By STACY MCNULTY
Blacksburg, VA ¾ One of the most important missions of the GIS/Remote Sensing and Telemetry Working Group is to encourage the exchange of ideas and technologies between natural resource professionals. There are two electronic message systems (commonly known as listservers) available whose purpose is to facilitate communication. The major advantage of such a list is its ability to quickly reach hundreds of people around the world. With the rapid advancement of software and equipment, it is critical for us to keep abreast of new developments.
The first listserver, TWS-L, is a list created to serve the needs of Wildlife Society members. Currently there are over 1100 subscribers to TWS-L. Topics range from current issues to natural resource policies to career and educational opportunities. Intriguing discussions and requests for information comprise the bulk of the postings on TWS-L. The subject matter ranges as widely as the interests of the contributors; recent postings include questions about bat mist-netting, graduate assistanceship advertisements, and impending legislation impacting logging.
The second listserver, FWIM-L, has 840 members. FWIM-L is a discussion forum for professional information managers and analysts in the fields of wildlife, fisheries, and land management. FWIM-L is sponsored by the Organization of Fish and Wildlife Information Managers, our working group, and the Information Management Committee of the International Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies.
The purpose of FWIM-L is to improve communication and technology transfer among biologists and others who apply or develop emerging information technologies. Discussion topics include GIS, remote sensing systems, radio-telemetry, database development and maintenance, automated data collection, networking and telecommunications, and software availability.
If you are not a subscriber, signup is easy! Just send a message to listserv@listserv.vt.edu:
set TWS-L digest
I encourage everyone to subscribe to these two lists and explore the breadth of topics. When researchers, managers and other professionals participate in meaningful dialogue about technologies, policies, and issues critical to the natural resources, we all benefit.
The information in this article can also be found at
http://www.wildlife.org/twslist.html
for
TWS-L or
http://fwie.fw.vt.edu/WWW/fwim-l.htm
for FWIM-L.
Please contact Stacy McNulty at smcnulty@vt.edu with any questions.