International Law

Dipity Timelines | Canadian Law Firms on Twitter

By Doug Jasinski

I have recently started exploring an extremely interesting new online application called Dipity. Simply stated, Dipity allows you to instantly visualize information in 4 different ways - as a timeline, as a flipbook (similar to Apple's "Cover Flow" if you are familiar with that) as a simple list, or as a map if your entries have a geographic component to them.

A very interesting aspect of the service is that it allows you to pull in all sorts of content (RSS feeds, twitter streams, photos, video, you name it). Feeds update automatically and you can also create manual entries.

Since a picture is worth a thousand words, I created a quick topic of "Canadian law firms on Twitter" by adding the rss feeds from the firms' respective twitter accounts. (The firms I have included are: Borden Ladner Gervais, Clark Wilson, Davis, Gowlings, Hicks Morley, McCarthy Tetrault, Ogilvy Renault, Oslers and Torys). Have a look below. The buttons in the top left corner let you switch between the 4 different types of view available, and the +/- slider bar directly underneath them is similar to the zoom feature on Google Maps, except that it is adjusting for time (i.e. view in hours, days, weeks, months, years) instead of space.

I think the potential of a visualization tool like this for lawyers is considerable. More on that in a future post. For now, consider this an introduction to the concept.

Full post as published by Legal Marketing Canada on September 01, 2009 (boomark / email).