January 2006 Archives

As the saying goes, you can bring a horse to water, but you can't make him drink. And you can create a great new KM product that facilitates communication and collaboration among knowledge workers, something that most of us would consider a good thing, yet it can languish, unused. It's a common problem, according to Michael Chender, who says "numerous collaborative systems have been implemented at enormous expense within companies and then rarely used...." in his article in the Nov./Dec. issue of Intranets, where he addresses the phenomena of the unused application, giving hints on how to maximize usage.

Chender further explains that though technology is powerful, ultimately the success of these corporate applications are dependent upon the willingness of individuals to participate. How do you increase the likelihood of that happening? User groups should be involved in the development process, helping to define the system that they'll be expected to use. In addition, individual contributions should credited and visible and the people you're depending upon need to see evidence that they will benefit from its use.

Of course, this won't happen unless the application has an intuitive design, "organized around a users needs and work flow."

Thinking through all of thes issues BEFORE starting work on a new application is definitely critical to its succes.

Just about every librarian will eventually get THE question, either from a patron, friend or family member, that is, "How do I catalog my personal book collection?" Okay, it's even occurred to me that an inventory of my eclectic mix of dog books, mysteries and tech-type titles might come in handy, or at least it would allow me to feel as organized at home as I am at work. At any rate, we haven't always had a good solution for our favorite bibliophiles. Until now, that is. Enter, Library Thing, a cross between a library OPAC, and Amazon.com with hints of social web sites such as Flickr and FURL.

Steve Cohen has been talking about Library Thing for a while now, and it gets his vote for his favorite tool of 2005. I can see why. There are other similar web sites out there, but as far as I can see, none of them support tagging AND LC subject headings with call numbers, offering the best of both worlds, at least from a librarian's standpoint.

It's easy to get started. An account including up to 200 titles is free. After that, the cost is $10 per year, or $25 for life. Life is a long time, perhaps not so long in the internet world, so it's good to know you can get your data out of a site as well as into it by exporting your titles to a text, csv format, which is easy to open and manipulate in Excel.

Once you've set up your account, just search by dropping in title keywords, author, possible tags, etc., just as you would in Amazon. Should you be so lucky as to have an ISBN number, you can search by that as well.

By the way, if you want to share your catalog, you can, but it's not required. You can edit your profile to keep your collection private. But that does kind of miss the point. Swapping book interests with the Library Thing community is part of the fun.

What Library Thing really needs is a circulation system. I never cataloged my book collection when I was a kid, but I DID institute a simple card and pocket . What better way to keep track of who it is that hasn't returned my recently read Sue Grafton mystery. A Christian Science Monitor article suggests using the comment field just for this purpose.

Okay, this begs the question, how about a "library" version of 'Library Thing" to make cataloging fun and easy at work as well as at home? Sorry, but I just had to ask....

The good people at West have just announced a new legal podcast, WestCast. Bankruptcy reform, the topic of their first installment, isn't my thing, but if you're interested, you might want to tune in. Oh heck, I'm going to listen anyway. Hmmm, it's that time of year here in California, too bad it's not available for MCLE credit!

It's very interesting how quickly the podcasting trend is growing.

Book lovers are often adamant that books, in their present print form, will always exist. That may be true. After all, I'm quite sure I'll always want a print version of Pride and Prejudice. On the other hand, I'm convinced that someday an ebook will be invented that will convenient and readable enough, that it will rival the printed book in our affections. Just because it hasn't happened yet only means that the right implementation/product hasn't come along.

I don't know if the new Sony Reader, introduced just last week, will do the trick, but it does seem to be an improvement over previous attempts. (If Sony would like to send me a "review" copy, I'd be happy to give it a spin! :-) ) The resolution is improved and the eye-straining flicker common on computer-type displays has been eliminated. It weighs less than 9 ounces, but can hold up to 80 average size books, with the possibility of more with the optional storage.

Librarian in Black, where I first read about the Sony Reader, doesn't think that anyone would buy a device for only one purpose, and points to some limited success with ebooks on PDAs. But I can assure you that I won't read a book on my PDA. The screen is just too small. Of course, you could create an larger ebook that is also a PDA, but then you're stuck hauling a larger PDA around with you when you don't necessarily need it. Sometimes creating a device for a sole purpose ensures that it does one thing, and does it well.

I don't believe the success of the e-book will be based on the fact that it's a one purpose device. The success will depend upon whether it does the job, and does it well. For me the additional critical issue is whether it would reduce the net weight of my train bag. If so, then I'm fine carrying a PDA, an MP3 player and an e-book. I could probably fit all that in my purse, and get rid of the train bag altogether!

For more information, see The plot thickens with a thin eBooks device, USA Today, Jan. 4, 2005. (Spotted on TVC Alert.)

Google Book Search, previously called Google Print and Google Library Search, has engendered controversy among librarians, publishers and authors, as well as more than one lawsuit. While Google's stated goal is admirable, some authors and many publishers are perturbed by what they see as a loss of control of their intellectual property.

Personally, I think Google's goal is a worthy one, and could offer a very accessible way to uncover the huge amount of information hiding in books. I tend to agree with the Google that this project is about discovery. Books can't be read on Google Book Search, but they can be discovered. Yet no one can deny that Google will profit from offering this finding tool.

Whether this project is consistent with copyright law, I couldn't say as that's certainly not my area of expertise. Even among the experts, there certainly isn't a consensus. But if you'd like a fairly clear view of both sides of the copyright issue, see the Congressional Research Service Report, "The Google Book Search Project: Is Online Indexing a Fair Use Under Copyright Law?", by Robin Jeweler, issued December 28, 2005, posted here on LawLibTech.

For more information on the Google Book Search controversy, see:

The Authors Guild, Associational Plaintiff, and : Herbert Mitgang, Betty Miles and Daniel Hoffman v. Google, U.S. District Court, New York Southern District. (I was unable to view this PDF. If you have the same problem, search Google for the complaint, then click on "View as HTML.")

The Battle over Books: Authors and Publishers Take on the Google Print Library Project - A video of a discussion held November 17th at the New York Public Library. One of my favorite quotes - "Information does not want to be free, but it does want to be found." This is a very entertaining debate.

Google Library Project Hit by Copyright Challenge from University Presses, by Barbara Quint

The Other Shoe Drops: Google Print Sued for Copyright Violation, by Barbara Quint

Why We Believe in Google Print, (Google Blog) posted by David Drummond, General Counsel and Vice President, Corporate Development

Writers Side With Google in Scrap, Wired, Oct. 26, 2005

It's common knowledge that the upcoming release of Internet Explorer 7.0 will support RSS, but what about Outlook? RSS is a "push" technology, as is email, and I'd rather read my feeds in my email app rather than my browser. RSS is also about up to the minute updating, and after all, Outlook is the first app I open in the morning, and the last one I close down at night.

I'm convinced that once Outlook is RSS-aware, RSS will finally really take off, especially in enterprise environments. Well, get ready, because according to Office Watch 10.06, Outlook 12 will include support for both RSS and podcasting!

I know that Newsgator integrates to Outlook AND is offering an enterprise product, but my guess is that most people/organizations would prefer NOT to purchase an additional product if they can help it, so I believe the need for a separate application is greatly slowing down the adoption of RSS in the average or even not so average law firm. Let's hope Microsoft gets it right.

Outlook 12 isn't that far off - it's estimated release is sometime in the second half of 2006 - so be prepared. Though recent statistics have shown that only a small percentage of Internet users regularly use RSS, once it's integrated into Outlook, that number will likely explode. Position yourself to provide internal information, news and updated search results via RSS. You will need to be the RSS expert if you want to deliver current information to your organization.

How did we ever survive without web conferencing? Remember when we had to wait until a vendor rep came to town in order to see their new product? No more, thank goodness.

ILTA, the International Legal Technology Association (ILTA), formerly called Lawnet has been making great use of web conferencing by repeating, via Live Meeting, several successful programs offered at their annual meeting held in August. I attended 2 of these web programs, "Jumpstarting eLearning" and "How West KM Was Won" and they were both excellent, and included a level of technical detail that I've often wished for when attending other conferences.

If you're a member, and you missed the annual conference, AND you missed the webinar, that's okay, because they're recorded. So even if your schedule is tight, you still have every opportunity to view the session from the ILTA web site. (See "Communications - Past Meeting Transcripts.") What a great member benefit.

If you're interested in legal technology, you need to join ILTA. To join ILTA, your firm must purchase a membership, the cost of which is based on the number of attorneys in the firm, then any employee can join at no additional cost. Now if they'd just stop having the annual meeting in Florida in August!

I purchased a fairly expensive grandstand seat ticket to the Rose Parade. But when I heard the rain start somewhere around 5 am I figured, that was that, I was staying in bed. It's true. I'm a rain wimp. After all, I'm a native Southern Californian!

I finally got up just in time to watch the parade start at 8:00 am from the comfort of my kitchen. I'll admit I was curious....I knew how hard it had been raining....what DOES the Rose Parade look like in the rain? The last time it rained on the Rose Parade, I hadn't yet been born. So I watched the "floats" make their way down Colorado Boulevard, and the bands cheerfully slog through the wet stuff, smiling and playing. After about 45 minutes, the broadcast was interrupted by a flash flood warning. Then I felt a twinge of guilt. These kids were walking 5 miles in the rain, and I couldn't manage to put on my rain coat to watch. My curiosity got the best of me. Would those instruments still play after a couple of inches of rain had fallen on them? What kind of condition could they be in by the end of parade? This reporter decided to find out. After all, dogs have to be walked, rain and shine. So I loaded one up and drove to within a couple of blocks of Victory Park where the bands finish and disperse, to find out.

There was no pedestrian traffic, and the only vehicles I saw were large buses waiting for their wet passengers, and perhaps a few parents picking up their bedraggled youngsters. Parking close to the park was quite easy. When I got out of the car, the first thing I heard was the sound of a band playing. Yep, it was POURING rain, they'd just walked 5 miles in that mess, there was only a scattering of spectators, and they were still playing. Amazing.

I didn't get close enough to see the floats, though I could see the tow truck pulling one through the intersection. My jeans were soaked by this time, and Cassie was looking less than pleased, so I took her home, changed into rain pants (what a wonderful invention), and took the other dog back down. The wind picked up, as did the rain. I could almost see better without my glasses than with them. We'd had about 3 inches of rain by 10:30 am. Nonetheless, more music drifted across the park. It was beautiful. But I must admit, I didn't stay long. :-)

It may not be a dry new year, but I hope it's a happy one for all!

It's been true since the early days of the web; developments driven by the demands of online shopping can be applied in other areas, even knowledge management. For example, the functionality of the "results basket" mentioned in the Freshfield's article mentioned below was likely borrowed directly from the "shopping basket" common to any online shopping site. Many of Amazon's features are another case in point. Am I the only one that wants lawyers to be able to write reviews and/or add ratings books in our library's online catalog?

In his recent article in Law Technology News. (Lessons Learned from Retail, December 2005), Ozz Benamram (Morrison & Foerster) describes what they observed about the use of KM at MOFO, and how they're trying to meet the need of the attorneys by, among other things, considering how the retail sites make it easy for their customers to find the stuff they want to buy.

He also discusses the need for information in context, and in response to that need will be presenting information from a variety of the firm's servers by matter to provide the needed context. He's also looking at software that can "auto-profile" documents, extracting information such as party names and jurisdiction, then using that meta data to provide a "faceted" search which can allow attorneys to more easily narrow their search results to a manageable number of documents.

Morrison & Foerster selected Recommind's Mindserver Legal Matters & Expertise product as their KM search engine, and are still evaluating products for document profiling.

Freshfields has been busily reworking their KM system to make their "know-how" more accessible, a process discussed in the recent Law Technology News article, In Search of Athena.

Of particular interest to me was the description of the search interface. We know that users crave a simple Google-like search box, but sometimes need the more precise advanced search, and Freshfields Athena offers both. It also includes a "results basket", similar to a shopping basket, where you can save useful documents for later review. That's a feature that hadn't occurred to me!

But it was their training strategy for Athena that I thought was especially unique. They felt sure that Athena would require little formal training, so rather than offering training programs, a lawyer in each of 40 practice groups was assigned responsibility for finding a real-life, practice-specific example of how the system could work well for their group. What a great idea!