Seattle Bike Messengers a Dying Breed

The February 25, 2008 edition of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer newspaper in Seattle, Washington describes in an article titled: "The plea of a dying breed: Don't kill the bike messengers" the impact of E-mail and E-filing is having on their business.

Internet Overhaul Begins

For our more technical friends out there, earlier this month (as described in this article from the BBC) the master Internet record addresses started the long process of being upgraded from the standard Internet Protocol Version 4 (IPv4) to Version 6 (IPv6). The upgrade is intended to provide a huge number of new individual addresses for computers and other devices to be registered on the Internet but, it is also meant to provide other technological upgrades. The Wikipedia article on IPv6 provides an excellent summary of these benefits.
What does this mean to you in the near future? Not very much except for technical managers purchasing new networking equipment. But over time the upgrade provides an improved foundation for the growth of the Net.

NCSC Partners With Lockheed Martin for FBI Project

Press Release:

On February 12th, 2008, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) awarded Lockheed Martin a ten-year, $1 billion contract today to develop and maintain the Bureau’s Next Generation Identification (NGI) system, a multi-modal, state-of–the-art biometrics system for use by state, local and federal authorities. The Lockheed Martin-led team includes Accenture, BAE Systems Information Technology Inc., Global Science & Technology (GST), Innovative Management & Technology Services (IMTS), Platinum Solutions and the National Center for State Courts (NCSC). 

"The NGI system will expand fingerprint capacity, doubling the size of the current database, and will now also include palm prints, iris and facial recognition capabilities.  Additionally, the system requires a significant degree of technical flexibility in order to accommodate other biometric modalities that may mature and become important to law enforcement efforts in the future."

InnovAction Award Competition Announced

From our friend Andy Atkins at the University of Florida Levin College of Law:

The College of Law Practice Management is excited to announce the "official" launch of our 2008 InnovAction Awards.  We are looking for lawyers, law firms, and other deliverers of legal services who are engaged in some extraordinary innovative efforts.  The goal of the Awards is to demonstrate to the legal community what can be created when passionate professionals with big ideas are determined to solve the business challenges faced in today’s competitive markets.

Award entries will be judged on the basis of four primary criteria:

1.  Absence of precedent (never been done or done quite this way before) 2.  Evidence of action (the innovative idea was transformed into action and not merely reflective of best intentions) 3.  Effectiveness of innovation (there is some measurable outcome that indicates the innovation is accomplishing what it was intended to do) 4.  Action must have taken place within no more than three years prior to this entry.

Any lawyer, law firm, or entity providing legal services to clients anywhere in the world is eligible.  Further information about the awards, past winners, eligibility rules, and entry forms are
available at www.innovactionaward.com.  

The 2008 InnovAction Awards are sponsored by the following organizations and companies which have a passion for innovation.

Platinum Sponsors: Australian Lawyers Weekly and Greenfield/Belser Ltd.
Gold Sponsors: ABA Law Practice Management Section; The Canadian Bar Association; International Legal Technology Association (ILTA) and Levick Strategic Communications.
Silver Sponsors: Altman Weil, Inc.; Association of Legal Administrators and Project Leadership Associates.

Uniform Electronic Discovery Rules website

The University of Pennsylvania Law School, Biddle Law Library is hosting a website containing information on the Uniform Rules Relating to the Discovery of Electronically Stored Information and much more. The National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws has partnered with the library to post this and much more information.  Click here to go to their website.

CATO Updates Website

The Conference of Appellate Technology Officials (CATO) announced that they had recently updated their website at: http://www.appellatetechs.org/  The website also contains information on their Annual Conference scheduled for Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in August.

NIEM Leader Recognized

The February 1, 2008 NIEM Newsletter contained an article regarding Department of Homeland Security, Michael Chertoff's speech recognizing CIO, Ms. Donna Roy's efforts.  The article stated:


"In a speech to the DHS Law Enforcement Shared Mission Community Conference, Secretary Michael Chertoff took the time to recognize the important work of the Office of the CIO in DHS in promoting information sharing.  He noted that “enterprise data management is an essential ingredient of an effective information sharing program, and the work of OCIO, and in particular Donna Roy, deserves recognition."

Sterns County Minnesota Tests E-Court Ideas

The St. Cloud Times in Minnesota notes in an article titled "Courts look to improve availability and reduce paper" the efforts in Sterns County State's Attorney and District Court to move toward electronic support systems.  One example listed is that "Stearns County already has wired a courtroom that one day could allow attorneys to leave many of their paper files behind and rely instead on digital case files in juvenile court hearings. It's a small step toward what could be the court system of the future — largely paperless and accessible by attorneys, judges, court staff and the public via computer."

National Offender Defendant System

The December , 2007 edition of US Federal Courts newsletter, The Third Branch contains an article on the National Offender Defendant System (NODS). "It combines access to Judiciary personnel on PeopleFinder, which helps locate probation and pretrial services officers, as well as all the defendant/offender information on the Probation/Pretrial Services Automated Case Tracking System (PACTS), all the case information on the Public Access to Court Electronic Records (PACER) system, and violations in the Central Violations Bureau’s system." The article goes on to state: "NODS was originally designed exclusively for use by Judiciary staff, but according to" (Chief of the Probation and Pretrial Services Technology Division, Nick) "DiSabatino, another version—with limited features—is in the works for an external audience. The outside version would, for example, link to a limited version of PeopleFinder, and not link to PACER."

NIEM - Did You Know?

Did you know that the National Information Exchange Model (NIEM) website contains links to resources and tools that can help you work with the standard?  One resource is the NIEM Mapping Tool developed by Georgia Tech Research Institute.  It will let you "create and exchange, associate a domain model with that exchange, map the domain model to NIEM, and generate artifacts - such as mapping reports, wantlists, and schemas - based on that mapping." To go to the Mapping Tool website, click here

Technology to Watch

We recommend that court technology planners monitor the progress and implications of the upcoming auction of radio frequency spectrum and the creation of a shared public safety wireless broadband network by the Public Safety Spectrum Trust.

On November 15, 2007 the US Federal Communications Commission selected the non-profit Public Safety Spectrum Trust Corporation (PSST) to hold the license for 10 MHz of public safety radio spectrum designated for nationwide wireless broadband use.  The concept for the broadband network “is to have priority access for public safety to a nationwide, interoperable wireless broadband network that incorporates the latest technologies in use by the private sector”.  As noted in an article in Police Chief Magazine by PSST Chairman, Chief Harlin McEwen these benefits potentially include:

• “Broadband data services (such as text messaging, photos, diagrams, and streaming video) currently unavailable in existing public safety land mobile systems”
• “A hardened public safety network with infrastructure built to withstand local natural hazards (tornadoes, hurricanes, earthquakes, floods, etc.) that would include strengthened towers and backup power with fuel supplies to withstand long-term outages of public power sources”
• “Nationwide roaming and interoperability for local, state, and federal public safety agencies (police, fire, and emergency medical services) and other emergency services such as transportation, health care, and utilities”
• “Access to the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) similar to current commercial cellular services”
• “Push-to-talk, one-to-one, and one-to-many radio capabilities that would provide a backup to (but would not replace) traditional public safety land mobile mission-critical voice systems”
• “Access to satellite services to provide reliable nationwide communications where terrestrial services either do not exist or are temporarily out of service”

For more information see the Public Safety Spectrum Trust website.

Massachusetts Courts Laud Videoconferencing

An article titled "Patchy reception for TV justice" by the Boston Herald newspaper noted that the Massachusetts trial courts have been using videoconferencing technology since 1993.  However, despite it's success and resulting cost savings "neither the trial court nor the prison system have plans to expand the program".

Federal Courts Provide Free Records Access

The December, 2007 edition of The Third Branch newsletter contained an article on a pilot program being offered by the Administrative Office of the US Courts and the US Government Printing Office to provide "free public access to federal court records available at 16 libraries in 14 states."  The article goes on to state:

"The project offers free access to the federal Judiciary’s Public Access to Court Electronic Records (PACER) system at 16 participating federal depository libraries. PACER (www.pacer.uscourts.gov) allows users to obtain case file documents, listings of all case parties, judgments, and other information from district, bankruptcy, and appellate courts online, with the data immediately available for printing or downloading."

E-Courts 2008 Conference

E-Courts 2008 will be held at Bally's Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada from December 8-10.   Session subject matter will include criminal case E-filing; electronic record archiving; and electronic information presentation.  Watch the conference website  for more information at: http://www.e-courts.org/

XML/NIEM Training Available

We learned from Scott Chontow of the U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Policy & Planning Staff that there are approximately 10 training slots available for XML/NIEM training session to be held February 11-15, 2008 at the IJIS Institute in Northern Virginia. For more information contact Mr. Chontow via e-mail at: scott.chontow@usdoj.gov

NIEM Executive Briefing Webinar available

Press release:

NIEM Executive Briefing, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), was delivered via Webinar on November 14, 2007. The audio recording with slides is now available at: https://www110.livemeeting.com/cc/ijisinstitute/vi ew?id=8DBB9B&pw=c_2M%5Cb


To view the Webinar recording:

1. Select the "View Recording" link.
2. Enter first and last name in the appropriate fields.
3. Enter first and last name in the appropriate fields.
4. Enter the e-mail address and company name in the appropriate fields.
5. Select "View Recording."
6. The briefing will begin with both audio and visual recordings.

NASCIO Releases Latest in Series on Records Management and Digital Preservation

Press release:
(LEXINGTON, KY) – The National Association of State Chief Information Officers (NASCIO) is pleased to announce the release of Part III in the series on electronic records management and digital preservation: protecting the knowledge assets of the state government enterprise. A product of NASCIO’s Enterprise Architecture Committee, this research brief was completed to focus on strategies and technological solutions for managing the proliferation of electronic records. Part III in the series is now available at: www.nascio.org/publications/.

New York Court's CTO Honored

In it's December 10, 2008 edition, Computerworld magazine has honored New York State Unified Court System Chief Technology Officer, Mr. Sheng Guo as one of the Premier 100 IT Leaders 2008.  The magazine recognized his work in the installation of Wi-Fi access points "in the state's 250 courthouses".  The article goes on to quote: "Guo says he believes the state should provide Wi-Fi in courthouses for free as a public service.  If the state continued to charge for Wi-Fi, he says, the initiative to expand would have failed."

Another Court Implements RFID Technology

Thanks to one of our readers, we were forwarded an article from RFID Journal that describes the 7th Judicial Circuit Court in Prince George's County, Maryland efforts to implement RFID document tracking.  To read the entire article, click here.

US Federal Court Transcripts To Be Available Online

Press Release via the Administrative Office of the US Courts:


"September 18, 2007 — The Judicial Conference of the United States today voted to make transcripts of federal district and bankruptcy court proceedings available online through the Judiciary's Public Access to Court Electronic Records (PACER) system."


"Under the new policy, transcripts created by court reporters or transcribers will be available for inspection and copying in a clerk of court’s office and for download from PACER 90 days after they are delivered to the clerk. Individuals will be able to view, download, or print a copy of a transcript from PACER for eight cents per page."

NIEM Wayfarer Released

The National Center for State Courts is proud to announce the availability of the National Information Exchange Model - NIEM Wayfarer search and discovery tool.  The tool provides a way to search the names and definitions in the NIEM so as to find the best match for one's needs.  The graphical display requires an SVG-capable browser. Therefore, FireFox, Opera, or Microsoft IE can use NIEM Wayfarer after installing a free plug-in module.

Scotland Courtroom Technology Website

The Scottish Court Service has posted a terrific web page that lists court locations and the technology that is available in the courtrooms.  The website states:

"The Scottish Court Service has provided a range of technology to many of its courtrooms to allow evidence to be presented electronically.  The facilities vary from court to court. To assist in understanding what is available and where it is available the table below provides a breakdown of facilities by location."

Click [here] to see this resource.

Jefferson County Kentucky Provides WiFi Access

Press Release:

LOUISVILLE, Ky., Nov. 14, 2007 –- Smoothstone IP Communications and Jefferson County Circuit Court Clerk David Nicholson today announced the availability of free, high-speed, wireless Internet access in key areas within the Jefferson County Judicial Center. 

Smoothstone is providing this service free of charge as a public service to jurors, attorneys and other members of the public who visit the judicial center. The service can accommodate hundreds of simultaneous Internet users and is available in the jury pool area, the Louisville Bar Association room and common areas on the second floor. For the full press release see:
http://courts.ky.gov/pressreleases/PRB11162007.htm

BJA Announces Regional Conferences

Press Release from the US Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Assistance:

Getting it Right: Solutions for Safer Communities - 2008 BJA Regional Conferences

BJA Director Domingo S. Herraiz invites you to join colleagues from your region to learn the latest on key issues in law enforcement and criminal justice at BJA's 2008 Regional Conference Series. The meetings promise to provide participants with new information, stimulate discussion, and offer best practices and solutions to emerging and chronic crime concerns.

Registration information is at www.bjaregionalmeetings.com

Registration for this event is free of charge, but hotel space is limited.

Meeting Locations

West Region - Salt Lake City, UT
January 8-10, 2008
Salt Lake City Marriott Downtown
(Alaska; American Samoa; Arizona; California; Colorado; Guam; Hawaii; Idaho; Montana; Nevada; New Mexico; Northern Mariana Islands; Oregon; Utah; Washington; Wyoming)

Northeast Region - Hartford, CT
January 29-31, 2008
Hilton Hartford
(Connecticut; Delaware; District of Columbia; Maine; Maryland; Massachusetts; New Hampshire; New Jersey; New York; Pennsylvania; Rhode Island; Vermont)

Midwest Region - Indianapolis, IN
February 12-14, 2008
Hilton Indianapolis
(Illinois; Indiana; Iowa; Kansas; Michigan; Minnesota; Missouri; Nebraska; North Dakota; Ohio; South Dakota; Wisconsin)

South Region - Atlanta, GA
March 11-13, 2008
Hyatt Regency Atlanta
(Alabama; Arkansas; Florida; Georgia; Kentucky; Louisiana; Mississippi; North Carolina; Oklahoma; Puerto Rico; South Carolina; Tennessee; Texas; Virgin Islands; Virginia; West Virginia)

Questions? Contact Amy Kirson or Cynthia Stubits at 202-973-8725 or bja@courtesyassoc.com

The Exciting (and Confusing) Court Performance Dashboard Market

CTC-10 presenter, Ingo Keilitz recently wrote about court performance dashboards and the Super Session Presentation made at the conference on his blog at Made2Measure.

Global Justice Endorses Architecture

The Global Justice Information Sharing Initiative Advisory Committee (Global) endorsed the Global Justice Reference Architecture (version 1.4) at its Fall meeting on October 31, 2007.  The Justice Reference Architecture (JRA) provides a technical framework for implementing service oriented architecture in the justice community and improving information sharing and interoperability among justice partners.


Information regarding the JRA can be found at http://it.ojp.gov/topic.jsp?topic_id=242.


More information about Global Justice Information Sharing and related projects can be found at: http://it.ojp.gov/topic.jsp?topic_id=8.

Some Articles on Digital Signature and Validation

As you may know, we keep an eye out for digital signature and digital validation articles.  Here are a couple that may be of interest.

• Federal Computer Week :  E-authentication Grows Up
• Government Computer News: Illinois Crosses the Bridge

Finally, there is also an the American Bar Association's work on Digital Signature Guidelines.  The link is:
http://www.abanet.org/scitech/ec/isc/dsgfree.html

Oakland County Video System Recognized

Government Computer News recognized Oakland County, Michigan for their OakVideo videoconferencing and document sharing system with their Agency Award in the October 8, 2007 edition.  The article titled "Law & Video" explains: the OakVideo judicial-arraignment system, lets law enforcement agencies, prosecutors, community corrections and the courts save and secure case records on a centralized server.

NIEM Executive Briefing Webinar

We received the following press release:

On Wednesday, November 14, 2007, a NIEM Executive Briefing will be offered as a Webinar. This briefing will provide an overview of the NIEM program and will describe the data model and its components. It will also provide an overview of the current NIEM domain, NIEM program accomplishments, the current status of the NIEM model, and the state of NIEM adoption and use, and we will delve into future plans for NIEM. A major focus of the session will be the value of NIEM and how it leverages and expands the successes of standards-based information sharing. Participants will learn about the NIEM governance structure and how to successfully get involved with NIEM. The changes and improvements made to NIEM via Release 2.0, also known as the Harmony release of NIEM, will be discussed. The session will end with an update on the availability of NIEM tools and resources and a brief look to the future of NIEM.

To register, send your name and e-mail address to Ms. Shelby Glover at sglover@iir.com. Prior to the call, you will receive an e-mail notification of the conference call, dial-in instructions, and Web site address for the Webinar. Program content questions should be directed to Ms. Eileen Rixmann of the IJIS Institute at (703) 726-3681 or Eileen.Rixmann@ijis.org.

"Who Killed the Virtual Case File?"

An article posted on IEEE Spectrum Online discusses the long and difficult process, and project management challenges that the US Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has had in creating their "Virtual Case File" and other systems.  The full article is at: http://spectrum.ieee.org/sep05/1455

RFID used in State's Attorney Office

Dan Zinn, CIO for the Office of State Attorney for the 15th Judicial Circuit in West Palm Beach, Florida sent us the following article:

State Attorney Barry Krischer had a problem within his office.  How do you handle 18,000 active felony case files that traverse three different floors, are processed by multiple divisions, and go in and out of the building?  His answer was RFID (Radio Frequency Identification).  The federal government and Walmart have been using RFID to track shipments and goods and a few law firms have used it to manage their file libraries.  Hospitals use active RFID to track “Crash Carts” and other critical mobile equipment.  This was the first time that passive RFID has been implemented to track case files as they move through and in and out of a building.

The Technology was simple.  It was like “LoJack” for a file and using GPS coordinates on Google Earth to let staff see the location of the file on a floor plan.  Making it work was a complex system integration project.  The office used the services of the Innerwireless Corporation located in Richardson, Texas and Computer Information and Planning located in Jacksonville, Florida.  CIO Dan Zinn headed the project which involved integrating the PanGo RFID technology from innerwireless into the office case tracking system known as STAC and designing and installing antennas throughout the floors that the files commonly traversed.

Staff only sees the results.  To locate a file a staff members selects the case in STAC, they then press the ‘control I’ keys on their computer and a new screen appears showing the location of the file or the last door that it passed through when exiting the building.  It gives the date and time along with a number of other case details.  The case locator can also be accessed using the office intranet.

This project has just begun.  Plans call for increasing the granularity of the locations to improve location time; integrating RFID staff ID tags to track who was transporting the file and tracking other office fixed assets.

About the technology:  Active RFID tags are tags powered by a battery.  An example is the transponder that is used to pay tolls or to go in and out of parking lots.  This type of technology costs several dollars per unit.  Passive RFID uses tags that harness the power from a radio frequency to activate the tag and then send the information back to the receiving antenna.  The cost for this type of technology starts at less than a quarter.

The RFID project started in 2004 with an initial collaboration with Wal-mart.  The technology was not mature enough at that time to go forward.  The tags started at $5.00 and there were no standards.  Since 2004 RFID Standards were agreed upon, the cost per tag dropped significantly and the technology and software applications improved.  Today RFID is a viable business solution.  For more information on this project, go to the Office of State Attorney for the 15th Judicial Circuit.

NIEM Fellowship Program Announced

Under the auspices of the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the National Information Exchange Model (NIEM) Program Management Office (PMO) has announced a fellowship program to select staff members to serve the three primary operational committees that comprise the core governance of NIEM. A fellowship will be offered to selected individuals to provide senior management support for the NIEM Business Architecture Committee (NBAC), the NIEM Technical Architecture Committee (NTAC), and the NIEM Communications and Outreach Committee (NC&OC). For more information see the complete announcement at:  http://www.niem.gov/newsletter200710.php#nl

CTC-10 a Success

We would like to thank all of the attendees and our supporting sponsors and exhibitors for another great Court Technology Conference.  Conference papers and presentations will be posted in the near future on the CTC-10 website at: http://www.ctc10.org

ebXML Messaging Service Spec Approved

The Global Infrastructure and Standards Working Group (GISWG) has approved the addition of the Justice Reference Architecture (JRA) ebXML Messaging Service Interaction Profile to our specification set (also see JRA v. 1.4 and Web Services SIP v. 1.1).  The final version 1.0 of this SIP can be downloaded from http://it.ojp.gov/globaljra.

Expert Chat On Tap: What XML Can Do For You

We received this announcement for an online program with our own Paul Embley as a speaker:
What XML Can Do For You: A Better Way to Share Data
Expert Chat: October 9, 2007, 2 pm (EDT)

Having trouble sharing data electronically? Many systems are innately incompatible with each other, even similar systems can have difficulty sharing when data itself is not identically structured.

Extensible Markup Language (XML) is an increasingly adapted IT standard being used globally. XML is already improving the way criminal justice information is exchanged, but its potential is far from fully realized.

Attend this online event, sponsored by the Government Innovators Network and the National Institute of Justice, where a panel of experts will present an accessible overview of the IT behind data sharing. They will highlight best practices, lessons learned, and the latest implementation projects. Ample time will be allocated for udience Q&A. The forum will be moderated by the Honorable Deborah Daniels, former Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Justice Programs. The panel will include:

• Paul Embley—CIO, National Center for State Courts; Chair, Global XML Structure Task Force 
• Paul Wormeli—Executive Director, Integrated Justice Information Systems Institute 
• Col. Bart Johnson—Deputy Superintendent, New York State Police; Vice-Chair, Global Advisory Committee 

Learn more about the online event.

http://www.innovations.harvard.edu/spotlight.html?id=601&preview=1

The Tenth Court Technology Conference

The NCSC will be hosting the Tenth Court Technology Conference in Tampa, Florida from October 2-4, 2007.  Our technology team will present our vision of the Future of Court Technology during the final morning plenary from 8:30-9:30 on Thursday, October 4th in the convention center ballroom.  The presentation will highlight ideas for improving customer service, communications, and work measurement.  Plus we'll have some fun.  We look forward to see all of our friends at CTC-10.

GJXDM / NIEM Users Conference Presentations Available

The Global Justice Information Sharing Users' Conference and a NIEM Executive Briefing were held in Chicago on August 20-24, 2007. The presentations from the conference and the briefing are now available online at https://it.ojp.gov/topic.jsp? topic_id=253

National Governors Association Solicits States for NIEM Pilot Funding

A press release: The National Governors Association ( NGA ) Center for Best Practices has announced solicitations for a Policy Academy in which selected states will identify and document pilot exchanges to utilize the National Information Exchange Model (NIEM) to improve justice information sharing. NIEM is designed to develop, disseminate and support enterprise-wide information exchange standards and processes that can enable jurisdictions to effectively share critical information in emergency situations, as well as support the day-to-day operations of agencies throughout the nation. Applications are due by 5:00 pm EST on October 12, 2007. 


The solicitation can be found at: http://www.nga.org/Files/pdf/0709NIEMLETTER.PDF (Letter to Governors)
and http://www.nga.org/Files/pdf/0709NIEMRFP.PDF (Application Guidelines)


If you need further information, please contact Erin Lee at (202)624-5392 or elee@nga.org or Will Ware at (202) 624-5311 or wware@nga.org. Erin LeeNational, Governors Association, 444 N. Capitol Street, Suite 267, Washington, DC 20001 202-624-5392 elee@nga.org

Georgia Appellate Courts Plan for E-Filing

The September 7, 2007 edition of the Daily Report newspaper contained an article titled "Courts heed e-filing call" describes actions being taken by the Georgia Appellate Courts to provide E-filing services in the future.

NIEM Wayfarer 2.0

The National Center for State Courts has developed a new version of the Wayfarer exploration tool for the NIEM (National Information Exchange Model). NIEM Wayfarer 2.0 provides search capabilities against the latest production release of NIEM (NIEM 2.0). The tool provides detailed display of element information, including namespaces in which they reside, element definitions, contained and inherited properties, and container elements. Display of type details includes namespaces in which types reside, type definitions, derivation chain, derived types, and elements that are of a given type. Other features: schema or alpha ordering, dynamic augmentation display, a comparison matrix showing namespaces for identically named types, and a new graphical view showing related elements, derived types, and contained elements. The tool may be accessed at http://www.ncsconline.org/niemwayfarer/. Please direct any questions or comments to Jim Harris at jharris@ncsc.dni.us.

The Search for a Quiet Keyboard

A problem arose when my laptop was replaced with a thin-client computer [1]with a detached keyboard. I found that keyboards that are not part of laptops tend to be enormously noisy in the courtroom. They are distracting and impaired my ability to hear on the bench. And this is especially a problem for me because I've taken notes via a keyboard since first taking the bench.

The IT department's first answer to the noise problem from the clerk's keyboard was to slap a mushy vinyl splash guard over it. This “solution” in my opinion makes for a terrible keyboard feel and hampers fast typing.

So I then started looking for a quiet keyboard for my bench. I've used a small keyboard with a short stroke that is pretty quiet at home and in chambers but couldn't duplicate it because it has been discontinued. In addition, this older keyboard is not compatible with my new thin-client workstation since it has a PS/2 style keyboard connector instead of the newer USB connector – and adapter/converters are hit and miss..

So having tried all the versions our IT department had to offer and having bought a few reasonably priced but ultimately unsatisfactory keyboards, I finally discovered one designed for the medical industry. This line of keyboards includes several versions; small and large, with and without function keys, numeric pads, touch-pads, and so on. All versions are available in black and white colors, and are waterproof or, more importantly, coffee-proof. What I bought was a "Slimcool model," which is small (about 12" wide) without separate number pad, touch pad, or function keys that I don’t use. My requirement was that I needed the additional space on my bench and that I liked the quiet, short stroke as well as the feel. The keyboard is absolutely horizontal, so I added some stick-on small vinyl bumpers to the back to elevate it to the incline I've become accustomed to with other keyboards. I find that it is fast and quiet, and the touch suits my requirements (though preferences on the feel of keyboards vary tremendously).

While I have absolutely no interest in this company, or in anyone buying keyboards from them, I just thought others might find theirs to be as welcome and rare a solution as I have. The website is http://www.man-machine.com/

The Hon. Michael Marcus is a Judge in the Circuit Court of Multnomah County, Oregon.

---

1] For more regarding thin-client computers see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thin-client

Texas Court Technology Website

The Texas State Courts Online website hosts an excellent web page highlighting their technology efforts.  The Judicial Committee on Information Technology (JCIT) web page contains information on their projects, policies and standards, and statewide contracts.

Federal Courts Expand Access to Information

The US Federal Courts July, 2007 edition of The Third Branch newsletter describes recent enhancements to the PACER (Public Access to Court Electronic Records) system.  The article, "Access to Court Information Ever Expanding" notes that "(c)ustomers of the federal court's" PACER "system now have access without charge, to district court written opinions".

NIEM 2.0 Released

The full press release:

DOJ and DHA Announce the National Information Exchange Model (NIEM) 2.0 Release

WASHINGTON- The U.S. Departments of Justice (DOJ) and Homeland Security (DHS) announced today the release of the 2.0 production version of the National Information Exchange Model (NIEM) and its supporting tools.  NIEM is the basis for allowing multiple communities of interest to share, exchange, accept, and translate information needed by constituents.

The development of NIEM is a joint effort among DOJ, DHS, and subject-matter experts from the justice, public safety, law enforcement, homeland security and private sectors. Designed by experienced practitioners, governed by participating stakeholders, and driven by leadership from DOJ and DHS, NIEM is developing, disseminating, and supporting enterprise-wide information exchange standards and processes that enable jurisdictions to effectively share critical information in emergency situations, as well as support the day-to-day operations of agencies throughout the nation.

The 2.0 release was driven by practitioner requirements through a well-defined collaborative process.  A major focus of this release was to harmonize the data definitions and usage across multiple domains.  In addition, NIEM was remodeled to remove duplication, complexity, and ambiguity and includes new code lists and types.  It also contains updates to existing code lists and resolution of about 30 issues documented by NIEM users.

This release also contains new and updated tools that will enable users to more easily use NIEM and produce and implement their information exchanges.  These include: the Subset Schema Generation Tool (SSGT), which helps users develop the components of an exchange and allows them to choose which version of NIEM with which to work and the NIEM Migration Asset Tool, which assists in the migration of previously developed wantlists to NIEM 2.0.

Training and technical assistance are available to facilitate the adoption, implementation, and use of this groundbreaking model.  More information regarding NIEM and a link to download the 2.0 version can be found at www.niem.gov. 

For further information, contact Paul Wormeli,  Chairman of the NIEM Communications and Outreach Committee, at paul.wormeli@ijis.org.