Web 2.0 in the judicial system

While it is safe to say that Web 2.0 has infiltrated the intelligence field, here is an interesting article from counterterrorismblog.org about how judges are turning to Wikipedia to help them in forming their judicial opinions. According to the article, judges are turning to Wikipedia most for help in defining slang terms that creep up during litigation - usually terms that are not covered by traditional reference materials.

If you are so inclined, the post links to a 13 page report from the NEFA Foundation entitled "The Wikipediazation of the American Judiciary" It mainly raises and attempts to answer the question of whether or not this is a dangerous practice in our court system.

Uses for Twitter

Twitter, a tool I've covered before, can be extremely useful when used in the right ways. Here is a great read from doshdosh.com that details 17 different ways to put Twitter to use for you.

Meebo

Just a quick mention about a great website - Meebo.com

Meebo allows you to sign on to all of your instant message accounts from the same place, and every service runs through the website. Theres nothing to install, and it works with all the major features of the IM networks.

Meebo supports:

- AIM
- Yahoo Messanger
- Google Talk
- MSN
- ICQ
- Jabber

Jott

When I first came across Jott, I was skeptical of it's claim: "Never forget anything again!" Jott is essentially a phone number that you call from anywhere and leave yourself a message. Jott then transcribes the message, and emails you a reminder at a time you specify. Convenient? Definitely. But is it really that much easier than simply adding a new event in Outlook or Google Calendar. Before trying Jott, I would have answered no to that question. However, after using it for this past week I can say that it truly is an extremely useful tool.

When you call the phone number, it asks you who you want to "Jott". You can set up names and phone numbers on the Jott website, so you can easily send messages to any one. It then asks you what you want to Jott - the message that will be transcribed and sent. After you record the message, it asks if you want a reminder; and if so, when you would like it. This is the real saver feature of the application.

On Monday of last week, I called Jott to set a reminder for myself about a meeting I had later in the week. After that point, the date and time completely left me. Early Thursday morning I received a text message reminding me of the meeting at 15:00. It's great for those busy times when you have so much happening that its easy to forget some things. Last week was one of those times, and without the message from Jott its likely I would have missed the meeting.



You can access all of your transcribed Jotts, edit reminder times, and change how you are alert. It's very simple to use, and you can check off tasks and reminders.

While its not for everyone, I definitely recommend giving Jott a trial run. The price is right - it's free!

Time Management

Here's a neat application that could definitely prove useful for most people. RescueTime is a Web 2.0 program that analyzes how you spend your time. You can view reports about how much time you wasted reading your favorite blogs, and how much time you spend in applications on your computer. As a free tool, it is extremely comprehensive and quite possibly a very useful resource.

The Web 2.0 Intel Product - Collection

As this project is going to be based off of open source intelligence, our biggest resource will be an internet search engine. While most people would, and rightfully so, depend on google, there are many other search engines available for use. One very interesting tool is ChaCha Search. ChaCha Search will take your search term and gather appropriate and relevant results from all the major search engines. What makes it unique is that it offers you the opportunity to search with a human guide. The guide will go over the results and personally pick the ones that best answer your search. While it is not the fastest or most efficient way to search, it can be a helpful resource when you are having difficultly finding information on google.

As we search the internet, I decided to collect all the relevant information and save it as a wiki. The benefits of this method are two-fold: First, my research will be available on all computers with internet access. Second, a wiki will allow other users to view, edit, and add to my research - its collaboration features and ease of use can't currently be matched by any other tool out there. I created my at wikispaces.com - it is accessible at http://culrich.wikispaces.com/

I have already added information about mining projects and companies to the wiki, and will be updating it as my research continues. The wiki is set up as public, meaning any person who accesses it can add and edit the pages - feel free to participate. Next up we will try to find some Web 2.0 tools to perform the analysis step. If you have encountered any tools that would be helpful with the analysis phrase, please leave a comment.

Unyverse

Check out this neat tool called Unyverse - a mobile wiki platform. It allows you to create a wiki on your cell phone, and update it both from the internet and from your device. It also acts as an RSS reader, and a mobile viewer for Wikipedia. Definitely an interesting tool to stay updated.