CriticalReview
Environmental monitoring in soil contamination and remediation
programs: how practitioners are using the Internet to share knowledge
Turlough F. Guerin
Shell Engineering Ltd., NSW State Office, PO Box 26, Granville, 2142 New South Wales,Australia. E-mail: [email protected]
Received 29th January 2001, Accepted 14th March 2001First published as an Advance Article on the web 24th April 2001
Internet listservers provide a means for professionals from all sectors of the industry and profession, to
communicate and collaborate with each other, as well as other stakeholders (e.g., suppliers, academics, the
general public and community members) in real time. This article highlights key Internet listservers in the field of
environmental monitoring in soil contamination and remediation and how to subscribe to them. The most active
and relevant listservers for environmental scientists, technologists and professionals in the soil contamination
and remediation profession are the Bioremediation Discussion Group (BioGroup), Phytonet, Phytoremediation
listserver, Groundwater listserver and Environmental Forensics listserver. Other observations and lessons so far
from the use of Internet listservers are: (i) that moderators provide an important role in maintaining the level of
quality and participation, (ii) do not underestimate the knowledge base held within these, and (iii) if not selected
and managed properly, e-mail from listservers can generate an excess of e-mail and waste time.
Introduction
The generation of knowledge in environmental monitoring ofsoil contamination and remediation has increased dramaticallyover the past 20 years. Over this time, international collabora-tion on soil contamination and remediation issues has becomeevident at the highest level between countries.1 Formation ofpartnerships for joint research and implementing site assess-ment and remediation solutions, are developing2,3 and there arenow numerous international organizations and collaborations,and websites resulting from these, providing access tocompleted reports and other shared learnings, e.g., US EPA,RTDF (Research & Technology Development Forum), andNATO’s Committee for Challenges of Modern Society.4–7
Lower-level interactions between organizations and individualpractitioners have also increased, particularly so with thewidespread adoption of the Internet in developed nations overthe past 5–10 years. International collaboration is nowbecoming a topic of interest at international conferences onsoil contamination and remediation. For example, this topicper se (excluding presentations based on the results ofinternational collaboration), was addressed as the primarycontent of up to 7% of all the presentations at two recentinternational soil contamination and remediation conferences.8
For effective technology transfer and adoption it isimportant to recognize and harness informal networks ofprofessionals.9 This applies to corporations with potentialtechnology adopters within operating business units, companypractitioners and consultants. It also applies to governmentsand non-governmental organizations.
Internet listservers have become an important mechanismfor technology and information transfer, a technology in itselfthat is enabling this networking. In a soil contamination andremediation context, the use of the Internet and Internetlistservers are contributing to the sharing of knowledge at allthese levels, encouraging contributions from a wide range ofpractitioners and allowing the widespread distribution of ideasin this diverse field.10 As previously described in a recentpublication on the Internet and listservers as sources ofinformation and knowledge, if moderated by an expert in thefield, listservers can be useful resources, particularly for rapid
exchange of ideas and discussion.11 From this perspective,Internet listservers have much to offer as a means of supportingcollaborative learning and technology transfer.
The purpose of this article is to provide environmentalscientists, technologists and professionals with information tohelp them decide which listservers to subscribe to and how todo this. The focus of this discussion is summarized in thefollowing question: How can environmental professionals,working in the field of soil contamination and remediation,access the knowledge of other related professionals using Internetlistservers? In addressing this focus, the discussion addressesthe following related questions.
What are Internet listservers and how can they be used?Which are the key Internet listservers available to environ-
mental scientists, technologists, and professionals working inthe field of environmental monitoring of soil contaminationand remediation?
What have we learnt so far about Internet listservers andtheir usefulness for environmental scientists, technologists, andprofessionals?
Internet listservers
Software issues
Listservers are subscribed electronic discussion groups thatallow the users on the mailing listserver to exchangeinformation with one another and post questions on a broadrange of topics. The exchange of information takes place viae-mail where the message that one posts to the listserver will bebroadcast to everyone on that particular listserver. Thesoftware responsible for the management and distribution ofe-mail messages to subscribers, are commonly called ‘‘list-servers’’. A listserver automatically distributes an e-mailmessage from one member of a listserver to all other memberson that listserver.
There are two important facts that potential listserversubscribers need to know. First, in order to access theinformation on the listserver, one needs to subscribe to it viaan e-mail account. An Internet browser is required to openthese websites, such as Microsoft Internet Explorer, Netscape
DOI: 10.1039/b100984m J. Environ. Monit., 2001, 3, 267–273 267
This journal is # The Royal Society of Chemistry 2001
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Communicator or Eudora. Second, every listserver has twoaddresses. The first is the ‘‘listserver manager’’ address. This isthe address to which administrative commands are sent (e.g.subscribe or unsubscribe). Only the software sees thesemessages. The other address is the ‘‘listserver’’ address. Thisis where messages are sent that are directed to everyone on thelistserver. Listservers, in many instances, are set up so that onlysubscribers may post.
Subscriptions to listservers
Once it has been decided which listservers are to be subscribedto, one can then manage these relatively easily. It is possible tobe subscribed to several of these listservers simultaneously.Many professionals indicate that subscription to listservers canfill their e-mail inboxes and of course that is true and alimitation of having information served up to an e-mailaccount. But this can be handled relatively simply withfunctions on the e-mail software, which can sort incominge-mails from various listservers into specific inbox folders.Microsoft Outlook for example, will allow subscribers to directincoming e-mails from a range of listservers to specific folders,within Microsoft Outlook, to keep listserver e-mails frompersonal e-mails. Alternatively, one can subscribe via adifferent account that one can freely access on the Internet(e.g. www.hotmail.com) and have subscriptions go there, whichagain can be handled relatively easily. A drawback with thesefree Internet service providers is that they can be very slow touse. Also, some listservers have a digest option that ensuresthat subscribers only receive one e-mail from that listserverover a specified period of time, e.g., over a 24 h period. Ifparticular listservers prove to be unsuitable for one’s purposesafter a period of evaluation, it is simply a matter ofunsubscribing from that listserver.
The instructions for subscribing to each of the listservers areusually described at a website or URL (universal resourcelocator). At the time of publication of this article, the URLsgiven in this article were correct. Where there has been a changein homepage spelling, search the Internet using a powerfulsearch engine such as http://www.copernic.com to find the newURL location of the listserver, if it still exists.
First time users and housekeeping issues
It is prudent, as a first time subscriber, not to expect ‘‘text-book’’ answers, even from the most carefully worded questionsposted to a listserver. The main value of listservers lies in thevariety of responses and opinions surrounding the topic inquestion. On the other hand, be careful not to underestimatethe knowledge base that can contribute to these discussions.Don’t think that there will be little value in joining. At least tryone of the listservers described in this article to see the widerange of contributions in terms of both style, skill andknowledge. Furthermore, don’t be put off by a poor responseor an apparent personal attack when posting a message—it istypically best to ignore these. Sometimes questions or postingsto a listserver need to be reworded and clarifications made andthen resent. Requests should be worded carefully, thinkingthrough how others on the listserver will perceive a posting. Inthe case of the BioGroup, only y25% of first-time posts areaccepted.
One of the most valuable aspects of listservers is the varietyof participants, so also be willing to accept new ideas oropinions, even if they seem to run contrary to conventionalwisdom. Provide context for other subscribers wherever this ispossible though one should be sensitive when dealing withconfidential clients or particular contaminated sites, or specificenvironmental problems. This will help to ensure that onereceives the maximum number of relevant responses to a posted
question. A single sentence may be sufficient to providecontext.
In most cases, if one posts a message that is not quite ontopic, other subscribers will usually provide guidance onchoosing a more suitable forum or the participant will notreceive an answer. Some contributors will even suggest thatperhaps the right question is not being asked. This is valuablefeedback. It is worth looking at or searching the online archivesof these listservers (where these are available) prior to posting acontribution. These will provide an idea of the topics actuallycovered on the particular listserver of interest and the culture ofthe group including the level of detail of the discussion, theresponses to new ideas and spam.
It is important to remember to turn off the auto-reply for anye-mail address that is the recipient of messages from alistserver. This prevents all participants receiving unnecessarye-mails and helps keep participants focused on discussionsrelating to the reason for forming the listserver in the first place.
Netiquette
Listserver participants should understand and practice ‘‘neti-quette’’. This is Internet language for manners. Much of one’ssuccess from the use of the Internet, in a broader sense, stemsfrom an understanding and practice of netiquette.
Netiquette is probably the most overlooked aspect of usingthe Internet and will be one of the most important challengesfor professionals being effective in using the Internet-basedcommunication technologies in the future. Subscribers shouldalso check the specific requirements of postings contributionsto listservers as these often vary. This also applies to the morefundamental aspects of listservers such as sending commandsto the correct listserver address, keeping messages succinct,using descriptive subject headers lines, subscribing/unsubscrib-ing in the correct manner. For example, an activity whichprovides a simple courtesy to other participants and also ofgreat valuable to busy participants, is to provide a clearsentence in the subject line header that gives the reader a clue asto what they are about to read and also includes anabbreviation of the listserver’s name such as ‘‘BG: CurrentRemediation Options for PCE in Vadose Zone?’’ for theBioGroup Listserver. Other netiquette issues are as follows:
Information that is easily obtainable from other codifiedsources, e.g., a library, database, or a readily available book,should not typically be requested on listservers.
Where possible post a summary of all answers to thelistserver that one received from personal e-mails answering aspecific query to a listserver, where the topic is likely to be ofgeneral interest.
With all these listservers, use English language at all times,unless the listserver has been established to accommodate otherlanguages.
As a general rule on listservers, do not post any attachmentsto messages.
Aim to keep messages as brief as possible or practical.Given the worldwide distribution of many listservers, it is
also imperative that acronyms be clearly defined in all postedmessages.
An excellent coverage of netiquette is given at http://www.collaborative-learning.org/resources/tools/e-mail.html#global.
Advertising and advertorials
It is important not to spam on listservers. Spam is anadvertisement or other unsolicited material sent to largenumbers of listservers with no consideration for whether ornot the material is appropriate for the listservers it is being sentto. Spam, which is usually posted by individuals external to theinterest groups on these listservers, is a good way for a listserver
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moderator to decide to stop the listserver or to send ‘‘faithful’’subscribers away.
Most listservers explicitly do not want commercial e-mails,and to most listserver members these would be unwelcomemessages or spam. However, there can be tremendous value inbeing able (in a tasteful and sensitive way) to get one’s messagethrough to several hundred or several thousand people with aknown or likely interest in one’s product or service. Listserversprovide a type of demographically preselected, focusedaudience, and indeed many members of such an audiencecould well benefit from learning about legitimate products andservices tailored for their needs and professions. Participantsneed to be sensitive to the need to avoid overtly commercialpostings to any listserver. If one decides to send out suchadvertisements, be sure to include something newsworthy or ofgeneral interest. The challenge is how to do it withoutalienating the majority of the members who don’t wantcommercial messages on the listserver. Though unsolicitedvendor claims are typically unwelcome, advertisementannouncements within the following areas are usually toleratedproviding they are infrequent and substantive:
Information on events such as workshops, conferences, andsymposia.
New scientific/engineering software and software supportservices.
New technical references (e.g., books, periodicals, electronicdatabases, etc.).
Employment and project teaming opportunities.Several listservers have begun to address this problem, with
possible solutions including a general permissiveness ofcommercial messages, as long as they are posted onlysporadically, or a more limited permission to post a specifiednumber of commercial messages in exchange for financialsupport of the group or its website. Thoughtful policies in thisregard could solve the problem of commercial content onlistservers in a way that benefits all parties. Moderatedlistservers are generally the most free of spam, because manycommercial posts are summarily rejected.
Archives
Listserver archives can provide an excellent database forperforming key word searches of discussion threads. These canprove valuable when conducting Internet searches. Forexample, see those for the BioGroup (see http://gw.cciw.ca/lists/biogroup). These are currently hosted by EnvironmentCanada. Note that not all the listservers have searchablearchives.
Listservers relevant to environmental monitoring
Identification of listservers and ranking criteria
Listservers covering numerous fields relating to soil contam-ination and remediation including practical and commercialaspects have emerged over the past decade. The remainder ofthis article describes specific examples of Internet listservers,referred to as either major or minor listservers, covering thetopic of soil contamination and remediation, and their relativeimportance for environmental scientists and professionals.These listservers were identified through Internet searchesusing: 1. conventional search engines (e.g. www.altavista.com,www.copernic.com, www.thebighub.com), and 2. specificsearches using the listserver hosting webpages (e.g. www.mailbase.ac.uk). All of the listservers identified can be sub-scribed to without any fee.
Message posting frequency was used to rank the activity levelof the listservers presented in this article. This was used inconjunction with relevance and quality of discussions, whichwere estimated from the observations made of messages postedto the listservers described. The ranking criteria are given inTable 1. Detailed statistics for selected listservers are describedon their homepages (see URLs in Tables 2 and 3). For example,those listservers that are hosted on the website www.yahoogroups.com or www.mailbase.ac.uk provide excellent statisticalinformation on these listservers, including posting frequency,number of subscribers and the date the first message wasposted. Where statistical information was unavailable on thelistserver homepage, or where there were no archives available,an estimate was made from observations of listserver activityover the 2–2.5 year period prior to the date of publication ofthis article.
Major listservers
The most relevant and active of the listservers identified werethose on bioremediation, groundwater, phytoremediation, andenvironmental forensics (Table 2). The following paragraphs inthis section describe the key attributes of these majorlistservers.
Like all Internet discussions and listservers, discussionsoccur virtually in real time. These particular listservers providean important connection for individuals to network with theinternational environmental consulting, regulatory, andresearch professions for several reasons:
They each cover topical and relevant issues on soilcontamination and remediation.
Owing to their size and relevance to remediation profes-sionals, they attract contributions from recognized professionals
Table 1 Criteria for ranking Internet listservers in current study
Ranking criteriaa Description or measure
Measurement
Qualitative Quantitative
Relevance and qualityof discussion
Regular ongoing threads, discussions directly on topic, focused advertorials,well known professionals contribute, well thought out requests and responses
High w60% of postings
Occasional ongoing threads, discussions mostly directed to topic, advertorialsusually focused towards listserver discussion, some well known professionalscontribute, request and responses are usually well thought out
Medium y40–60% of postings
Very few ongoing threads of discussion, often unfocused queries, advertorialsoften off-topic, few well know professionals contribute, requests andresponses often poorly constructed
Low v40% of postings
Activity Posting frequency Very high w5 per dayPosting frequency High w1 per dayPosting frequency Medium y1 per weekPosting frequency Low v1 per weekPosting frequency Very low v1 per month
aData used in the ranking of the listservers was obtained directly or estimated from the listserver homepages. Selected listservers contain config-uration data which provided posting statistics on those particular listservers.
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Tab
le2
Majo
rli
stse
rver
sco
ver
ing
envir
on
men
tal
mo
nit
ori
ng,
soil
con
tam
inati
on
an
dre
med
iati
on
issu
es
Lis
tser
ver
nam
eY
ear
sta
rted
Mo
der
ate
dA
ctiv
ity
Rel
evan
cean
dq
uali
tyG
eogra
ph
icfo
cus
Arc
hiv
esM
emb
ersa
Ho
stin
go
rgan
izati
on
Ho
mep
age
loca
tio
nb
(UR
L)
(su
bsc
rip
tio
nan
darc
hiv
es)
Bio
rem
edia
tio
nG
rou
p(B
ioG
rou
p)
19
96
Yes
Hig
h–ver
yh
igh
Hig
hIn
tern
ati
on
al
Yes
2500
Sch
aff
ner
Ap
pli
edB
ioG
eoS
cien
ces,
LL
Ch
ttp
://w
ww
.bio
rem
edia
tio
ngro
up
.org
(su
bsc
rib
e)h
ttp
://g
w.c
ciw
.ca/l
ists
/bio
gro
up
(arc
hiv
es)
Gro
un
dw
ate
r1
99
5Y
esV
ery
hig
hH
igh
Inte
rnati
on
al
No
w3000
Sci
enti
fic
So
ftw
are
Gro
up
,U
Sw
ww
.gro
un
dw
ate
r.co
m(s
ub
scri
be)
Ph
yto
Net
20
00
No
Med
ium
Hig
hIn
tern
ati
on
al
Yes
y400
Dep
art
men
to
fE
nvir
on
men
tal
Sci
ence
,U
niv
ersi
tyo
fP
harm
a,
Italy
htt
p:/
/ww
w.d
sa.u
nip
r.it
/ph
yto
net
(su
bsc
rib
e)h
ttp
://w
ww
.dsa
.un
ipr.
it/p
iper
/ph
yto
net
(arc
hiv
es)
Ph
yto
rem
edia
tio
n1
99
8N
oM
ediu
mH
igh
Inte
rnati
on
al
No
y400
Kan
sas
Sta
teU
niv
ersi
ty,
US
htt
p:/
/ww
w.e
ngg.k
su.e
du
/HS
RC
/ph
yto
rem
/ho
me.
htm
l(s
ub
scri
be)
En
vir
on
men
tal
Fo
ren
sics
(EF
)1
99
9Y
esM
ediu
mH
igh
US
Yes
w100
Elm
En
gin
eeri
ng,
OK
,U
Sh
ttp
://w
ww
.elm
engin
eeri
ng.c
om
(su
bsc
rib
ean
darc
hiv
es)
So
il&
Gro
un
dw
ate
rR
emed
iati
on
Dis
cuss
ion
19
99
Yes
Lo
wH
igh
US
Yes
—E
lmE
ngin
eeri
ng,
OK
,U
Sh
ttp
://w
ww
.elm
engin
eeri
ng.c
om
(su
bsc
rib
ean
darc
hiv
es)
Bro
wn
fiel
ds
Dis
cuss
ion
20
00
Yes
Lo
wH
igh
US
Yes
—E
lmE
ngin
eeri
ng,
OK
,U
Sh
ttp
://b
row
nfi
eld
s.gro
up
.lis
tbo
t.co
m(s
ub
scri
be)
htt
p:/
/bro
wn
fiel
ds.
gro
up
.lis
tbo
t.co
m/c
gi-
sub
scri
ber
?Act
~vie
w_arc
hiv
e&li
st_id
~b
row
nfi
eld
.gro
up
(arc
hiv
es)
Co
nta
min
ate
dS
edim
ents
(Co
nS
ed)
20
00
No
Ver
ylo
wH
igh
Inte
rnati
on
al
Yes
v50
—h
ttp
://w
ww
.egro
up
s.co
m/g
rou
p/c
on
sed
(arc
hiv
es&
sub
scri
be)
Fo
cus
on
Co
nta
min
ate
dIn
du
stri
al
Lan
d(F
OC
IL)
1998
No
Ver
ylo
wH
igh
UK
No
223
No
ttin
gh
am
Tre
nt
Un
iver
sity
,U
Kh
ttp
://w
ww
base
.ac.
uk
/lis
ts/f
oci
l/jo
in.h
tml
(su
bsc
rib
e)h
ttp
://w
ww
base
.ac.
uk
/lis
ts/f
oci
l/arc
hiv
e.h
tml
(arc
hiv
es)
Sed
imen
tsL
ist
19
98
No
Ver
ylo
wM
ediu
mU
SN
ov
50
Geo
rgia
Tec
hR
esea
rch
Co
rpo
rati
on
,G
A,
US
htt
p:/
/ww
w.s
edim
ents
.org
(arc
hiv
esan
dsu
bsc
rib
e)
So
ils-
L1
99
3N
oL
ow
Med
ium
Inte
rnati
on
al
Yes
670
Init
iate
dat
Un
iver
sity
of
Neb
rask
a-L
inco
ln,
US
htt
p:/
/ww
w.a
last
ra.c
om
/pam
l/gro
up
sS/s
oil
s-l.
htm
l(s
ub
scri
be)
htt
p:/
/ww
w.i
bib
lio
.org
/pu
b/a
cad
emic
/agri
cult
ure
/agro
no
my/S
OIL
S-L
/lo
g9311.s
oil
s-l.
htm
l(a
rch
ives
:b
ut
no
tcu
rren
t)B
riti
shS
oil
Sci
ence
So
ciet
yL
ist
(BS
SS
-So
il)
1996
No
Lo
wL
ow
UK
Yes
137
Bri
tish
So
ilS
cien
ceS
oci
ety,
UK
htt
p:/
/ww
w.m
ail
base
.ac.
uk
/lis
ts/b
sss-
soil
/jo
in.h
tml
(su
bsc
rib
e)h
ttp
://w
ww
base
.ac.
uk
/lis
ts/b
sss-
soil
/arc
hiv
e.h
tml
(arc
hiv
e)C
on
tam
ina
ted
Lan
dR
eha
bil
ita
tio
nN
etw
ork
(CL
AR
INE
T-U
K)c
1999
No
Ver
ylo
wH
igh
UK
Yes
20
Un
iver
sity
of
No
ttin
gh
am
,U
Kh
ttp
://w
ww
base
.ac.
uk
/lis
ts/c
lari
net
-uk
/jo
in.h
tml
(su
bsc
rib
e)h
ttp
://w
ww
base
.ac.
uk
/lis
ts/c
lari
net
-uk
/arc
hiv
e.h
tml
(arc
hiv
es)
So
ilC
hem
istr
yL
ist
(So
il-C
hem
)1998
No
Ver
ylo
wL
ow
US
Yes
—S
oil
Sci
ence
So
ciet
yo
fA
mer
ica
htt
p:/
/ww
w.s
oil
s.o
rg/d
ivs/
s2/d
iscu
ssio
n.h
tml
(su
bsc
rib
e)h
ttp
://s
oil
.agro
no
my.o
rg/a
rch
ives
/so
il-c
hem
/in
dex
.htm
(arc
hiv
es)
aN
oo
fm
emb
ers
wer
ees
tim
ate
sat
the
tim
em
an
usc
rip
tw
as
sub
mit
ted
for
pu
bli
cati
on
.D
ata
was
no
tavail
ab
lefo
rall
list
serv
ers
an
dth
ese
wer
em
ark
edw
ith
ad
ash
.bM
an
yh
ave
searc
hab
learc
hiv
esw
hic
hca
nb
eu
sed
as
data
base
s.A
llli
stse
rver
su
seth
eE
ngli
shla
ngu
age.
cA
nex
cell
ent
dis
cuss
ion
of
the
bro
ad
erC
LA
RIN
ET
init
iati
ve
isd
escr
ibed
by
Bard
os.
12
270 J. Environ. Monit., 2001, 3, 267–273
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Tab
le3
Min
or
list
serv
ers
cov
erin
gis
sues
rela
ted
toen
vir
on
men
tal
mo
nit
ori
ng,
soil
con
tam
inati
on
an
dre
med
iati
on
Lis
tser
ver
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J. Environ. Monit., 2001, 3, 267–273 271
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from around the world, though this is not always a regularoccurrence.
These listservers tend to encourage contributions from awide range of subscribers with well established membersproviding guidance to new subscribers.
The ideas raised on these major listservers are oftenthoroughly debated and queried. On most occasions, withsignificant ‘‘threads’’ (lines of discussion), many sides of anargument are debated, and this reflects the depth of knowledgeof participants as well as the relatively large numbers ofparticipants on these listservers. Seeing this in action andparticipating is a great benefit in itself. It could very well be thatsomebody else’s comments or ideas will provide the additionalinformation that is needed to chase another alternative oroption for one’s own work.
These major listservers are neither academically norindustrially focused so they provide balanced viewpoints onthe majority of topics discussed. They are not dominated byany one individual or group so there are always fresh andvaried contributions and lines of argument. Similarly, theselistservers are not focused on any one or particular geographicregion. In addition, there are few posting on these listserversthat are completely ‘‘off-topic’’ or that have no relevance to thefield whatsoever.
These major listservers are also the most active, informative,and professional. In effect, these listservers provide environ-mental professionals with four major meeting places on theInternet. Worth noting here is that most of these listservershave originated in the US. As such they have a large UScomponent in the contributions, with the exception ofPhytoNet (originated in Italy), and the CLARINET-UK,FOCIL, and the BSSS listservers, all of which originated in theUK.
The BioGroup listserver covers all aspects of bioremediationof contaminated soils, sediments, and water. Participants onthis listserver include environmental consultants, industrialrepresentatives, regulators, researchers, educators, students,and others with diverse backgrounds in education andexperience. Membership is open to environmental engineers,hydrogeologists, soil scientists, microbiologists, and environ-mental chemists, and it is moderated.
The Groundwater listserver is a high traffic discussionlistserver discussing a broad range of issues relating to thescience, assessment and remediation of contaminated ground-water. It covers all aspects of groundwater and its remediation,however, it is not moderated.
PhytoNet was developed to allow worldwide communica-tions between scientists who work on problems related withphytoremediation and application of plant systems to environ-mental control. Topics covered on PhytoNet include applica-tion of plants to soil and water remediation, phytoextractionfrom contaminated soils (heavy metals, radionuclides andxenobiotics), and treatment of waste waters. It is also amoderated listserver. The Phytoremediation listserver is for thediscussion of research and development of phytoremediation,which is the use of plants to remediate contaminated soil andgroundwater. Topics relevant to the listserver include theuptake of contaminants by plants, enhanced microbial activityin the rhizosphere and revegetation in contaminated soils. Itcovers many of the issues raised in the PhytoNet listserver.Neither the Phytoremediation or the PhytoNet listservers aremoderated.
The Environmental Forensics listserver, another majorlistserver, is a discussion of the science and technology toestablish legal position in environmental disputes. It has aparticular focus on analytical aspects of environmentalcontamination and remediation, and should be of particularinterest to commercial environmental chemists and consul-tants. This is also an open and unmoderated listserver.
Activity and quality/relevance, which are high on some of
these listservers, are key measures of whether or not thelistserver will be useful to subscribers. Furthermore, theselistservers are not widely used for posting of announcementsand notices for conferences and related factual information. Itis information and knowledge, that is, ideas and opinions, thatmake these listservers such useful resources, not data or factsper se. The BioGroup is one of the most consistent andfrequently used listservers, with a high level of activity. ThePhytonet and Phytoremediation listservers all have a mediumlevel of activity. The relevance and quality (or value) of theselistservers to practitioners with contamination and remediationproblems in soils, sediments, groundwater and surface watersare listed from very low to very high. The BioGroup,Groundwater, Phytonet, Phytoremediation, Brownfields Dis-cussion, ConSed, and FOCIL listservers, all have a high level ofrelevance to the field of soil contamination and remediation.However, only the BioGroup and Groundwater listservershave a high level of activity as well.
Minor listservers
There are other, less active and less relevant listservers thanthose previously mentioned, including those that discuss thebroader aspects of soil contamination and remediation. Theselistservers include the Environmental Professionals (EP),Enviromine Technical, Enviromine Issues, Env-Chem, Eco-toxicology-L, ToxList, AMENet, Geo-Env, and Leaklistlistservers. Each of these listservers is described in Table 3.These have all been classified in the current article as havingmedium to high relevance to the field. There are several otherrelated listservers and these have also been included in Table 3.
The EP listserver is hosted by the National Association ofEnvironmental Professionals (NAEP) in the US. There is onlylimited discussion on soil, sediment and water contaminationand hazardous wastes. It has a US focus.
Enviromine Technical covers issues related to soil and waterat mining operations, covering site reclamation, pollutionprevention, acid rock drainage (prediction, control, andmitigation) and environmental monitoring. This has a USfocus. A related listserver, Enviromine Issues, covers topics inmining and the environment, topics covered are laws,regulations and permit requirements, identification andevaluation of environmental effects and issues, permit andproject review processes, public involvement and relations, aswell as cultural and land use issues. It also has a US focus. TheAustralian Mining Environment Network (AMENet) is anetwork hosted by the Australian Minerals & EnergyEnvironment Foundation (AMEEF) for environmental man-agers, researchers and others working in the Australianminerals, energy and related industries where subscribers areable to discuss a range of soil contamination and remediationissues in mining.
The Environmental Chemistry listserver (Env-Chem) is adiscussion forum concerning all areas of environmentalchemistry, geochemistry and biogeochemistry, including thechemistry of terrestrial and marine aquatic environments, soiland sedimentary systems and the atmosphere. It has a UKfocus.
In summary, the following are among the topics addressedby the listservers reported in Tables 2 and 3: bioremediation;brownfields redevelopment; environmental monitoring; envir-onmental regulatory issues; environmental risk assessment;land rehabilitation; mining and the environment; phytoreme-diation; sediments and their remediation; site remediationincluding bioremediation; soils; and water and groundwatertreatment and remediation.
The more specific areas within the general area of sitecontamination and remediation that are discussed on thelistservers are: acid rock drainage; chemical and pollutantcharacterization; composting; ecotoxicology and toxicology;
272 J. Environ. Monit., 2001, 3, 267–273
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environmental chemistry; environmental forensics; hazardouswaste; soil chemistry; surface water pollution issues; and waterchemistry.
General observations
Internet listservers can waste time and hinder productivity. Butthis is true of any means of communication. So this tends toreinforce the idea that the line between improved effectivenessas a professional and that of wasting time, is fine. But, if usedeffectively, the benefits of using these listservers outweigh thisnegative aspect. Three general observations from participationin the major and minor listservers described in this discussionare given in the following paragraphs.
1. Listservers enhance professional development and contri-butions. Of key importance is that listservers give all profes-sionals an opportunity to contribute to knowledgedevelopment and application in this important field. Almostall listservers described in this article encourage contributionsand are probably an undervalued resource for environmentalprofessionals on the Internet. In addition, given the diversity ofparticipants, there are many unknown or less known, buthighly qualified expert participants whose constructive dissentprovides valuable input to these listservers. For example, adiscussion thread on the BioGroup listserver, initiated by agraduate student at University of New Hampshire, began apassionate discussion on monitored natural attenuation thatlasted for about a week. Several of the posts from thatdiscussion thread were eventually published in EnvironmentalScience & Technology.13 Also, listservers, at the current time,tend to have mostly participants from developed nations activeon them. Therefore there is great potential for environmentalprofessionals from developing nations to become active.
2. Moderators provide necessary leadership and manage-ment. Moderated listservers are those in which a moderatorreviews messages before they are released, and only thosemeeting posting guidelines are distributed to subscribers.Moderated listservers are probably one of the most usefulsources of knowledge for practitioners in the soil contamina-tion and remediation field. Moderators provide much neededleadership on such discussions, keeping contributors andparticipants within the scope of the listserver, and keepingadvertising materials and completely off-topic trash to aminimum. An effective moderator will help to ensure thata listserver’s culture develops along a particular, desiredpath, which in turn will tend to attract other like-mindedprofessionals to join.
3. Listservers are a source of tacit knowledge. Internetlistservers provide an excellent source of tacit knowledge,that is, knowledge that is unseen but held in people’s minds.They are probably one of the few readily accessible ways ofgetting access to this information other than through face-to-face contact or a phone call, with the benefit of being able goback and check what was recorded as well as being able toconvey sufficient detail as appropriate. One can also be briefand most subscribers understand that one is not necessarilybeing curt with the other participants. One of the key aspects ofthe listservers described in this article has been in the exchangeof experiences, particularly those of practitioners, much ofwhich is not published in the scientific or trade journals, orformally presented at professional conferences, symposia, or
workshops. Furthermore, the fact that the listservers describedare free of charge makes it attractive for a range ofprofessionals and students, especially those in developingnations with limited financial resources.
Conclusions
There are a range of Internet listservers covering the array oftopics pertinent to any professional working in the field ofenvironmental monitoring in soil contamination and remedia-tion. Overall, these listservers provide a useful mechanism forobtaining outside knowledge regarding this important field.The benefits of these listservers include enhanced learning forparticipants and being a member of an international commu-nity of environmental professionals.
General observations so far from the use of Internetlistservers in the field of environmental monitoring of soilcontamination and remediation are as follows: (i) the majorlistservers identified in the current study, with the highestrelevance, quality and frequency of postings, are BioGroup,Groundwater, PhytoNet, Phytoremediation and Environmen-tal Forensics listservers; (ii) as environmental scientists,technologists and professionals, Internet listservers are defi-nitely fostering collaborative learning and communicationacross this field; (iii) of the listservers identified in the currentstudy, moderated listservers appear to be the most useful forenvironmental professionals; (iv) do not underestimate theknowledge base held within the major listservers in soilcontamination and remediation, the best way to address thisis to become active; (v) active listservers do not necessarilymean the knowledge shared is of a high or even acceptablevalue; and (vi) if not selected and managed properly, e-mailsfrom listservers can generate an excess of e-mail and wastetime.
It is also interesting to observe that (as would be expected inmost fields), the people most qualified to answer questionsinclude the international experts who are widely published inthe print media. Paradoxically, it is these people who are oftentoo busy to answer their personal mail or e-mails, much less toactively participate in listservers. There is also a smallpercentage, though increasingly shrinking, of people who donot yet use the Internet and these are excluded fromparticipating. These issues represent further challenges inknowledge management and collaborative learning on theInternet.
References
1 T. F. Guerin, Water, Air, Soil, Pollut., 2001, 126, 207.2 H. Kasamas, J. Denner, I.-M. Skovgard and P. Bardos, in
Contaminated Soil ’98, Thomas Telford, London, 1998, pp. 733–740.
3 H. Kasamas, V. Franzius and C. Ferguson, in Contaminated Soil’98, Thomas Telford, London, 1998, pp. 19–24.
4 CEST Homepage, 2000, [http://www.cest.org.uk].5 CRESP Homepage, 2000, [http://www.cresp.org].6 US EPA CLU-IN Homepage, 2000, [http://clu-in.com].7 M. A. Smith, S. C. James and W. W. Kovalick, in Contaminated
Soil ’98, Thomas Telford, London, 1998, pp. 9–18.8 T. F. Guerin, J. Soils Sediments, 2000, 1, DOI: http://dx.doi.org/
10.1065/jss2000.1011.1002.9 T. F. Guerin, Environ. Conserv., 1999, 25, 289.
10 T. F. Guerin, Mining Environ. Manage., 2000, 8, 16.11 R. Chalmers, New Sci., 2000, 3, 32.12 P. Bardos, Land Contam. Reclam., 2000, 8, 248.13 S. Hart, Environ. Sci. Technol., 1996, 30, 398.
J. Environ. Monit., 2001, 3, 267–273 273
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