Announcement: IJIS eXCHANGE - Virtual Summit Series: Data is the Key

 

The IJIS Institute has scheduled two virtual Zoom seminars for Tuesday, June 15, 2021.  They write:

"From incident to final resolution and beyond, every action our courts take relies on accurate, complete, and timely data to best-inform decisions about people, cases, process, and policy. Join your colleagues from practice and industry at our technology summit on Tuesday, June 15th to dive into our courts' multifaceted data discussion - what we have and what we need - and the impact across the justice system and our communities."

April 2021 Court Tech Notes

 

We share some news and notes in this week’s CTB post.  We note a speech-to-text AI demo video, text reminders, an event on transitioning your workforce back to the courthouse,  yet another article on "Zoom courts", an NCSC Tiny Chat regarding court cell phone policy, and the NCSC website on pandemic response webinars that were recorded in 2020.

 

New AI Enhanced Scanning Tech Speeds Security

 

Earlier this month I was reading the opening day story about my Chicago Cubs baseball club and stumbled on the news that they have installed new AI-enhanced person scanning devices (pictured).  The big benefit of this new technology is that one does not have to remove keys, mobile phone, or have your bag separately scanned.  Great, right?

Details below...

Three Court Tech Events of Note

 

My inbox received notices about three upcoming events that could be of interest to the court technology community.  They are by Microsoft partner, Pythagoras in the UK; the Online Courtroom Project; and the latest in the World Justice Challenge 2021 competition.  Additional details are listed below.

A List Web Conferencing Transcription Systems

 

Microsoft announced an AI-powered live transcription service (AI we can use BTW) in Microsoft Teams, answering Zoom’s new feature.  That got me thinking that they are not alone, as we share below...

 

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National Institute of Justice AI Articles Series

 

Via press release, March 16, 2021.

NIJ has released a four-part series on Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the Criminal Justice System.

Through the National Criminal Justice Reference Service, NIJ has made available the following final technical reports (these reports are the result of NIJ-funded projects but were not published by the U.S. Department of Justice).

The third article in the series specifically discusses AI in the criminal courts.

Courts on the Go

 

Legal technology writer Molly McDonough posted an article about the Utah Outreach Court (https://twitter.com/saltlakejustice). That court takes a courtroom to the litigants, in some instances to the homeless person's campsite, using a repurposed mobile command center vehicle and tents.

Smoke Tests Protect Courtroom Air From COVID-19

Published by press release on March 4, 2021, in US Courts News

"Even as vaccines begin to protect the public from the coronavirus (COVID-19), one of the Judiciary’s biggest priorities is ensuring that the air inside courtrooms and hallways remains safe as courts schedule more in-person legal proceedings.

Never Waste a Good Crisis to Update your Court

The Freakonomics website has a page that discusses the quote in the title of this post.  It is obviously appropriate for the courts in this time of the Covid-19 pandemic, but I have used it in another context, when a new case, document, or e-filing systems are being introduced into a court.  I explain below…

A Court Public Data Access Proposal – Yes, but…

 

My friend Bob Ambrogi asked for comment during last Friday’s Legaltech Week Journalists’ Roundtable (an excellent discussion every week about our court customers). The discussion turned briefly to Jason Tashea's proposal via the DayOneProject.org initiative titled “Digitizing State Courts, Expanding Access to Justice”.  The following is my partial reply to the question asked.

I applaud Mr. Tashea for thinking about the problem. But I think there is a lot more to consider and there are additional options?  I explain…