We’ve all been watching as the big Microsoft competitors such as Google and Yahoo snap up pieces of a puzzle — just the other day Google bought the wiki-maker JotSpot — the exact picture of which is still unclear. Most of the time it seems they’re gunning for a web-based office suite to take on MS Office. But there are lots of bits that don’t quite fit that view — office doesn’t care about chat or email — or wiki’s, come to that.

Perhaps the best way to think of the current grail is as a web operating system, under . . . [more]

It looks like this is a GL morning, what with gov. docs., conflict resolution stuff, and now this from the GL list:

BELIT Bioethics Literature Database
November 1, 2006

BELIT Contains about 320,000 records from integrated German, American and French databases. It is an extensive bibliographic directory of literature in the area of bioethics unique world wide, containing references to monographs, “grey literature”, legal documents, journal articles, newspaper articles and book contributions. Among the database providers include: the German Reference Centre for Ethics in the Life Sciences (DRZE, Bonn) in co-operation with the Information and Documentation Centre for Ethics in

On Halloween, Minister of Finance Jim Flaherty spooked Canadians by announcing a new Tax Fairness Plan. In response to the rapid growth of income trusts, the Plan intends to impose a tax on distributions from publicly traded income trusts and limited partnerships. For new trusts that begin trading after October 31st, this measure will be applied in the 2007 taxation year. Existing trusts receive a four-year transition period; the measure will be implemented in the 2011 taxation year. Other key measures in the Tax Fairness Plan include:

-as of January 1, 2011, the general corporate income tax rate will be . . . [more]

GODORT, the Government Documents Roundtable of the American Library Association, has sent out a call asking people to nominate government documents for consideration for the annual review article in the May 15, 2007 issue of Library Journal. Government documents can be American or “international” (so this includes Canadian material).

Documents or web sites need to be have been published or created in 2005-2006. The Notable Documents project was begun in 1982 and aims to promote awareness of government publications by libraries and their users. Since 1986, the annual list of selected documents has been published in the May 15 . . . [more]

The Pepperdine University School of Law in California was recently chosen by the American Arbitration Association to “take over its prestigious Library and Information Center, consisting of more than 24,000 titles on arbitration, mediation, negotiation, fact-finding, and other international and domestic dispute resolution procedures”.

Pepperdine is home to the Straus Institute, which was ranked the No. 1 dispute resolution program in the United States by U.S. News & World Report.

Cross-posted to Library Boy. . . . [more]

A major new report by the Federal Labour Standards Review Commission released yesterday is calling for an overhaul of federal labour standards which have changed little since they were introduced some 40 years ago.

The standards, which form Part III of the Canada Labour Code, cover hours of work, minimum wages, statutory holidays and annual vacations, statutory leaves (maternity, parental, compassionate care, bereavement and sick leave) and the termination of contracts of employment.

They apply to workers under federal jurisdiction such as those employed in banks, telecom or broadcast firms, postal services, airlines, surface transportation, airports and seaports, grain . . . [more]

This just in from Christine Sopora of The Canadian Bar Review:

THE CANADIAN BAR REVIEW
SPECIAL FAMILY LAW EDITION

Call for Papers

This is a call for papers for a special edition of The Canadian Bar Review devoted to family law, which will be published in the fall of 2007. Though any topic related to family law will be considered, the Editors are particularly interested in receiving submissions on subjects like the following:

• Economic issues
– Family trust
– Spousal support guidelines
– Tax implications of family breakdown
• Cross-cultural issues
– The Boyd Report on Islamic tribunals

Canada scored a pick and a pan in this month’s Current Cites. The redoubtable Roy Tennant gave a talk and a glowing review to the Capitalize on Access Conference 2006 that just took place at the University of Ottawa. For the non-librarians among us, Capitalize on Access is the big library and technology conference of the year. RT says:

Always a good time, it has recently been discovered by library technologists south of the border to be a don’t miss event. Thus it is a fruitful and interesting cross-fertilization between the latest developments in Canada and the U.S., as

The Rime of the Idiot Media Lawyer By Alex WadeAlex Wade is a media lawyer and the author of Wrecking Machine. He is currently at work on a book about surfing and writes Times Online’s Surf Nation blog

I am getting ready to move house — but what should I do with all my old law books?

It’s a move to pastures new,
And my law books lie in fear.
“By thy lawyer’s mien and merciless eye,
Just why have you put us here?

The dustbin’s lid is open wide,
But we’re not its next of kin!
We have our . . . [more]

I was referred to a good article in EDUCAUSE for September called “Ensuring the Net Generation is Net Savvy.” It is not overly long, and I found it well articulated. Here is the abstract:

Net Gen students may know the Internet, but they are not necessarily “net savvy.” Exposed to huge quantities and multiple formats of information online, they are constantly challenged to sort valid from inaccurate information. Moreover, students are creating information, not just consuming it. This Educause Learning Initiative paper explores the challenges students face online in effectively finding information, using technology, and thinking critically.

I was both . . . [more]

Well, I’m not feeling quite myself today. But it’s only a flesh wound.

I hope everyone has a fun and frightening Hallowe’en!

Cheers,
Connie . . . [more]

The Venice Commission, officially “The European Commission for Democracy through Law,” is:

…the Council of Europe’s advisory body on constitutional matters. Established in 1990, the commission has played a leading role in the adoption of constitutions that conform to the standards of Europe’s constitutional heritage.

Initially conceived as a tool for emergency constitutional engineering, the commission has become an internationally recognised independent legal think-tank.

It contributes to the dissemination of the European constitutional heritage, based on the continent’s fundamental legal values while continuing to provide “constitutional first-aid” to individual states. The Venice Commission also plays a unique and unrivalled