Internet focus groups and mailing lists for the environmental professional in site risk assessment and remediation

In 1957, four computers across the United States were linked to form the first version of what we now know to be the Internet. The Internet has grown way beyond what anyone working in the U.S. Department of Defense's special project team, Advanced Research Projects Agency or DARPA, more than 40 years ago, could ever have imagined. Yet despite the phenomenal growth of Internet users, and access to information in all fields of endeavor, finding genuinely useful and helpful Internet resources is still a challenge. Knowledge sharing in contaminated site assessment and remediation is increasing and this is occurring through several mechanisms and at many levels. International collaboration on site contamination and remediation issues is becoming evident at the highest level between countries. Lower-level interactions between organizations and individual practitioners are also increasing. Formation of partnerships in implementing site assessment and remediation solutions are becoming evident and there are now numerous websites, resulting from these collaborations, providing free access to completed reports and related materials. Internet mailing lists contribute to sharing of knowledge at all these levels but particularly encourage contributions from practitioners and those out there “doing the work” and often without the time to write up their contributions, though these can be substantial.