OGEMID

OGEMID - Introduction

The OGEMID forum is an internet-based intelligence service and discussion group for posting news and comment and engaging in debate. Owned and Moderated by our Editor-in-Chief, Professor Thomas W. Wälde, it is co-sponsored by CEPMLP/Dundee (www.cepmlp.org) and TDM (www.transnational-dispute-management.com) in collaboration with OGEL (www.gasandoil.com/ogel).

OGEMID was set up originally as a discussion group with CEPMLP PhD students, CEPMLP staff and - select - alumni and a small number of external colleagues, but it has now developed from about 25 members to well over 600. Requests for admissions are received on a daily basis as it is seen as one of the most effective (if not the most effective) way of keeping abreast of recent developments in the specialised field it covers.

OGEMID brings together most of the world's experienced professionals in the field of international dispute management, mainly arbitration, mediation, negotiation, with a particular emphasis on investment disputes. OGEMID members are now the most up-to-date informed professionals in these fields.

Membership

Each subscribing company or organisation to our Transnational Dispute Management (TDM) Journal is permitted to sign up 3 of its employees (per 5 TDM accounts) as participants in OGEMID, renewable annually. Contact us for more information about subscriptions and conditions on how to join OGEMID.

Some suggestions for new members

(Technical) Rules

• Do not send attachments (MS Word, PDF files etc) to the ENATRES/OGEMID list. E-mails with attachments are blocked automatically. If you want to highlight a document provide a link. Where this is not possible, you may wish to contact our moderator. We may be able to upload the information on our website where members may have access to them.
• If you have information to share with regard to upcoming events such as conferences, or news to report with regard to employment issues in your organization/company (changes, vacancies, etc) or general press releases, please contact our moderator first before posting such news directly. Please feel free to send such material to info@transnational-dispute-management.com for inclusion in the TDM News Digest.
• Use good, descriptive subject lines. A subject line like "new book" is not very helpful. A good subject line makes life easier for everyone and will encourage people to read your message. We have a number of 'default' subject lines for certain topics:
  • Conference announcement: [name + date of conference]
  • Article abstract: [title of article]
  • Book review: [title of book, author]
  • OGEL/TDM announcements are always marked as follows OGEL: or TDM: so you can quickly identify them
• We advise members to learn how to quote properly, useful guidelines in English, Deutsch or Nederlands can be found here http://learn.to/quote. [Note: the author of the guideline above refers to "usenet", do not let that intimidate you, the same applies to e-mail]
• Before posting job adverts on the OGEMID/ENATRES forums please contact the Moderator first. Any adverts require previous consent by the Moderator.

Participating in the discussion

• We would like you to participate actively in the discussions. But first observe for a while the style and the implicit and explicit rules and conventions. If you then have some but not all of the courage, send a message to our moderator (Professor Thomas W. Wälde, twwalde@aol.com) for review and ask if you should post it.
• Contributions should have substance: i.e. not "yes, I concur" or "no, that is nonsense", but a reasoned argument or relevant new information. Not a repetitive argument nor already just broadcast information either.
• Courteous, professional in style: Not: "He/she is a liar" but rather: "I suggest the factual description of the situation at issue can also be viewed differently..."
• The Moderator is in principle willing to consider contributions for anonymous posting if he considers such postings suitable (i.e. of material value for discussions; not defamatory or otherwise inappropriate).
• Please keep us posted on your relevant work. For instance we would like abstracts of your relevant publications (and cases if that is possible), but also (as our moderator tries sometimes) a short reference and commentary on something relevant that you have read (e.g. book, article) or a conference you have participated in.
• We would like to publish longer case comments and comments on specific substantive issues - typically arising out of your work or academic articles and notes - on OGEL/TDM. This makes it available rapidly, efficiently and very widely to the on community without that we ever insist on an exclusive copyright transfer, i.e. you can publish in a hard-paper publication later or earlier.
• We would like, in a measured way, recruit and add new members, but it should be colleagues with a solid and not just transient interest in international energy and resources law, policy and strategy issues (ENATRES) or international dispute resolution and particularly in the field of investment and related disputes (OGEMID). The aim, obviously, is to get everybody who has something helpful (or of value) to say onto ENATRES/OGEMID and benefit from the collective wisdom and diversity of views and experiences by information, insight and debate.

Postings

• You do not require the approval of the ENATRES/OGEMID moderator to make contributions to discussions. It is only if you are worried about being tactless, have nothing substantive to say (usually with new members, most members make very substantive comments), or would like - this is the main exception - the moderator to consider if to circulate that message anonymously that you should send something to the moderator, Twwalde@aol.com.
• If you send something to the moderator and do not clarify that it is confidential, your message maybe forwarded to the list. If you share some information with the moderator, you need to explicitly request anonymous posting to be considered or if you would like no posting at all.
• The only postings we discourage are parliamentary-heckling type of messages, such as "hear, hear - I agree fully", "disagree completely" or "what a completely foolish thing to say" - i.e. expressions of value judgments without substantive reasoning, insight or information (see above).
• The best way to post efficiently is to put "OGEMID - ogemid@jiscmail.ac.uk" or "ENATRES - enatres@jiscmail.ac.uk" into your address book.

Administrative Issues

• Please do not circulate to all ENATRES/OGEMID members' administrative queries, your wish to re-register another address, de-register and so on. Avoid the embarrassment.
• For address changes, contact us and do not send this request to the list
• If you want to de-register, contact us and do not send this request to the list
• As a rule we prefer that messages that are substantial and professional comments be posted by the sender directly. Again, note the instructions above. The most common mistake is that people send from an email address that is different from the one you are registered with. ENATRES/OGEMID will naturally reject such postings. Think that if you use another address, you come to ENATRES/OGEMID - which does not know you personally - as another, unknown person.
• Do not setup an automatic mailing distribution system that circulates ENATRES/OGEMID postings to non-members.
• A significant breach of the basic usage conditions can lead to expulsion, temporary or permanent, at the unfettered discretion of the moderator without repayment of any subscription fee, all or in part.

How to join the ENATRES/OGEMID discussion list

• If you would like to join the ENATRES/OGEMID discussion list please contact us directly. Please note that acceptance onto the list is at our discretion and is closely linked to OGEL/TDM subscriptions.

Managing e-mail lists

At times ENATRES/OGEMID can be a high volume list and it can be overwhelming to keep up with all the posts. Here are a few short tips to manage the flow of e-mail.

• Setup a filter or rule. Most e-mail programs have the option to use filters or rules to quickly sort incoming e-mail. If you don't know how to setup such filters or rules you can find instructions on the Internet*. Once you have setup a filter/rule you can read the ENATRES/OGEMID postings if you have a moment and they don't clutter your inbox.
• Use thread view. In your ENATRES/OGEMID folder you can use a thread or conversation topic view, this will combine on the same subject in an organised manner. If a topic does not interest you, simply disregard new postings which it generates.
• Read only relevant messages, you do not have to read everything, and clean out your e-mail folder from time to time. For both the ENATRES and OGEMID lists there are full searchable online archives available. Login to the OGEL or TDM website and click the link in the top menu.

* You can either visit your e-mail program vendor's website or simply use Google to search for instructions, e.g. "setting up e-mail filters Eudora" leads to this page http://www.berkshire.net/support/filters_eudora.html

OGEMID Archive

We also offer a fully searchable archive accessible for all our TDM readers, after you login you will see the 'OGEMID Archive' button in the menu.

You can search the archive by keyword or you can browse the archives by month, with the postings sorted by date/subject or thread.

Once you view a message you can navigate using:

• older
• newer
• view in thread
• messages sorted by date for that month
• messages sorted by thread for that month

For more detailed background information, including screenshots, you can have a look at the pages below:

http://www.transnational-dispute-management.com/news/tdm4-2005_6.htm

Questions, comments or suggestions?

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us info@transnational-dispute-management.com.

MARIS

TDM is an initiative of MARIS BV (the Netherlands), visit www.maris.nl for more information about MARIS.