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Source: Findlaw's The Practice Paper
Wisconsin Legislative History (WI-LH)
Contents: Bill histories, bill analyses, Assembly and Senate journals from the 94th Legislature (1999-2000) through the 96th Legislature (2003-2004). Assembly bill memos from the 96th Legislature (2003-2004). Senate bill memos, and Assembly and Senate amendment memos from the 95th Legislature (2001-2002) through the 96th Legislature (2003-2004). Governor's messages from 2001 through May 27, 2004.Wisconsin was one of 12 new states to have legislative history databases added recently. For the complete list of all states with legislative history databases, see the West elert announcement.
WestDockets for Wisconsin State Courts (DOCK-WI-STCTS)
Contents: Docket information on active and inactive civil and criminal cases filed in the Circuit Courts of Wisconsin beginning in 2000. Civil and Criminal dockets from all counties except Portage County are included in this database. (Portage County has only Probate information available at this time.) New filings are added daily.
See Wisconsin Circuit Court Access (CCAP) for Circuit Court civil and criminal reports and Wisconsin Supreme Court and Court of Appeals Case Access system for the Internet (WSCCA.i) for appeals filed with the Supreme Court and the Court of Appeals.Case information includes case summaries, parties, court recorded events, and docketed civil judgments. Coverage dates vary.
Source: The Scout Report
The following is a list of topics covered in recent issues:
Internet Tip 1: Your mouse and you; Internet-related File Types; Advanced Google SearchingInternet Tip 2: Printing Selected Text; Introduction to mailing lists; Wisconsin State Law Library
Internet Tip 3: Fixing Printed Pages that Get Cut Off; Retrieving Form Information; WI County Identifier
Internet Tip 4: Auto Completion; Where was I? Re-locating your stopping point in long Word documents; State of WI Dept. of Health & Family Services Consumer Guides
Internet Tip 5: Clicking To Select Words & Lines; Bookmarks v. Favorites; The National Archives
Internet Tip 6: Finding Quick Definitions; Anti-Virus Software; Consumer Rights Manual
Internet Tip 7: Desktop Icon; Answers that Work; Statistical Abstract
Internet Tip 8: Search Shortcuts; Incomplete URL's; How Stuff Works
Wikipedia has created quite a stir among information professionals and other researchers. The concept of encyclopedia articles written - or rewritten - by the public has many concerned about the great potential for misinformation (intentional or not).
However, according to an article in the online journal, RedHerring, Wikipedia's founder has said that next year he will begin using editors to review the web site's content for accuracy and allow users to rate contributions to the encyclopedia for their quality.
With over 1 million total articles, Wikipedia is now the world's largest encyclopedia - three times the size of Encyclopedia Britannica.
Source: Library Link of the Day & ResourceShelf
These tips are especially useful for potential blawgers because they focus on specifically on the legal market.
Source: Thanks to Paula Seeger at the DCLRC for the tip
- Debate Transcripts: Search and analyze the complete transcript from the presidential and vice presidential debates. Installation free askSam Viewer is required.
- Video Archive: Includes "everything from debate footage from C-SPAN to politically themed rap videos...and lots and lots of campaign advertising from the candidates themselves as well as various flavors of interest groups."
Sources: TVC Alert & ResourceShelf
According to LexisNexis, examples of the types and areas of research available include case evaluation, discovery, due diligence, mergers and acquisitions, product liability, detailed overviews, press coverage, product development, client development and vendor/supplier information.
Research On Call staff also can prepare a report of research findings or a memorandum of law as well as check citations and retrieve documents. Sample reports are available on the Research on Call page.
To use Research On Call, LexisNexis subscribers can call 1-800-273-9295. The service is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
See brochure for more information.
For those unfamiliar with PACER (Public Access to Court Electronic Records), it is an electronic public access service that allows users to obtain case and docket information from Federal Appellate, District and Bankruptcy courts, and from the U.S. Party/Case Index.
People who use public or workplace computers for e-mail, instant messaging and Web searching have a new privacy risk to worry about: Google's free new tool that indexes a PC's contents for quickly locating data. If it's installed on computers at libraries and Internet cafes, users could unwittingly allow people who follow them on the PCs, for example, to see sensitive information in e-mails they've exchanged. That could mean revealed passwords, conversations with doctors, or viewed Web pages detailing online purchases.Source: Findlaw's The Practice Paper
Abstract: Just two weeks before Election Day, this report details the "state of play" of election reform around the country. It describes how election reform, enacted by the federal government after the 2000 debacle in Florida, could help to avert some problems - but perhaps cause others - when Americans return to the polls for the most closely watched Presidential contest in history.Who is electionline.org? From their site - "Electionline.org, produced by the Election Reform Information Project, is the nation’s only non-partisan, non-advocacy website providing up-to-the-minute news and analysis on election reform."
Source: ResourceShelf's DocuTicker
· to add another voice to those lauding the potential benefits of such technology, but purely in the context of the practice of law and the sharing of legal knowledge with clients, potential clients and, to some extent, the public generally; and· to suggest how such technology can be put to advantageous, competitive and ethical use by, among others, lawyers and their clients.
After a quick download and install, the Google Desktop icon loads in your system tray. Simply click on it to start your search. However, it takes time (several hours) for Google to index your content, so the search won't work right away.
According to Google, the privacy of your documents is protected as the program does not make your computer's content accessible to Google or anyone else.
Read more about it on the About Google Desktop Search page. SearchEngineWatch has also compiled a number of reviews.
Just in time for the holidays, I've just confirmed that A9 is offering select users an automatic 1.5% discount on purchases made at Amazon.com. When I clicked on the A9 Instant Reward Active link in the Ready to Buy button on Amazon, I was presented with the following details:
(User name), since you've been using A9.com recently, virtually everything at Amazon.com is automatically an additional π/2% (1.57%) off for you. Collecting this discount is zero effort on your part. It will be applied automatically at checkout (it will happen whether you use the shopping cart or our 1-Click Shopping®). You don't need to do anything to get this discount except keep using A9.com as your regular search engine.We don't advertise this additional discount that we give in exchange for using A9.com, so if you want your friends to know about it, please tell them. It is probably the only way they'll find out. All they have to do is use A9.com as their regular search engine. They should make sure they are signed in to A9.com (it should be recognizing them by name) so that we can be certain they get credit for their visit.
While the π/2% discount is a good additional reason to use A9.com it isn't the best reason. A9.com licenses its web search results from the industry leader Google, and then supplements those results with Amazon's Search Inside the Book™ results. The coolest feature is that A9.com keeps track of your search history for you on the server side. To see how this works, do some A9 searches from your computer at work and then sign in to A9.com from your computer at home.
FTC Attempts to Stop Spyware OperationIn what regulators are calling a first, the government has asked for a court order to shut down a spyware operation. The Federal Trade Commission says computer users who went to certain Web sites unknowingly had the snooping software downloaded onto their computers. The agency says it secretly changed settings, caused computers' CD-ROM trays to fly open and triggered barrages of pop-up ads for anti-spyware programs called Spy Wiper and Spy Deleter.
Tyburski offers "this listing as anecdotal evidence of what can happen when journalists, experts or other professionals fail to follow proper research procedures. Good research habits include identifying sources, assessing their expertise and verifying information found." Amen!
The hoaxes page is part of a guide to Evaluating the Quality of Information on the Internet.
Reaching Out to Juries Rocked by Evidence In the news: A growing number of judges are recognizing the need to provide mental health 'debriefing' to jurors who may be unwitting victims of the justice system. Psychological counseling for jurors haunted by images of gruesome evidence began in earnest after trials involving the Oklahoma City bombing and serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer. Now, a number of states are considering adopting the practice.
1. Intranets return to the domain of the departments 2. The records management and the legal departments get involved 3. All employees become intranet publishers 4. The corporate telephone directory loses its luster 5. The new killer app -- the knowledge management tool 6. Real time information delivery becomes a priority 7. Information retrieval remains unsolved but there's hope 8. Employees demand a more aesthetic user experienceSource: Stark County Law Library Blawg
Watch videos featuring "stories of strange noises in the White House, sightings of President Abraham Lincoln's ghost and a Halloween prank by President Carter's daughter." Also features a transcript from a Halloween 2003 chat with White House Chief Usher, Gary Walters.
Source: Librarians Index to the Internet
The tips are:
1. Take time to explore the features and functions of your e-mail program.
2. Learn how to use your e-mail software program to organize your e-mails.
3. Create defaults to help filter your e-mail when it arrives in your inbox.
4. Learn how to send text documents as attachments to the message, rather than in the body of the message.
5. Save time by creating group mailing lists.
6. Draft a written e-mail policy for clients to clarify the use of e-mail in your attorney-client relationship.
7. Keep a record of all e-mail correspondence.
8. Check your e-mail for new messages several times per day.
9. Don't open every e-mail message the moment it arrives or you may never have time for anything else.
10. Explore e-mail discussion groups as a possible source of information.
11. Open unrecognized attachments with caution.
12. Don’t forget to bill for time reviewing and responding to e-mail messages.
13. E-mail is as important as a typed letter; treat it as such.
14. Always include a definitive subject line that easily identifies the content of the e-mail message.
15. Use the signature line to save time and provide useful information.
This is particularly useful for removing identical news wire articles which are picked up by multiple publications.
Source: ResourceShelf
The author notes that "an ABA committee reviewing the Model Code of Judicial Conduct has proposed a revision that would extend independent fact-finding prohibitions to electronic media, a proposal dubbed by some lawyers and judges as the 'don't Google the defendant' rule."
Source: E-LawLibrary Weblog
Law Office Computing's Best Law Office Web SitesThe October/November 2004 issue of Law Office Computing includes the results of the magazine's 6th Annual Best Law Office Web Site Contest.
The winner and finalists in the Small Firms category:
•Gilbert Heintz & Randolph (Winner)
•Sonosky, Chambers, Sachse, Endreson & Perry (Finalist)
•Schwegman, Lundberg, Woessner & Kluth (Finalist)
•The Qui Tam Online Network (Finalist)The winner and finalists in the Large Firms category:
•Fulbright & Jaworski (Winner)
•Miller Nash (Finalist)
•Pierce Atwood (Finalist)
•White and Williams (Finalist)
Presidential Debates: Lincoln & Douglass RecalledDateline: Freeport, Ill., Aug. 26, 1858. Wisconsin editor Martin Rindlaub was on hand that day to hear the two famous candidates go at it. In this interview he compares the polished eloquence of Stephen Douglass with Honest Abe's humble but sincere approach. The Society owns several copies of the transcripts of these famous debates, including one inscribed by Lincoln to Wisconsin activist Carl Schurz.
Naivety About PC Risks A survey conducted by the National Cyber Security Alliance (NCSA) finds that many computer users fail to understand security risks. Only sixty percent of those surveyed "recalled when they last updated anti-virus, firewall and operating system software on their PC." Thirty percent "believed they had more chance of getting struck by lightning, ... or winning the lottery than they did of falling victim to a computer security problem." Statistics actually show people have a "0.0000102% chance of being hit by lightning" while they have a 70% chance "of falling victim to a computer virus, phishing attack, malicious hack attempt" or other PC security problem.A similar survey of IT professionals found almost opposite results. Confidence in network security slipped this year--from 90% to 83%, but respondents said "they're doing a better job of enforcing their security policies." Eighty-two percent "of CIOs say e-mail is a significant security threat." The complete survey is a fee-based download.
SEE, Security and Privacy: Do You Feel More Secure Than Last Year? CIO Insight, 1 September 2004
To see what it looks like, run the search "book about blogs" The first result should have a book icon next to it and a list of digitized books available. Click on a title to see the text.
Because Google Print is intended only to give users a glimpse of a book so that they can determine if they would like to purchase it, there is no way to copy or print text. Also, once you're on a book page, you can only 'flip' two pages forward and back.
To expand it's collection, Google has invited publishers to submit books to be digitized. For more information, see Google Print program for Publishers.
As the 2004 school year begins, safety is a primary concern for children, as well as teachers. Some consider school violence to be one of today’s most pressing educational issues. This bibliography focuses on physical safety and victimization in schools.
Blanke, Jordan M. "Assessment Technologies of WI, LLC v. Wiredata, Inc.: Seventh Circuit Decision Reinforces the Noncopyrightability of Facts in a Database." Santa Clara Computer & High Technology Law Journal 20:755-764 (March 2004). Full text is available on LexisNexis & Westlaw.
Abstract:
The Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit recently handed down a decision that squarely supports the Supreme Court holding in Feist that noncopyrightable facts contained in a database are not and cannot be protected by copyright. The decision, written by Judge Richard A. Posner, plainly states that such facts cannot be protected by copyright law no matter how far embedded or intertwined they may be with copyrightable portions of code or structure. While the facts in this case are almost as barren of originality as those in Feist, the strong opinion strikes a blow to those who would like to skirt the clear principles enunciated in Feist.
WSLL @ Your Service from the Wisconsin State Law Library
Highlights include Sports Law, Google Web Search Features, upcoming workshops, etc.
DCLRC Docket from the Dane County Legal Resource Center
Highlights include Enhanced Clerk of Court Web Site Debuts, upcoming workshops, and more
Older briefs are available in print at both the UW Law Library and the Wisconsin State Law Library. For more recent briefs, contact the Wisconsin State Law Library.
More information about the collection is available at About Wisconsin Briefs.