Knowledge Discovery Resources 2010 – An Internet MiniGuide Annotated Link Compilation

Marcus P. Zillman’s latest guide is a touchstone from which all researchers seeking comprehensive, reliable and diverse resources for knowledge discovery via the Internet can benefit. The key is to be able to find the important knowledge discovery resources and sites both in the visible and invisible World Wide Web. This guide to selected knowledge discovery resources and sites offers excellent knowledge and information discovery sources to assist you attaining your research goals.

Subjects: Features, Internet Resources, Internet Resources - Web Links, Legal Technology, Reference Resources, Search Engines

Are You SharePoint-Ready?

Lorette S.J. Weldon explores how “ready” are librarians to use SharePoint 2003, 2007 and 2010? She asks: do you consider yourself an IT Librarian or a non-IT Librarian, an answer that can be part of your job description. She reviews results from a survey presented at Computers in Libraries 2010, with insights into how this application is leveraged in various organizations.

Subjects: Features

Justice Stevens Invented the Internet

With the announcement that Justice John Paul Stevens will resign from the Supreme Court at the end of this term, Jonathan Band and Matt Schruers focus on one of his opinions that has had a direct daily impact on virtually all Americans: the majority opinion in Sony v. Universal, decided by the Supreme Court in 1984. This decision is the legal foundation of the Digital Age.

Subjects: Legal Research, Legal Technology

Of Refrigerators and E-Discovery

Conrad J. Jacoby’s commentary offers perspective on the complexities and nuances of technology innovations, in the home and in the office, causing him to reflect on how incomplete or incorrect impressions of how a responding party organizes and manages its business records impacts knowledge management and e-records.

Subjects: Case Management, Digital Archives, E-Discovery, E-Discovery Update, Features, Information Architecture, Legal Technology

The Government Domain: New & Free Regulations Trackers

Peggy Garvin reviews new, free, non-government resources that have recently come online to complement the official U.S. government regulatory information sites, RegInfo.gov and Regulations.gov. For this bounty, Peggy says researcher can thank innovative developers and the relatively new availability of a free XML version of the Federal Register that can be downloaded in bulk.

Subjects: Columns, E-Government, Government Resources, Legal Research, The Government Domain

The Odd Couple: SharePoint and Librarians

Lorette S.J. Weldon examines how SharePoint is used within the library to facilitate the coordination of collaboration, capturing and organizing “corporate” knowledge, and organizing digital content. She also reviews the results from her survey, “SharePoint Usage in the Library” which demonstrated how librarians could program their department’s SharePoint site without code.

Subjects: Law Library Management

For the New Law Firm Librarian: A Conversation Between Two Veterans

Elaine Billingslea Dockens and Karen Krupka, each of whom has over 20 years of law librarian experience, discuss the field of law librarianship, and key issues and factors that new law librarians are likely to encounter as they enter this unique, and still vital profession.

Subjects: Features, Law Firm Marketing, Law Librarians, Legal Research, Libraries & Librarians, Library Marketing, Training

Getting Educated at LegalTech New York 2010

Conrad J. Jacoby provides an overview of the New York LegalTech show and conference, long one of the preeminent opportunities to catch a glimpse of the future of legal technology. Conrad highlights how the conference provides a surprisingly accurate snapshot of litigation support, electronic discovery, and even the health of the legal industry as a whole.

Subjects: Case Management, E-Discovery, Information Management, Legal Profession, Legal Technology

DNA Identification Evidence in Criminal Prosecutions

In criminal cases, there have been challenges on sufficiency grounds and concerns over the use of forensic DNA evidence as the sole or primary proof of guilt. Uncorroborated DNA matching might not be enough to satisfy the burden of establishing guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. The reliability of forensic DNA testing results might be questioned for any number of reasons, e.g., laboratory error, cross-contamination, interpretive bias or fraud, etc. Ken Strutin’s essay provides an overview of nuclear DNA typing, a sampling of the kinds of discretionary decisions that analysts often confront when interpreting crime scene samples, and concludes with with remarks about current disputes in forensic DNA typing, and how recognition of its inherent subjectivity might inform and illuminate these debates.

Subjects: Court Resources, Courts & Technology, Criminal Law, Features, Legal Research