Jim Keane

It is with great sadness that we pass along the announcement that Jim Keane passed away on June 10, 2005. Jim was a tireless advocate for the improvement of the legal system through technology. Most recently he was the director of the ABA lawyers section of the E-Courts 2004 conference. Jim was involved in so many activities involving the American Bar Association, Maryland Bar Association, E-Filing, and LegalXML, that it is difficult to list them all. He will be greatly missed by his friends here at the NCSC and elsewhere

GJXDM - Thursday Morning

I attended three session this morning at the GJXDM Users' Conference being held in Atlanta, Georgia this week.

The first session was about "How Privacy Supports Integrated Justice Systems" presented by Cindy Southworth. Cindy is an advocate and focuses upon the need for protecting domestic violence victims. She pointed out that data on DV victims could potentially emerge on a 911 RMS, or other systems that would allow an abuser to discover their location. So her advice was that privacy and data protection needs to be built into the design and process rules for the database and message technology.

The second session was on the "OASIS Exchange Document Methodology Naming and Design Rules" by John Ruegg from Los Angeles. He is chair of the Integrated Justice Technical Committee for the Names and Design Rules to provide guidance for customization of GJXDM schema structures.

And the third session was on the Maricopa County (Phoenix) ICJIS project. They have done considerable work using GJXDM and have graduated from an EAI (Enterprise Application Intgration) approach to a Service Oriented Architecture (SOA).

Conference materials are going to be posted. I just don't know where yet. More to come.

National Judicial College Survey on E-filing

While we are waiting for news from the GJXDM Users' Conference, we received notice today about the publication of a new survey on electronic filing conducted by the National Judicial College and Lexis-Nexis File and Serve. More than 1,500 judges responded to the survey. Some of the key findings from the survey are:

• Courts Recognize a Continuing Problem with Caseloads and Managing Paper
• Momentum is Clearly Growing for E-filing
• Support from Clerks and Legal Community Expected
• E-filing May Provide a New Source of Non-tax Funding
• Potential Barriers Identified

CTB at GJXDM Users' Conference

NCSC staff will be posting notes from the GJXDM Users' Conference later this week on the Court Technology Bulletin. Check back here to learn what is being talked about in Atlanta.

Microsoft Announces Next Version of Office Adopts XML

According to Internet News: Microsoft to Adopt XML Formats in Office 12. The next version of the most widely used word processing program on the planet will use XML as a default storage format. Similar to OpenOffice.org, the new approach will "zip" together all of the necessary XML files into one. What this potentially means for Courts is: First, because the electronic file is XML it could potentially be used for achiving. Second, it will likely be possible for case management vendors and others to be able to do more with output documents and reports. Third, database schemas developed with GJXDM may be able to be used directly in Word or Excel (and other Office applications) to more easily tag and identify data for later automatic storage in your case or document management system. And fourth, as the article mentions, it will increase security since it will become close to impossible to embed computer viruses within a document.

PBS TV Program - Red Hook Justice

The advanced Red Hook (New York City) Community Court will be featured on a new PBS television film titled "Red Hook Justice". The Community Court has received technical support from the Center for Court Innovation since inception. The program's website describes the court:

"Unlike traditional courts, community courts focus on bringing citizens and the criminal justice system together in order to solve community problems. By integrating the work of traditionally separate agencies - criminal justice operations, social service providers, public defenders, police and community members - community courts are a product of collaboration."

The program airs at various times on PBS and so please be advised to check the film's website or your local television schedule for viewing in your area.

RFID Technology Tested in Los Angeles Jail

According to "L.A. County Jail to Track Inmates" from RFID News (via Slashdot), the Los Angeles County Jail will be testing RFID technology to track detainees in their facility. (For those of you who don't think they have run into this technology yet, if you have bought or rented a videotape or DVD in the past couple of years you might have noticed a small black "security device" attached to the case. RFID technology is what sets off the scanners located at the exits doors to the store.)

Outlook Calendar Tip

The default block of time for Microsoft Outlook Calendar is 30 minutes. A recent tip from the June 7, 2005 edition of PC Magazine (page 107) shows how to easily change that setting. First, start Outlook Calendar. Next, right-click on the time scale shown on the left side of the calendar display. This allows you to set the default time blocks to as little as five minutes. The setting also changes the default amount of time for appointments. But according to PC Magazine it only works in Day or Work Week view. Not surprising since Microsoft packs a lot of information in the 7-day and monthly view. This might be of some help to you busy judges out there.

Wireless Devices in Federal Courts

"The Third Branch" newsletter issued by the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts has an interesting article on how their courts are dealing with the increasing problems created by wireless devices. In the article "Wireless Devices in Federal Courts " it's stated that "180 million Americans are wireless subscribers" and that "no one-size-fits-all decision is possible at this time."

Press Announcement - The 1st GJXDM Users' Conference

Bureau of Justice Assistance Announces - The First Annual GLOBAL JXDM Users' Conference

WASHINGTON, DC - The Office of Justice Program's (OJP) Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) announces the first U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) Annual Global Justice Extensible Markup Language (XML) Data Model (GJXDM) Users' Conference. The event will feature critical technical and policy-level sessions and important discussions of exemplary implementations using XML technology designed to reduce crime and fight terrorism. It will be held on June 8-10, 2005, in Atlanta, Georgia, and is sponsored in partnership with SEARCH, The National Consortium for Justice Information and Statistics, and the GJXDM Training and Technical Assistance Committee (GTTAC).