IFAJ Listserv and Forum
Bring Resources to Your Desktop

By Greg Lamp

So you're writing a story about animal rights and you'd like to add a 'graph or two about what the big issues are overseas, like Britain or Germany or Slovenia. One way you can quickly and easily reach an informed group of ag journalists from around the world is to access the International Federation of Ag Journalists (IFAJ) listserv.

As an AAEA member, you're automatically a member of IFAJ and have complete access to the organization's listserv. By simply logging on to www.ifaj.org and clicking on IFAJNET-L, you can sign up and be added to the list. Just follow the instructions on how to subscribe and your name will be submitted to the listserv owner, who happens to be Canadian Owen Roberts.

"I check the name and make sure they're actually an association or guild member and subscribe them to the service," says Roberts, chair of the IFAJ Professional Development and Education Committee and instructor at the University of Guelph.

Roberts says the listserv, which started to enhance communication among ag journalists, is intended to promote discussion, understanding and communication among participants.

"It's free and it's a closed list, meaning participating is restricted to members, so participants do not receive e-mail from outside the list," he says.

IFAJ also has added a forum feature to its Web site that allows members to ask questions, get answers, post interesting stories and news articles and network with other members on a global scale. This feature has just been introduced, so you will be in on the ground floor of making this communications tool useful. The forum is linked through the IFAJ Web site at www.ifaj.org.

Both the listserv and forum will enable you to notify other members worldwide of events, promote conferences and ask penetrating questions from the foreign journalists who are facing some of the same issues and concerns as you are.

Greg Lamp chairs the AAEA International Committee and is editor of The Corn and Soybean Digest. He can be reached at glamp@primediabusiness.com.