This page last updated:
25 May 2007.

At last: I'm on-line

What's so great about the Internet, and the World Wide Web? As a new traveller on the information superhighway Tony Bingham explains why he loves it, and what you might be missing out on.

Well, I have been introduced to this latest craze in the past six months. I was utterly switched off before that, and now I am utterly switched on. Before, no one could have persuaded me that his Internet was worth half a gigabyte. But one of my fellow arbitrators has converted me. Richard Morris is one of these up-and-coming people who not only know a thing or two about construction dispute resolution but who are also whizz-kids on modems, on-line services and surfing. So much so, that he has set up a Bingham web site. It's ever so exciting. And I want you to use my web site free of charge. You will find this article reproduced there and it invites you to send an e-mail comment. Go on, send me an e-mail. It may even be selected by Building's editor for the letters page.

Six months ago, I didn't know what an e-mail was. Now it's easy. It's just a phone number, but in symbols. So, my e-mail reference is: info@tonybingham.co.uk and all you do is type that reference and message into your ready-made software on your PC and zap it into your modem. It only ever costs you the price of a local phone call - even if you e-mail me from Hong Kong. I admit, I don't know how the blazes it works out to be always the price of a local phone call, but Richard Morris tells me not to fret. The e-mail is for sending messages, including reports or files of information. It is umpteen times faster than faxing, and paper-free. If I want a paper version, I just print it from my PC.

What is a web site? That's easy, too. It is a shop or a brochure or a magazine or anything you like - on screen. My new web site is www.tonybingham.co.uk.

Here, you will find all sorts of goodies about the construction industry dispute business, and more besides. You dial up the site on your PC and have a look around my shop. It has departments. The index will take you to Arbitration, Adjudication, Mediation and Litigation.

All this is interesting as far as it goes. But then we get super-clever. It's this part I love, and so will you. It's called "Hot Links". The Hot Links page is the route to visiting someone else's shop. If, for example, you are into disputomania in a big way, you will want the latest construction industry Official Referee Judgments. Click on my links button and you will find the shop. just click on the OR's Judgment button and you are in. The latest decisions are published there in full.

Then go back to my links page and you can select House of Lords judgments, Court of Appeal judgments, Acts of Parliament, or a complete list of HMSO publications. You can visit the web site shop for the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, the RICS, the Chartered Institute of Building and more, just by clicking a button. And when you link up to another web site, you will find more links on that site to take you to other shops.

In due course, you will build up a directory of web sites. One that has just come on-line is www.building-focus.co.uk. Not only does it have information about construction, but it has links to railway and airline information. I recently got a £39 flight to Edinburgh; the information was on the Building Focus web site.

Another excellent shop is the Society of Construction Law at www.scl.org.uk. More cases and comment on building dispute matters can be found here. The web site of international construction lawyer Corbett & Co is one of my favourites (www.corbett.co.uk). I particularly like this site because it discusses construction law problems and invites worldwide contribution to any topic.

I am going to steal an idea from Corbett. I want you to look at my web site, where you will see the last 18 articles I have written for Building. You are invited to comment, or even to start a new line of thinking. Drop me an e-mail on info@tonybingham.co.uk, but don't expect me to reply. That's not the idea. I will publish your comment on the discussion page of the web site. It will be there for others to comment on your comment Get the idea? The Internet is a worldwide web for communication. It is for folk to explore issues, express ideas, provoke debate.

Obviously, the discussion will be about building and construction and be related to problem-solving in the dispute business. But just one warning. no cranks, please, and certainly no porno. Try as I might, I can't find any of that stuff anywhere. At least, not on my web site.

CASE REPORTS

Readers are invited to forward recent judgments for reporting in this column (with full acknowledgement) to: Tony Bingham, 3 Paper Buildings, Temple, London EC4Y 7EU. DX:007I LDE