XML Documents - Why Should I Care?

I can summarize the answer to the above titled question in one word - control. For as long as court case management systems have existed, there has been a continual struggle between the need for more data to be added and the time it takes for a programmer and database administrator to add it to the system. XML documents can give court staff an additional tool to add and control their own data collection instruments, just like they could in the "paper world." Now there are currently significant issues as to whether the court case management system being used in a particular court can store or link to documents. But once that is in place, and there is an upgrade to new XML-enabled databases, court staff will be able to use documents as an integral part of their system. Mr. Ronald Bourret has written a general tutorial about XML and Databases that may be of help in explaining this concept further. In addition, there are a few InfoWorld articles on Oracle, Microsoft SQL Server, and IBM DB2 databases that, while rather technical, can provide addition illumination of the new database capabilities and hence, new thinking that needs to be applied to our situation in the courts.

Next time - Using Search to Count

Self-Docketing Smart Documents

I've been spending time in Orlando, Florida recently and I had the privilege of meeting with Ms. Carolyn Weber who is their E-filing (ECF) project manager. Carolyn has a great example of smart documents on the Orange County Clerk of Court ECF project website. Their system currently supports three documents, the Certificate of Service, Summons, and most important the Case Initiation Worksheet, that can be downloaded, completed and when submitted to the E-filing system, saves a considerable amount of time in completing the filing. If you have a chance, I recommend downloading the Case Initiation Worksheet and then right-click on the "gray boxes" to see how they have coded the field names for later "parsing" into their case management system. I think that this is a good example of progressive thinking because it advances toward the goal of single source data capture which also makes it more accurate.

Next week - XML in word processing and why should you care?

Clark County Regional Justice Center Adds WiFi Access

A press release from Clark County, Nevada (Las Vegas) shares information regarding their new wireless network system.

Agile Software Development

I just finished reading the September 2006 digital edition of "Dr. Dobb's Journal". I was intrigued by Scott Ambler's article "Survey Says: Agile Works in Practice". We haven't seen many court IT organizations adopting agile development methodologies, but such methods and techniques are certainly making headway in other industries. Of particular interest are the survey results presented in Scott's article showing increased productivity, system quality and stakeholder satisfaction in projects using agile approaches

How Smart Can We Make the Documents?

I have written about this before, but lately, after working with several case management systems I have become more and more convinced that court technologists are still missing the point that the data is in the document. Almost everything that a court does either involves receiving a document or producing a document. The smarter that we make documents, by "tagging" the information via templates and forms, the less data entry is needed because either the document becomes the database or the data is automatically parsed and entered into the court's database.

On the input side, courts have done an excellent job of posting their forms in editable formats and PDF. But very few have "connected the dots" by using these forms as data sources in their E-filing projects. I find that it is particularly interesting that progress in this area is being made in the integrated justice projects with GJXDM technology rather than in civil case E-filing. For example, at CTC8, Orange County, Florida Integrated Justice System project showed their automated criminal complaint systems and at the upcoming E-Courts Conference this December, the Maricopa County, Arizona Integrated Justice System will be showing their electronic warrant system.

Further, most court automation seem to still treat court generated documents as reports or as separate standalone systems. When a court creates a document using word processing software, it should not simply be printed on paper. It should also be stored electronically and linked to the case management system. There are many ways that this can be done and I'll write about a few of them next week.

Philadelphia Courtroom Website

For those of you looking for ideas about how to present the capabilities of your own "Hi-Tech" Courtroom, you might want to check out the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania First Judicial District website on Courtroom 625.

Orange County, California Allows Jurors to Request Delay Online

In the NCSC's Jur-E Bulletin, July Edition the editors note that the Orange County, California Superior Court has an excellent Jury Services website. They also had a link to an article in the Orange County (CA) Register newspaper about the site.

A Lawyer's View of Appellate Technology

Mr. Howard Bashman of Law.com shares his experiences on video and teleconferencing in his article, Commentary: Predicting Technology's Impact on Appellate Oral Argument. He also muses about the use of collaboration software in Appellate Court proceedings.

PC Posture

eWeek Magazine has posted an interesting article about computer user ergonomics titled "The Perils of PC Posture"

Federal Courts E-Government Act Compliance

In an article in the US Federal Court's newsletter, "The Third Branch", they reported that the judiciaries compliance with the "E-Government Act of 2002" was nearly total. The article explains that the US Congress passed the E-Government Act in order to improve customer service to citizens via the Internet. The article further notes that nearly 200 Federal Courts have their own websites, and that many are not only in compliance but exceed the type and amount of information required.