On my must-read list are some of the LLRX.com articles for this month. The authors have put together some great resources. Here’s the line-up:

Neurolaw and Criminal Justice
Ken Strutin’s article highlights selected recent publications, news
sources and other online materials concerning the applications of
cognitive research to criminal law as well as basic information on the
science and technology involved. — Published December 28, 2008

Deep Web Research 2009
Marcus P. Zillman’s guide includes links to: articles, papers, forums,
audios and videos, cross database articles, search services and search
tools, peer to peer, file sharing, grid/matrix search engines,
presentations, . . . [more]

Kevin O’Keefe recently discussed Digital Darwinism as it related to legal researchers, publishers and advertisers. The economic downturn, coupled with technological advances, has resulted in the demise of many major industries that have been the backbone of corporate America.

But O’Keefe also suggests another slightly troubling proposition,

Blogs will be widely cited in briefs and court decisions.

What better way to provide compelling arguments and establish binding precedent than sourcing articles with a milisecond publishing turnaround time?

There is obviously a broad variety of quality and depth in the legal blogosphere.

The credibility and authority of both the author and . . . [more]

According to the Economist’s Pocket World in Figures, Canada had more computers per capita than any other country but one in 2006. Israel beat us out for the top spot. Apparently there were 87.6 computers for every 100 people in the peaceable kingdom — and a whopping 122.1 in Israel. Here’s a shot of the first ten spots:

It’s good, I think, to be suspicious of this sort of data. I say this because the Pocket World table for 2005, the prior year, published in May of this year, shows a considerable difference:

That’s a lot of computers for . . . [more]

♫ Looking forward,
All that I can see,
Is good things happening
to you and to me…♫

Words and Music by Neil Young, recorded by Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young.

In these trying and troubling times, perhaps the hardest thing to imagine in looking forward is things getting better. Yet, the coaches out there continually emphasize that, in order for something to come true, you have to imagine it in your mind – first – before executing the necessary action. This holds true whether you are practicing a golf swing, a ski turn or a business plan. In . . . [more]

According to their recent blog post, the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada is expected to soon release guidelines to help employers draft policies for use of social networking sites in the workplace. The Office cites a recent study by Ryerson University that identified a digital divide between young Canadians who use social networks and their employers. The blog post explains:

…researchers found that, by and large, employers currently don’t have policies, guidelines or practices in place that govern the use of social networking sites in the workplace.

However, a small number of employers are starting to. So

The U.S. Mission to Canada is pretty hip, serving up content the way you want it:

• podcast
• facebook
• twitter (@usembassyottawa)
• news feeds (RSS)
• Ambassador David Wilkins also apparently held “web chats”, the most recent his farewell chat held on December 11th (transcript here).

I wonder if the incoming ambassador will take it a step further and open up a Second Life presence ?

As a side note, I notice the U.S. Embassy in London also on Twitter: @usembassylondon; their Twitter updates (“tweets”) are also reposted on their website. . . . [more]

An item I blogged about yesterday over at Stem, I am about to start a new role in 2009 as a column editor for the ABA LPM’s Law Practice magazine. The column will be called LegalWEB2.0, and is set to begin in the Jan/Feb issue. Here’s a small screen capture from the inaugural column:

Connected to this new role, I am hoping you’ll help one of our first columnists Doug Cornelius by taking a new survey on law firms that block social media websites via their proxy servers or firewall. If your firm blocks these sites, or even . . . [more]

There’s a new addition to the roster of domain name suffixes coming: .tel And it’s unique among extensions in at least a couple of ways. First, its distribution is in wholly private and commercial hands — you’ll pay to play — and second, it won’t locate a place on the web. Evidently, dot tel will lead to a collection of your resources located right on the domain name server, and what it serves up will depend on how you come to it and where you come from. The idea is to make the DNS emit information that is responsive to . . . [more]

Aujourd’hui encore, trop nombreux sont les profanes aux yeux desquels l’Internet reste une terre inconnue, aux rituels propres et au langage incompréhensible. Pour se convaincre des réticences que continue à susciter le réseau parmi les professionnels du droit en particulier, il suffit d’ailleurs de faire état de tous les domaines de la pratique au sein desquels son utilisation est encore exclue. Par exemple, le courriel n’est toujours pas un mode de signification accepté par le législateur, et nombre d’avocats lui préfèrent la télécopie pour de simples communications. Les tribunaux de la Belle Province ne permettent pas encore la production de . . . [more]

There was a time before Twitter, which first appeared on our radar not quite a year ago (Some Folks Are A-Twitter). Facebook was invented in 2004 and didn’t take off until some years later. There was even a time before RSS, and certainly a time before it became a routine way to pull information. And, of course, we’re told that there was indeed a time before blogging — but that’s pre-history and there’s no written record from that time…

So my question is: what is the new technology that we’re not quite seeing at the moment?

I’m not . . . [more]

Today saw the release of an Ipsos Reid survey on the legal problems faced by low-income British Columbians. More than 80 per cent have faced problems since 2005 that have been serious and difficult to resolve. The poll was commissioned by the province’s legal aid program.

Consumer, money, and housing issues topped the list of legal problems with employment and family relations following close behind.

“The high incidence of legal problems is troubling,” said Mark Benton, QC, Executive Director of the Legal Services Society, the organization that provides legal aid in BC. “This survey, along with other research . . . [more]

The folks over at Orange Legal Technologies have put together a news feed they are calling “Unfiltered Orange” focussing on electronic discovery. You can access Unfiltered Orange a few ways:

• directly from the Orange Legal Technologies website. Scroll down for the latest headlines, click through for the full news item from its original source.
• if you are on Twitter, follow the tweets from @complexd.
• if you are using a feed reader, or want to repurpose the feed, the RSS feed is available here.

They are apparently using Twitter to create the original feed. They have created this . . . [more]