I've recently started a blog on law library technology and KM at
LawLibTech.com <http://www.lawlibtech.com>. (By the way, if you don't know
what a blog is, take a look at the entry under Nov. 19, "Blogging at
Internet Librarian" for a quick definition.) See below for postings from the
past month.
I'd very much like for this blog to be a collaborative space, and have
included the option for readers to add comments. So please contribute to the
conversation.
You can subscribe to LawLibTech.com by entering your email address in the
"Subscribe" box on the right hand column. Email addresses are kept
confidential and are not used for any other purpose than to send email
updates relating to LawLibTech content.
If you'd like to help support LawLibTech.com, please order books, etc. via
the Amazon links on the right-hand column. Commissions earned by your
purchases help pay for the hosting & upkeep of the site.
And for those of you who don't know, I am no longer affiliated in any way
with LLRX.com. (As of 4/29/2003)
Let me know if you have any questions or comments!
Cindy L. Chick
LawLibTech.com - A conversation on law library technology and knowledge
management.
cchick at lawlibtech.com
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LawLibTech.com <http://www.lawlibtech.com>
December 07, 2003
**Don't Make Me Think
Can you describe how you use the Internet? What catches your eye, how you
scan pages, and generally how you seek information? I know I can't. But it's
almost spooky how the author of Don't Make Me Think
<http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0789723107/qid%253D1069013474
/lawlibtech-20/> perfectly describes my surfing mannerisms.
Continue reading "Don't Make Me Think"
<http://www.lawlibtech.com/archives/000033.html>
**Netmeeting is Dead, Long Live Placeware
Dead may be an exaggeration. Let's just say Netmeeting has been pushed into
a comfortable, though somewhat sudden, retirement.
Microsoft has announced that Netmeeting will be replaced by Office Live
Meeting, aka, Placeware.
<http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,113659,tk,dn112503X,00.asp>
I've been using Netmeeting for several years now for training purposes
<http://www.lawlibtech.com/articles/desktoptraining.htm> . It's simple and
reliable. But there's no question it has been looking a bit long in the
tooth lately, and the requirement for a conferencing server to accomodate
over 8 connections is limiting, to say the least. Since Microsoft's purchase
of Placeware in April 2003, I was wondering what their plans were for
Netmeeting. Obviously that question has been answered!
Continue reading "Netmeeting is Dead, Long Live Placeware"
<http://www.lawlibtech.com/archives/000034.html>
November 30, 2003
**Blogs for Intranet Content
Blogs have a reputation for being personal, often trivial, online journals.
But when considering blogs for an Intranet you need to get beyond the
stereotype and keep in mind that blogs reduced to their bare bones are
simply web pages with short entries in reverse chronological order that can
be categorized by subject.
The content presented can vary dramatically. For example, any "What's New"
page is a possible candidate for a blog. Do you want to distribute current
awareness information? Consider a blog as an easy way to post to a web page,
and also automatically distribute the entries via email if you so choose.
Continue reading "Blogs for Intranet Content"
<http://www.lawlibtech.com/archives/000032.html>
November 24, 2003
**Elearning as a KM Application
It was a long, painful transit strike. But it's over, at least for now, and
I'm back on the train. And none too soon. My reading has really stacked up.
Paying for parking in downtown L.A. was getting old, too. Then there was the
traffic. But I digress.
My first day back I perused "KM and Elearning: A Powerful Combination",
<http://www.econtentmag.com/Articles/ArticleReader.aspx?ArticleID=5557&Query
=elearning> from Econtent <http://www.econtentmag.com/> (Oct. 2003). I was
struck with how little I've heard elearning, or training of any kind,
mentioned in the same sentence as KM. Yet the transfer of knowledge in
professional training programs could be significant.
Continue reading "Elearning as a KM Application"
<http://www.lawlibtech.com/archives/000030.html>
**Making Your Spider Outperform Google
Even the best search engine can fail. But when it falls short of finding the
most commonly requested information, whether on an external web site or an
intranet, that's a real problem.
That's why I found Rich Wiggins' Internet Librarian presentation so
interesting. He discussed in detail how he enhanced the search engine at
Michigan State University <http://www.msu.edu/> in a way that no doubt
improves the user experience.
Continue reading "Making Your Spider Outperform Google"
<http://www.lawlibtech.com/archives/000031.html>
November 22, 2003
**Amazon Can Do It. So Can Westlaw
Last week <http://www.lawlibtech.com/archives/000027.html> I was bemoaning
the fact that secondary sources in legal research are getting short shrift.
I suggested that the online services should push the appropriate treatise,
ALR, etc. resources to the user based on the user's search terms.
So perhaps it wasn't an original thought. It turns out that Westlaw is doing
just that with their new product, ResultsPlus.
<http://west.thomson.com/store/product.asp?product%5Fid=Westlaw+ResultsPlus>
Continue reading "Amazon Can Do It. So Can Westlaw"
<http://www.lawlibtech.com/archives/000029.html>
November 19, 2003
**Wacky World of Gadgets
When it comes to gadgets, you might think you've seen it all. If so, I
suspect you'd be wrong. Barbara Fullerton & Brian Neale show unique items
the likes of which I've never encountered in their Internet Librarian
presentation, the Wacky World of Gadgets.
<http://www.infotoday.com/il2003/presentations/Fullerton_Neale.pps>
Continue reading "Wacky World of Gadgets"
<http://www.lawlibtech.com/archives/000028.html>
**Blogging at Internet Librarian
If you're new to blogs Darlene Fichter's presentation The Blogging
Explosion-Libraries & Weblogs
<http://library.usask.ca/~fichter/talks03/il/2003.10.28.blogging.pps> is a
good introduction. She also includes examples of how blogs are being used on
library web sites.
My favorite part was Darlene's clear definition of a blog, "A web page
containing brief entries arranged chronologically."
Continue reading "Blogging at Internet Librarian"
<http://www.lawlibtech.com/archives/000025.html>
**Cool Tools for Web Development
Darlene Fichter's <http://library.usask.ca/~fichter/> Internet Librarian
presentation on tools for web development listed a variety of handy and
useful utilities. I've already told you about ieSpell
<http://www.lawlibtech.com/archives/000022.html> .
Also included were a couple of interesting PDF tools.
Continue reading "Cool Tools for Web Development"
<http://www.lawlibtech.com/archives/000024.html>
November 17, 2003
**Hard Copy v. Electronic Research
Thomas O'Keefe, in his article "Navigating the Law: Case-finding Tools
Beyond Lexis and Westlaw" (Legal Information Alert, June 2003), makes an
excellent case for the usefulness of hard copy case finding tools. He also
notes in his concluding paragraph that the strategy of using case finding
tools along with online full-text searching can be a difficult one to
promote because such tools are disappearing from library shelves. Why are
such useful tools going by the wayside? I blame it on the online research
vendors and their love affair with full-text searching.
Continue reading "Hard Copy v. Electronic Research"
<http://www.lawlibtech.com/archives/000027.html>
November 16, 2003
**Dilbert knows KM
Creating a KM database isn't difficult. The technology is common, the tools
are abundant. Of course, it takes thought and care. But after you've
launched, that's when the real problem begins - maintenance. How do you keep
the data current? If you've ever experienced this dilema, you'll enjoy a
Dilbert cartoon
<http://www.unitedmedia.com/comics/dilbert/archive/dilbert-20031114.html>
from last week that pretty much says it all.
There aren't any easy answers. But I do have a few suggestions.
Continue reading "Dilbert knows KM"
<http://www.lawlibtech.com/archives/000026.html>
November 13, 2003
**Change Strategies are the Key to KM
Perhaps too much attention is placed on the technology for KM, and not
enough on the human element of implementing that technology. That's the
conclusion you could come to after reading Nina Platt's excellent article
appearing in the Oct. 2003 issue of Practice Innovations
<http://west.thomson.com/pdf/iii/40237215.pdf> .
Continue reading "Change Strategies are the Key to KM"
<http://www.lawlibtech.com/archives/000023.html>
November 11, 2003
**Spell Checker for Web Form Entry
I haven't forgotten that I promised more information on the Internet
Librarian sessions. I'm waiting until the presentations are posted on the
Infotoday site <http://www.infotoday.com/> before going into much detail
because I'd like to include links to the original powerpoints.
In the meantime, here's here's a tidbit from Darlene Fichter's
<http://library.usask.ca/~fichter/> session on Web Tools. One utility she
mentioned was ieSpell, <http://www.iespell.com/> a spell checker for
Internet Explorer.
Continue reading "Spell Checker for Web Form Entry"
<http://www.lawlibtech.com/archives/000022.html>
**Happy Cows Come from California
I'll warn you in advance, this post is totally off-topic, but all work and
no play, etc., etc.
Those of you living outside California may not be familiar with the "Happy
Cows" commercials. Luckily, you can view a few recent ones on the California
Cheese web site. <http://www.realcaliforniacheese.com/> I just saw the
newest one and it's great fun. Click to get past the splash screen, then
choose "Happy Cows", "Happy Cow TV", then "Big Sheep". Enjoy.
**Outlook's Journal Feature
Sometimes I wonder if my memory is worsening with age or whether it's just
always been like that. Either way, there's no doubt I need all the help I
can get.
So I've been on a quest to come up with a system to log conversations,
events, meeting notes, etc. I'm still looking for the perfect solution, but
in the meantime I've started using Outlook's Journal feature.
Continue reading "Outlook's Journal Feature"
<http://www.lawlibtech.com/archives/000020.html>
November 09, 2003
**Spam - Weapon of Mass Disruption
I don't think I've ever met anyone who wasn't fed up with spam. If you'd
like some help dealing with the constant barrage of unwanted emails, you
might want to take a look at my article, Weapon of Mass Disruption
<http://www.infotoday.com/searcher/nov03/chick.shtml> , published this month
in Searcher Magazine <http://www.infotoday.com/searcher/default.shtml> .
**Google Pop-Up Blocker - Bypass Feature
In a previous entry <http://www.lawlibtech.com/archives/000016.html> I
mention issues with the blocking of legitimate content when using Google's
pop-up blocker. It turns out that the new version of the toolbar will let
you make exceptions for specific URLs.
Continue reading "Google Pop-Up Blocker - Bypass Feature"
<http://www.lawlibtech.com/archives/000018.html>
November 06, 2003
**Internet Librarian 2003 - Adobe Acrobat Presentation
I just got back from Internet Librarian 2003 in beautiful Monterey. It was a
great conference. More details will follow. In the meantime, here's a link
to my presentation and handout on Delivering Research Results Electronically
<http://www.lawlibtech.com/presentations/adobe.pdf> using Adobe Acrobat.
October 30, 2003
**Pop-up Blockers & Westlaw's Find & Print
Genie Tyburski mentions problems with Google's pop-up blocker in Research
News for 30 October 2003.
<http://www.virtualchase.com/tvcalert/oct03/30oct03.html>
Another reason to be wary of pop-up blockers of all types relates to an
issue with Westlaw's Find and Print.
Continue reading "Pop-up Blockers & Westlaw's Find & Print"
<http://www.lawlibtech.com/archives/000016.html>
**Search OCLC with....Google?
Select records from OCLC's Worldcat are soon to be included in Google search
results according to "OCLC Project Opens WorldCat Records to Google"
<http://www.infotoday.com/newsbreaks/nb031027-2.shtml>
**Amazon's Search Inside the Book
Books have been getting a lot of attention on the web this week. And for
good reason. There is, obviously, a tremendous amount of information
contained in books. But finding out which book has the information you need
has almost always involved getting your hands on a copy of it. In this
electronic age, this is not very efficient. Whereas journal information has
been accessible in full-text electronically for many years. My guess is
that, for that reason, journal literature gets much more use.
Leave it to Amazon to be the first to offer full-text searching of books.
Continue reading "Amazon's Search Inside the Book"
<http://www.lawlibtech.com/archives/000014.html>
October 26, 2003
**Knowledge Management: U.S. or U.K.? Who Really Rules?
If you don't get Law Technology News, you need to visit their web site and
sign up. They publish some excellent articles, and it's free!
There are several good articles in this month's issue. One article of
particular interest is Knowledge Management: U.S. or U.K.? Who Really
Rules?" <http://www.lawtechnews.com/r5/showkiosk.asp?listing_id=414662>
(Requires registration.)
Sally Gonzalez has some very interesting insights into how KM is evolving in
both countries.
Continue reading "Knowledge Management: U.S. or U.K.? Who Really Rules?"
<http://www.lawlibtech.com/archives/000013.html>
October 25, 2003
**Digital Disconnect?
Are virtual resources starting to successfully replace print? Are attorneys
making strides in switching to virtual research? You may know the answer to
that question for your own institution/firm, but perhaps you've wondered
what the overall trend is in this area. If so, you may want to read an
article recently published in the Law Library Journal, Feasibility and
Viability of the Digital Library in a Private Law Firm
<http://www.aallnet.org/products/2003-26.pdf>
While some of the results were fairly predictable, there are some surprises.
Continue reading "Digital Disconnect?"
<http://www.lawlibtech.com/archives/000008.html>
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