AALS Section Program -- Law and Computers

Friday, January 7, 1994

Using the Internet for Scholarly Exchange: Electronic Conferences

I. Trotter Hardy

"Internet:" it's got a lot of services

Listserv's -- what are they?

How do they work?

What can you do with a listserv?

Here's one way to run an e-conference

Assessment

E-Conference Advantages

Drawbacks?

Best way to look at electronic conferences

How can you do it?

Future possibilities

In conclusion ...

"Internet:" it's got a lot of services:

• E-mail
• FTP
• Telnet
• WAIS, Gopher, Archie, Veronica
• Cello, Mosaic
• Listserv's {I will talk about this one}

Listserv's -- what are they?

• Software on Internet computers
• They maintain electronic mailing lists
• They handle automatic subscription services
• Listserv examples:
  • LAWPROF
  • TEKNOIDS
    [For a sample of a recent exchange that started on TEKNOIDS and spilled over onto LAWPROF see the messages published in the October issue of the Law Technology Journal. Ed.]
  • CYBERIA-L,
  • CNI-CPYRT
  • etc.
    [For a list of law lists see Will Sadler's compilation. Ed.]

How do they work?

• Subscription services:
  Anyone on the Internet can add (or delete) their name from a mailing list maintained by listserv software -- no human intervention
• Message distribution:
  Messages sent to a mailing list are distributed to all subscribers by listserv software

What can you do with a listserv?

• Subscription journals
  • Articles submitted for review
  • Selection and editing by editors
  • Regular, periodic distribution
• Discussion groups
  • Free-wheeling
  • No editing or screening
  • All messages sent to the mailing list by any subscriber are distributed to all subscribers right away
• Broadcast messages
  • News services: keep subscribers informed of late-breaking developments
  • Central creation and distribution of text
• Conferences
  • The focus of my talk
  • Defined events with limited duration

Here's one way to run an e-conference

• By-invitation only (closed list)
• About 20 to 25 people
• Two to three weeks' duration
• Examples of two such conferences I have run:
  • Cyberlaw conference - July-August 1992
    [For a more complete account of the Cyberlaw conference see Professor Hardy's account in the October issue of the Law Technology Journal. Ed.]
  • Newjuris conference - September-October 1993

Assessment

• Cyberlaw was about "The effect of e-mail on law teaching and law practice"
  • High interest level
  • Useful insights and ideas
• Newjuris was about "Whether the Internet should be treated as a separate legal jurisdiction"
  • Topic was new
  • Helped define the issues
• Overall: Both were highly successful

E-Conference advantages

• Location, location, location: NOT! --
  • Location of participants is not a factor at all; they can be anywhere the Internet goes)
• Low cost, low cost, low cost --
  • It only takes one's time
• Flexible participation levels --
  • Participants can join late, miss a couple of days, write volumes one day and none the next, etc.
• Critical mass of people on narrow topics --
  • No matter how obscure the topic, world-wide there are probably enough interested people to make up an e-conference
• Automatic transcript --
  • Complete record of the entire conference
  • Already digitized
  • Can be published as an "infobase" (computerized document)
  • Can be published in print (Cyberlaw will be published by William S. Hein sometime in early 1994)

Drawbacks?

• No face-to-face meetings, no visual cues
• No after-hours schmoozing
• Have to know how to type

Best way to look at electronic conferences:

• They are different from, not in competition with, live conferences

How can you do it?

• Are you on the Internet?
• Contact your computer center
• Will they set up a listserv?
  • If yes: have them set it up
  • If no: contact IIT -- Chicago-Kent
    • They may be able to do the technical work for you
    • Physical location of listserv does not matter

Future possibilities

• Better software
  • Mail gateways standardized
  • Easier listserv commands
  • Better message threading
  • Better message logging, searching
• Sound
• Images
• Video
• Wireless

In conclusion ...

• Whatever future improvements are in the offing, electronic conferences can work right now, over the Internet.
• They're useful (and fun).
• They cost only your time.

I. Trotter Hardy

Professor Hardy is the author of articles on the design of computer command languages, international data flows, health law, law and computers, and several articles on copyright law.

His current research interests include the use of computerized expert systems for advising students about legal research; electronic documents and hypertext; personal computer networking and electronic communication in legal education; the use of computer bulletin board systems for the delivery of legal information; and the use of the Internet for scholarly exchange. He is the moderator of "Cyberia," an Internet discussion list dealing with the law and policy of computer networks. Professor Hardy has recently experimented with conducting on-line conferences among small groups of participants over the Internet.