII: Tucson, Arizona, U.S.A.
- 1998, World Conference VI: St. Louis, Missouri, U.S.A.
- 1997, World Conference V: Eugene, Oregon, U.S.A.
- 1996, World Conference IV: Cleveland, Ohio, U.S.A.
- 1995, World Conference III: San Francisco, California, U.S.A.
- 1994, World Conference II: St. Louis, Missouri, U.S.A.
- 1993, World Conference I: Washington, District of Columbia, U.S.A.
Books and Tools by Dead Runners
Virtual (or long-distance) training and coaching is one of the benefits of belonging to DRS. Some members have created Web pages for running advice. A few have gone further and transferred their accumulated knowledge to paper or software applications. A few examples follow:- Marathoning for Mortals by John Bingham
- Hal Higdon's Beginning Runner's Guide and Marathon: the Ultimate Training Guide by Hal Higdon
- Excel™ Running Log by Alan Rubé and David S. Hays