Daily Archives: December 1, 2009

Dec 1 2009

Current State of Social Media Adoption in Law Firms

Hot of the presses! Elaine Billingslea Dockens pens the results of a survey of law librarians regarding the use / adoption of social media in law firms. The results are found here, at LLRX.com. Interestingly, the survey submitted to the schools, firms and agencies was called “Computer Use in Law Firms”, which appears far broader than the topic of social media use. The survey itself posed questions about blocking or controls on use and how such services are employed. 

The survey suffers a bit from lack of responses (only 56, including law schools, county/state agencies and law firms). Nonetheless, it is still interesting to see how management at these legal offices / institutions view social media and the benefits of control.

Hat tip to  beSpacific.

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Dec 1 2009

Examining the Supreme Court

Interested in the United States Supreme Court? Check out the Supreme Court Database, a broad-based collection of information not necessarily targeted at lawyers. Currently, the store holds over 200 pieces of information on all cases decided between the 1953 and 2008 terms. It is a work in progress and new information is being added all the time. The proponents come from a variety of universities and colleges and a range of backgrounds.

In a sense, the database seeks to impose a structure on the pertinent data within and surrounding each decision. There is an analysis tool that allows for searching across the database using concepts and keywords. Hit the link to the codebook to view the list of variables culled from the cases, searchable using the analysis tool – it really is quite impressive.

If such analysis can be applied to the Supreme Court’s decisions, why not the lower court cases and statutory law? Sure it might take a while, but this effort could open the door to a semantic treatment of legal resources. Maybe we could even push legal research out of the approximately 15-year slump in which it is been languishing. Are you listening, Google?

Dec 1 2009

Unbelievable! "Twitter" Wins!

Last week, I reported that “unfriend” had been named the Oxford American Dictionary’s Word of the Year. This week, I bring you the most popular English language word of the year: “Twitter”! That’s right, that silly little micro-blogging service the masses had nary a use for two years ago is now the Top Word, per the Gobal Language Monitor.

While it seems a tad quaint, this really is big news. Last year’s word was “change”, a la President Obama’s election campaign slogan. Obviously, Twitter-ing is on the minds and in the hearts of enough people to propel the word itself to super-stardom.

Are you on Twitter? Maybe you should be, particularly if you are interested in hearing the conversation and making yourself heard in the new forum of ideas. There can be no doubt that social media is captivating us. Can you afford not to listen?

Dec 1 2009

Unbelievable! “Twitter” Wins!

Last week, I reported that “unfriend” had been named the Oxford American Dictionary’s Word of the Year. This week, I bring you the most popular English language word of the year: “Twitter”! That’s right, that silly little micro-blogging service the masses had nary a use for two years ago is now the Top Word, per the Gobal Language Monitor.

While it seems a tad quaint, this really is big news. Last year’s word was “change”, a la President Obama’s election campaign slogan. Obviously, Twitter-ing is on the minds and in the hearts of enough people to propel the word itself to super-stardom.

Are you on Twitter? Maybe you should be, particularly if you are interested in hearing the conversation and making yourself heard in the new forum of ideas. There can be no doubt that social media is captivating us. Can you afford not to listen?