How did they do it? According to their Web site:

A9.com developed new technology to very efficiently capture photographs of businesses using trucks equipped with digital cameras, global positioning system (GPS) receivers, and proprietary software and hardware. Because the data is not yet 100% precise, not all images exactly show the business. You can virtually "walk up and down the street" by using either the left and right arrows above the images or the double arrows on the right and left sides of the image "strips" below.

Posted by Bonnie Shucha at 1:16 PM | Permalink

According to the February edition of the DCLRC Docket, there are more new pages to come, including publications and forms, as well as information about DCLRC’s collection and services.

And if you haven't done so already, check out the DCLRC Blawg.

Posted by Bonnie Shucha at 1:09 PM | Permalink

This month, the Legislative Fiscal Bureau's published a series of informational papers which are now available on their web site. There are 90 papers all dated January 2005.

The papers are organized into the following categories:

• GENERAL FUND TAXES
• PROPERTY TAXES AND LOCAL FINANCE
• PROPERTY TAX RELIEF TO MUNICIPALITIES
• PROPERTY TAX RELIEF TO INDIVIDUALS
• EDUCATION
• TRANSPORTATION
• HEALTH, FAMILY SERVICES AND CORRECTIONS
• ENVIRONMENTAL
• STATE BUDGET AND FINANCE
• SELECTED STATE PROGRAMS

Posted by Bonnie Shucha at 11:46 AM | Permalink

Perhaps you remember seeing a story on a news program such as Dateline or 60 Minutes but can't remember the specifics. A search on Google Video by keyword might turn it up for you. Listings include the name of the show and episode, channel and date it aired.

Because it is in beta testing, only a limited number of channels are available. But Google does plan to expand in time.

There are a couple of specialized searches available according to the Google Video help page.
To search by show title, type 'title:' in front of the program name when you do a search. For example, title:nightline or add a keyword title:nightline music.

To search for a particular channel, type "channel:" or "station:" in front of the channel name when you do a search (make sure to use the station's common name). For example, channel:abc president bush restricts your search to ABC.

Posted by Bonnie Shucha at 9:33 AM | Permalink

According to Westlaw, "Smart Tools offer you alternatives for terms that appear out of context even though spelled correctly (statute of limitations for statue of limitations). They flag misspelled words and acronyms (HIPAA for HIPPA). And Smart Tools suggest related terms of art such as "frustration of purpose" for "impossibility of performance." "

If you are into quirky flash demos, check out this one.

Posted by Bonnie Shucha at 9:16 AM | Permalink

Justia.com, a web design company specializing in law firms, is offering free simple web sites for lawyers and law firms. The basic template design features:

• Firm Home Page
• Firm Profile Page
• Firm Location Page
• Practice Area Profiles
• Attorney Profiles
• Web Resources Page
• Legal Articles Section
• W3C Web standards design & layout
• U.S. 508 and W3C's Web Accessibility Guidelines

There is a list of links to firms that have created free sites with Justia.com.

Source: beSpacific

Posted by Bonnie Shucha at 1:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Full text searching is available for bills and debate (via the Congressional Record). Legislator voting records and campaign contribution data is also included.

Source: beSpacific

Posted by Bonnie Shucha at 11:01 AM | Permalink

Here are some excerpts from an AP News story:

The five senators began blogging when The Bismarck Tribune sent e-mails to every lawmaker, asking each if they were interested in keeping a blog. Keith Darnay, the paper's Web master, said he thought the feature would draw more visitors to the Tribune's legislative Web site."Blogs are the item of the hour right now," Darnay said.

Only six senators responded - Mathern, Trenbeath, Seymour, Tim Flakoll, R-Fargo, Dick Dever, R-Bismarck, and Tony Grindberg, R-Fargo.

Of the six senator bloggers, Mathern is the most prolific. He updates his journal about every other day with posts about religion and politics, observations on the Capitol and tidbits about his family life.

"It's a way to get information out, and a way for citizens to have pretty direct communication with legislators," he said. "I probably reveal more (on the blog) than what I say on the Senate floor."

Posted by Bonnie Shucha at 11:34 AM | Permalink

• The main change is the capability of searching the text of legislation across multiple congresses (all or selectively) from 1989 (101st Congress) to the present.
• Search screens for the Congressional Record and Congressional Record Index have also been upgraded.

For more information on the new THOMAS features, see LLRX.com's THOMAS: New Congress, A Few Changes.

Posted by Bonnie Shucha at 11:22 AM | Permalink

Posted by Bonnie Shucha at 11:14 AM | Permalink

• Telecom Law Blog by Davis Wright Tremaine
• Holland and Hart’s Rocky Mountain Health Care Blog by Holland & Hart
• The Environment by Lowenstein Sandler
• Electronic Discovery Law by Preston Gates Ellis

Posted by Bonnie Shucha at 10:22 AM | Permalink

People Who Need People (or Information About People) - ERsys.com Chosen by the American Library Association as one of the best free reference sites of 2004, www.ersys.com compiles demographic information on over 2600 American communities. Choose a state from the home page; a list of cities for that state appears. The opening page for an available city shows population, state ranking of the community, and other general information such as county, United States representative, school district and average temperature.

A left navigation bar provides demographic statistics arranged by age, density, education, ethnicity, families, growth, income and skills. Each of the charts also includes comparable data for nearby metropolitan areas. Information is provided about the community's school district with available links; surrounding school district data and links are given as well. Other information given for individual communities includes media outlets (e.g., radio stations), weather information, travel distances, and a plant hardiness index. Bookmark this site if you need a quick reference for population data and general information on communities within the U.S.

Posted by Bonnie Shucha at 8:29 AM | Permalink

Source: ResearchBuzz

Posted by Bonnie Shucha at 9:42 AM | Permalink

From Blog 702:

You get some interesting e-mail when you run a web site. The following correspondence should be of interest to anyone looking for a one-month vacation from time sheets, voice-mail messages, and senior partners:

If you are a male prosecutor or former prosecutor between the ages of 30-50 who is interested in participating in a documentary about prison life by living in jail for 30 days, please email a short description of yourself and of your prosecutorial career. Please include what your current occupation is and whether or not you feel you could leave your job for 30 days (with compensation). We are currently casting for the FX series "30 DAYS", a documentary-style series from award-winning filmmaker Morgan Spurlock. The series adapts for TV the concept of Spurlock's critically-acclaimed "Super Size Me". Please email Allan Johnson at amjthree@yahoo.com or call 310.202.1272 ext.160.

We have spoken to Mr. Johnson and the project is apparently legit. We must say, a paid sabbatical sure sounds attractive to us, but we didn't ask about the food.

Source: Stark County Law Library Blawg

Posted by Bonnie Shucha at 9:33 AM | Permalink

To view a profile, check the "Search only firms with Diversity Profiles" box in the Martindale.com Lawyer Locator Firm tab. There only appear to be a handful of firms with diversity profiles so far, none of which are in Wisconsin.

Source: University of Baltimore Law Library Weblog

Posted by Bonnie Shucha at 9:20 AM | Permalink

Source: Library Stuff

Posted by Bonnie Shucha at 9:13 AM | Permalink

The State Bar and LexisNexis™ partnership provides free use of Lexis Nexis in 15-minute increments up to a 60-minute maximum. Users can conduct research from their office, home, or the State Bar Center in Madison. Visit www.wisbar.org/bar/bono to download an application. For more information, contact State Bar Pro Bono Coordinator Jeff Brown, (800) 444-9404, ext. 6177, or (608) 250-6177.

Posted by Bonnie Shucha at 8:56 AM | Permalink

Posted by Bonnie Shucha at 2:13 PM | Permalink

But I recently learned that it is also available for Internet Explorer. Imagine that you are viewing a Web page which contains a legal citation, but has no link to the full text document. If you're using IE and you've installed WestCiteLink, you can simply click the "CL" icon in the West toolbar and those citations magically become links to the documents in Westlaw. You will be charged each time you click on a link, but it could be a significant time saver.

Two versions of the software are available for download from West. One is for law school users and another for all other users. According to Westlaw, three WestCiteLink compatibility modules are included with the download: one for Microsoft Word, another for Corel WordPerfect, and a third for Microsoft Internet Explorer. By default, the installation program will install the module for each of these three programs that it detects on your computer. Alternatively, you can select which compatibility modules are installed by choosing the "custom" option during installation.

Posted by Bonnie Shucha at 1:14 PM | Permalink

According to Deb Sybell, Government Relations Coordinator at the Wisconsin State Bar, the action alerts are "intended to mobilize our State Bar membership when an important issue is before the Legislature. Those attorneys who sign up for the action alerts will receive an e-mail with a link to the action alert. They can enter their home address and be linked electronically to their legislator. The Legislative Action Alerts will provide the attorneys with talking points on the issue to incorporate in their e-mail to their legislator."

Posted by Bonnie Shucha at 10:55 AM | Permalink

Source: The Scout Report

Posted by Bonnie Shucha at 10:34 AM | Permalink

ThomasRegister
Thomas Register, a searchable database of North American manufacturing companies and products, contains entries for more than 173,000 U.S. and Canadian companies, over 152,000 brand names, as well as links to over 8,000 online supplier catalogs and Web sites.

University of Michigan Documents Center
The Documents Center is one of the best gateways for government information on the web today.

U.S. Copyright Office
This site provides one-stop shopping for copyright information complete with all the forms and processing instructions for obtaining copyright protection.

Posted by Bonnie Shucha at 10:09 AM | Permalink

Much of the material is available only to subscribers, however, some free content is offered. On the main page, current headlines are highlighted and include links to complete stories. A page of new options for the Seventh Circuit is also available. Links to full-text, online versions of the opinions are provided.

Source: InSITE

Posted by Bonnie Shucha at 9:47 AM | Permalink

From the article:

But whatever the topic, the discussion of business isn't usually too far behind: from bad experiences with a product to good customer service somewhere else. Suddenly everyone's a publisher and everyone's a critic. Says Jeff Jarvis, author of the blog BuzzMachine, and president and creative director of newspaper publisher Advance Publications' Internet division: "There should be someone at every company whose job is to put into Google and blog search engines the name of the company or the brand, followed by the word 'sucks,' just to see what customers are saying."

Posted by Bonnie Shucha at 8:58 AM | Permalink

Several months ago, Kimbler began videotaping the sentencing proceedings he presides over and posting them to his court's Web site. (Follow the link to Inside the Court: Online Edition.) He uses his own camcorder and keeps himself out of the picture, focusing on the prosecutor, defense lawyer and defendant.

For Kimbler, this is one more step in a continuing effort to make his courtroom more accessible, he told the Associated Press. The judge already uses the Internet to conduct online pretrial conferences with lawyers, and the court's home page invites visitors to sign up to receive Kimbler's weekly e-mail updates. The site includes a variety of court documents and docket information, verdict summaries and the daily calendar.

If the videos prove popular, Kimbler told AP, he would like to add webcasts of other court proceedings, including jury selection, change-of-plea hearings and perhaps even entire trials.

Posted by Bonnie Shucha at 3:37 PM | Permalink

Update 1/18/05: Jennifer Aleknavage, Communications Manager for LexisNexis alerted me that there are some additional differences between the LexisNexis AlaCarte product and LexisNexis by Credit Card.

According to her, LexisNexis AlaCarte:

• is targeted for small- to medium-sized businesses
• has a new and simplified interface for easy navigation-significant difference
• offers simplified search functionality options. You can conduct a simple search or an advanced search. Traditional research commands are not necessary but are still an option under advanced search. We have shortened this distance from search to solution. The user can run complex searches with a simple output so they get the answers they need. The search process is seamless to the user. After they enter the key search words and the date ranges, the searches are run behind the scenes so you only see the end results, only the relevant documents that are retrieved.
• requires no subscriptions with this service, and you just pay-per document (average per doc price is $3)
  

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A couple of weeks ago, LexisNexis released a new service called LexisNexis AlaCarte which offers free searching of it's news & business-related databases. Users are charged only for documents they choose to view.

I was uncertain of the difference between LexisNexis AlaCarte and LexisNexis by Credit Card which has been around for some time. She told me that the AlaCarte search interface is designed to look more like traditional LexisNexis. Apparently, LexisNexis by Credit Card will be discontinued sometime next year.

According to a news release from LexisNexis:

The service, available via www.lexisnexis.com/alacartenow, provides access to more than 20,000 sources of business, news, business public records, and government information, including top newspapers, magazines and transcripts, company and industry reports, deed records, liens, zip demographics, state and federal legislation, and intellectual property.

The site does not require a subscription, and documents can be ordered on a per-document basis by credit card through a secure site. Consumers will also gain access to legal information starting next year. Until then, you may continue to use LexisNexis by Credit Card.

Posted by Bonnie Shucha at 10:06 AM | Permalink

No one took any notice of the tall, slim man who appeared Tuesday for jury duty. Had he worn his black robe, Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer no doubt would have drawn more attention.

Even Marlborough, Mass., District Court Judge Thomas Sullivan Jr. didn't recognize Breyer until he read the justice's name on a document listing potential jurors for cases he was hearing.

"When I looked at the slip I said, 'Oh, my God,'" Sullivan said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press.

Posted by Bonnie Shucha at 2:09 PM | Permalink

Source: beSpacific

Posted by Bonnie Shucha at 1:40 PM | Permalink

Of particular interest may be the collection of Wisconsin links.

Source: LLRX update

Posted by Bonnie Shucha at 10:11 AM | Permalink

Posted by Bonnie Shucha at 9:53 AM | Permalink

Source: PDF for Lawyers

Posted by Bonnie Shucha at 10:13 AM | Permalink

Special coverage on the Tsunami Disaster is currently featured on the site. This site is the successor of the Campaign 2004 site, which provided news and information on Election 2004 candidates and issues surrounding the election.

Thanks to a colleague from the UW Memorial Library for the tip

Posted by Bonnie Shucha at 9:39 AM | Permalink

The Wisconsin Legislative Notification System allows anyone the opportunity to follow legislation by receiving daily or weekly emails for specific legislative activities. You can choose items by Proposal, Committee, Author or Subject and can select the activities for which you would like to receive notifications. This is a free service from the Wisconsin Legislature.

Note to Previous Subscribers: Since queries from the last legislative session do not carry over to the current session, you must re-subscribe to legislative items that you want to follow.

Please direct your questions, suggestions or comments to Notify.Support@legis.state.wi.us.

Posted by Bonnie Shucha at 8:50 AM | Permalink

The Legislative Fiscal Bureau has recently prepared an Overview of State Agency Major Request Items for the 2005-07 Wisconsin State Budget

The report provides "an overview of the 2005-07 budget requests which state agencies have submitted for inclusion in the executive budget document. Its purpose is to highlight the major changes which have been requested and thus, is not a comprehensive summary of each proposed modification. The document generally contains only those items with a fiscal effect in excess of $250,000 or which represent a significant policy change. The document reflects budget requests that were submitted as of December 8, 2004."

Posted by Bonnie Shucha at 10:22 AM | Permalink

"Who Could Keep a Lawyer Quiet? The law librarian, of course - probably the most unheralded employee at every firm" is the intriguing title of an article profiling Heidi Yelk, the reference and electronic services librarian at the Wisconsin State Law Library. The article explains what a law librarian does and offers advice on how to become one.

The issue also features The Final Verdict: Exclusive Top Lawyers Survey 2005 which lists top Dane County attorneys in various practice areas.

Also included is a profile of Wisconsin State Bar Pres, Michelle Behnke and an article on setting up a health care power of attorney.

Posted by Bonnie Shucha at 9:51 AM | Permalink

• 7% of the 120 million U.S. adults who use the internet say they have created a blog or web-based diary. That represents more than 8 million people.
• 27% of internet users say they read blogs. . . This means that by the end of 2004 32 million Americans were blog readers.
• 5% of internet users say they use RSS aggregators or XML readers to get the news and other information delivered from blogs and content-rich Web sites as it is posted online.
• At the same time, for all the excitement about blogs and the media coverage of them, blogs have not yet become recognized by a majority of internet users. Only 38% of all internet users know what a blog is. The rest are not sure what the term "blog" means.

Source: Library Stuff

Posted by Bonnie Shucha at 8:59 AM | Permalink

The 30 page cap on case-related documents and reports (excluding transcripts) will remain in effect. However, the maximum cost will be $2.40.

What is PACER? Public Access to Court Electronic Records (PACER) 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.

Source: Legal Dockets Online

Posted by Bonnie Shucha at 8:22 AM | Permalink

The January edition of the DCLRC Docket is now available. It features a tech tip on evaluating websites and a link to a list of low cost legal assistance agencies in Dane County.

Posted by Bonnie Shucha at 3:35 PM | Permalink

Jim Calloway, Director of the Oklahoma Bar Association Management Assistance Program, has launched a new Law Practice Tips Blog. The blog will focus on law practice management, the Internet and technology as it applies both in law practice and in daily life.

Source: Stark County Law Library Blawg

Posted by Bonnie Shucha at 3:30 PM | Permalink