Technola : Public Interest Law & Technology Updates & Commentary : Matthew Burnett & Kate Bladow : Tech Advice for the Non-Profit Legal Sector

It's likely that every one of you spends a good portion of your day writing -- or perhaps avoiding writing -- briefs, reports, e-mails and so on. So today, technola points out some free tools and resources to help you put words on the page.

• Garbl's Writing Resources Online - If you are looking for a writing resource, this is the place to go. Garbl's lists cover everything from punctuation to overcoming writer's block. He even points out a few word games, like The Engima Device.
• Manage Your Writing - Kenneth W. Davis posts weekly tips on how to write better. These little reminders are mostly about the process of writing, which Davis recommends that you manage like you would projects or people.
• OneLook Reverse Dictionary - If you ever know the meaning of the word that you want but don't know or can't remember the word, this is the dictionary for you. You describe the meaning, and it will provide you with guess. It's like having someone available at all times to play the "oh, you know the word . . . it means angry, but starts with an 'i'" game.
• 50 Awesome Open Source Resources for Online Writers - Christina Laun put together a list of free online writing resources. If your desktop word processor isn't working for you or you are looking to try something new, perhaps something on this list will fit your needs. (If your writing or researching includes looking at any XML, I second her recommendation of Notepad++.) - K

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks

Allison McDermott pointed out the Disability Law Lowdown Podcast to me. As its name suggests, this podcast brings you information about the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and other disability law topics. Check out the past episodes with full-text transcripts and remember to subscribe so that you don't miss new content as it is posted. - K

• Email This
• Print
• Comments (1)
• Trackbacks

Ok, this is a little complicated, but here's the deal: The Shriver Center's Clearinghouse Review is piloting a project that will provide 6 months of free access to all of the articles on their website to advocates working for subscribing organizations that they select to participate. If your organization would like to participate, email Jason Vail for more information. They want to know specific information about your program and staff and, based on this information, will select programs to participate in the pilot. Staff at the participating programs will be required to complete short surveys during the six-month pilot so that they can evaluate the project. -M

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks

For those of you who aren't regular listeners to This American Life or, like me, are still getting caught up on this year's episodes, I would encourage you to listen to an excellent May 2008 episode called "The Giant Pool of Money" on the foreclosure crisis, which was done in collaboration with NPR News. Also available is a shorter companion version of the story that appeared on NPR's All Things Considered. -M

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks (1)

A hot topic in legal technology circles is "e-discovery." In fact, Law Technology News typically has at least one article on e-discovery in each issue. But until I read the trends article from the National Center for State Courts (NCSC), I hadn't ever thought that it really mattered to the legal aid community. Turns out, I was wrong.

While legal aid organizations might not be engaging in multi-million dollar e-discovery cases, they do need to pay attention to topic. What do you do when a client comes in and claims that her husband made her take and post nude pictures online? How do you track down those pictures? The obvious place to start is with the husband's personal computer. Without knowing the basics of e-discovery, it is incredibly easy to wreck any evidence that exists.

So take a look at the NCSC article. And then if you are interested in more information, head over and check out the E-Discovery section at Law.com. - K

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks

An interesting article from Law Technology News today on how IT is transforming legal services, which makes a great point (and one that certainly applies to our clients):

Technology will create the most change for people who have been shut out of legal information sources and services -- small business and individuals. These clients don't offer enough scale to be of interest to existing legal services providers, but technology-based information and service providers are in a position to begin serving that "long tail" of the legal market.

-M

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks

The Celtics win and the fans riot. Sad, but unfortunately it gets worse. Footage of fans happily destroying the windows of Greater Boston Legal Services has been posted on YouTube. Cops are scouring this and other videos to identify suspects. More information is available in the ABA Journal, and a great response video has been posted on YouTube. - K

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks

[Note: Before I start on this post, your IT Department has asked me to say a little something. If your computer is really slow, check with them before you do anything. You can break things by doing what I did. This can make them very angry and frustrated and want to cry. Your IT colleagues have enough things in their day that do this to them. Don't be another one. And remember, IT staff are like secretaries and administrative assistants. Your work day goes smoother when you are nice to them.]

I'm not a fanatic memory manager; however, tonight, in order to use my computer, I had to learn a little about reigning in some hoggish use of memory.

Let me set the stage. I restarted my computer, and within minutes, it was incredibly slow. I wasn't doing anything complicated. I was just trying to make train reservations for my next trip to NYC. Only Outlook and FireFox were open, and a few more items were running in the background. Following my gut instinct, I first blamed Outlook, which typically uses more than its fair share of my memory, but its CPU and memory usage were low. A bit disappointed that the problem wasn't quite so easy to pinpoint, I turned toward the next set of likely culprits -- the three software programs that I had installed recently: AVG Anti-Virus 8.0, Firefox 3, and Xobni. Turns out that two of three were responsible for my problem: AVG Anti-Virus and Firefox.

Recently, AVG Anti-Virus 8.0 was released with a new feature, ACG Safe Search. This feature works with your browser and scans every web link to find out if it is good or bad. And it is a known memory hog. So I said good-bye to AVG Safe Search. I certainly I won't miss it. (Don't worry, Allison. AVG Anti-Virus is still installed.)

In doing my research on AVG Safe Search, I found out that memory management was a particular focus for the developers working on Firefox 3; however, a few default settings still seem to cause Firefox to consume more resources than necessary. While there are several places that you can read up on this, I would recommend the Internet Duct Tape blog and the mozillaZine article, "Reducing Memory Usage." I ended up changing some of Firefox's default settings, which has seemed to improve things. I'm going to stick with these settings for a couple of days and see what happens.

So as of tonight, my computer is much happier, and I've been able to make my train reservations. The best news? I was also able to get reservations for cheap at The Pod Hotel, my favorite NYC resting place. - K

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks

VerticalResponse, a web-based bulk email tool, is offering a free program that allows nonprofits to send out up to 10,000 emails per month. What's more, you can purchase additional email credits at a 15% discount. Before you sign up, however, be sure to check out the recent idealware review of VerticalResponse, which discusses a couple of limitations that you should be aware of. -M

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks

This is a post that I've been patiently waiting to write for some time now. The reason: Pam Weisz, PBN's Director of Corporate Sponsorship, would have been upset if I had announced the news ahead of her. So, until now, I've had to keep quiet. But as of today, the press release is out, and I'm free to go ahead. So here it is:

The American Bar Association has recognized Pro Bono Net and several of its partners for contributing to the understanding of professionalism among lawyers and will be presenting them with one of three E. Smythe Gambrell Professionalism Awards at the ABA Annual Meeting in New York City on August 8.

Pro Bono Net's application focused on how programs are leveraging technology to promote and support pro bono involvement in underserved, frequently rural, regions. Examples include an online pro bono manual in Mississippi that helps lawyers doing volunteer work outside their area of expertise; the use of online mailings tools to place pro bono cases in Wyoming; and pro bono trainings done via webcast in Georgia.

So let's hear it for everyone involved in these efforts. Go team! - K

• Email This
• Print
• Comments (1)
• Trackbacks

The Shriver Center's Clearinghouse Review is hosting an online discussion of the foreclosure crisis and legal strategies. To join, go to the discussion group website and sign up using your Google account. For more information, e-mail Martin Stainthorp. -M

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks

I'm slowly working through a backlog of e-mail in my inbox and came across some interesting podcasts and materials from conferences that focus on design, technology, and the web. Since this audience may be interested in some of these resources, I thought that I'd make them available here.

• Pop!Casts from Pop!Tech - Innovative leaders talk about world changing projects.
• MP3s of Speakers from Future of Web Apps - Leaders in the field talk about social networking and other emerging web applications.
• Webcasts of TED Presentations - Speakers give the talk of their lives in 18 minutes.
• Videos and Podcasts from SXSW - Subject matter includes film, music, and interactive technology.
• O'Reilly Conference Rresentation Downloads and News Coverage - Resources from the large number of O'Reilly conferences.
• Videos from Gel (Good Experience Live) - Speakers talk about business, art, society, technology, and life.

Since this is too much information for one person to consume in any reasonable amount of time, let us know if you come across something particularly interesting. - K

• Email This
• Print
• Comments (2)
• Trackbacks

Last night, I was pointing out some background reading on legal self-help issues and trends to a new community member and discovered that the Self-Help Law ExPress blog is back from its hiatus. New posts can be expected in about two weeks. For those not familiar with the Shelp blog, it is a great resource for all things pro se. - K

• Email This
• Print
• Comments (1)
• Trackbacks

Given the popularity of instant messaging and the ubiquitous packaging of instant messaging services with web-based email accounts, it's likely that you use more than one IM client. In order to avoid having to sign in to several different clients, you can instead use an IM client that supports multiple instant messaging protocols. Here are a few free instant messaging "aggregators" worth considering:

• Pidgin: This is the client that I use at work. It's simple to set up and supports nearly every protocol out there (although some protocols, such as Skype, require a plugin). Pidgin does not support voice messaging or webcams, but if you can live without those it's a good option. (Windows, Linux)
• Meebo: A web-based instant messaging client, meebo supports most common protocols, including Yahoo! Messenger, .NET Messenger Service, Google Talk, AIM, ICQ, and Jabber. You can also create public or private rooms (which can be embedded on your website), and there's even a handy Meebo Firefox extension. (Windows, Mac, Linux)
• Trillian: I mention Trillian because it's fairly popular and the free version is comparatively full-featured. It supports most common protocols, but for voice messaging and webcam support you'll need to upgrade to Trillian Pro ($25). (Windows only) -M

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks

The ABA Journal has a directory of law-related blogs, the Blawg Directory. Hang out there long enough, and you can find blogs dedicated to everything from consumer law to legal theory to trusts and estates. But until today, they didn't have a pro bono category, which was added when we submitted technola. However, we feel a little bit lonely, and the list still doesn't have a poverty law or legal aid category. Matthew and I know that you are out there. So if you're a legal aid blogger, submit your blog and get listed. Let people know that you have something to say. - K

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks

The Shriver Center launched a new blog called Step Forward today. It features developments in poverty law and highlights from their various advocacy efforts. Posts are written by Shriver Center staff. -M

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks

Looking for a way to add current legal news to your website? The ABA Journal, winner of this year's 2008 Webby Awards People's Voice Winner, has a new widget available that lets you add their headlines to your site or blog.

And if that doesn't give you enough legal news, you can also check out their Twitter feed and get updates pushed your way all day long. - K

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks

Challenge number one of placing novice attorneys in remote offices - supervision. And what you've been doing to supervise those attorneys may not being cutting it, according to the Maryland Court of Appeals. E-mail and phone are not enough according to Chief Judge Robert Bell. He says, "You don't rely simply on the electronic record. You must check the docket." To read more about this case, check out the ABA Journal or The Daily Record.

So what does this mean for your organization? How do you supervise advocates in remote offices? How does technology play a role in that supervision? Leave a comment below and let us know. - K

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks

TechSoup.org has compiled a list of online nonprofit technology trainings for June. Topics include website analytics, data integration, technology planning, and fundraising. - K

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks

A recent article in the Daily Post (Wales), which was highlighted in today's Brennan Center Legal Services E-lert, reports:

Callers in desperate need of a lawyer in Wales will now be able to seek free legal advice by text message. An operator will return calls when mobile phone users text their name followed by the word 'legalaid' to 80010. Specialist advice on problems such as debt, inability to pay bills, or bailiff collection orders are offered through the service. ... The new scheme has been launched by Community Legal Advice, a free, confidential advice service paid for by government legal aid money.

For more information on text messaging in the legal services context (including ideas on how to implement projects like the one described above), be sure to check out Liz Keith's presentation on "Mobile Technology, Social Media,and Serving Low Income Communities" (PDF) from this year's Equal Justice Conference. -M

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks (2)

From the New York Times:

Speaking Wednesday afternoon at the annual Games for Change conference held at the New School in New York, Justice O'Connor described the game that will be offered free next year on the Internet. It is one of the main efforts of the Our Courts project that Justice O'Connor started in conjunction with Arizona State University and the Georgetown Law School. The game is being developed with James Gee, a professor at University of Wisconsin who studies the educational effect of video games.

Read the full article here. -M

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks

So last week, we pointed out something that might have brought a few of you pain. But this week, I promise you, we've got something pleasant for the long summer days -- free books.

• Google Books - Google gives you access to books, books, and more books. Books in the public domain or ones where the publishers have given permission are available for download in PDF and many other books have a free limited preview. This means that for free you can read all of Justice and the Poor by Reginald Heber Smith, check out the limited preview of Transforming Practices: Finding Joy and Satisfaction in the Legal Life by Steven Keeva, or, if you are into a little light reading, delve into Ivanhoe by Sir Walter Scott or An Introduction to the Theory of Numbers by Godfrey Harold Hardy and E.M. Wright.
• BookMooch.com - This site lets you trade books that you own, have read, and don't want anymore for books that other people own, have read, and don't want anymore. This seems like a great site for compulsive book buyers who live in small studio apartments or those who are trying to cut back on the number of book buying binges they have. Caveat - This isn't completely free. You do have to pay for postage and handling for sending your books to others.
• A History of Free and Open Source by Dr. Peter Salus - While I'm pointing out free books, I'd be remiss if I didn't point out this one. It's available for free from Groklaw, a website that reports on legal events related to free and open source software.

And if the sites listed above don't have that book that one special book that you need, perhaps one of these will.

• Computer Research Repository
• Elfwood (Science Fiction and Fantasy)
• ManyBooks.net
• CliffNotes.com
• WikiBooks

Happy reading! - K

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks

We're pleased to announce that you can now follow technola on Twitter. Our "tweets" will include blog posts, comments, follow-up on past posts and quick quips and tips that don't warrant a full blog post. To learn more about Twitter, check out Twitter in Plain English. -M

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks

An interesting article by Charles W. Ormsby Jr. for The Legal Intelligencer, which argues that law firm technology management should be left to IT professionals (or a managed services provider), not lawyers:

...we recently had our annual retreat where, in years past, a significant part of the agenda was devoted to technology problems and issues. Since we moved to the managed IT services approach, we have dedicated more of our agenda to discussions on growing the firm and evolving our capabilities, not keeping our PCs up and running.

-M

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks

I've mentioned before that computers, the Internet, and other technologies can be dangerous for domestic violence survivors. Online behavior that may be second nature for you -- participating openly in social networks, sending e-mail, or even having an answering machine -- may open up avenues for additional abuse for them. Advocates who work with domestic violence survivors need to be aware of the risks of technology use as well as be able to assess if technology has already been used to abuse the survivor. For example:

• Has the abuser sent threatening messages via e-mail or instant messaging?
• Has the abuser used a pre-paid calling card or cell phone, which leaves almost no information trail, to call and harass your client?
• Has the abuser used software to monitor your client's Internet use?

If you work with domestic violence survivors, I encourage you to spend some time reviewing the information on the Safety Net: the National Safe and Strategic Technology Project website. Safety Net is a program of the National Network to End Domestic Violence and was developed to educate people on how to use technology strategically in order to keep domestic violence survivors safe. In particular, I encourage you read A High-Tech Twist on Abuse, which has strategies and information for advocates as well as a safety planning handout for survivors. - K

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks

Yesterday Adobe launched Acrobat.com, a suite of online services that you can use to collaboratively create and share documents. The initial applications include:

• Adobe Buzzword for creating and reviewing documents;
• Adobe ConnectNow for online web conferences (limited to three people); and
• Acrobat.com organizer for sharing up to 5GB of files, converting documents to PDF and embedding documents in web pages, blogs, wikis, etc.

You can sign up for free at www.acrobat.com. -M

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks

For those of you with a taste for virtual law, an upcoming teleconference on "Why Virtual Worlds Matter for Lawyers." Panelists include:

• Benjamin Duranske (Moderator), Author, Virtual Law: Navigating the Legal Landscape of Virtual Worlds, Boise, ID
• David Elchoness, Executive Director, Association of Virtual Worlds; Founder and CEO, VRWorkplace.com, Boulder, CO
• Lauren Gelman, Executive Director, Stanford Law Center for Internet and Society; Lecturer in Law, Stanford University, Stanford, CA
• Steve Mortinger, VP & Associate General Counsel, IBM Systems & Technology Group, Somers, NY
• Francis Taney, Chair, Technology Litigation Practice Group; Shareholder, Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney, PC, Philadelphia, PA

More information is available on the ABA website and Virtually Blind. -M

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks