60 Sites from ABA TECHSHOW Posted

60 Sites in 60 Minutes was the closing highlight of ABA TECHSHOW. As always, the presenters were entertaining, the sites were informative and there were some minor technical problems. J Tom Mighell, Reid Trautz and Craig Ball did the honors this year. I did a mini-review earlier on my blog. But now the complete list of 60 Sites from ABA TECHSHOW 2008 has been posted online. Check it out.

And, as a bonus, let me note something I meant to discuss here earlier, but didn't -- The 101 Most Useful Websites as determined by the Telegraph in Great Britain. I didn't cross check for overlap, but that should at least be 150 sites or so to keep you busy for a while.

Advanced Internet Research Webinar by Tom Mighell and Jim Calloway

UPDATE: While this program has already taken place, you can still enjoy the entire program online through the OBA-CLE's online offerings. Just click this link to see about purchasing the online program. We enjoyed doing the program and have gotten some very good feedback on it.

Tom Mighell, chair of ABA TECHSHOW 2008, will join me for a two hour webinar on Advanced Internet Research on May 13, 2008 at 10:00 a.m. CST. Tom and I have done several versions of this program over the years. We will explain different types of search tools available and we will also discuss search strategies. Of course, we will have some relatively new cutting edge material. Here's a good way to become a power Internet researcher quickly. Anyone can enroll in this online CLE program,  not just Oklahoma lawyers. To enroll or to get more specific information, click here.

Site of the Week: Law Practice Matters

Erik Mazzone was recently hired by the North Carolina Bar Association as the Director of their newly-established Center for Practice Management. Now he has started the blog, Law Practice Matters. I got to meet Erik at ABA TECHSHOW. He wanted to compile a few weeks worth of blog posts before announcing his blog to the world, but time's up now, Erik. He is no stranger to law office technology and I think you will find his posts insightful and interesting. So visit his blog and check out his first month's worth of posting and then subscribe to his feed or add it to your Favorites as you choose.

100 Productivity and Lifehack Blogs

Just as there are many self-help books on the shelves of book stores, there are a growing number of blogs dedicated to doing things better. I think you will enjoy looking through this list of 100 Productivity and Lifehack Blogs compiled by a website promoting online college degrees. I can't really completely agree with their rankings as they omitted Lifehacker from the most popular and stuck it at the end of the list. It is typically ranked in the top (or second) spot in this category and as one of the five most popular blogs on the entire Internet. (It's also my personal favorite.) But one can find some really great productivity resources here like 43 Folders, Dumb Little Man and Zen Habits.

I Just Need an Answer to a Simple Question

People often encourage audience participation by saying "Ask any question. There is no such thing as a dumb question!" Experience, of course, sometimes tells us otherwise. J

But it is true that if one asks the question, they do need an answer. We all have questions that we need answered. We can search for answers or ask friends or trusted colleagues. In the Internet age, there are now online communities of interest where people share information and answer each other's questions. Some of these online groups are huge, like slashdot.org. Others are smaller. A group may consist of an electronic mailing list rather than an Internet site. It may even as informal as saving the last e-mail to "the group" and using Reply All when you want to ask a question or convery information to "the group."

These online communities face challenges. Internet trolls try to disrupt the group. New users pay no attention to the exisiting culture and quickly break either written or unwritten rules. In larger groups, long-term users become frustrated by newbies asking the same questions over and over again. People argue or do veer way off-topic.

My particular frustration is people who ask a question of the group in a detailed e-mail when they could easily find the answer themselves in less time than it takes to type the e-mail. Why not get the answer now? And what if the person who first answers your question is wrong? We don't want just any answer. We want the right answer. I have concluded that the explanation must be that many people don't know how to find the answer online. Well, I can help with that! And so, submitted for your approval, is this tutorial, "I Just Need an Answer to a Simple Question."

It is Good to Pay Attention

Two recent articles caught my eye. A New York law firm has instituted a policy banning mobile phone and Blackberrys from major meetings. The University of Chicago Law School has shut down Internet access for most of its classrooms because of an "epidemic" of distracting Internet use. Dean Saul Levmore told the Chicago Daily Law Bulletin, "several observers have reported that one student will visit a gossip site or shop for shoes and, within 20 minutes, an entire row is shoe shopping."

As a technology guy, you might think I am appalled at these trends, but I'm not. Now I can work up some rage at the Luddite professors who want to ban laptops from the classroom. Sorry, but that is how today's students take notes-- get over it! How great it would be for the new lawyer to have all of her law school notes preserved in searchable text files.

But snubbing a group of people you are with to attend to an electronic device is generally a very negative thing. We've all seen it happen. A meeting is going well and then someone gets a call or gets distracted by an IM or e-mail. Not only is the attention of that person lost, but everyone is distracted. The others make eye contact and frown. Some may reach for their own devices. If it is a decision maker who has checked out of the meeting, the entire momentum of the meeting stalls.

With a classroom setting, it may be less distracting to others, but more to the laptop web user. I'll admit I have checked my e-mail on my laptop from the back rows of seminar presentations. But I'll also admit that I more than once I have been lost in an e-mail and suddenly jerked back to reality by hearing the end of something that sounded interesting. But I missed it. So, as hard as it can be, we all need to work on focusing on the speaker and the subject.

I like the idea of banning the devices from major or short meetings. If you really want to have a short meeting, remove all of the chairs from the room, too.

Now this is not to say that I'll never check e-mail from a meeting again. Sometimes I have to go to meetings where the only thing I am interested in is item #8 on the agenda. That's when wireless Internet access is a really positive thing in my books.

Both stories were noted on ABAJournal.com, which provided links to the more detailed stories cited above.

Security Issues of Carrying Digital Documents

UPDATE: Since my original post, David Bilinsky has "responded" and alerted us to that fact that more secure laptops are now in the pipeline and we should expect to be seeing them soon.

How secure is your laptop? David Bilinsky made a blog post that alerted me to his article "Electronic devices – encryption and client confidentiality issues" that was recently published in the Law Society of British Columbia Bencher's Bulletin. The article is worth your time to read. With more and more information being carried on laptops and other portable electronic devices, we are hearing increasing reports of devices being lost or stolen containing confidential client information. Of course, USB flash drives, PDA's and mobile phones are even easier than laptops to lose.

David believes that it is time to consider encrypting the entire hard drive of a portable computer rather than just a number of confidential folders or files. The reasoning is that selective encryption does not protect swap files, deleted files, temp files, cookies and other sources of information. In fact no less an authority than the Executive Office of the President has instructed agencies to do this. See long boring gov't memo here. I just wonder how many lawyer aren't encrypting any files on their laptops.

One thing that surprises me is that we haven't seen more "secure" computers advertised for sale. While there are many ways to secure your data, it seems like purchasing your computer with the encryption package or packages already preloaded would be popular.

Recently I was making a purchase at Office Depot and noticed a container full of USB Flash Drives for under $10 each. But I have been telling lawyers that it is probably a better value to spend eight or ten times that amount to buy a secure flash drive like the Ironkey. A device that is marketed based on strong encryption gives me a feeling of security (as did seeing an expert like John Simek pull one out of his pocket a few weeks ago.) There are certainly several options in password protected or encrypted USB drives.

I won't disagree with David's analysis. But I will note that if you haven't made any moves in this area, you can order a secure USB flash drive today and and start using it instead of your laptop to carry around client documents within the next few days.

Site of the Week: PopURLS®

This is not my normal Website of the Week. But first, a CONTENT WARNING: Due to the nature of American popular culture, it is highly likely you will find something that offends you on this week's Website of the Week. OK, now that we have that out of the way, PopURLS® is an fascinating look at American popular culture as viewed by links to online content. In one rather busy web page, you can find links to some of the most popular online content from some of the most well-known blogs, social bookmarking services, news services, video sites, photos from Flickr, music and online communities. You may want to avoid this one if you have a project with a deadline today. Thanks to Robbin in the IT Dept for forwarding me this link.

"16 Things I Wish They Had Taught Me in School"

OK, this one isn't about lawyering or technology. It is about all of life. One of the really great things about the Interactive Web is how other online users can direct your attention to wisdom in places that you would normally have missed. "16 Things I Wish They Had Taught Me in School" is a brief essay full of great observations on life. In fact I predict that you will want to forward the link to someone you know.