I. INTERNET LISTS People are the most important resources on the Internet, and electronic mailing lists bring them together in a powerful network. Lists enable rapid dissemination of international legal information worldwide. They can bring together subscribers from many different countries and different fields, who speak different languages, at all times of the day. Lists enable subscribers to overcome spatial, temporal, and linguistic barriers. Lists can comprise professors, practitioners, government officials, librarians, students, publishers, and others as subscribers. In the following paragraphs, I will describe what lists are, what lists exist for international legal research, how to use lists effectively, some of the problems and legal issues involving lists, and the future of lists. I will use INT-LAW, the first list covering international law, as an example.
A. What Are Lists? Lists are tools for sharing information with a group of people. They are sometimes called listservs, conferences, forums, discussion groups, or bulletin boards. Lists are usually run by mail management software such as MAJORDOMO, LISTSERV, LISTPROC, MAILMAN, and JISCMAIL. A person interested in joining a list sends a subscription message to the e-mail address of the software running the list (or subscribes via a web-based form if available). Once the subscription has been acknowledged, the new subscriber can send a message to all subscribers to a list by directing the message to the e-mail address of the list. The software running the list then redistributes the message to the mailboxes of all the subscribers to the list. Thus, on a 1000-subscriber list such as INT-LAW, one message sent to INT-LAW@LISTHOST.CIESIN.ORG is sent to the mailboxes of all 1000 subscribers, usually within minutes. And replies to the list address are read by all subscribers.
B. How to Subscribe to, Post to, and Unsubscribe from Lists
1. Subscribing to Lists The usual protocol for subscribing to a MAJORDOMO list is to send the following form of message to the address of the software running the list:
subscribe [listname]
For example, if Jutta Limbach wanted to subscribe to the INT-LAW list run by the MAJORDOMO software at LISTHOST.CIESIN.ORG, she would send e-mail to MAJORDOMO@LISTHOST.CIESIN.ORG with only the following text in the body of the message (not in the Subject line/block):
subscribe int-law
Omitting the subscriber‘s name is the subscription protocol for MAJORDOMO-run lists. For LISTSERV and LISTPROC lists, use:
subscribe [listname] Your Name
So if Jutta Limbach wanted to subscribe to the EURO-LEX list on LISTSERV@LISTSERV.GMD.DE, she‘d send to LISTSERV@LISTSERV.GMD.DE, the command:
subscribe euro-lex Jutta Limbach
If she wanted to subscribe to the ASILIELG list on LISTPROC@CHICAGOKENT.KENTLAW.EDU, she‘d send to LISTPROC@CHICAGOKENT.KENTLAW.EDU, the command:
subscribe asilielg Jutta Limbach
Note that, with JISCMAIL lists, "join" is used instead of "subscribe". Also all list management software (MAJORDOMO, LISTSERV, LISTPROC, and JISCMAIL) ignore information in the subject line/block (so leave the Subject blank when sending commands to the software‘s e-mail address). They also mistake extraneous text in the body of the message for commands that they do not understand, so it is usually a good idea to leave the subject line/block blank and not to include any other text in the body of the subscription message.
Jutta Limbach would get back an e-mail message from the MAJORDOMO software acknowledging that she is now subscribed to the INT-LAW list (she would receive similar messages from the software that run the EURO-LEX and ASILIELG lists).
2. Posting to Lists To post a message to the INT-LAW list that would reach all the subscribers, Jutta Limbach would send the message, with an appropriate descriptive subject header, to INT-LAW@LISTHOST.CIESIN.ORG (to the listname instead of the software name). As she is communicating to the INT-LAW list subscribers instead of to the software running the list, she would not leave the Subject line/block blank. Note that subscribe, unsubscribe, and other administrative commands should not be posted to a list‘s address, but rather to the address of the software running the list - if commands are posted to the list‘s address, they reach the mailboxes of all the subscribers to the list, rather than the list management software. To post to the EURO-LEX and ASILIELG list addresses/subscribers, she would send e-mail to EURO-LEX@LISTSERV.GMD.DE and ASILIELG@CHICAGOKENT.KENTLAW.EDU respectively.
3. Unsubscribing from Lists To unsubscribe from a list, a subscriber would send the following form of message to the address of the software running the list:
unsubscribe [listname]
So if Jutta Limbach wished to unsubscribe from the INT-LAW list, she would send the following message to MAJORDOMO@LISTHOST.CIESIN.ORG:
unsubscribe int-law
"unsub" or "signoff" should work also in lieu of "unsubscribe"; the same form of message can be used to unsubscribe from LISTPROC and LISTSERV lists also; for JISCMAIL lists, use "leave" instead of "unsubscribe".
C. How to Use Lists Effectively Lists can be used for current awareness purposes - for instance to monitor new developments in a particular field of international law and keep up with the activities of international tribunals and agencies. Lists can also be used to obtain the full text or summaries of needed documents such as treaties, resolutions, statutes, and court cases - often for free via e-mail, fax, or "snail mail" (the post). Sometimes lists are set up for distribution of newsletters, journals, press releases, and other periodic publications related to international law. Lists can also be used to:
get translations of foreign language texts and terms;
verify citations and references;
get telephone, fax, e-mail, street addresses, and other directory or biographical information about individuals and organizations;
obtain definitions of terms and sources of quotations;
seek legal research help - such as tips on where to start, good books or articles to read, databases to search, specialists with which to consult;
announce new products, conferences, job openings, etc.;
post information notices, including book and database reviews, tables of contents of international law journals;
send alerts of upcoming publications - advance notices of books and articles to be published
Despite the many possible uses of lists, some lists are limited to a single purpose (e.g. for distribution of an organization‘s newsletter only), have limits on the types of subscribers they will accept (e.g. faculty only), the language for use on the list, and the subject matter of the list. Some lists are public (anyone can subscribe and post to the list) and some are private (only subscribers can post, and sometimes subscription must be approved by the list owner).
D. How to Choose a Relevant List
1. Why Use Lists? Lists can be extremely useful in resolving international legal research problems. Not all information that is needed for international law work is available in legal databases and on the Internet. Many obstacles exist for accessing international legal information through traditional print and electronic resources, and the Internet. Lists help fill in the gaps in available legal resources as the "people" on them worldwide can potentially provide all that a researcher needs. Someone interested in the same topic you are can have that needed recent treaty in hand already, the full citation to an article, the new International Court of Justice decision you must have, etc. So the question is, how to find a list on the subject matter of your research, and thus reach the experts and others actively involved with that subject?
2. How to Find Lists (The "Law Lists" Guide) One quick way to identify relevant lists is to search "Law Lists", a guide to electronic mailing lists and Usenet newsgroups. It is available on the World Wide Web, and can be accessed directly using the following URLs (Uniform Resource Locators):
"Law Lists" includes over 1200 law-related lists and about 200 Usenet newsgroups arranged in alphabetical order by name, and followed by a brief description of the subject matter of each list, and instructions for subscribing to them. It is possible to either do a keyword search for a relevant list (note that one-word searches or with a character string work well) or browse through the alphabetical listing to seek out a list that might help with the legal research question you have. Note that information on how to subscribe to lists tend to date quickly as list addresses change, so please contact the author for more current information on lists you are interested in.
3. Evaluating the Usefulness of a List Some of the major lists have public archives, so it is possible to search the archives to see if your question has been asked on one of the lists before, to see who participates on the lists and the quality of the participation, and to see the level of traffic on a list. A list is working well if it has a core group of knowledgeable and helpful contributors, and relatively steady traffic. A healthy flow of messages indicates a list where questions will likely be answered, and quickly, by interested participants. A critical mass of subscribers is also important - if a list has an adequate number of subscribers, that increases the likelihood of someone answering a question (and also means that regular posters are not overly burdened with requests and less likely to respond quickly, but that the information-sharing task is borne more evenly).
Low traffic on a list can mean that a question might never get answered or not get answered right away. Very few messages being posted on a list over time might indicate a small number of subscribers or not many interested subscribers, and therefore little likelihood of success in getting a response. 4. List Archives So it is useful to check if a list is truly operative by browsing public archives if possible. The major list archives include the following:
5. Other Ways to Find Relevant Lists for Your Research Besides searching the "Law Lists" guide and public list archives for relevant lists, it is also possible to find useful lists described in books and articles on researching international law. Or hear of lists by word-of-mouth or e-mail from subscribers. You can also create your own electronic discussion list using free services such as Yahoo! Groups at http://groups.yahoo.com (see Yahoo! law-related groups (http://dir.groups.yahoo.com/dir/Government___Politics/Law/)) and Topica at http://www.topica.com.
6. Protocols for Using Lists Once you have identified a relevant list, it is a good idea to wait a while after subscribing before you post - this way, you might get a good feel for the types of questions, answers, and comments on the list, and the types of subscribers that are on the list. And it is always a good cautionary measure never to rely solely on an e-mail list for answers to a research question. Participation is purely voluntary on lists, so subscribers are not required to answer your question. Also, subscribers that might be able to help might be on vacation or have set their subscription to nomail for a variety of reasons or might respond to your request way after you need the information.
E. Some Problems and Legal Issues Involving Lists Some of the disadvantages of electronic discussion lists are side effects of their advantages. Because lists can serve multiple purposes, there is sometimes a wide variety and quantity of messages on lists. Not all messages might be of interest to you as a subscriber. And the sheer number of messages one can receive from a very busy list each day can be daunting. And a deterrent to subscribing or continued membership. Information overload can occur with on-topic posts, but off-topic posts are particularly irksome. This is a problem for some lists that allow non-subscribers to post - more and more non-list-related messages are being posted such as ads, petitions, chain letters, etc., by individuals that have no stake in the lists. The increasing number of "spam" (mass-posted messages, usually by non-subscribers to lists) can drive people off of lists, exarcerbate tempers, and waste time. Some advertisers also post junk e-mail - they send ads directly to the personal mailboxes of list subscribers (this is sometimes called unsolicited commercial e-mail (UCE) or unsolicited bulk e-mail (UBE) or "spam"). And some e-mailed ads have forged "From" and "Reply-to" addresses, so that efforts to complain are defeated (the mail bounces back to the complainer).
1. Harmful List Behavior Too many off-topic posts on a list can render it ineffective (subscribers leave; it is difficult to separate the wheat from the chaff; etc.). Other factors that can harm a list include repeated bouncing receipt acknowledgment ("I‘m on vacation" or "out of the office") messages (every message posted on a list results in a message to the list acknowledging receipt of the message - and every message complaining of the acknowledgment message gets an acknowledgment back and so on in a loop); long postings (if the message is too long, people start complaining on the list, and there is acrimony); flame wars (subscribers who disagree with each other continue conversations with each other on the list that can be quite heated, when they should take the argument off-list, via personal e-mail); controversial topics (even if the subject matter is on-topic for the list, continued discussion can create an unpleasant atmosphere); etc.
2. Prisoner to a Dead or Dying List? Some lists might have very low traffic, enough to be almost moribund. This means that sometimes people forget they are on the list as there have been so few messages. Then a message to the list asking if anybody‘s on it or why there are no postings, will usually lead to either many requests to unsubscribe being posted to the list or efforts to start a discussion. Either way, the list suddenly gets busy with lots of "noise" (irrelevant postings such as the "get me off this list" type with no useful content). And if the list has an absentee or neglectful listowner, the lives of list members can be made very miserable, as subscribers who find they cannot unsubscribe and cannot reach the listowners start complaining very vociferously on the list. If failed efforts to unsubscribe are not handled immediately, no owner steps in to handle flame wars, or an owner allows regular off-topic postings, the list falters. Unsubscribing is sometimes the only solution to lists that seem or have become useless, have irrelevant posts or "noise" often, are too busy, or too acrimonious (setting the list to nomail or contacting the postmaster are other options). And that could mean the loss of valued, respected participants to a list.
3. Communication Problems Other problems with lists are the posting of encoded texts - because of the variety of mail systems, some subscribers might have trouble decoding these texts, so it is usually list-friendly to send messages to lists in plain text, ASCII format. File attachments also can cause problems - again due to diverse mail systems. Also, messages in a foreign language without translations might have the effect of encoded texts - and might reduce or prevent participation of some list members who might be potential resource persons.
4. Low Participation on Lists Sometimes there is under-participation on lists because some subscribers are shy about answering or posting questions on a public forum or fear that answering will bring them to fore as a resource person to be contacted directly in the future for any question. So some subscribers to lists participate behind the scenes - off-list - by sending e-mail directly to the person with the research question. That way, they can help, and not be inundated with injudicious requests for assistance from all and sundry. So sometimes when it looks like questions are not being answered, that might not be true - helpful lurkers (subscribers who read, but do not post to lists) might be answering the question off-list.
5. Netiquette - Courtesy on Lists The community that is built via list interactions has informal rules for governing itself called "netiquette". Some basic courtesies are to always sign your messages (indicate your name and your e-mail address at least in the body of the e-mail message), avoid shouting (do not use all CAPITAL LETTERS), reply off-list if your response is not of general interest (and especially when replying to posted surveys), use emoticons (such as smiley faces) if needed to convey meaning, and limit the use of acronyms and abbreviations (or include full names) as they might not be widely understood. Breaches of netiquette can affect the effectiveness of a list - subscribers are less likely to help those who are uncourteous. And thank-yous are always appreciated.
6. Legal Issues of Using Lists There are also legal issues involved in using lists. It is always a good idea not to forward someone‘s message to a list to another list or newsgroup without asking permission. Copyrighted material should not be posted to a list (these issues sometimes arise with postings of newspaper stories or court cases on a list). Sometimes contractual obligations prevent the posting of information from a legal database to an Internet list. There are also privacy concerns. A person posting on one list might not want their message posted to another because it might reveal information that they did not wish to go beyond that list - some forwards might be damaging to a person‘s reputation. And note that a posting on a list can travel far and wide - individual subscribers can forward it to non-subscribers, to other lists, to newsgroups, or archive it at a public web site. Lists are "public" in that sense - even the "private" ones. Once posted, the original poster does not have much control over what happens to the message from then on. Some posters have taken to adding copyright statements and institutional disclaimers in their messages. 7. Solving Listserv Problems Some remedies for the ills of lists include reading them in digest format or as Usenet newsgroups, reading them via public archives, refusing to contribute to flames, controversial topics, or off-topic discussions, being courteous, setting your subscription to nomail or unsubscribing when on vacation or unable to read mail for a long period of time, avoiding divulging personal information on a list, never posting on a list what you would not want to appear on the front page of a major newspaper, being aware of your legal and institutional responsibilities as a subscriber, and never posting to a list when upset or drunk or lacking sleep. Sometime just deleting an offending or irrelevant message is the best solution. Contacting the listowner sometimes helps (generic addresses are usually in the form of owner-[listname] as in OWNER-INT-LAW@LISTHOST.CIESIN.ORG). Foremost is never to abuse the forum provided by lists for resolving international legal research problems - as they are so effective when used with respect and restraint.
F. Setting Lists to "Digest" and "Nomail" To set a list to digest format such that you get one e-mail message a day (or for some lists every other day or week) containing the full text of all the messages posted that day, you would send the following form of message to the software running the list if it is a LISTSERV list:
set [listname] digest
So, for instance, with the EURO-LEX list, you would send the following message to LISTSERV@LISTSERV.GMD.DE:
set euro-lex digest
(your digest for the day will include the subject headers for all the messages included in the digest at the beginning of the message; you are able to quickly determine which message is worth reading that way)
To postpone receiving mail from a list until you return from vacation or a conference or until you have access to e-mail again, you would send the following form of message to a LISTSERV list:
set [listname] nomail
Again, for the EURO-LEX list, you would send the following message to LISTSERV@LISTSERV.GMD.DE:
set euro-lex nomail
For both digest and nomail, in order to cancel these commands and return to receiving mail, send the following message if using a LISTSERV list:
set [listname] mail
For example, for the EURO-LEX list, you would send the following message to LISTSERV@LISTSERV.GMD.DE:
set euro-lex mail
For lists running on the LISTPROC software, the commands are slightly different:
set [listname] mail digest set [listname] mail postpone set [listname] mail
For MAJORDOMO lists such as INT-LAW, the digest format is actually another list, so, to subscribe to INT-LAW in digest format, you subscribe to INT-LAW-DIGEST on MAJORDOMO@LISTHOST.CIESIN.ORG.
G. Other Helpful Commands and List Etiquette Information For other helpful commands to be used with lists, read James Milles‘ guide, "Discussion Lists: Mailing List Manager Commands" at: http://www.rileyguide.com/mailser.html
General information about lists is available at Mining Mailing Lists (Kenneth E. Johnson) at: http://www.llrx.com/features/mailing.htm, Secrets of the E-Mail Virtuosos (Kenneth E. Johnson) at http://www.paulbernstein.com/news3.htm, and JISCMAIL Guidelines on Etiquette at http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/help/policy/etiquette.htm
ASILforum@LISTSERVE.ASIL.ORG (Discussion group of the American Society of International Law: A list for the collegial exchange of views and information related to issues discussed in ASIL Insights, International Law In Brief, and the American Journal of International Law, as well as other topics of interest related to international law.)
To subscribe to ASILforum, visit the the ASIL web site at http://www.asil.org/forum.htm or send e-mail to ASILforum-request@listserve.asil.org with the message:
subscribe
AALSHUMANRIGHTS@VLSLIST.LAW.VILLANOVA.EDU (Discussion group of the International Human Rights Section of the Association of American Law Schools (AALS).)
To subscribe to the AALSHUMANRIGHTS list, visit the web site at http://vls.law.villanova.edu/clinics/aals/signupforlistservenewsletter.htm.
AFRICA@LISTSERVE.ASIL.ORG (Discussion group of the American Society of International Law Interest Group on Africa: A list for the collegial exchange of views and information related to contemporary legal and socio-political issues that directly impact the character and well-being of African states, and African people on the Continent and in the Diaspora)
To subscribe to AFRICA, visit the the ASIL web site at http://web3.ags.com:81/guest/RemoteListSummary/Africa
ASIL@LAWVC.LAW.VILLANOVA.EDU (list of the Teaching International Law Interest Group of the American Society of International Law; was ASIL-INNOVATIONS on MAJORDOMO@MAIL.LAW.VILL.EDU; related page at http://www.asil.org/interest.htm#teaching)
Send requests to join the list to to Diane Edelman, edelman@law.villanova.edu; requests should include the requestor‘s name, title and affiliation.
ASIL-INSIGHTS (Series of occasional papers published by the American Society of International Law distributed via electronic mail; Insights are brief, balanced accounts designed to inform decision-makers and the public of the relevance of international law to current events)
To subscribe to ASIL Insights via e-mail, visit the Insights section of the ASIL web site at http://www.asil.org/insights.htm or send e-mail to Insights-request@listserve.asil.org with the message:
subscribe
ASILIEL@U.WASHINGTON.EDU (American Society of International Law International Environmental Law Interest Group list; a low traffic list; note that the ASIL Wildlife Law Interest Group (http://www.internationalwildlifelaw.org/index.shtml) has an e-mail discussion list on Migration (http://www.internationalwildlifelaw.org/discussion.shtml) on legal and ecological issues related to migratory species)
ASILIELG@CHICAGOKENT.KENTLAW.EDU (American Society of International Law International Economic Law Group discussion list with a related page at http://www.international-economic-law.org/; subscribers include professors and attorneys; covers the law of GATT/WTO, European Union, UNCITRAL, International Monetary Fund, World Bank, OECD, NAFTA, MERCOSUR, ASEAN, etc.; a low traffic list)
CIAO (electronic distribution list designed to provide subscribers, content providers, and others with monthly updates on new content for the subscription service, Columbia International Affairs Online (http://www.ciaonet.org), a scholarly resource for working papers, policy briefs, news of conferences and conference papers, journal Table of Contents, etc., related to international affairs).
To subscribe, send the following message to ciao-request@columbia.edu:
subscribe
EURO-LEX@LISTSERV.GMD.DE (The All EUROpean Legal Information EXchange list; focuses on the European Community/Union and the law of individual European countries; a major list, averaging about five messages a day, with an archive at http://www.listserv.gmd.de/archives/euro-lex.html or http://www.listserv.dfn.de/archives/euro-lex.html)
To subscribe, send the following message to listserv@listserv.gmd.de (or listserv@listserv.dfn.de):
subscribe euro-lex Your Name
FORCED-MIGRATION@JISCMAIL.AC.UK (Forced Migration list with archives at http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/archives/forced-migration.html and related page at http://www.forcedmigration.org.
To subscribe, visit the web site at http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/forced-migration.html or send the following message to jiscmail@jiscmail.ac.uk:
join forced-migration Your Name
ICC-INFO@YAHOOGROUPS.COM (list for the dissemination of documents and information related to the International Criminal Court issues (http://www.iccnow.org) and related subjects, such as the War Crimes Tribunal; project of the Coalition for an International Criminal Court and the World Federalist Movement/IGP. A related page is http://www.un.org/law/icc/index.html and the ICC home page at http://www.icc-cpi.int/index.php. See also International Justice and the ICC (Lawyers Committee for Human Rights page) at http://www.lchr.org/IJP/home.htm. You can find more information at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/icc-info/, and archives at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/icc-info/messages.
Subscribe via http://groups.yahoo.com/group/icc-info or by sending a blank email message to:
INDIGENOUS@listserve.asil.org (ASIL-Indigenous; list of the ASIL Interest Group on Indigenous Peoples‘ Rights; you must be a member of ASIL to join.)
To subscribe, visit the ASIL-Indigenous web site at http://web3.ags.com:81/guest/RemoteListSummary/ASIL_Indigenous.
INT-LAW@LISTHOST.CIESIN.ORG (Foreign and International Law Librarians list; for discussion of foreign, comparative, and international legal research resources, and related issues; a major list, with about ten to fifteen messages a day, and an archive at http://listhost.ciesin.org/lists/public/int-law); note also that the International Association of Law Libraries (IALL at http://www.iall.org/) hosts a members-only list with subscription via e-mail request to SubscribeIALL@law.duke.edu)
To subscribe, send the following message to majordomo@listhost.ciesin.org (or majordomo@listhost.ciesin.columbia.edu or majordomo@ciesin.columbia.edu):
subscribe int-law
INTHUMRIGHTS@ABANET.ORG (List of the American Bar Association (ABA) Section of International Law & Practice‘s International Human Rights Committee at http://www.abanet.org/intlaw/divisions/public/intl_hr.html for purposes of quick and easy dissemination of news to all members with archives at http://mail.abanet.org/archives/inthumrights.html; related information at http://www.abanet.org/discussions/)
To subscribe, visit the web site at http://www.abanet.org/scripts/listcommands.jsp?parm=subscribe/inthumrights or send the following message to listserv@abanet.org:
subscribe inthumrights Your Name
TWATCH-L@LISTSERV.ACSU.BUFFALO.EDU (Tribunal Watch; mostly news list, with some discussions, of the International War Crimes tribunals for the Former Yugoslavia and Rwanda; can be noisy with off-topic messages - see alternate list JUSTWATCH-L. Archives at http://listserv.acsu.buffalo.edu/archives/twatch-l.html)
JUSTWATCH-L@LISTSERV.ACSU.BUFFALO.EDU (International Justice Watch; forum for daily news and serious discussions of the International Criminal Tribunals for ex-Yugoslavia and Rwanda, and related topics such as the establishment of an international criminal court, war crimes, genocide, crimes against humanity, international humanitarian law, contemporary armed conflicts, etc.; subscription is upon approval of the listowners, with archives at http://listserv.acsu.buffalo.edu/archives/justwatch-l.html; set up to be less "noisy" than the TWATCH-L list)
UN21@yahoogroups.com (list of ASIL Interest Group on facilitating the objectives of the 1990-1999 UN Decade program, including fostering observance of International Law and reliance upon the United Nations for dispute resolution (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/un21/). See also the International Organizations Interest Group‘s WebBoard at http://www.nesl.edu/center/asil.htm.
Subscribe via the UN21 page at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/un21/ or send a blank email message to:
un21-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
II. USENET NEWSGROUPS Like Internet listservs, Usenet newsgroups are means of communicating electronically with groups of people on topics of common interest.
What is Usenet? Usenet is a network of computers worldwide of institutions that have agreed to receive messages (called "articles") from each other on all types of topics. Usenet was originally intended to work like an electronic newspaper, but it is not the one-way distribution mechanism one would think, but is very interactive and facilitates two-way discussions on a myriad of topics.
Usenet allows a user to post a message to all users subscribed to one or more specific newsgroups, and that message is routed to all computers on the network. Usenet newsgroups (thousands exist) are arranged under an hierarchical organization of topics. Some of the major Usenet hierarchies include the following:
alt.* (alternative discussions)
bit.* (BITNET listservs gatewayed to Usenet)
comp.* (computer-related discussions)
humanities.* (humanities-related discussions)
misc.* (miscellaneous discussions)
news.* (news/discussions about Usenet)
rec.* (recreation-related discussions)
sci.* (science-related discussions)
soc.* (sociology-related discussions)
talk.* (extended discussions)
Note that, contrary to the original intent of the developer of Usenet, most newsgroups are for electronic discussions between subscribers to the group and not solely one-way electronic distribution mechanisms for news. Usenet messages are arranged by "threads" (messages on the same subject are grouped together) so subscribers can easily follow discussions on the same topic over time. Reading Usenet news requires special software - newsreaders such as trn, Netscape, Outlook Express, or NewsWatcher. And to be able to subscribe to Usenet newsgroups, your institution or Internet Service Provider (ISP) must get a feed for them - you then fire up your newsreader to go and read the messages in the newsgroup you are interested in (unlike listserv or electronic discussion group messages which mostly arrive in your mailbox, though more and more web-based e-mail lists are being started).
More information about newsgroups is available via FAQs (fact or information files including answers to frequently-asked-questions about an aspect of Usenet) (http://www.faqs.org/faqs/) or via the newsgroup news.announce.newusers. Presently there are very few newsgroups covering international law specifically. Below are some newsgroups that touch on topics of interest to international legal researchers (news and discussions):
alt.politics.org.un
misc.immigration.usa
misc.news.bosnia
misc.news.east-europe.rferl
soc.rights.human
talk.politics.european-union
talk.politics.china
talk.politics.mideast
A few newsgroups are fee-based such as ClariNet‘s e.News service. ClariNet (http://www.clari.net) truly provides an electronic newspaper service. The following ClariNet newsgroups report on international law-related developments:
clari.biz.economy.world
clari.biz.world_trade
clari.news.conflict.peace_talks
clari.news.conflict.peacekeeping
clari.news.immigration
clari.news.issues.human_rights
clari.news.refugees
clari.usa.gov.policy.foreign
clari.world.africa.* (includes different countries and regions of Africa)
clari.world.americas.* (different countries and regions of the Americas)
clari.world.asia.* (different countries and regions of Asia)
clari.world.europe.* (different countries and regions of Europe)
clari.world.europe.union
clari.world.gov.intl_relations
clari.world.gov.politics
clari.world.law
clari.world.mideast.* (different countries of the Middle East)
clari.world.oceania.* (Australia, New Zealand, Oceania generally)
And international legal topics are discussed infrequently on the legal newsgroups (misc.legal; misc.legal.moderated; misc.int-property; misc.legal.computing). The richest source of information for the international law researcher currently via Usenet is Google (http://groups.google.com). Google accquired Deja‘s Usenet newsgroup archives in 2001. Deja or DejaNews archived messages posted to worldwide newsgroups (about 30,000) from March 1995 to date. This included German, Canadian, Brazilian, and other national newsgroups, as well as groups in the soc.culture.* hierarchy. These mostly non-legal groups can sometimes be places to check for news on new international agreements, foreign statutes, court cases, and major events. Google can be used to identify useful Usenet newsgroups for legal research. Note that, besides these discussion newsgroups, Google now has reports of world news at http://news.google.com.
III. OTHER INTERNATIONAL NETWORKS Other electronic networks exist to share news and views on international law.
JURIST: The Legal Education Network at http://jurist.law.pitt.edu was "designed to connect Neterate legal academics to each other, to law students, to the legal profession and to the public at large as individual law professors become independent information-providers on the World Wide Web...JURIST approximates the structure of a law school online, complete with virtual classrooms, library, conference hall and faculty offices." JURIST includes links to faculty home pages, course pages by subject, online journal articles, a "Lounge" area covering law school news, events, upcoming lectures, conferences, speeches, directories of law teachers, and other resource and reference pages.
The JURIST Network includes, via JURIST Worldwide at http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/worldwid.htm, the home pages of law teachers in Barbados, Belgium, Brazil, China, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Netherlands, Portugal, Singapore, South Africa, South Korea and Spain. Home pages for professors in common law countries such as the U.S., the U.K., Northern Ireland, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa are at http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/home_pgs.htm. There is also a special "Subject Guide" to faculty home pages and online materials and resources (syllabi, reading lists, etc.), for courses, conferences, calls for papers, related web sites, etc., on International and Comparative Law at http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/sg_il.htm. JURIST national or non-U.S. sites are JURIST Australia at Macquarie University (http://jurist.law.mq.edu.au), JURIST Canada at University of Toronto (http://jurist.law.utoronto.ca), JURIST UK at Cambridge University (http://jurist.law.cam.ac.uk/), JURIST EU (http://www.fd.unl.pt/je/index.htm), and JURIST Portugal at Universidade Nova de Lisboa (http://www.fd.unl.pt/jp/index.htm). JURIST includes guides to World Law at http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/world/index.htm and Law Blogs or Blawgs (law-related web logs or diaries, daily personal news and opinion webpages) at http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/views/blogs.htm - their BLAWGDEX. See particularly the International Trade Law and Policy blog at http://internationaltrade.blogspot.com and Daniel W. Drezner‘s International Relations blog at http://www.danieldrezner.com/blog. Other law-related blogs can be found via Blawg at http://www.blawg.org, NetLex (in French at http://www.netlexfrance.com/weblogs/), and PracticeSource‘s "Law Blogs Around the World at http://www.practicesource.com/knowledge.php. See also Daypop at http://www.daypop.com.
Like JURIST, the Social Science Research Network (SSRN) at http://www.ssrn.com also provides faculty and other legal professionals with opportunities for networking worldwide via the following specialized research sub-networks:
Accounting Research Network (ARN)
Economics Research Network (ERN)
Financial Economics Network (FEN)
Latin American Network (LAN)
Legal Scholarship Network (LSN)
Management Research Network (MRN)
These networks mainly comprise electronic journals for dissemination of abstracts of articles and working papers. Subscribers receive these journals via electronic mail and can communicate directly with the authors and other subscribers to these journals on their research. And it is possible to search the archives of papers (and download the full texts) by keyword in the Abstract, by Author, and by Journal/Topic at http://papers.ssrn.com/.
The Economics Research Network, in particular, includes electronic journals on European Economics, International Trade, International Finance, and Transition Economics. And an International Law and Trade Abstracts e-journal is available (http://www.ssrn.com/link/international-law-trade.html) on the Legal Scholarship Network (which also includes journals on topics such as Comparative Law, Constitutional Law, Corporate Law (including Finance Law, Securities Law, Takeover Law, and Corporate Governance Law), Cyberspace Law, European Law, Immigration, Refugee and Citizenship Law, Law and Economics, Tax Law and Policy: International and Comparative Tax, Antitrust, Environmental Law, Intellectual Property, Humanities and Culture, Public Law and Legal Theory, and Legal History; and papers of the European Corporate Governance Institute (ECGI)). There is a web-based form for subscribing to these electronic networks at http://www.ssrn.com/update/lsn/lsn_site-licenses.html. (See also http://papers.ssrn.com/SECURE/subscribeform.cfm?function=main). Note that the Social Science Research Network also includes information about job openings and other professional announcements.
The American Bar Association Network (ABANet) at http://www.abanet.org includes electronic discussion groups sponsored by its Section of International Law and Practice (http://www.abanet.org/intlaw) on topics such as International Human Rights Law, War Crimes, International Environmental Law, Foreign Claims, Immigration and Nationality, International Standards for Corrupt Practices, International Health Law, Women in International Law, International Protection of Cultural Property, and International Law and National Security. Instructions for subscribing to these e-fora (and other ABA fora) are available at http://www.abanet.org/discussions/home.html. The ABANet web site also includes links to information about ABA activities, meetings, programs, Law Technology resources (http://www.abanet.org/tech/ltrc/home.html), journals, newsletters, books and other publications, as well as law-related information on the Internet (via its LAWLink page at http://www.lawtechnology.org/lawlink/home.html).
Especially for the NGO community, there are the APC (Association for Progressive Communications) Institute for Global Communications (IGC) networks. These are low-cost means of communicating via electronic mail, Bulletin Board Systems, WWW, etc. Major APC/IGC networks include the following:
The IGC Networks contain electronic conferences/newsgroups for dissemination of information on human rights in Asia, the Pacific, Africa, the Americas, European, the Middle East and North Africa, indigenous peoples, conflict resolution, environmental law, prisons, immigration, development, children, women, refugees, international law, minority rights, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), racism and xenophobia, migration, United Nations documents, Amnesty International, Central and Latin America, torture, Statewatch, labor, Tibet.
There are also networks for dissemination of news via the World Wide Web such as the World News Connection (http://wnc.fedworld.gov or http://wnc.dialog.com) subscription service. The WNC is not available via Usenet as a newsgroup or on the Internet as an electronic mailing list, although there is an e-mail component. The WNC is intended to be the electronic replacement of the now-defunct U.S. government Foreign Broadcast Information Service (FBIS) Daily Reports. The WNC/FBIS contains the full text or summaries of current news from non-U.S. media translated into English. These news sources can include treaties, statutes, speeches, etc., in English. Other news sources include the UN Wire (http://www.unwire.org/), "An Independent News Briefing about the United Nations," published by the United Nations Foundation at http://www.unfoundation.org, The Project on International Courts and Tribunals (PICT news via http://www.pict-pcti.org/), the National Journal Group‘s Global Security Newswire (http://www.nti.org/d_newswire/d_index.html), the UN News Service (http://www.un.org/news/dh/latest/subscribe.shtml), IRINnews.org (United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, Integrated Regional Information Networks) at http://www.irinnews.org, ReliefWeb (http://www.reliefweb.int), and Actualité et Droit International: Revue d‘analyse juridique de l‘actualité internationale (http://www.ridi.org/adi/home.html) of the Réseau Internet pour le Droit International (RIDI). There are also subscription news services such as International Law Update (http://www.internationallawupdate.com), International Enforcement Law Reporter (http://www.ielr.com), WorldTradeLaw.net (http://www.worldtradelaw.net), Inside Washington Publishers‘ World Trade Online (http://www.insidetrade.com), a complement to Inside U.S. Trade, and the Bureau of National Affairs‘ International Trade Daily (http://www.bna.com/products/corplaw/tdln.htm) and WTO Reporter (http://www.bna.com/products/corplaw/wtor.htm).
International law organizations are also on the Internet, and their existence facilitates access to international legal expertise. Researchers can find specialists in the field or others with similar interests by going to web sites of specific organizations such as the American Society of International Law (http://www.asil.org) or checking directories of organizations and/or people in the field:
Other directories (http://www.lib.uchicago.edu/e/law/db/ref) exist for finding e-mail and postal addresses as well as telephone and fax numbers of persons specializing in international legal matters. And the available resources for networking internationally continue to grow.
IV. FINDING NEW RESOURCES It is very easy to keep current with new electronic resources on international law. There are other people trying to monitor lists, newsgroups, other electronic, and print sources to identify new resources. Thus, there is no need to duplicate their efforts.
Below are some tips on how to keep up with new electronic resources on international law:
Check out International Law In Brief, a twice monthly electronic bulletin including links to new international law documents (http://www.asil.org/ilibindx.htm);
Try a date search in the advanced search engine of EISIL, the Electronic Information System for International Law, a growing database of links to quality international law documents and resouces on the web.
Read Kris Gilliland‘s Keeping Up with the World: Tips on Current Awareness (http://www.llrx.com/features/current.htm) article; (see also CaLIM (LLRX.com article on the Current Awareness for Legal Information Managers Web database at http://www.llrx.com/features/calim.htm))
Check the "What‘s New" sections of international organization web sites or subscribe to their email update bulletins;
Monitor The Virtual Chase‘s TVC Alert, "a free weekday news bulletin, reports on industry events and Web-based resources for library and legal professionals (http://www.virtualchase.com/TVCAlert/index.html);
Check InSITE-L, Cornell University Law Library‘s electronic current awareness service containing law librarian evaluations of potentially useful law-related Web sites at http://www.lawschool.cornell.edu/lawlibrary/Finding_the_Law/insite.html;
Read the Law Library Resource Xchange, a free webzine that includes links to resources on foreign and international law (http://www.llrx.com) ;
Check subscription newsletters - for example, The Internet Lawyer (http://www.internetlawyer.com) and Glasser LegalWorks‘ Internet Law Researcher (http://www.internetlawresearcher.com)
Become a member of key international associations (the newsletters are starting to contain more and more URLs) or subscribe to lists relevant to your work such as EURO-LEX or INT-LAW or ASILIELG;
Skip tips #1-#11 and rely on the webmasters of the following sites for foreign, comparative, and international law research:
Yahoo! (Government - Law Links) http://dir.yahoo.com/Government/Law.
The resources above will enable you to track new developments in International Law, research current issues in the field, and exchange international legal information with colleagues around the world. Happy networking!
