A2J Author 3.0 Released

Posted on January 25, 2010 by Kate Bladow

The Center for Access to Justice & Technology and the Center for Computer-Assisted Legal Instruction released A2J Author 3.0 last week. With A2J Author, non-techies can create user-friendly interfaces that help self-represented litigants fill out court forms and other legal documents. Several states with great A2J Author interviews, including New York, Washington state, and Washington, DC, have been highlighted on Technola previously.

New features included in A2J Author 3.0 include the ability to

  • add graphics and videos to questions;
  • customize how users exit an interview and let them leave before an interview is completed;
  • create new interviews by "cutting and pasting" existing questions or question sets; and
  • add a logo to the interview.

You can download A2J Author 2.0 from the A2J Author community website. A2J Author is free for noncommercial use. - K

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Free Friday: CALI Annual Membership

Posted on June 12, 2009 by Kate Bladow

The Center for Computer-Assisted Legal Instruction (CALI) offers LSC-funded legal aid programs free annual memberships that include

With reduced training budgets, these free memberships could be a great way for legal aid staff to review important legal concepts and develop training materials for self-study. - K

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Virtual Worlds 2008

Posted on April 14, 2008 by Matthew Burnett

The week before last I spent some time at the 2008 Virtual Worlds and Virtual Law Conference here in New York. (A warm thanks to Ben Duranske, author of the Virtually Blind blog and a new book on virtual law, for making it possible.) I attended a few different sessions, ranging from an interesting discussion on intellectual property issues (yes, you can trademark your avatar, complete with "TM" bling) to a panel on bringing your organization into virtual worlds, which provided tips on getting started (know your virtual audience) and prompted a candid discussion of ROI (stickiness is a big metric).

It was really interesting to see the range of audiences that are being targeted, from the preschool set to older adults, as well as the range of companies that are making the jump. And while the driving force behind virtual worlds seems very entertainment focused, there is also a good deal of energy being put into creating virtual worlds (or projects within virtual worlds) that focus on more worthy pursuits, like education and advocacy.

In fact, one project that should be of interest to our community is the work that former statewide website coordinator Gene Koo (blog) is doing with the Berkman Center and CALI to create virtual environments that facilitate legal instruction and collaboration among law school professors. For more on the intersection of law and virtual worlds, check out the excellent book, The State of Play: Law, Games and Virtual Worlds, and the State of Play conference website, which includes podcasts and webcasts of past conferences (also available on iTunes U). -M

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A2J Author 2.0 Released

Posted on April 6, 2008 by Kate Bladow

The Center for Access to Justice & Technology, in partnership with the Center for Computer-Assisted Legal Instruction, has released version 2.0 of A2J Author. With A2J Author, non-techies can create user-friendly interfaces that help self-represented litigants fill out court forms or other legal documents. A great example of A2J in action can be seen on the New York City Housing Court and Civil Court websites. A2J Author 2.0 has several new enhancements.

  • Developers can move between development screens more easily.
  • Audio files can be deleted with one button click instead of deleting the files one at a time.
  • The courthouse graphic can be switched out for an alternative graphic.

You can download A2J Author 2.0 from the A2J Author community website. A2J Author is free for noncommercial use. - K

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