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

Since November 2009, ALM has been hosting a series of Virtual LegalTech shows, online versions of their LegalTech Trade Shows. Previous sessions have included

• Amending the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure
• Developing a Comprehensive and Legally Sound Social Media Policy
• The Microsoft Boot Camp
• Windows 7 - Tales from the Trenches

After registering, you can listen to these and other archived sessions. You'll also be able to register for the upcoming Virtual LegalTech on May 20, 2010, which includes the panels "Social Media: Security and Privacy" and "E-Discovery Cost Management and Litigation Readiness." - K

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If you missed the session "Knowledge Management: What it is, why it matters, and (Google) options for making what you know findable" at the LSC TIG Conference, you have another opportunity to learn how legal aid programs are addressing knowledge management.

On Tuesday, April 29 at 2 pm Eastern, Google is sponsoring the webinar "Advancing Knowledge Sharing with Google: The LSNC Story," where Brian Lawlor and Mark Sawyer from Legal Services of Northern California will recount their experience implementing an enterprise-level Google Search Appliance, a project they referred to as The Findability Project.

Register online to attend the free webinar. - K

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Most of the time, information on the Web is easy to access, but sometimes, you hit barriers that keep you from getting what you want. Whether it's a request for a username and password on a site that you'll never use again or trying to access your email when Gmail is down, Lifehacker again comes to the rescue, giving us the Top 10 Ways to Access Blocked Stuff on the Web. - K

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Watching Twitter, Facebook, and my news feeds over the past couple of months, I've been amazed at how many organizations are announcing new resources for advocates and the public. Some of those resources include

Consumer

•  2010 Consumer Action Handbook - General Services Administration
• Consumer Identity Theft Kit - CLEONet
• Consumer's Guide to Credit Cards - The Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve
• Debt Collection Issues (Videos and Fact Sheets) - Clicklaw
• Regulating the Refund Anticipation Loan Industry - The Shriver Brief
• Repo Madness: How Automobile Repossessions Endanger Owners, Agents and the Public - National Consumer Law Center

Domestic Violence

• Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) Domestic Violence Toolkit for Attorneys - American Bar Association
• Survivor's Guide to Freedom from Violence - Assaulted Women's Helpline

Education

• IEP iPhone Checklist App - Parent Educational Advocacy Training Center

Estate Planning

• Legal Guide for the Seriously Ill - American Bar Association
• Planning for Incapacity: A Self-Help Guide - Maryland Legal Aid Bureau

Housing

• Guidebook for Developing Permanent Supportive Housing for Homeless Veterans - National Coalition for Homeless Veterans
• Representing Yourself in Foreclosure: A Guide for Connecticut Homeowners - Connecticut Fair Housing Center

Immigration

• Protecting Assets and Child Custody in the Face of  Deportation - Appleseed
• Understanding Immigration Employment Rights: An ESOL Tool - US Department of Justice

General Legal Information

• Legal Help for British Columbians: A Guide to Help Non-Professionals Make Legal Referrals for Clients - ClickLaw
• Massachusetts Legal Advocacy Guides - Massachusetts Law Reform Institute
• National Legal Resource Center - Administration on Aging
• US Code of Federal Regulations in XML - Government Printing Office

Thank you to @shrivercenter, @ABACtrProBono, @kmontenegro, @CLEONet,  @ProBono_GA, Pennsylvania Legal Aid Network, and the many others (whom I didn't write down) who pointed out these resources. - K

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TechSoup has made their Editorial Style Guide public. Similar to the AP Stylebook or The Bluebook, this guide helps people produce content with a consistent style and a more professional look. Style guides are a terrific resource. They prevent staff and others from wasting time wondering whether they should be using "internet" or "Internet," or "Web site" or "website." (Checking TechSoup's quick reference guide, they say it's "Internet" and "website." )

Does your organization have a style guide? You should, and it doesn't have to be cumbersome to draft one. Simply create a document that specifies how to treat your organization's global identity and then use TechSoup's guide for everything else. Your writing will look more professional and be easier to read. - K

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I search the Internet a lot. I've been known to use Yahoo or Bing on occasion, but I mainly search with Google. (Unless it's breaking news. Then I always search Twitter first.) Over time, I've learned tricks to improve my results, weed out junk, and save time.

Recently, The New York Times compiled a list of 10 Simple Google Search Tricks, which includes many of my favorites as well as a couple new tricks.  The highlights:

• Don't struggle with finding what you want on a site when it doesn't have a built-in search. Use Google's "site:" operator.
• Get rid of unrelated results with the "-" operator. This helps a lot if you want to search "pro bono" but don't want to see anything related to "U2" or "Sonny & Cher."
• Enter an area code, and the first result should be a map of the area it covers.

The one that they didn't mention that I use most often: searching for an exact phrase. You add quotation marks around the phrase. For example: "legal aid" will return pages with the phrase "legal aid" and not just the words "legal" and "aid."

What are your favorite search tips? Do you stick to Yahoo or Bing because of tricks that you've learned? - K

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Need to know when the first law firm website went online? Take a look at Robert Ambrogi's "A Chronology of Legal Technology, 1842-1995." You'll find that Lexis was introduced in 1973; WordPerfect was launched in 1980; and in 1994 Venable, Baetjer, Howard & Civiletti became the first law firm to have a website. - K

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Yesterday, April 18, marked the start of National Volunteer Week, a national celebration of people who are volunteering and improving their communities. Thousands of projects and special events have been scheduled to recognize existing volunteers and encourage others to become involved. This year marks the thirty-sixth National Volunteer Week, an event that was established by former President Richard Nixon in 1974 and is sponsored by Points of Light Institute and HandsOn Network.

As this week progresses, I suspect that you'll see communities leveraging technology to promote volunteerism and events for volunteers. Already few examples exist:

• Blogging: The Case Foundation summarized the history of service in the US on its blog. And in our own community, Pro Bono Net has invited guests to blog about pro bono legal services on their Martindale-Hubbell Connected group. The first post "An Opportunity to Serve Those Who Serve Us" from Jason Vail of the ABA Military Pro Bono Project is also posted on Pro Bono Net's website. 
• Videos: Chapters of the HandsOn Network, the American Cancer Society, and the American Red Cross created videos to thank their volunteers. HandsOn Network also put together a video to promote National Volunteer Week.

If this celebration makes you want to get involved, check out the National Pro Bono Opportunities Guide for local legal aid organizations and pro bono programs that need help. Other non-legal opportunities are listed on the HandsOn Network website.

Are you doing anything to celebrate your volunteers this week? If so, what? Let us know below. - K

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I'm floored at how much content Nonprofit Technology Conference attendees created to document their activities. They took notes and photographs, drafted blog posts, created videos, uploaded slides from their presentations, and, of course, tweeted. A few of the many items that I've seen:

Session Recaps and Analysis

• Hotlanta and the 10NTC (JustAnne)
• Andrew Sullivan on New Media: “A mosh pit of universal dyspepsia and amusement - and value” (Katya's Non-Profit Marketing Blog)
• Conferences and Their Hashtags (The Extraordinaries)
• Diversifying Your Tech and Online Communications Teams (Frogloop Blog)
• From 10NTC: 7 Key Lessons for Integrated Multichannel Fundraising (Connection Cafe)
• Lessons Learned about a Distributed Workforce and Listening, via NTC (Online Communities for Social Change)
• NTC Day of Service 2010 (the groupery blog)
• NTC Day of Service: Our Tenth Year! (Beth's Blog)
• A sneak peek at The Networked Nonprofit: Beth Kanter and Allison Fine’s new book (Katya's Non-Profit Marketing Blog)
• Spreading the good word of storytelling (The Mercy Corps Blog)

Interviews

• Nate Aune Of Plone Foundation On Working With Open Source Vendors (Causecast Nonprofit)
• Steve Backman from Database Designs on Project Management for CMS (Causecast Nonprofit)
• Ivan Boothe of Rootwork on the Death of Online Strategy (Causecast Nonprofit)
• Woody Collins from Congo Helping Hands (Causecast Nonprofit)
• Fan Of The Nonprofit Tech Conference (Causecast Nonprofit)
• Gregory Heller From Civic Actions On Working With Open Source Vendors (Causecast Nonprofit)
• Hayes Morehouse from Ella Baker Center on working with open-source vendors (Causecast Nonprofit)
• Gabriel Nichols from Human Rights First on Project Management for CMS (Causecast Nonprofit)
• Margaux O’Malley from Grand Junction Design on working with open-source vendors (Causecast Nonprofit)
• Tim Walker of Biro Creative talks Web Thinking (Causecast Nonprofit)

Tweets

• TweetNotes from the NTC
  

Presentations

• 10ntc on SlideShare

Session Notes

• 2010 NTC session notes

Photographs

• The 10NTC Pool

Seen any materials that I've missed? Please add them in the comments. - K

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The NTEN Nonprofit Technology Conference wrapped up on Saturday night after several days of service, keynotes, and sessions. I have several draft posts written but need to give them a final read now that I have a couple nights of sleep behind me. To entertain you until those posts are ready, I give you NTEN's Community Rhapsody.

The NTEN staff made this version of the Muppet original to reward the community for donating over $10,000 to help send more than 70 nonprofit technologists to the conference. (You may remember the reward from last year: Holly Ross' remake of Beyonce's "You Should Have Put a Ring on It.")

Mark your calendars. Next year's conference is in DC from March 17 to 19. - K

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Day two of the NTEN Nonprofit Technology Conference. The morning started with Andrew Sullivan talking about blogging and ended with a awesome lunch with a table of legal aid folks who are learning and thinking a lot about web presence, social networking, and other technologies.

A lot of information is being shared at the conference, but some of the best conversations are happening in the backchannel, or online, where you can participate without being at the conference.

John Merritt Summarizes My Morning at NTC

If you aren't, I encourage you to follow the NTC events that are being made available online through streamed sessions, webinars, and the backchannel. - K

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I've suggested before that lawyers need to write more plainly. Turns out that Alan Siegel, a well-recognized branding and design expert, agrees. At TED 2010, he lectured on the importance of plain language and also suggested that interactive tools are key to making resources for the public more effective. Video of his presentation is available on the TED website.

If you are not familiar with TED,  this small nonprofit has been bringing remarkable people together to talk about "ideas worth spreading" since 1984. Originally the focus was on technology, entertainment, and design; however, that focus has expanded over time. You can view many of the speeches given at the conference online. - K

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All right, so it's not so much the "midnight train" as it is a "noon plane," but I am heading to Georgia.

Atlanta and the Georgia Center for Nonprofits are hosting the NTEN Nonprofit Technology Conference, a multiple day extravaganza of speakers, exhibits, penguins, and people who love nonprofit technology. If you'll be at the NTC, please let me know so that we can meet up. And if you aren't going to the NTC, but can't live without it in your world, check out how you can participate online. - K

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The Nonprofit Technology Network today released the 2009 Nonprofit IT Staffing and Spending Report. First published in 2006, this Report is an excellent resource for objective data on nonprofit IT salaries and how nonprofits are spending their IT dollars. The free report is available for download here. -M

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Yesterday, after I posted about the resources available from the ABA Techshow, I noticed ABA Site-tation's great round up of blog posts and resources, including posts from several notable law blogs like 3 Geeks and a Law Blog and Above the Law. - K

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