EMR Online

Linda Kosmin Langford
IEEE EMS Board of Governors

Unfettered by geographical distances or time spent in transit, desktop-computer-driven discussion forums on the Internet continue to increase in popularity. Virtual conferencing options are gaining in frequency and are often supplemented by topic-related, web-based live chat rooms, as well as more traditional newsgroups and electronic mailing lists.

Topic-centric electronic mailing lists, which are primarily distributed among decentralized, special-interest-group subscribers, foster insightful posts, as well as automated newsletters and new business product alerts. System features and message maintenance performance vary depending on themailing list management software (e.g., MajorDomo, Listserv) used. Rarely are fees charged for participating in discussions or subscribing to the email lists described below, as user costs are absorbed by organizational sponsors and advertiser-supported services.

Because thousands of discussion forums welcome worldwide participation, it is important note how the Internet helps users to hurdle global language barriers. Moreover, many other forms of trans-border business communications can profit by swift, on-demand access to foreign language resources including international vocabularies, phrase and idiom interpretations, and sound files demonstrating the correct pronunciation of unfamiliar speech.

The lexicon-rich Internet offers a choice of portals to a vast selection of options including freely accessible dictionaries, self-service translator tools, and grammar pointers. Website examples described below boast links to many fee-free tools, as well as to subscription-based services inside password-controlled firewalls. While navigating these sites, keep in mind that Internet passports to bi- and multilingual web-endorsed resources do not necessarily vouch for translation quality and efficiency. Some tools merely provide the overall gist or general idea of text presented for translation, while others may accommodate specialized vocabularies and fuel greater translation accuracy.

Virtual Conference Centre
http://www.mcb.co.uk/services/conferen/welcome.html
Pioneered by MCB University Press, this site serves as a springboard to peer-reviewed online forums. The Centre targets researchers, strategists, and practitioners with interests in sharing scholarly ideas on a wide-range of topics including general management, financial management, human resources management, and quality management. Conferences are often sponsored by specific publications with the intent to later publish the proceedings (e.g., the virtual conference on Business and Leadership Ethics was sponsored by the Leadership and Organizational Development Journal). Subject specialists can volunteer to be conference convenors, as well as register interest in authoring papers or presenting case studies for open discussion. Visitors to the site are encouraged to join discussions and add their biographical entry into the list of delegate participants. Archival files of existing papers and threaded comments are readily accessible and displayed, as well as current keyboard-conversational messages and forthcoming topic announcements.

Asia Pacific Management Forum
http://www.apmforum.com
The Orient Pacific Century, which partners with over a dozen organizations including MCB University Press, maintains this searchable database. Business-oriented communications and discussion postingsoften focus on management, organization, and development issues. For example, information is shared about regional styles of business interactions, consumer differences across borders, export services, online marketing, potentials for strategic alliances,and investment opportunities. Also, the site serves as a portal to many value-added links including news from the Orient, calls for journal articles, intercultural business travel suggestions, and career opportunities in Asia.

@BRINT.com
http://www.brint.com
This site promotes online forums focusing on several cutting-edge business issues. For example, the Knowledge Management Think Tank invites enthusiasts to join ongoing public discussions on all aspects of knowledge management and intellectual capital (e.g., assets; skills; strategies; theories; tactics; tools; warehousing issues). Visitors can also register for a free subscription, to the @BRINTŽ Online Interactive Magazine and read articles, case studies, and expert commentary, as well as contribute thoughts and reactions to them. Moreover, this resource is a powerhouse of added-value information and tools. For example, it is a key portal to an abundance of on-screen full-text electronic article reprints from other copyrighted journals spanning a broad range of business topics. It links to a plethora of company and industry information. It is a direct route to many business school programs and projects.

Corporate Governance
http://www.corpgov.net/forums/ forum.html
At this site, several different communication options are available for topic-focused opinion forums. These are bulletin board postings, editorial-type commentaries, essays, critiques, and interactive messaging with prominent practitioners. Viewpoints can be shared about fundamental intentions, corporate trends, behaviors, and regulatory issues. Value-added links are to targeted and peripheral resources covering a variety of topics such as financial accounting, antitrust laws and policies, employee benefits, business publications, investor services, research organizations, and professional societies.

Delphi Forums
http://www.delphi.com/
Thousands of public and private forums are thriving here and scores of topics are being discussed. Among the wealth of searchable category options are Business/Finance, Civic/Government, Companies, Computers, Current Events, Education, Internet & Web, Motor Transport, Science & Space, and Travel & Places. There is even a platform for conversation convenors to engage in collaborative problem solving. For example, the Hosts' Forum is a place where influencers and improvement seekers can untangle success obstacles, air lessons learned, explore creative techniques for tailoring enhancements, and offer tips for boosting participation levels.

Topica
http://www.topica.com
This site offers public access to a wealth of email list options, facilitates subscribing to lists, and enables list hosting. The growing Topica public email list locator directory strives to be comprehensive. It encompasses information about thousands of resources gleaned from directory databases developed by its partners (e.g., Liszt; Publicly Accessible Mailing Lists; Tile.Net). Topica also manages lists.

Rivendell International Communications
http://rivendel.com/-ric/resources/ dictionary.html
This site centralizes language-focused links to multi-lingual, as well as single language dictionaries. For example, alphabetically under "H" one finds entries to Hakka, Hawaiian, Hebrew, Hmong, Hindi, and Hungarian. Sometimes additional fonts are required to support foreign alpha- bets. Some value-added site connections include: pathfinders to free on-line Courses covering over 75 languages including the artificial international Esperanto; links to language-oriented discussion forums around the world including real-time multi-lingual chat; access to translation servers for quick automatic text translations (e.g., from English to Brazilian Portuguese; Hungarian to Russian; UK English to US English; Italian to Croatian; Japanese to English).

Web of Online Dictionaries
http://www.facstaffbucknell.edu/rbeard/diction.html
This portal provides rapid access to languages W of the world and entryways to numerous related reference-quality web resources. It targets writers in many specialized subject categories including business, computing, economics, finance, investment, law, physics, science, and the military. Just a point-and-click away, are over 800 dictionaries spanning more than 175 different languages and dialects ranging from Afrikaans to Zulu. Added-value site features include: simultaneous searching across specialized language tools; links to on-line acronyms, dialects, etymologies, grammars, pronunciation aids, and thesauri; literally translated country-specific idioms; and, multi- lingual resources.

ENGINEERING MANAGEMENT REVIEW
A publication of the IEEE Engineering Management Society