Fellow law library consultant Kathie Sullivan and I have been working together to track new collaboration tools and document the challenges that groups face in using them. New project management platforms such as Basecamp, collaborative mindmapping, and wireframe/mockup tools like Mockingbird and Balsamiq join familiar tools like wikis and Google Docs to make teamwork easier, regardless of where everyone is located. We are specifically interested in how these might be used in library and legal settings.

We are building a wiki that will document the tools and related stories (still to be made public), and will be speaking at two . . . [more]

Google’s new black navigation bar is the first outward-facing component of a massive social networking project the company’s been working on for over a year: Google+. I’ve been using Google+ during its “field test” (what we’d normally call a beta I think, but Google has forever ruined the public’s expectations of a beta), and I’ve come away impressed. It may be the first social networking tool I use, and enjoy using, on a daily basis.

While I have a personal Facebook and Twitter account, I find I rarely use them. Yes, Facebook’s endless privacy follies have given me cold . . . [more]

Here’s an interesting question, arising out of a case before a Colorado court: may the state require a defendant in a criminal trial to enter the password that will decrypt a computer drive with full disk encryption? The Electronic Frontier Foundation has entered a brief in the case of US v. Fricosu arguing Friday that to require the defendant either to hand over the information on the drive or to provide the password enabling the prosecution to get access to the data would infringe her constitutional right against self-incrimination. Apparently the authorities have offered a limited form of immunity to . . . [more]

For those who do public speaking, I recently attended two webinars which provided great tips on organizing your presentation, choosing the best delivery method, creating relevant content and connecting with your target audience. The first webinar “Creating & Organizing your speech”, was hosted by LexBlog and Faith Pincus on May 18^th. The second, on June 7^th, was a webinar for upcoming speakers for the 2011 ILTA (International Legal Technology Association) Conference. I am speaking at this conference on a panel about “Next Generation Intranets” and will consider many of these tips and recommendations in planning and . . . [more]

I’m hesitant about trying to predict the future and would be aligned with those with those who have written:

Trying to predict the future is like trying to drive down a country road at night with no lights while looking out the back window

and

The only thing we know about the future is that it will be different.

both by Peter Drucker

or Samuel Goldwyn, providing the title above.

That said, I’m occasionally asked for views on trends and evolution and to squint into the future, while retaining loyalty to the anti-futurists.

Many see technology and social media . . . [more]

After 5 years of litigation, the parties in a class action dispute arising out of the Caledonia standoff came to a $20 million settlement on Friday, approved by Justice David Crane of the Hamilton court. There are 440 residential claimants and an additional 400 business and subcontractor claimants.

The underlying issue of the conflict, the development land of Douglas Creek Estates, has yet to be resolved. The province has already paid $16 million for the land, $46.2 million on policing, $6.9 million for builders and developers, and $3.85 million for a Brantford ministry office. Some residents are not entirely happy . . . [more]

The July 9 issue of the Canada Gazette was published and it includes the second set of proposed regulations under Canada’s anti-spam legislation (CASL). These are the Governor in Council regulations from Industry Canada, not to be confused with the CRTC regulations that were pre-published last week for consultation.

You can read the pre-publication in the Gazette here:

The consultation period for these proposed regulations is 60 days. . . . [more]

What follows will be no revelation to most Slaw regulars (or irregulars as the case might be) so feel free to move along, but also feel to contribute some expertise if the feeling moves you. While celebrating Canada Day last week, it occurred to me that not everybody who visits Slaw will be as comfortable with some of the legal foundations of Canada as those regulars (or irregulars) are; so what follows are some of the legalities that make Canada… well Canada.

Canadian Constitutional documents being specifically:
– The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms
– Canadian Constitution Act 1867, . . . [more]

This article by Jennifer Ip, Senior Claims Counsel at LAWPRO, follows up on Monday’s post on E&O coverage issues when dealing with foreign law, and appeared in the same December 2010 issue of LAWPRO Magazine.

When you shop for a contractor for a home renovation, you are often reminded about the need to ensure your contractor has third party liability insurance and workers’ compensation insurance – just in case.

Do you ask that same question when you shop for a lawyer outside of Ontario (or whatever is your home jurisdiction)? Do you remember to ask if the foreign lawyer carries . . . [more]

Human beings have a hard time living in the moment. And when we’re not rueing or re-writing the past, we’re envisioning the future. Though I haven’t kept score, I’d guess that on the whole we’re not very good at it, our favourite mode being the straight-line projection: tomorrow will be like today only more so — if you see what I mean. This means that our forecasts tell us more about ourselves and our times than they do about emergent folks or phenomena, which is why it’s fun, as a study in history, to see what the past has said . . . [more]

Slaw began on July 8, 2005. In the ensuing six years we’ve written a lot: more than 7300 posts, which, if you assume 500 words per post, yields 3,650,000 words. Add to that the more than 10,000 comments you’ve given us, and the Slaw community has produced the equivalent of something like 66 novels.

The posts and columns have been written by nearly 200 people over the years: lawyers, librarians, judges, consultants, scholars, and politicians. And they’ve been read by thousands of you: we now average just under 50,000 unique visitors each month who pay us 130,000 visits a month, . . . [more]

The Library of Parliament has released a document outlining the current and emerging issues that will face the new Canadian Parliament elected on May 2, 2011.

William Young, Parliamentary Librarian, explains:

“The pages that follow illustrate the kind of work we can do for you: 27 concise and easy-to-read briefings on subjects ranging from cybercrime to the impact of demographic changes on public policy. The issues are presented in summary form and represent just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to our subject-matter expertise (…)”

“The sheer volume of information presented at the beginning of a new Parliament