Legal Research
lo-fi librarian 
The musings of a legal librarian in the UK.
Post Frequency: 3/day Last Entry: April 21, 2008 at 17:37:00 Recent Entries: 446
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A Twitter Dissertation (exceeds 140 characters)
Posted on April 21, 2008Twitter: Expressions of the Whole Self - An investigation into user appropriation of a web-based communications platform, MSc Dissertation Edward Mischaud (LSEs Department of Media and Communications). This paper's overarching objective is to critically assess this communications phenomenon, as Twitter affords a unique opportunity to analyse the manner in which [...
LexisNexis Butterworths Revamp
Posted on April 21, 2008Enhancements to LNB are due to take effect in Spring 2008 (is it Spring yet? B-r-r-r!) They are said to include: New cleaner, simpler homepages for legal and tax users A new dedicated URL for tax users Favourite sources easily accessed from your Start Page Easier access to key legislation and cases Popular features such as Related Content links made [...
Insitelaw
Posted on April 20, 2008Charon QC, aka Mike Semple Piggot, has a new venture: Insitelaw newswire focusing on legal news and law blogs. The site features editorials, Charons famous podcasts, the daily 4 minute news podcasts and lots of links to legal news stories and law reports...
Britannica Widgets
Posted on April 20, 2008The Encyclopaedia Britannica has launched Britannica widgets, but dont get too excited. There are a limited number of topic gadgets available and they dont offer much beyond showcasing a selection of related articles. Possibly useful if you happen to have a website/blog directly related to one of the listed topics...
This Weeks Useful Tools
Posted on April 20, 2008PDFLab - freeware for creating and editing PDFs (Mac). Super Screenshot - enter the URL of a site and Super Screenshot will grab a capture for you. You can specify whether you want the full page (v. useful feature) or just the top of the screen, you can also select the size you want and opt [...
Twitter Apps
Posted on April 12, 2008Since my last post I have stumbled across bunches more Twitter apps. Updating the original post was proving to be fiddly and the list was getting a bit messy, so I have decided to put them all in to a Twitter apps blog. I have been updating the blog as I find new ones (theres [...
This Weeks Useful Tools
Posted on April 12, 2008Magnoto - make your own virtual fridge door, add photos, feeds and notes. Quirky. lino - online stickies. Add a variety of stickies (notes, photos, video) to a virtual pinboard and share. Yawas - Firefox extension, highlight or clip the web and add it to your Google Bookmarks...
Vote OUT-LAW
Posted on April 09, 2008OUT-LAW.com has become the first ever non-US law firm website to be nominated for a Webby! Go vote now! Bookmark to:
This Weeks Useful Tools
Posted on April 06, 2008NSFW - make URLs tiny and warn people that content is probably not safe for work. Free Icons Download - very sweet collections, including A Team icons! RSS Tickr - create buttons and tickers for your feeds. VidyUp - embed a widget on your blog/site that lets users share videos with you...
Do More With A USB Pen
Posted on April 05, 2008Dont just carry your documents around with you, carry all your favourite programs toos. Below is a selection of links to some great portable apps: Tiny USB Office - under 2.5MB (Windows). Features include: text editing and word processing, spreadsheets, PDF creation, MSN Messenger, and an email client...
A Call To Arms
Posted on April 05, 2008Connie Crosbys most recent Tao of Law Librarianship column in LLRX addresses a number of issues: how a possible decline in the importance of the librarys physical collection can lead to libraries and librarians being seen as superfluous; how librarians must make a concerted effort to actively respond to this sentiment, by contributing positive voices [...
Digital Archives and Libel
Posted on April 04, 2008This months CILIP Update has an interesting article on the Guardians digital archive. Katy Heslop, Librarian in the Guardian Research Department, talks about the Quality Assurance testing undertaken: & the library's task was to track down articles involved in libel cases, particularly where the claimant had been successful...
Feedity
Posted on April 04, 2008Dominic Jaar has created a screencast on using Feedity to subscribe to RSS for CanLII searches. Nice mini tutorial. Thanks to Slaw for the tip. Bookmark to:
Twitter Apps Update - 19 More
Posted on April 03, 2008I can forsee this getting a little tiresome for everyone, but while I have the energy and since they seem to be seeking me out, heres 19 more. Again, I have updated my original post - 58 Twitter Apps (and then some) - we are now up to 92. Twitter Census - surveys for the Twitterspere...
BAILII Podcast
Posted on April 02, 2008OUT-LAW radio has a very informative interview with Joe Ury of BAILII - Has the internet failed on the law? There is also an accompanying article on BAILIIs new project: to publish the UKs 3000 most important legal decisions by June 2008. I overlooked this really rather good podcast (the moral of the story is always [...
UK Library Blogs Wiki
Posted on April 01, 2008Jennie Law has undertake a major piece of work compiling a list of UK library blogs. Prior to this there was no single list available (and we library folk do love lists!). Jennie has now turned the list in to a wiki (UK Library Blogs) using the new and rather dashing PB Wiki 2...
Twitter Apps Update - 15 more
Posted on April 01, 2008More Twitter apps found thanks Library Clips, comments left on this blog, and from Twitter itself. Ive updated my original 58 Twitter Apps post to keep them all together. Keep the suggestions coming! Tweet Clouds - create Tweet/tag clouds from your Twitter stream...
This Weeks Useful Tools
Posted on March 30, 2008Picbite - very simple way to add speech bubbles/comments to your photos. Simplebucket - photo hosting, lets you add notes to photos like Flickr. Photie - more photo hosting, no file size restrictions and unlimited storage. File Dropper - upload and share files, 5GB limit...
Web 2.0 Presentations
Posted on March 29, 2008Below are links to some interesting presentations on Web 2.0. Enjoy. Finding the Time for Web 2.0 by Anne Welsh of First Person Narrative. Organise yourself! An introduction to web tools by Joeyanne of Joeyanne Libraryanne. Why Web 2.0? Challenges and opportunities for the legal sector by James Mullen of the Running Librarian...
Gratuitous De Lacy-Brown Post
Posted on March 28, 2008Securing a pupillage is harder than getting on the Apprentice. Who knew? Bookmark to:
Mix Tapes
Posted on March 28, 2008Mixwit is a fab way to create online mix tapes. It uses Seeqpod and Skreemr to search for tracks and you can customise how it looks in all sorts of ways. Having dispensed with the tape it has never been easier to inflict your musical tastes on others...
58 Twitter Apps
Posted on March 27, 2008Below is a collection of Twitter apps that I have bookmarked, posted about or Tweeted. I thought it might be useful to have them all in one place. This is in no way comprehensive and as such I am sure that I have missed out some of your favourites. Search Twitter Tweetscan - search Tweets from anyone [...
This Weeks Useful Tools
Posted on March 16, 2008EatLime - file sharing, available to download as soon as you start uploading. 1GB free. Podmailing - share files, uploaded files available for 30 days and no registration required. Lots of video tutorials available and MakeUseOf.com has a nice how to...
Mofuse
Posted on March 10, 2008If youve not already acquainted yourself with Mofuse then now is the time. Mofuse helps you get your blog or website mobile ready and its recently added a whole bunch of cool new features. Once youve signed up for a free account (a paid for service is available, but the free does just fine) you [...
This Weeks Useful Tools
Posted on March 08, 20085 Amazing Mac Apps for Getting Things Done - from Zenhabits. Google Calendar Sync - sync your Google calendar with Outlook. Luminotes - personal wiki notebook. 30MB free, unlimited notebooks, but if you want to collaborate you will need to upgrade. YourLi...
Happy Birthday To Me!
Posted on March 05, 2008Wow, Ive been blogging for 2 years now. When I started I was a bit wary, I wasnt really sure Id find anything to blog about or have the energy to keep with it. Its been a lot of fun so far and its been a great way to keep myself up to date. [...]
This Weeks Useful Tools
Posted on March 01, 2008Simpl.es - shorten URLs. WiseMapping - very easy to use mindmapping app. ScrapBook - Firefox add-on that lets you bookmark and save parts of web pages. Snaptweet - post your latest Flickr pics to Twitter. del.ishli.st - create wishlists from your del...
7 Tasks
Posted on February 27, 20087 Tasks is a really simple and really nice way of creating to do lists on the fly. Obviously you will need to log-in, but after that there isnt all that much to it. You can create multiple lists and attach tasks, mark tasks as complete and review whats still pending...
BAILII Books
Posted on February 25, 2008BAILII have started adding books to their database: Most publishers have no commercial interest in books after the print run has finished and they are happy to reassign copyright to the author, if copyright was assigned to them. BAILII will consider publishing these texts but will only republish a text if there are no copyright limitations...
Legal Information Insitutes on GlobaLex
Posted on February 23, 2008A useful an interesting guide to the Legal Information Institutes and the Free Access to Law Movement has just been added to GlobaLex. The article details the development of the LIIs and gives a description of each as well as lots of links to related reading...
Twitter Digest
Posted on February 22, 2008Twitter Digest lets you read Twitter updates in a more manageable fashion. Just pick the usernames youd like to generate a digest for, and you will see all updates made by them during the past full day (GMT). At midnight, a [...]
This Weeks Useful Tools
Posted on February 22, 2008iPodulator - iPod friendly pages, enter a URL into the iPodulator (love the name!!) and it will convert to a plain page of text, this can then be saved and uploaded to your iPod. Twixtr - share photos on Twixtr and automatically update your Twitter, Facebook and Flickr...
Extending Your Collections
Posted on February 21, 2008Michael Sauers, aka the Travellin Librarian, posted about how the Nebraska Library Commission has started to add works under the Creative Commons license to their catalogue. This got me thinking, there are probably (and Im guessing here) not many CCd law books...
The BookScans Database
Posted on February 21, 2008Scanned images of vintage paperbacks. The goal of the Bookscans Project is to provide a visual catalog of ALL vintage American paperbacks (for my purposes, this is roughly the first 20 years of paperback-sized books) A [...]
law.librarians
Posted on February 21, 2008A little while back I posted about the law.librarians experiment, a collaborative micro-blogging venture that I invited a number of law librarians to join me in. I thought Id post a short update to let you all know how its going and maybe inspire you to join us...
Libraries Micro-Blogging
Posted on February 20, 2008Better Practices From the Field: Micro-Blogging for Science Technology Libraries. Recommendations from Joe Murphy of Kline Science Library, Yale University. Yale Science Library on Twitter. Via Resource Shelf. Bookmark to:
Podcasts
Posted on February 19, 2008I love podcasts, they are perfect for passing the time on a noisy train. Below are a selection of legal, parliamentary and plain old news podcasts that I have been investigating. If you have any good recommendations please leave a comment. (Click pics for links to iTunes)...
Twimbler
Posted on February 18, 2008Twimbler is a Tumblelog that you update via Twitter. You dont need to set anything up, just prefix your Tweets with #log: and then post the link and comment you want to add. To view go to http://www.twimbler.com/yourTwitterusername. Could be a nice way to link blog without reposting things you would be adding to Twitter [...
Tasty
Posted on February 16, 2008Tasty provides information on how people have tagged a site in del.icio.us. You can get the same information in the form of a tag cloud in del.icio.us itself, but Tasty puts it in a nice graph and lets you instantly see how popular certain tags are. Bookmark to:
This Weeks Useful Tools
Posted on February 16, 2008FFXporter - plug-in for iPhoto, lets you easily upload to Flickr (Mac). Sendto Flickr - free download, adds a send to Flickr option when you right click (Windows). FotoFlexer Pro - online photo editor now offering free pro tools. Videoembed - Greasemonkey user script automatically embeds videos so you can view without clicking links...
Wildys Get RSS!
Posted on February 13, 2008Wildys have introduced RSS feeds for new title and new editions. Get it here! My life just got a whole lot easier. Bookmark to:
TwitPic
Posted on February 10, 2008TwitPic lets you easily add photos to your Tweets. Upload to TwitPic, add your comment and then post. TwitPic provides a link to your photo and a page of all the photos youve uploaded to the service. Bookmark to:
This Weeks Useful Tools
Posted on February 09, 2008Twitterific Beta 3.1b3 - New version of the Mac Twitter client from Iconfactory. HelloTxt - microblog to multiple services, including Twitter, Jaiku, Facebook and Tumblr. Thatsmymouse - chat with others on a web page using little speech bubbles that follow your cursor...
law.librarians
Posted on February 05, 2008A bit of an experiment is going on over at www.lawlibrarians.wordpress.com. This is a collaborative blog using the Prologue Wordpress theme that allows for a sort of cross between blogging and Tweeting. Contributors can blog straight from the front page (see screenshot below)...
This Weeks Useful Tools
Posted on February 02, 2008Bookmarked: Auto Save Text to Cookie - Firefox extension (Windows and Linux). Automatically saves and restores text from forms and textareas. Would have come in handy during the great HMRC tax returns fiasco. Get it for next year. Control C - online clipboard with a social networking aspect...
Library 2.0 Playlist
Posted on January 28, 2008InfoSciPhi has put together a YouTube playlist of the Library 2.0 videos. Worth checking out. Bookmark to:
This Weeks Useful Tools
Posted on January 25, 2008Bookmarked this week: Speed Dial - Firefox add-on. Similar to that in Opera, create a speed dial page for calling up your fave websites speedily. Text Mining Tool - Freeware Windows program, extract text from web pages, PDFs etc. TUGZip - unzip and archive lots and lots of different formats (inc...
LASSIEs Facebook Report
Posted on January 25, 2008LASSIE (Libraries and Social Software in Education) has published its Facebook report. Makes for some interesting reading, Im just a bit disappointed they didnt wait to publish until a bit more research had been done on Facebook pages. Other case studies available via their project page include: resource sharing and social software and blogging and [...
Social Networks on LLRX
Posted on January 23, 2008Ha! Got you all excited there, you thought LLRX had introduced a social network. That would be cool, but it just isnt true and I refuse to lie to you. There is, however, a nice article introducing social networks with examples of how some libraries and librarians are using them...
Todos
Posted on January 23, 2008Nice little Mac app. Access all your applications from a beautiful shiny pop-up. Todos adds a little icon to your menu bar, alternatively access with Command-Option-Control-T hot key. Bookmark to:
Florida Lawyers Blog Watch
Posted on January 23, 2008Florida Lawyers Blog Watch is the latest offering from Steve Matthews of Stem Legal. Now, I know next to nothing about U.S. law, but I do know there is a place called Florida and that there must be lawyers there. Armed with this knowledge I am sure that this RSS driven aggregation of the 50 most [...
BAILII Widgets?
Posted on January 23, 2008Orchestr8 is pretty clever stuff (I think). It lets you clip bits of web pages and create widgets which means you can sort of keep up-to-date with pages lacking RSS feed. My first thought was BAILII! BAILIIs recent decisions page is a gift, but sadly bereft of feed...
Copac Again
Posted on January 22, 2008From Copac News: We have started adding extra content to many Copac records. This includes: Reviews Tables-of contents Summaries Author biographical details Links to related web sites, such as an authors own web site Suggested reading age and interest age Impressed yet again...
Weekend Review 2
Posted on January 20, 2008Charon speaks to Carl Gardener (Head of Legal), Tim Kevan (ex-Barrister Blog), Dr Peter Groves (consultant with Bircham Dyson Bell) and Simon Myerson QC (Pupillage and how to get it). Weekend Review. Bookmark to:
Library Arcade!
Posted on January 19, 2008Carnegie Mellon University Libraries have developed Library Arcade: The Library Arcade features games designed to help students develop research skills through entertaining and easy-to-repeat activities. At this stage, we are testing each game to work through any technical glitches and prepare the games for a final version...
Charon Podcast with Nick Holmes
Posted on January 19, 2008Been waiting for this one. Charon interviews Nick Holmes of Binary Law. Views on the legal web, blogging, social networking and more. Listen here. Bookmark to:
ECJ Blog
Posted on January 19, 2008ECJ Blog by Allard Knook, a PhD Candidate at the Institute of Constitutional and Administrative Law, University of Utrecht. This has been going since 2006, but Ive only just stumbled upon it. Useful links to case law and news, worth a bookmark. Bookmark to:
This Weeks Useful Tools
Posted on January 19, 2008Taskado - project manager with a surprising amount of functionality. Break projects down into tasks and milestones, assign work to the project team, share documents and blog updates. Very simple to use and no downloads. Google Calendar: now available on your Firefox sidebar - instructions from Download Squad...
iGoogle Themes
Posted on January 16, 2008A directory of iGoogle Themes is now available, with some pretty new additions. Adventure in Lollipopland is doing it for me. Bookmark to:
The Future of Ideas is Free
Posted on January 16, 2008Lawrence Lessigs The Future of Ideas is now available free under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial license and can be downloaded here. Respect to Random House. Bookmark to:
Learn More
Posted on January 14, 2008From Library Stream: Learn More is a series of self-paced discovery entries for library staff interested in venturing out on the social web. Each post is meant as a short introduction to a different social website, tool, or concept. It might not be ground-breaking information to veteran readers of the blogosphere, but I hope each [...
Skip the Trial, Just Buy the Book
Posted on January 14, 2008Today sees the start of the Ipswich murder trial, of course you have been able to pre-order the book for sometime now. Cold blooded evil by Neil Root From the blurb Tom Stephens, a 37 year-old supermarket worker from Ipswich who had known all five women and sold his story to a Sunday tabloid newspaper was arrested...
Just Ban It!
Posted on January 14, 2008I came across a story via Mashable about a Professor at the University of Brighton who has banned her students from using Google or Wikipedia. Two quotes from the original article in the Argus. Professor Tara Brabazon: Too many students dont use their own brains enough...
Weekly Review
Posted on January 13, 2008Charon QC has recorded his first weekly review. Contributors include John Bolch (Family Lore), Justin Patten (Human Law), Carl Gardner (Head of Legal), Peter Rouse (Advizory) and Geeklawyer. A must listen and an excellent way to catch up on developments...
This Weeks Useful Tools
Posted on January 12, 2008Bookmarked this week: SwiftyURL - make your URLs short. File.io - share files, create a folder and password and upload. Free PDF to Word Converter - free download that converts PDFs in to .docs. PDF Hammer - edit PDFs online for free. Yurbo - a mini blogging, Twitter type app...
Stephen Fry on Social Networking
Posted on January 12, 2008My point is this: what an irony! For what is this much-trumpeted social networking but an escape back into that world of the closed online service of 15 or 20 years ago? Is it part of some deep human instinct that we take an organism as open and wild and free as the internet, and [...
Oh Me, Oh My
Posted on January 11, 2008A quarter of Britons say they have not read a book in the past year and nearly half admit to lying about their reading to appear more intelligent. From This is London. 2008 National Year of Reading. Bookmark to:
This is the News
Posted on January 09, 2008Charon QC has posted the first of his 4 minute news round-ups. Head over to Consilio to listen. Note to Charon - can we subscribe to these in our iTunes please? Bookmark to:
Family Law Pipe
Posted on January 09, 2008Nick Holmes of Binary Law has created a useful resource for those interested in family law. He has taken 13 family law blogs and using a bit of Yahoo! Pipes magic he has packaged them into a single feed. A nice reminder that there is such a thing as Pipes...
The Pelican Project
Posted on January 09, 2008Yes, they are fetishised, but I cant get enough. Things Magazines Pelican Project - 60 years of Pelicans! Bookmark to:
Wikia
Posted on January 07, 2008Say hello to WikiaAlpha, launched today, the new search engine from Mr Wales. Bookmark to:
Blawg Review
Posted on January 05, 2008Charon QC has just posted possibly one of the longest blawg reviews I have ever seen. Lots of good stuff. Go read. Bookmark to:
Twitter Buttons
Posted on January 05, 2008I have just stumbled across this fantastically cute button for Twitter on MilkAddict.com. Since I have used it in the sidebar I thought I should give thanks. It comes in two sizes 120×120 or 70×70, pixels that is, and it looks rather like a smartie. Bookmark to:
TinyURL Popup Preview
Posted on January 05, 2008TinyURL Popup Preview is a must have Greasemonkey script. It enables a preview of the URL that has been shortened so you can avoid clicking on dodgy links, plus its always nice to have an idea of where TinyURL is taking you. If you are using Firefox get the Greasemonkey add-on and then install the Popup [...
This Weeks Useful Tools
Posted on January 05, 2008Bookmarked this week: Badge any feed with Yahoo! Pipes - create a badge for your blog feed. MoDazzle - access to Facebook via SMS or email. Add text watermarks to your Flickr photos - tutorial from Digital Inspiration. The best free software for Windows - from Digital Inspiration...
Be A Trendspotter
Posted on January 04, 2008ACRLog posts Make 2008 Your Year For Trend Watching: & no one has the time to try every Web 2.0 tool or software utility, test every new plug-in or application or visit every new virtual site. But there is a tremendous professional advantage to at least knowing about these things as opposed to being completely [...
Print Your Own Books
Posted on January 04, 2008Sort of. Google Blogoscoped has an interesting post informing of the Public Domain Books Reprints Service, a site that will convert a public domain work into a printable format. You can enter the URL of the text e.g. Internet Archive: http://www.archive...
Tech Tips
Posted on January 04, 2008Tame the Webs Michael Stephens has posted his Tech Tips for Every Librarian, a series of articles originally published in Information Today. Topics covered include IM, wikis, Flickr and blogging. A useful introduction and some interesting ideas. Bookmark to:
Library Science Jeopardy
Posted on January 04, 2008Library Science Jeopardy - what do you score? Found via the Law Librarian Blog. Bookmark to:
Twitter Stats
Posted on January 02, 2008Monitor your addiction with Brad Kelletts Twitter Stats. Enter your Twitter username and Twitter Stats will generate a number of interesting graphs. I am not a power-user by any stretch of the imagination, but its interesting to see how the monkey has gained purchase on my back...
CLawBies
Posted on January 02, 2008Steve Matthews has posted his CLawBies (Canadian Law Blog Awards) for 2007. The Law Librarian Blog award went to Library Boy and the British Columbia Courthouse Library Society Whats New Blog, with Connie Crosby as runner-up. Id not really checked out BCCLS before, but it is a very impressive model, the site also has a [...
Bye Bye 2007
Posted on December 31, 2007Whats happening online on the last day of the year? Phil Bradley has created a Google Custom Search Engine for Web 2.0 Resources. Meredith Farkas of Information Wants to be Free points us in the direction of the new Pew report - Information searches that solve problems: how people use the internet, libraries and government agencies when [...
Copac Covers
Posted on December 29, 2007Copac has been adding some neat stuff recently and as of this month it has book covers. Bookmark to:
This Weeks Useful Tools
Posted on December 28, 2007Bookmarked: TypingWeb - online typing tutor. PDF Split and Merge - handy little download for working with PDFs. WinFF - file converter download (Windows and Linux). Pviewr - create photo gallerys with your Picasa and Flickr pics. Flickr Fan - Mac OS X download from Dave Winer, lets you do a bunch of stuff with Flickr photos, including backing them [...
This Weeks Useful Tools
Posted on December 16, 2007Share your shared items with your Google Talk friends - Official Google Reader Blog. Google Toolbar 5 - for Internet Explorer, now with gadgets. Demo video here. Secret iGoolge themes - spotted by Google Blogoscoped. moourl - shorten URLs with the help of this little moo cow...
eBook to Images
Posted on December 16, 2007eBooks to Images is a clever little Windows program that lets you convert eBooks or text files into images. Simply upload your eBook and edit the way the text will be displayed. You can chose from a range of fonts, font sizes and colours for text and background...
Fluid
Posted on December 15, 2007Create site-specific browsers for your Leopard with Fluid. For those apps you just have to have open all the time. Fluid lets you create desktop applications, with dock icons as standard. One less browser tab to worry about and easy access to your fix...
Facebook Whales
Posted on December 15, 2007Todays Guardian has a piece on Facebook andFacebook whales. Hugh MacLeod talks about his ever expanding list of Facebook friends and has this nice quote: & what you say doesnt matter, its the social action thats important. Its like chimpanzees picking ticks off each others backs...
Facebook Pages Apps
Posted on December 09, 2007Apps for pages seem to be difficult to browse, as far as I can tell you cant browse by type and searching brings up a load of stuff thats only available for profiles. So I thought Id list some of the Facebook pages apps that might be useful for library pages...
Hyperlinked Library
Posted on December 09, 2007Michael Stephens of Tame the Web has posted his presentation: The Hyperlinked Library. Lots of great examples of libraries using social networking tools and lots of ideas to steal! Bookmark to:
This Weeks Useful Tools
Posted on December 08, 2007Bookmarked: 100+ places to post and share your photos online - Virtual Hosting Blog 7 must-know Mac software download sites - Mac Apper. GoneIn60s - freeware for Windows, recover recently closed apps. ShortcutGuide - amazing guide to keyboard shortcuts...
MIT OpenCourseWare
Posted on December 08, 2007MIT OpenCourseWare offers access to free course materials for a staggering 1800 courses. You can view the materials online or download the entire course, including presentations, lecture notes, reading lists and assignments. RSS feed is available so you can keep up to date with new courses added...
Online Information Presentations
Posted on December 06, 2007I didnt get to attend, but I had fun following Twitter feeds and thanks to the power of the internets I get to see the slides. A selection below: Social software in a corporate context: the BT experience? - Richard Dennison. Searching without Google: alternative tools for more expert searching - Karen Blakeman...
v|lex
Posted on December 06, 2007Explain this to me would you? v|lex is a legal research site that offers access to legal materials from 94 countries. v|lex offer the following plans (more info. here). vLex BASIC Search in vLex for free 10 e-mail alerts Full Search Personal Search History Shared Tags Buy only these document you actually need RSS for All Contents and a paid for service: vLex PREMIUM UNITED [...
Bits and Pieces
Posted on December 01, 2007A few interesting presentations/reports I have perused recently: Five social software sites that libraries shouldnt ignore - Katheryn Greenhill of Librarians Matter. Social Network websites: best practices from leading services (PDF) - research paper from faberNovel Consulting...
iDesktop.tv
Posted on December 01, 2007iDesktop.tv is a brand new shiny way to access YouTube content. The interface is v. nice, but there is more to this than rounded corners. iDesktop.tv is a relaunch of YouTube Desktop and aims to provide users a convenient way of browsing through the enormous amount of online videos and to improve the experience - [...
This Weeks Useful Tools
Posted on December 01, 2007Bookmarked: Google Mini - Google lite. Tweetl - shorten URLs for Twitter. Twitter Toolset: 50+ Guides, Hacks and Scripts - from Virtual Hosting Blog. ifflo - image sharing site. Genfavicon - favicon generator. Vista transformation pack 8.10 - make your XP all shiny like Vista...
Photo Drop
Posted on November 30, 2007Photo Drop is a very cool Mac dashboard widget that lets you crop and apply effects to your pics really quickly. You can paste a picture into the widget and add an effect from the drop down list. You then get the option to save your modified version to the desktop or copy to your [...
CanLII Update
Posted on November 30, 2007Message from CanLII: The Law Foundation of Ontario has funded a large project to extend the historical coverage of CanLIIs case law databases. This projects first results are already available to our users. All Supreme Court of Canada decisions originating from Ontario back to 1876 are now published on CanLII in searchable HTML and PDF-image format...
ABA Journal Blawg 100
Posted on November 29, 2007The ABA Journal has put together a list of 100 blogs by lawyers and for lawyers, and is asking you to vote for your favourites. The blawgs are arranged into several categories and the site includes profiles of seven lawyers who started the Blawg revolution...
This Weeks Useful Tools
Posted on November 26, 2007Bookmarked: definr - cute dictionary, very speedy too. Bookmarklets and plugins available. Flickr2Facebook - import Flickr photos into your Facebook albums with this handy button. Flickr Uploadr 3.0 Beta - now available for download. Dumpr - effects for your photos...
Visual Dictionary
Posted on November 25, 2007Merriam-Webster have launched a Visual Dictionary The Visual Dictionary is designed to help you find the right word at a glance. Filled with stunning illustrations labeled with accurate terminology in up to six languages, it is the ideal language-learning and vocabulary dictionary for use at school, at home or at work...
Facebook Apps
Posted on November 25, 2007No Mans Blog has an interesting post about Facebook App trends. Looking at these 100 most popular applications a very interesting picture revealed. There are overall 3 categories that these applications can be organised into: Identity formation - 43% Phatic Communication - 37% Other - 20%...
Building Academic Library 2.0
Posted on November 24, 2007Great video of Meredith Farkas delivering her keynote at UC Berkeleys Academic Library 2.0 conference. Bookmark to:
Firefox 3.0b1
Posted on November 20, 2007Ive just download Firefox 3.0b1 and it is one clever fox! A few new features caught my eye so I thought Id share. Oooh, whats this? A little star button at the end of the address bar lets you bookmark pages super quick. You can tag your book marks and also add keywords and descriptions: And then find [...
Kindle Cant Give You This
Posted on November 19, 2007Ive read the articles and Ive watched all the videos. I must admit that new gadgets make me a little woozy. But lets not get carried away! Kindle is clever. But books is books. I find the idea of buying a book but not actually being able to lose it on the train, break its spine, [...
Miro
Posted on November 18, 2007Ive been messing around with Miro this past week. Miro is a free, open source internet tv and video player with a lot of really cool features. I think I might be hooked. Firstly its quite a cool little media player, compatible with MPEG, Quicktime, AVI, H...
This Weeks Useful Tools
Posted on November 18, 2007Bookmarked this week: FileURLs - Upload files and share via URL, you can password protect and also set an expiry date. Favikon - create favicons. Seashore - free image editing software for OS X. Clever Hippo - search engine for applications. Tweet Scan - Twitter search engine...
Reading Level
Posted on November 15, 2007I would have said it was more Play Skool, but there you go. Bookmark to:
Feel A Little Uneasy?
Posted on November 15, 2007Margaret Hodge, the Secretary of State for Culture is working with the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council (MLA) to develop a set of standards for dealing with inflammatory and extremist material in libraries. A spokesperson for the MLA told IWR it was working with librarians organisation Cilip and that it was being called on to [...
EIA Blog
Posted on November 12, 2007The European Information Association is blogging. Our blog is intended as a two-way communication tool. Well use it to tell you whats happening in the Association, alert you to developments in the world of EU information, and respond to your queries and comments...
Parliamentary Jargon Explained
Posted on November 10, 2007The Parliament website has a very useful glossary that is a must bookmark. The glossary seems to be a work in progress as recently added terms are highlighted. Handy related links are also included. But best of all I now know what a Woolsack is. Via ResourceShelf Bookmark to:
This Weeks Useful Tools
Posted on November 10, 2007PipeBytes - share files with friends, This is a very simple way to send send your music, movies, presentations, executables and any type of files to anyone with just a web browser!. Drop.io - upload a file, get a unique address for it, add a pasword (optional) and share...
IPCC Publishes De Menezes Report
Posted on November 08, 2007The Independent Police Complaints Commission has just published the report into the fatal shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes. Stockwell One Report (PDF) Stockwell Two Report(PDF) Bookmark to:
Big Juicy Twitter Guide
Posted on November 05, 2007Caroline Middlebrook has written a seven part guide to using Twitter covering the following topics: What is Twitter? Socialising with Twitter Using Twitter properly Twitter tools | platform specific Twitter tools | web applications Hacking Twitter Multiply your Twitter audience Some really good tips and tools...
Book Bump
Posted on November 04, 2007Book Bump describes itself as a simple, yet comprehensive application that offers intuitive book-management and networking solutions. Its an interesting version of other services such as Library Thing that let you catalogue your books. Book Bump has some pretty cool features, unfortunately some of these are not so useful if you are outside of [...
Book Glutton
Posted on November 04, 2007Book Glutton is an online reader that lets you form reading groups and discuss and annotate texts with others. You can opt to read alone and the unbound reader is pretty sleek, letting you bookmark your place for the next time you log in. We set out to create a better way to read on-line; our [...
Guardian Archive Free Trial
Posted on November 04, 2007Get your free 24 pass to the Guardian online archive here. Rates until the end of November are as follows: 24 hours = 3.97 3 days = 7.46 1 month = 24.97 Bookmark to:
This Weeks Useful Tools
Posted on November 04, 2007Bookmarked this week: A fistful of Greasemonkey scripts to pimp up your Gmail and Reader - from Google Tutor. Google Calendar: receive an email of your daily agenda - from Tech Recipes. Splashup - image editing (formerly called Fauxto). Nice Photoshop-esque features such as working with layers...
Show Your Support
Posted on November 02, 2007Nick Holmes has posted an open letter to UK legal publishers requesting RSS feeds for their new publications. Show your support by leaving a comment on his post and if youre a Facebooker then join the UK Law Librarians for Publishers RSS. Wear it on your sidebar too, display the badge linking to the open letter: Bookmark [...
Warbears! Huh. What Are They Good For?
Posted on November 01, 2007Well, they are an ideal timewaster. Minature polar bears with samurai swords and hand grenades! Warbears (via haha.nu) Bookmark to:
ILI 2007
Posted on October 31, 2007Presentations now online at the conference website. Bookmark to:
LegalPubs.ca
Posted on October 29, 2007Steve Matthews shows us what RSS can do! LegalPubs.ca brings together Canadian legal publishers feed using Yahoo! Pipes. The site also uses Grazr to preview individual publishers feeds. Oh, and a Rollyo too, so you can search. A pretty perfect one stop shop for keeping up to date...
BBC News Website is 10 Years Old
Posted on October 29, 2007Our first 10 years Once, well within living memory, it would be normal for many to find out the news from a weekly newspaper or from a cinema newsreel. Now even waiting for the morning papers would be considered quaint, especially since even they have started publishing stories online before making it to newsprint...
Exciting Stuff
Posted on October 28, 2007ResearchBuzz reports news that the Guardian will be extending its archive to cover the period 1821-1975 with plans to further extend this in early 2008. The Observer is to be given similar treatment, with coverage for 1900-1975. The archive will be accessible to pass holders, with a 24 hour, 3 day and a 1 month [...
This Weeks Useful Tools
Posted on October 28, 2007Bookmarked this week: Mind42 - mindmapping tool. Notbook G - online organiser / notebook. Mojonote - notes, calendar and tasks lists. Share with friends and receive reminders. RSS Calendar - create a calendar, get feed for new additions and edits and code to embed (via Infodoodads)...
Readeroo
Posted on October 27, 2007I have much love for this little Firefox add-on. Its provides a simple but really cool way for del.icio.us users to keep tabs on those must-reads stumbled upon as you surf the web and trawl your feed reader. Readeroo provides you with two little buttons: The plus button adds your articles etc...
Join Us
Posted on October 25, 2007Thanks to Library etc. for announcing the Facebook group - UK Law Librarians for Publishers RSS. Come join us, share your experiences, have a good old grumble and report RSS sightings. Its where all the cool kids hang out. You better believe it! Bookmark to:
It Can Be Done!
Posted on October 24, 2007Nick Holmes has created some feeds for new publications from Sweet Maxwell and Jordans. The information is taken from publishers spreadsheets and is current as of the end of September. It is a bit of an undertaking and one that Nick is not committing to indefinitely...
Web 2.0 and the Law
Posted on October 24, 2007The Times: Web 2.0: new internet, new etiquette & new law? New forms of interaction are forcing us to develop new social rules: is it wrong to spy on your exs Facebook page? At what point does an unanswered friend request become a gentle hint that you are not wanted? But such rapid change also raises [...
OCLC Report
Posted on October 23, 2007OCLC have just published Sharing, Privacy and Trust in Our Networked World which explores: The use of social networking, social media, commercial and library services on the Web How and what users and librarians share on the Web and their attitudes toward related privacy issues Opinions on privacy online Libraries' current and future roles in social networking Pretty hefty, but [...
This Weeks Useful Tools
Posted on October 22, 2007Bookmarked this week: Google News Facebook app Friendvox - instant messaging for Facebook. Wiki Whiteboard app - Wetpaint is in ur Facebook. Second Life Link - Facebook app for your Second Life avatar. Create a Facebook friends collage - instructions from Digital Inspiration...
Information R/evolution
Posted on October 22, 2007Another amazing video from Michael Wesch, Kansas State University. Bookmark to:
COPAC Goodness
Posted on October 17, 2007Happened upon a couple of neat things on COPAC today. For those of you who dont know, COPAC allows you to search the catalogues of major Universities and National Libraries in the UK and Ireland. New (to me) features include: Plugin for Firefox 2.0 and IE 7 that lets you search COPAC from your web browser search [...
Why Cant We Be More Like Canada?
Posted on October 17, 2007Connie Crosby recently posted thanks to Canadian legal publishers, it turns out that all the major players now offer RSS feeds for new title information. The UK law librarian, on the other hand, lives and dies by the flier and the email alert. Having all been sinners in past lives, we are regularly punished by [...
Startpix
Posted on October 16, 2007Startpix lets you create pretty cool start pages using icons. You start off with a grid, on which you can place your icons anywhere you want, resize and customise them or create your own. You can even add to your start page using the handy bookmarklet available...
UC Berkeley Lectures
Posted on October 16, 2007SIMS 141 - Search, Google, and Life: Sergey Brin - Google UC Berkeley have made their video lectures freely available via YouTube. Good stuff! Of particular interest is SIMS 141 Search Engines: Search Engines: Technology, Society, and Business. The World Wide Web brings much of the worlds knowledge into the reach of nearly everyone with a computer [...
Index Cards Are Here To Help
Posted on October 15, 2007Web Worker Daily has a fab post on 24 things you can do with an index card. For us Librarian folk these are plentiful, in fact I am often spotted clutching a greedy handful (or two), HB secured in regulation bun, the whole bit. The rest of you can buy them in any good stationers...
Get Your Geek On
Posted on October 15, 2007Wired magazine has compiled a Geekipedia a list of essential people, places, things and trends to help you navigate the wired world. Study it and impress your friends. Bookmark to:
This Weeks Useful Tools
Posted on October 14, 2007BibSonomy - social bookmarking with a difference, import and export bibliographic records, e.g. Bibtex and Endnote records. tagmindr - send yourself del.icio.us bookmarks at set times as reminders. Example, youve spotted the perfect birthday present for someone, send yourself a reminder as their birthday approaches...
OPSI Report
Posted on October 10, 2007The OPSIs Report on Public Access Scheme Funding 2006/07(PDF) makes for some interesting reading, highlighting the new features introduced on the OPSI website. Well worth a look see if you use the site for finding and trackinglegislation. Hatip Binary Law...
Found Blogs
Posted on October 09, 2007One of the nice things about ILI was discovering new blogs, heres a selection of new (to me) blogs worth a look see: Self Plagerism is Style - Dave Pattern, University of Huddersfield, posts related to revamping the OPAC can be found here. OUseful - Tony Hirst, the Open University...
Internet Librarian International IV
Posted on October 09, 2007Search hubs and discovered custom search engines - Tony Hirst, Open University. Lots of interesting ideas, although Ive messed around with Google Custom Search Engines, Id not tried Live Search Macros and not really considered using CSEs seriously. Something to think about...
Pupilblog R.I.P.
Posted on October 09, 2007Sending good thoughts to Pupilblogger, while he awaits the tenancy decision. Read his last post (?) here. Bookmark to:
Internet Librarian International III
Posted on October 09, 2007Some more of yesterdays presentations, some of which I didnt get to attend (including masterclasses which I didnt sign up for, tee hee): Why have a blog; Addressing the barriers; Case study: my:self-archive - Kara Jones, University of Bath Information architecture for internal users - Anne Welsh (now at 18 Red Lion Court)...
Internet Librarian International II
Posted on October 08, 2007So, my first day at ILI over. Highlights for me included: Dave Pattern, University of Huddersfield, speaking about web 2.0 and the OPAC, surprisingly interesting and rather exciting stuff - The Impact of 2.0: lipstick, cowbells and serendipity in the OPAC...
Internet Librarian International
Posted on October 08, 2007Thought Id have a go at blogging live from Internet Librarian International. Here goes & Got to the hotel in Kensington with plenty of time, registered and got settled down for the keynote. Surprisingly, considering the theme of the conference, no one explained the wi-fi situation...
Blog Love
Posted on October 07, 2007Ive been tagged in the Blawg Review meme, so here are 10 blogs I consider to be tops, with a decidedly law librarian flava: Slaw - if you have any kind of interest in Canadian legal materials this is a must stop. Enquiring Minds Want to Know - UK law librarian bloggers, thought provoking posts and generally [...
Feel Their Pain: A Pupillage Reader
Posted on October 07, 2007Since it is that time of year I thought Id post a round up of pupil related blogs. From scary stories to good advice, must reads for new pupils: The Ramblings of a Paranoid Pupil - one of four pupils at a commercial set trying to beat the odds. The Pupillage Chronicles - a record of pupillage [...
LawBore
Posted on October 02, 2007City Universitys LawBore, brainchild of law librarian Emily Allbon, has undergone a redesign. If you havent already checked it out then its worth having a peak. Although created primarily with City students in mind, theres lots of stuff that can be accessed by anyone, including a directory of legal links, a forum and a wiki [...
Clutterme
Posted on October 01, 2007Clutterme lets you build web pages quickly and simply. You can type anywhere on the page, paste in videos, pictures, upload files, drag different elements all over the shop, there are even a few widgets available (more promised soon). You can customise the design of your page adding backgrounds, changing fonts and colours...
This Weeks Useful Tools
Posted on September 30, 2007Bookmarked this week: PuriCute - Purikura for the web, upload your pics and make them PuriCute with frames and stamps. flauntR - photo editor, add lots of effects to your pictures and import directly from Flickr. rsizr - resize your photos. Pictobrowser - share your Flickr pics on your website or blog...
Uboontu
Posted on September 26, 2007Uboontu is a Google custom search engine for Ubuntu related information. There is also a Firefox extension available. Very handy. Bookmark to:
Adventures in Ubuntu: Ubuntu Forums Firefox Add-on
Posted on September 23, 2007I have mentioned before that the Ubuntu forums are a mine of information and can help get you out of almost any kind of fix. You can now have your forums a little closer to hand with this Firefox extension which gives you the option of having a Ubuntu Forums menu alongside the standard Firefox [...
Link Types
Posted on September 23, 2007I came across a rather interesting post on Search Engine Journal which talks about the five different types of links bloggers should be employing. Sales links - not necessarily getting people to buy stuff, these could also be used to get people to do stuff or driving people to & take a specific path...
This Weeks Useful Tools
Posted on September 23, 2007Only a few this week: WEBi.org - Free and open source software directory. Treedolist - create simple structured to do lists. Can also be used to manage notes and RSS feeds. Keep Up - task and event manager note2email - email yourself quick notes, without having to login to anything...
Wixi
Posted on September 21, 2007Wixi is your own personal media sharing desktop. You can upload pictures, music and video and organise your files into folders and subfolders on your desktop (which is customisable, just like at home!). You can set permissions for your files, making them private, public or just for friends...
Google Shared Stuff
Posted on September 20, 2007Another little present from Google appeared today - Google Shared Stuff or social bookmarking Google style. You get a little bookmarklet which you can use to email or share a web page with others. If you choose to share you have the option of adding a description and tags and the post appears on your [...
TwitterNotes (or how many times can I say the word Twitter)
Posted on September 18, 2007TwitterNotes is a Twitter app (oddly) that lets you create and manage notes you have made to your self. You can make notes via TwitterNotes or directly from Twitter. To make a note in Twitter simply prefix your note with a + and add any tags you want attached within asterisks...
Google Presentation
Posted on September 18, 2007Google Presentation went live today and very nice it is too. One feature sadly lacking is the ability to embed, on the upside there is a fab chat facility (note you must be signed in to Google to take advantage of this). I have had a play and created my very own (and thankfully quite [...
Lifestreaming With Friends
Posted on September 17, 2007My Soup and Intuuch are two sites that have recently caught my eye. Both let you create a lifestream, bringing together your del.icio.us bookmarks, items submitted to digg, Twitter posts etc., and republishing them in one place. Lots of people have started doing this sort of thing via Tumblr, creating a Tumblelog lifestream of all [...
This Weeks Useful Tools
Posted on September 16, 2007Bookmarked this week: Windows Live Translator - translation tool. iLighter - free download that lets you clip the parts of web pages you want to keep. You can also annotate, and include in documents, emails and blogs. Clip2Net - screen capture app with image hosting...
Yahoo! Mash
Posted on September 15, 2007Yahoo! Mash is the new social network from Yahoo! I have only had a quick play with this, but first impressions tell me its not going to put FaceBook out of business just yet. All in all its not too bad, the apps arent really there yet, although there are a handful of quite decent [...
oSkope Visual Search
Posted on September 14, 2007oSkope Visual Search lets you search Flickr, YouTube, Amazon and eBay, your results are displayed as thumbnail images with more information revealed as you hover. This is quite a cool way of searching sites like eBay, for example, where images are not always available in the list view of results...
Greasemonkey Script: Add to del.icio.us in Google Reader
Posted on September 10, 2007I am totally taken with this Greasemonkey script that lets you add bookmarks to your del.icio.us directly from Google Reader. You can add your description, tags and notes as normal. Love it. If you havent got it already you can get the Greasemonkey add-on for Firefox here...
Search Twitter With Terraminds
Posted on September 10, 2007Terraminds micro search is a search engine for Twitter. You can search Twitter updates or users. Twitter recently introduced a Find folks! search, but the ability to search Tweets is kind of novel and no doubt useful. Results from the last 3 weeks are displayed and RSS is also available for your searches...
Legal Technology Awards
Posted on September 10, 2007The Legal Technology Awards will be announced on 31st January 2008, the closing date for nominations is 16th November. The awards recognise and celebrate excellence in the provision and implementation of technology solutions for the benefit of legal practice and categories include most customer-focused supplier of the year and outstanding contribution to the legal market...
Adventures in Ubuntu: Fonts
Posted on September 10, 2007This could be ultra important to you or something you really arent bothered by, but at some stage you might want to install some more fonts for your Ubuntu. Probably something you will want to do is install some Microsoft True Type fonts. This is very simply done and resolved a small problem I had [...
This Weeks Useful Tools
Posted on September 08, 2007Filefrog - image hosting. BigFileBox - send and receive big files securely by creating a filebox. UploadPod - file hosting, options to email, retrieve by ID or URL. Flickriver - another way to explore Flickr. pix.ie - attractive photo hosting, upload your pics, tag and create albums to share...
Snitter
Posted on September 06, 2007Snitter is a desktop app for Twitter. It runs on Adobe AIR so you will need to have that installed. Snitter is really pretty basic, you can view you and your friends Tweets, check out replies and direct messages and access your lists of friends and followers all via the Snitter menu...
Adventures in Ubuntu: Introducing the Terminal
Posted on September 06, 2007The Terminal runs the BASH shell inside a window on your desktop, this looks like a simple text editor and into which you can type your commands. The BASH shell? Ah, you mean the Bourne Again SHell, the type of shell Ubuntu uses. Indeed, but what is a shell?! The shell is the thing that [...
TouchGraph
Posted on September 03, 2007TouchGraph is a kind of visual search, showing connections between websites in a graph format. You can search for phrases or URLs and manipulate results to display in a variety ways. You can also go exploring within the graph to reveal other webby connections...
BL iGoogle Gadget!
Posted on September 03, 2007The British Library have an iGoogle gadget! Nuff said. Found via LI Issues Bookmark to:
Adventures in Ubuntu: the Games!!
Posted on September 01, 2007The most important question to ask when considering Operating Systems is what free games dyou get, huh?. Indeed many copies of Vista have been sold on the strength of Purble Place alone. Sadly, Ubuntu has no Purble equivalent but it has a lot of other cool stuff, so dont sweat it...
This Weeks Useful Tools
Posted on September 01, 2007Bookmarked this week: You Swap and Transfer Big Files - email big files. Qipit - One for the scanner-less, photograph documents (with camera phone or digital camera), upload and Qipit will transform the picture into a clear digital copy. Heres one I made earlier...
iRex Iliad Reviewed (sadly not by me)
Posted on August 31, 2007In this weeks Law Societys Gazette Rupert White reviews the iRex Iliad Reader, the eBook Reader currently being trialled by Sweet and Maxwell. Overall the reaction seems quite positive, features that have won approval include the ability to annotate texts...
Adventures in Ubuntu: OpenOffice.org
Posted on August 30, 2007In this post I shall address and hopefully dispel the fear of being Office-less, by which I mean being without your old friends Word, Excel, et al. If you are using your computer for any kind of work, then you will obviously want to be compatible with your colleagues, who more than likely, will be [...
Life Streams
Posted on August 28, 2007Creating life streams using Tumblr seems to be pretty popular at the minute. Increasingly our web presences are scattered and its not unusual for a person to use many or all of the following to update and share: a blog, Twitter, Google Reader and its Shared Items, Pownce, FaceBook, Jaiku, del...
Adventures in Ubuntu: Downloading Installing Software
Posted on August 28, 2007Installing stuff with Ubuntu is a very different experience. Ubuntu comes with stacks of applications ready to use, but there is likely to be other stuff you want to run (and believe me there is an amazing amount to choose from). I shall attempt a brief explanation, but please bear in mind I have only [...
atoolo
Posted on August 27, 2007atoolo is a portable desktop and a very attractive one at that. The English version has just been launched (it was founded last year in Germany) and I received an invite to try it out. My initial impressions are good. If you want an online desktop then atoolo seems to have all of the right [...
Penguin Celebrations
Posted on August 24, 2007Penguin are re-releasing 36 of their recent bestsellers in the classic and iconic Penguin design: three panes, Gill Sans, the lot. To be published in September and available until Christmas, genres include fiction, essays, science, crime, travel and biography (colour coded of course)...
Adventures in Ubuntu: Email: Evolution and Thunderbird
Posted on August 24, 2007Evolution is the default email program for Ubuntu, meaning it comes set up and ready to go. It is very similar to Outlook in its layout and functionality (although perhaps a little nicer to look at?). Evolution can be set up to access your other email account via POP etc...
This Weeks Useful Tools
Posted on August 23, 2007Bookmarked this week: freshbadge - create and download Web 2.0 style badges. Seenly - photobooth-esque, take wbcam pics using Seenly and add effects. Web Photo Resizer - crop, resize, and other tools to smarten up your pics for free. I love that you dont have to register, meaning you can use this on the fly...
Adventures in Ubuntu: Graphics Packages: GIMP
Posted on August 22, 2007GIMP, contrary to popular belief does not refer to a sad librarian type who constantly posts about Ubuntu. In actual fact it is a much loved photoshop type graphics application. Who knew? For anyone who is used to using Photoshop this isnt going to be any kind of scary...
Adventures in Ubuntu: Graphics Packages: F Spot
Posted on August 21, 2007I was going to try and post about my Ubuntu experience in a kind of logical order, however, I started using one of Ubuntus graphics applications yesterday to edit and upload the screenshots for my last post and I liked it so much I thought why wait. Ubuntu comes bundled with a number of graphics [...
Indie Week
Posted on August 21, 2007No, not a week of listening to the Jesus and Mary Chain (although feel free to do so), rather a week of celebrating Indie Bookshops. The Booksellers Association has pegged the first week in July 2008 as Independent Booksellers Week and are hoping it will encourage those who never normally visit independent bookstores to venture [...
Adventures in Ubuntu: A Bit of Customisation
Posted on August 20, 2007As much as my general first impressions were positive, I must admit I wasnt too impressed on the look of the default Ubuntu. If youre used to something a bit more shiny, like Vista for example, you might be disappointed. All very surface I realise, but aesthetics are increasingly important as expectations are raised by [...
Hidden Treasures
Posted on August 20, 2007The British Library has launched a competition to reveal treasures hidden away in Britains regional public libraries. The winners will digitised and given the Turning the Pages 2.0 treatment. The shortlist and more information can be found here. History revealed: quest for libraries hidden treasures - BBC Bookmark to:
Adventures in Ubuntu: Installation and Connecting to Stuff
Posted on August 19, 2007My project this weekend was to install Ubuntu on my laptop. Ubuntu is a Linux based OS, it comes bundled with a lot of cool stuff (more on this later) and it is of course free. It is also, from what Ive read, a less scary Linux, so perfect for non techy peeps like me...
Watching Us Watching Them
Posted on August 16, 2007The Financial Times reports on a project by the COIs Media Monitoring Unit which plans to monitor blog reactions to Government policy. The project was prompted by the spread of debate in new media. Clarence Mitchell, director of the MMU: Theres a whole new level of debate taking place online which simply didnt exist before [...
8hands
Posted on August 15, 20078hands is a download (Alpha version) that lets you manage some of your social networks via your desktop. So far this supports FaceBook, MySpace, Twitter, Flickr and YouTube. You can add locations to your profile, meaning you can set it up so that it recognises your Twitter, FaceBook etc...
Your Media Age
Posted on August 15, 2007Penelope Trunk: Here's an idea: We should determine our generation not by our age but by how we use media. Trunk has created a quiz to help you determine which generation you really belong to. My test results say I am a member of Generation Y, although my birth date makes me a Gen [...
Out of Office or Simply Screening
Posted on August 14, 2007The BBC reports on a new trend - using the out of office on your email as a way of avoiding overload. Like it! Turning on your out of office helps keep the pressure off because you know people wont be expecting an immediate response to their email. On the other hand if youre running [...
Penguin Books
Posted on August 14, 2007Penguin has launched its new look web site. First impressions: its a wee bit busy. But there are lots of cool things (not all of them new) that will take your mind off that: stacks of RSS feeds, Blog a Classic, podcasts and extracts for selected titles...
Microblogging for the Masses
Posted on August 14, 2007It took me a while to get Twitter, but I did get it in the end. Now I Tweet with some frequency and enjoy following a select few. Some of my fellow librarians regularly post useful links and news items and Ive found on many occasions that this is the quickest way to keep up-to-date...
Stuff I Am Enjoying
Posted on August 12, 2007Amaztype is a site that will search Amazon for you and display your results as book covers arranged to spell out your search term. Nifty. This is very fun to play with, but probably not a serious search engine to use if you are actually trying to find something...
This Weeks Useful Tools
Posted on August 11, 2007Only a few this week: urlao - shorten URLs and choose what you call them. Sending emails through Twitter - tutorial from Lifehack. Fun Piper - a bit like Twitter, but asking the question How was your weekend? and enabling photos and video to be uploaded with your post...
Dos Yous Compute?
Posted on August 10, 2007I have been a reader of Robotic Librarian for a little while now, but his recent post on bookbinding was so interesting I felt the need to share. Go read At the bindery and marvel at Don Quixote bound in fur! Bookmark to:
Minesweeper the Movie
Posted on August 07, 2007At last!! Watch the trailer at College Humor Bookmark to:
Stem Legal
Posted on August 06, 2007Belated congrats and best wishes to Steve Matthews of Vancouver Law Librarian Blog and Slaw fame. Steve has embarked upon a bold new venture - Stem Legal: The vision behind Stem is to offer an outsourced service for law firms to increase online profile and web-driven business opportunities...
This Weeks Useful Tools
Posted on August 05, 2007Bookmarked this week: Twitdir - a Twitter directory, search for fellow Twitterers. Twitter Timer - send Twitter Timer a direct message and it will Tweet you back a reminder. Tweetr beta 1.01 - Twitter on Adobe AIR, not tried this yet but I am going to experiment...
Books etc.
Posted on August 05, 2007More links, this time with a distinctly bookish flavour: Venezuelas four legged mobile libraries from the BBC. Hooray, the Bibliomulas are here! (via Boing Boing) Reclaiming the bookshelves for reason from The Guardian. A bit of Guerrilla Librarianship biologist style - see Biologists Helping Bookstores: reshelving pseudo-scientific nonsense since 2007...
Picture This
Posted on August 05, 2007Cassavetes has some damn fine films and I have been slightly immersed, upon resurfacing I discovered I had a slight Peter Falk accent, a moderately successful strip joint and some mental health issues. On the upside I also discovered there was lots of interesting stuff sitting in my Google Reader...
Enjoy the Silence
Posted on July 30, 2007It might be a bit quiet around here for a few days. Im having a bit of a break from blogging. Going to catch up on some books and films (Naruse, here I come!), and Ill be shooting some b-ball outside of the school, natch. Bookmark to:
The Final Curtain
Posted on July 26, 2007More famous than the Laughing Cow, and certainly not laughing, Shambo the sacred bull will be slaughtered. On Monday the Court of Appeal passed death sentence on Shambo ending a legal battle that began in April of this year. Today, despite the efforts of protesters he was taken...
Bookseller Blogging
Posted on July 23, 2007The Bookseller has announced the launch of a series of Bookseller blogs. Neill Denny, editor-in-chief: Finally we are blogging! As well as twice daily news updates, we want the improved site to reflect the depth of knowledge and diversity of opinions on The Bookseller and in the trade more widely - and blogging is at the [...
This Weeks Useful Tools
Posted on July 22, 2007Bookmarked this week: Velvet Puffin - multi IM client and more. 40+ Firefox add-ons for high speed blogging - collection from Mashable. 4shared - free file sharing and storage, 1 GB free. Quite a nice interface, making managing your files clear and easy...
Your Parole is Dependent on &
Posted on July 21, 2007This is very off topic, but it is probably one of the freakiest things I have seen so I had to post it. 1500 prison inmates reenacting Michael Jacksons Thriller video. Visually pretty crazy, I dont think this was intended as a form of punishment, but then I suppose that is dependent on you views [...
Arial the Helvetica Wannabe
Posted on July 21, 2007Mark Simonson Studio has a very interesting article on the history of Arial, the title of the article : The Scourge of Arial, makes the authors feelings towards the common font pretty clear. Still, very informative and worth a read. Arials ubiquity is not due to its beauty...
FaceBook Twitter
Posted on July 21, 2007Both FaceBook and Twitter are the kinds of sites that are either loved or totally snubbed, I suppose there is a slither of middle ground, especially where Twitter is concerned, but more often than not people tend to pick a side. So if you are completely addicted to your CrackBook, as Library etc...
Web Trend Map
Posted on July 20, 2007Now this is a clever thing. Information Architects Inc. has created a tube map of web trends, revealing how all these familiar names are related. Browsing their site I see that this is not the only web map they have designed. Lots of interesting and visually impressive stuff...
A Book Shaped Tin of Beans*
Posted on July 19, 2007Potter is upon us. The boy wizard is released for his seventh and final adventure on Saturday. And dont we know it! Potter price wars, Asda-gate, internet spoilers and a lot of general hoo-ha has plagued us all week. [Note to self - do not look at the Bookseller next week, Borders, Waterstones etc...
Sweet and Maxwell and E-Book Readers
Posted on July 19, 2007According to this weeks Law Societys Gazette, Sweet and Maxwell have been testing an e-book reader under cover of darkness. The Iliad by iRex (pictured) has been used in the pilot and tested on a group of international commercial arbitrators. Sweet and Maxwell say they areintending to assess the impact of electronic paper display technology [...
I Would Start Using CDs Again If ...
Posted on July 18, 2007& I could have some of these! From StrapYa Found via Plastic Bamboo Bookmark to:
iGoogle Makeover
Posted on July 18, 2007Google Blogoscoped has a couple of posts linking to new Google gadgets which let you customise your iGoogle a little bit more. As much as Im in love with the little guy from the Tea House theme, I am still quite impressed with these. iGoogle custom skins has a number of new designs and allows [...
Periodic Tables and Haiku
Posted on July 17, 2007Periodic Table of the Internet from Wellington Grey .net. Love it, love it, love it. Whilst browsing his site I came across something else thats also pretty interesting - Twitterku - like Haiku but made of tweets, or unintentional poetry pulled from the Twitter public stream...
What You Reading For?
Posted on July 16, 2007Research conducted by the University of Manchester has found that we are spending more time reading (hooray!). Britons spent an average of 3 minutes a day reading in 1975, but 7 minutes in 2000 (7 minutes? Boo!). According to Dr Dale Southerton, a member of the University of Manchester research team, people now have more time [...
Human Rights Online Exhibition
Posted on July 16, 2007The National Archives has launched an online exhibition covering 800 years of human rights in the United Kingdom. From the Magna Carta to the Welfare State, users are presented with background information, timelines and related scanned documents with translations and transcriptions where appropriate...
Now What Was the Title of This Post?
Posted on July 15, 2007Todays Telegraph reports the findings of a study that suggests we are a little bit dumber thanks to technology. 'Professor Ian Robertson, a neuropsychology expert based at Trinity College Dublin who carried out the study, said: People have more to remember these days, and they are relying on technology for their memory...
This Weeks Useful Tools
Posted on July 14, 2007Stuff discovered this week & Site Volume - lets you see how frequently keywords appear on social sites such as Digg, Flickr, Twitter and MySpace. Type in your chosen terms and results are displayed in a bar chart format. Top 10 Twitter Apps - post from Read/Write Web, includes Twitticious which imports your Tweets to your del...
Clerk Speak
Posted on July 14, 2007The Lawyer reports on the compilation of an important new legal text. The Institute of Barristers Clerks (IBC) is in the process of putting together a dictionary of slang phrases or Clerking speak. A small selection of terms below: Base Clerking - the most rudimentary form of clerking, often occurring when there are nine staff ill...
Google Phrases
Posted on July 13, 2007Tech Juicer has a post on the Top 10 Google Phrases, courtesy of the always entertaining Urban Dictionary. I think my favourite is Google Seppuku: You use a Japanese text input tool and enter random Japanese characters into a google image search. Then you count how many pages until you find an image so disturbing that you [...
In Love With A Machine
Posted on July 13, 2007Finally, belatedly, excitedly, I have gone over to the other side. I bought a little MacBook and I am in love. Let me tell you how it happened. We (me and Mr lo-fi) went to an Apple shop. Mr lo-fi knows a thing or two about computers, PCs that is, but the second we entered the [...
Top 10 Banned Books
Posted on July 12, 2007Alternative Reel posts a list of the Top 10 Banned Books of the 20th Century. I would controversially be in favour of Ulysses being banned again (re-banned?), then I would have the ultimate excuse for not having read it, rather than its too difficult and too long and I dont understand these big words...
You Have Been Told!
Posted on July 11, 2007Jakob Nielsen: Write articles, not blog postings. A couple of choice quotes below: Weblogs have their role in business, particularly as project blogs, as exemplified on several award-winning intranets. Blogs are also fine for websites that sell cheap products...
Google Custom Search Engines
Posted on July 11, 2007Library Boy informs us of Googles structured search engine for searching popular Google Custom Search Engines (CSEs). Bit of a mouthful, but quite useful. Bookmark to:
An Interesting Thought
Posted on July 11, 2007Freakonomics Blog ponders the question If public libraries didn't exist, could you start one today? '...if there was no such thing today as the public library and someone like Bill Gates proposed to establish them in cities and towns across the U.S. (much like Andrew Carnegie once did), what would happen? I am guessing there would be [...
Pownce Invites
Posted on July 09, 2007Ive got 6 Pownce invites going begging. If you are interested leave a comment on this post. Bookmark to:
Shake Off That Shame, We Are Cool! NY Times Says its So
Posted on July 08, 2007The New York Times explodes the myth that all librarians are bespectacled women with a love of classic books and a perpetual annoyance with talkative patrons. In the article A Hipper Crowd of Shushers the NY Times meets young librarians, some are even men! They go to bars and gigs, some have dyed hair, one [...
This Week's Useful Tools
Posted on July 07, 2007Bookmarks for this week: Web 2.0 badges - create fancy web 2.0 style badges. favicon.cc - favicon generator. l8r - prepare emails to be sent at a later date BOXSTr - file hosting, 5GB storage with free account. OneDump - image, text and audio hosting...
Kitty Likes Chitty, No?
Posted on July 07, 2007Below is Denver Public Library's promotional video for their Summer Reading program. I suggested a similar marketing strategy for the library where I work, unfortunately they didnt go for it. Bookmark to:
The National Archives Shows its Stripes
Posted on July 06, 2007... in the great ODF v. OOXML debate that is. The National Archives and Microsoft have announced a Memorandum of Understanding ensuring preservation of the nations digital records from the past, present and into the future. BBC News has the story, with video of Microsoft UKs managing director showcasing Virtual PC...
Pownce
Posted on July 02, 2007I've been messing around with Pownce recently and I thought I'd share my first impressions. I'm not sure I really like the name all that much. It's easy to typo and Google obviously shares my views: Pownce is like Twitter in many ways, visually the influence is obvious (see below), although it is a little smarter and [...
This Week's Useful Tools
Posted on July 01, 2007Lots for you this week: jagbox - upload and share big files (maximum 100MB). Jpeg Enhancer - got a bunch of dodgy JPEGs? This free download claims to be able to restore compressed JPEG images smartly. I havent tried this (all my JPEGs are super thanks to my new Fine Pix)...
Mister Wong
Posted on June 29, 2007Mister Wong is a German social bookmarking service that has just come out over here (well, closed beta at the moment). Although Im a bit dubious about the name - I dont know who this Wong fellow is, but judging from the picture he is some kind of collector/archivist, the tagline proclaims he is master [...
My First GreaseMonkey
Posted on June 26, 2007OK, so I'm admitting I'm a complete novice, but I just installed my first GreaseMonkey script and I'm feeling quite pleased with myself. I have now got a cute little monkey face (at the bottom of my browser window that is) and I can do some pretty clever stuff...
This Week's Useful Tools
Posted on June 23, 2007Bookmarked: Lots of stock photos available at fotosearch, PicFindr and xcavator (where you can also search for photos by colour). Snap Zone - send mobile phone pics to Snap Zone and share them on the web. BAYIMG - image hosting from Pirate Bay. 123 Flickr - create Flickr galleries in seconds...
More Secret Feeds
Posted on June 22, 2007I have been informed by the Government News Network (GNN) that they are now offering RSS news feeds. In order to get your hands on them you need to register for a free account. You can then select how you would like to receive your alerts, by email or RSS...
Anglo-American Legal Tradition
Posted on June 21, 2007The Anglo-American Legal Tradition (AALT) website is pretty amazing stuff. It is the product of a collaboration between the University of Houston and the O'Quinn Law Library who have been working to digitise the UK court documents collection of the National Archives...
Book Hacks
Posted on June 20, 2007Lifehacker has a post entitled 'Book hacks for the library crowd', thats us that is! Includes: 'how to bind your own paperback' (and presumably make a right old mess of it). I'm off home to try this one now! Bookmark to:
Who Participates?
Posted on June 18, 2007Business Week has some fancy charts detailing how different age groups are participating in online activities (US). Types of participation are broken down thus: Creators - they publish Critics - you can imagine Collectors - use RSS etc. these guys gather Joiners - as in social networking not woodwork Spectators - we like to watch Inactives - strictly Web 1...
Gratuitous Henry Fonda Pic
Posted on June 18, 2007The BBC web site has an interesting piece on the Smith and Merceica trials and takes a look at the rules and pressures of the jury room. The article includes some of the stranger allegations concerning jurors: A murder conviction in 1994 was overturned after it emerged that four jurors had consulted a ouija board during a [...
This Week's Useful Tools
Posted on June 17, 2007Just a few bookmarked this week: Blogger in draft - 'try out new Blogger features before they are published.' Creative Favicons from Smashing Magazine - a collection of favicons to inspire. Free button set and icons - from haha.nu PicLens - Firefox extension that lets you easily view and browse images in full screen mode, supported sites include: Flickr, [...
Fab Book Ads
Posted on June 16, 2007Paper Cuts is a New York Times blog about books, they recently posted a slideshow of advertisements for books featured in the NY Times during the period 1962-1973. Some really good stuff on there. My favorite is pictured below. Via Your Daily Awesome and Slaw...
A Shiny New Supreme Court
Posted on June 14, 2007Work has begun on the new Supreme Court. Middlesex Guildhall is being renovated as we speak and work is due to complete in October 2009. Lord Falconer: The highest court in the land should be open, accessible and independent. The Middlesex Guildhall will be transformed into a building suitable for such as important institution and [...
RSS Toolbox
Posted on June 12, 2007The extremely clever clogs at Mashable have put together the Ultimate RSS Toolbox and it really is something to behold. Lots and lots of useful stuff. Go see. Bookmark to:
A New Code of Conduct for the Bar
Posted on June 12, 2007The Bar Standards Board has announced plans to rewrite the Bar's Code of Conduct over a three year period, the first stage being a consultation launched today. Mark Stobbs, Director of the BSB, explains: We need to take a proper look at whether the code is fit for purpose and up to date...
A Day Without Google
Posted on June 12, 2007Alt Search Engines is asking everyone to forgo Google for a day. 'A Day Without Google' or to be more precise - a day without Google, Yahoo!, MSN, AOL or Ask - is an attempt to encourage use of some of the alternative search engines. Tomorrow they are inviting you to write about your experiences [...
This Week's Useful Tools
Posted on June 10, 2007Bookmarked this week: Freebies Round-up: Icons, buttons and templates from Smashing Magazine And introducing the Free Fonts Section on Smashing Magazine, worth bookmarking. Web Worker Daily reviews 7 apps for online note-taking Zootit - shortens URLs SythaSite - create very snazzy and professional looking web sites...
National Archives Wiki
Posted on June 06, 2007The National Archives have launched the 'Your Archives' wiki. Ruth Selman, Knowledge and Information Manager at TNA: 'We have long been aware that users have information that adds to our catalogue descriptions but we havent had an easy way to publish that & Your Archives is designed to be clearly identifiable as a community space...
Thank You Joost!
Posted on June 06, 2007For reuniting me with some old friends. Invites still available if you want em, just leave a comment. Bookmark to:
Court Working Dress
Posted on June 05, 2007The response to the public consultationon court working dress was published today, thefull report is availableon the MoJ's web site, but some choice quotes are reproduced below: A wig concentrates attention on the judge as a judge rather than on them as an individual with idiosyncrasies...
Nina Katchadourian: The Sorted Books Project
Posted on June 02, 2007The process is the same in every case: culling through a collection of books, pulling particular titles, and eventually grouping the books together into clusters so that the titles can be read in sequence from top to bottom. Nina Katchadourian: The Sorted Books Project Found via Your Daily Awesome Bookmark to:
What You Really Meant to Say
Posted on June 02, 2007Lose your friends and alienate your family from the comfort of your own desk. someecards when you care enought to hit send. Favourites include: Son, Ive never been less ashamed of you.; I love you slightly more than I love dad.; and Lets pretend to get together soon...
hotcaptcha
Posted on June 02, 2007Picture CAPTCHAs are fairly topical, hotcaptcha is a picture CAPTCHA with a twisted twist. To solve hotcaptcha you have to select the 3 hotties from a selection of men or women. This is pretty wicked and it admits as much with the tagline using mashups to reach new heights (or new lows?) in security...
This Week's Useful Tools
Posted on June 02, 2007Bookmarked this week: Picasa2Flickr - plug-in that lets you upload photos from Picasa to Flickr. Keepm - manage your contacts. Easy HTML to any script converter - is what it says it is, also includes templates. Web 2.0 buttons, 3D style! from FranticIndustries - some nice free 3D buttons for RSS, Digg, del...
The Online Court
Posted on May 30, 2007The Online Court is a brand new siteproviding stacks of useful information related to 'charges, scenarios, outcomes and sentences' in the Magistrates Court.Information is arranged by charge and presented ina question and answer format: which court will hear the case?; what is the guideline sentence?; what are the aggravating factors?; what are the mitigating factors?; [...
This Week's Useful Tools
Posted on May 26, 2007Bookmarked this week: MailBigFile (brilliant name, me mail big file!) and zUploadallowyou toshare large files easily. FeedBlitz - RSS to email service. I have not tried this one, but apparently there are no ads! Google Translate - translation tool from Google...
Twittering Again
Posted on May 25, 2007I have just started Twittering again after spotting some of my fellow UK law librarians on there and recieving some friend invites. It does make a lot more sense when theres a bit of a community atmosphere. My inane ramblings can be found at http://twitter...
BIALL Blog
Posted on May 24, 2007The British and Irish Association of Law Librarians is blogging! Contributors include: Angela Donaldson, Fiona Durrant, John Franssen and James Mullan of LI Issues. The BIALL Blog Bookmark to:
Me and My Font
Posted on May 24, 2007The BBC has asked its readers to declare their love for their favourite font and explain their reasoning. What is noticeable is the number of comments related to theuse offonts in passing off a dodgy essay: Students who need to write long essays, but have neither the time nor the material to fill their page quotas, [...
Reasons to be Cheerful # 4: BibMe
Posted on May 20, 2007BibMe is billed as 'the quickest way to create a bibliography on the web'. And I have to admit it is pretty quick. You can search for a book, magazine or newspaper article, web site or film. Once found you can choose from MLA, APA or Chicago formatting...
This Week's Useful Tools
Posted on May 20, 2007Bookmarked this week and heavy on the photo oriented apps: Profilefly - gather all your online profiles, contacts and bookmarks in one place. Fidg't - a social networking address book, 'unify buddy lists' and 'visualise social networking activity', interesting...
Blurring the Boundaries
Posted on May 17, 2007Reading the Law Society's Gazette today & MoJ, LSC, Lord Phillips of Worth Matravers in a tracksuit & but wait, what's this? Ruth Barber (a.k.a. Ruthie, a.k.a. Geeklawyer's better half) reviewing Open Office? A few pages on- Nick Holmes and Nearly Legal quoted in an article about Second Life? Not to mention numerous references to [...
Joost
Posted on May 16, 2007Thanks to the Jenny Levine I now have Joost. I was quite interested in having a go on this, especially since I don't have real telly (broken areial/social experiment) and am not all that anxious to get it fixed. I already have 4oD and friends with DVD recorders so whats the hurry? Especially with things [...
Early Adopter?
Posted on May 16, 2007I'd always kind ofidentified with the early adopter camp, or at least the premature dabblers, but reading the Guardian's Are you connected? article, it turns out I'm far from being either. I'm not on MySpace (mainly because I'm not in a band, although I've always fancied getting a Moog)...
The Power of TV
Posted on May 16, 2007BBC2 and the Bar Council are collaborating on a six part documentary about barristers. It is intended to explode some myths, correct distorted views and 'show the public the training and committment needed to become a barrister and, ultimately, to provide an insight into junior to senior barristers' work...
This Week's Useful Tools
Posted on May 12, 2007Bookmarked this week: Picupine - free hosting for images without having to register (one less password to remember!). pixilive - online picture and video storage, no registration needed. Diino - online storage, 2GB free. Users need to register and download the Diino interface...
Reading Stacks
Posted on May 12, 2007Photographingstacks of yournext reads is quite a popular past time on Flickrwith a good few groups devoted to the art:Reading Stackand Book Stacksbeinga couple of examples.I love this, whenever I go to someones house I have to check out the book shelves,(its a compulsive thing), I am always very interested in what other people are [...
Happy Birthday Helvetica
Posted on May 09, 2007Helvetica is celebrating its 50th birthday.* Designed in 1957 by Max Miedinger in Switzerland, Helvetica is a very popular typeface that attractsfans and critics in perhaps equal measure. Frank Wildenberg, managing director of Linotype, describes Helvetica: Its durable...
Bye Bye DCA, Hello MoJ
Posted on May 08, 2007The Ministry of Justice opens for business today and a spangly new web site is launched with it. Must stop spots are the What we dopage, which lays out an alphabetical list of areas of responsibility, and the Who we are page, which lists the core components of the new MoJ...
Must Have Toypography!
Posted on May 08, 2007Toypography - make English words and Japanese characters all with the same pieces! (Found via Your Daily Awesome) Bookmark to:
Email is Dead, Long Live Email (or your mid-week useful tools)
Posted on May 08, 2007Lots of email goodness via Tips and Advice Internet: MailTester- find out if an email address is still active/current. Fresh Address, Find mE-Mail and Contact Clean are all services that let you registers your new email address, others can then search by name or previous email to find out your new contact details...
Statute Law Database
Posted on May 06, 2007The Statute Law Database has been labelled Highly Commended by CILIPs Reference Awards. Library and Information Update reports: It is very clear & that it will make a huge difference to the ease with which librarians and public can search for legislation...
This Week's Useful Tools
Posted on May 05, 2007Bookmarks for the last two weeks: Upload and share files with in.solit.usand twango. Glickr - create animated GIFs using your flickr photos. Sabros.us - organise and share your bookmarks. QuestionForm - online survey creator. deskload - organise your bookmarks like desktop icons, still experimenting with this, but its quite an interesting way to manage a reasonable number of bookmarks...
Email Britain
Posted on May 04, 2007Microsoft and the British Library have teamed up again, this time to create the first ever email archive. John Tuck, Head of British Collections at the BL: 'Email Britain will allow us to archive a vast snapshot of our present day email communications and will be of great value for future researchers...
The Google Brand
Posted on May 04, 2007The Media Guardian recently featured a brief piece addressing the success of the Google brand.* Naresh Ramchandani in The unique genius that is Google** argues that Googles success is partly attributable to the unique, suggestive and informal name that has become to search what Sellotape became to sticky tape andwonders whether it would have reached [...
World Press Freedom Day, 3rd May 2007
Posted on May 03, 2007http://www.worldpressfreedomday.org/ Bookmark to:
My Website is Much Better Than Yours, Damn Right it's Better Than Yours
Posted on May 03, 2007The best and worst UK law firm web sites were recently announced, or to be more accurate the best and worst web sites of the 50 fastest growing law firms, as decided bytheannual survey conducted by web design consultancy, Intendance. Judged on content; usability; design; and marketing, the top five are as follows: 1...
National Book Tokens Go Plastic
Posted on May 03, 2007According to the Bookseller, National Book Tokens are to go plastic by Christmas (all things going to plan). The newcredit card styletokens will be available for fixed amounts and as top up cards. Now everything is plastic, its part of our retail society, says Willie Anderson, chair of National Book Tokens...
Reed Elsevier and the Arms Trade
Posted on April 24, 2007The Campaign Against the Arms Trade reports: 'It is a little known fact that the giant information company Reed Elsevier - famous for its work in education, science and health publications, as well as massive web-based services such as the LexisNexis Total Research System used by academics and legal professionals - also plays a significant role [...
Second Life Law Firm
Posted on April 24, 2007Field Fisher Waterhouse have become the first UK law firm to open a branch in Second Life. David Naylor, an IP partner with the firm: 'By setting up an office in Second Life, which is being used to transact hundreds of millions of dollars of business a year, we are showing clients that we understand [...
JSB Guidance on Veils
Posted on April 24, 2007The Judicial Studies Board has issued guidance on the wearing of the full veil, or niqab, in court. It has been published as an update to the Equal Treatment Bench Book and is available as a PDF via the JSB web site. Bookmark to:
Blackwell Online - the Librarian's Friend
Posted on April 23, 2007Blackwell Online now offers RSS feed, woo hoo! Feed for new law books can be found here, but you can also narrow down to your chosen topic. Can otherlegal booksellers and publishersplease take note! Bookmark to:
New Blogs on the Block
Posted on April 22, 2007Some brand new and some not so new law and library related blogs whichI'm finding interesting: Enquiring minds want to know - fab name (wish Id thought of it). Two law librarians writing on libraries, the web and other interesting miscellanea. Free Movement - commentary on immigration and asylum law from a UK-based immigration lawyer...
This Week's Useful Tools
Posted on April 22, 2007Bookmarked this week, been quite busy so just a few & Contactify - create a contacts form for your site without revealing your email. tabber - online social address book. iStalkr - scarily named app that lets you create a lifestream, a way to track all your feeds from services such as del...
50 Books You Must Read (Apparently)
Posted on April 21, 2007The Book Marketing Society (BMS) and the Guardian have compiled a list of 50 books that are considered to have defined their decades. According to the BMS books were selected not as the greatest books of the century, but rather those that define each era...
Some Legal Webby Stuff
Posted on April 17, 2007TheInternational Court of Justice launched its new web site yesterday. As well as looking quite fancy it has expanded its coverage considerably: From now on, the Court's entire jurisprudence since 1946 will be available online, as will that of its predecessor, the Permanent Court of International Justice...
Feedtastic
Posted on April 16, 2007Lore Librarian has done some serious homework and compiled a list of Government feeds. What would be nice is feed from the Government News Network (GNN) instead of the onslaught of emails that plague me daily (all useful stuff but in an inconvenient and interruptingformat)...
This Week's Useful Tools
Posted on April 14, 2007Bookmarked this week: Recuva - (pronounced recover) file recovery freeware, currently in beta. wikidPad - wiki-like notepad. Clutzr - lets you share your web-browsing with your friends, at the moment you need an invitation code. Yugma - web conferencing tools, suggestions for use includetutoring and training sessions...
Doing Bad Things To Books
Posted on April 14, 2007Cara Barer is a photographer doing interesting things with books: 'With the discarded books that I have acquired through different means, I am attempting to blur the line between objects, sculpture, and photography.' As a Librarian it make mea little tearful, although I must admit I think some of them are very clever...
Happy Anniversary, Yuri G!
Posted on April 12, 2007Off topic, but what a lovely Google today!It is the anniversary of Yuri Gagarin's 'space flight'. A proud moment.And anot so proud moment: today it is reported thatRussia is home to 2.3 million registered alcoholics and every third death is alcohol related...
Bar Council Blogging!
Posted on April 11, 2007The Bar Council has relaunched its web site, which has undergone a complete redesign. It is much easier to find stuff now and the site has amuch more contemporary feel. The Bar Standards Boardnow has aseperate web site, and best til last there is a Bar Council blog! Read the first post by Geoffrey Vos [...
Colour Coding for Judges
Posted on April 10, 2007Wigs are to be abolished in Civil, Family and Commercial courts. Judges will now be able to opt for a simple black robe with either a coloured facing or arm stripe to denote rank: Court of Appeal = Gold High Court = Red Circuit = Purple District = Green or Blue The new zip up robe, which can be worn [...
Entry to the Bar Interim Report
Posted on April 05, 2007The interim report of Lord Neuberger's working party concerned with widening access to the Bar is published today. The final report is expected at the end of 2007. Entry to the Bar Working Party Interim Report- April 2007 Bookmark to:
National Policing Improvement Agency
Posted on April 02, 2007It's all about the agencies today. Another new one for you, the National Policing Improvement Agency (NPIA): 'A non-departmental public body, the NPIA combines the resources of several, smallerunits with some Home Office functions to form one, streamlined organisation that will focus its attention on operational matters affecting police officers, special constables and community support [...
Border and Immigration Agency Goes Live
Posted on April 02, 2007It's all change today! The responsibilities of theImmigration and Nationality Directoratearenow assumed byThe Border and Immigration Agency. Lin Homer, Chief Executive, explains: Our vision for the new Agency is that it will be more responsive to the communities it serves...
UK-IPO
Posted on April 02, 2007The UK Patent Office changes its nameto the UK Intellectual Property Office today, asrecommended by the Gower Report. Ron Marchant, Chief Executive of the Patent Office: I believe that the new name UK Intellectual Property Office (UK-IPO) truly reflects the wide range of intellectual property services offered and dispels confusion and uncertainty for our customers...
This Week's Useful Tools
Posted on April 01, 2007Not too many this week: Stripe Generator 2.0 - create stripes, simple. HiTask - web based task management application. Desktop on demand - online version of your personal computer, access your desktop and content securely from just about anywhere. Tubes - share photos, music, videos and documents with people you know...
DirectgovKids
Posted on March 31, 2007Sentence children for committingcrimes such asnot doing their homework and pushing in the dinner queue. DirectgovKids includes lots of weird games, informational videos and quizzes.I was not impressed (but then I am not the target audience) nonetheless I stayed to play all the games just becuase they were a bit freaky, check out the UN [...
I Guess That Proves It Then
Posted on March 31, 2007GodTube is & well you can imagine.Check out the Athiestin which the design of the banana is shown toprove the existence of God, as well as being a little bit rude. Not sure if this is a spoof, but it is worth checking out, as are the comments. Bookmark to:
Typography on the Web
Posted on March 31, 2007.net magazine has a super article about typograpghy on the web, highlighting the differences between print and online type and some of the problems encountered. Stephen Coles of Typographica explains: Type on theweb is different from print because typeface choice is limited, people read (or scan) web text much quicker than printed text, type on [...
LexisNexis Webinar
Posted on March 29, 2007LexisNexis will host a live webinar to coincide with the launch of the 2007 edition of the Green Book, The Orange Rag reports. The webinar will be held on Tuesday 17th April at 12.30 p.m. and will include a presentation from The Rt Hon The Lord Neuberger and live lectures by Green Book editors...
FOI & OMG!
Posted on March 27, 2007Request under the Freedom of Information Act 2000: Q. The estimated costs so far incurred of the inquests into the deaths of Diana, P of W and Dodi Fayed. A. The total costs of the inquests incurred to 13 July 2006 was 98,862. DCA: Diana, Princess of Wales and Dodi Fayed inquest costs Bookmark to:
This Week's Useful Tools
Posted on March 25, 2007Sqillions this week, including lots of collaborative work spaces: Kayuda - is a 'web based visual wiki, a mindmapping tool and a non-linear writing tool that allows you to track ideas and the relationship between them'. Thinking Rock - a Getting Things done (GTD) downloadable software application 'for collecting and processing your thoughts following the GTD methodology'...
Web2.0-ified
Posted on March 24, 2007Familiar logos given the Web 2.0 treatment courtesy of a logo contest at Yah Hooray forum (found via haha.nu). My absolute favourite is the Quaker Oats one, I would buy Quaker Oats if this was their logo. Bookmark to:
Alternative News Round-Up
Posted on March 23, 2007A few of the stranger news storiesI've readthis week: Taunting farmers for fun not funny - 'A new form of rural 'happy slapping' in which young drivers taunt farmers and film their reaction on mobile phones has been condemned by a judge as 'reprehensible''...
Toddler Tennis and the Embryonic Brain (or 2 Cool Vidz)
Posted on March 23, 2007I want a Wii and a clevertoddler, then I could make cool videos like this one (found via Wikinomics), which features one very smart2 year oldplaying Wii tennis.Once you're done with that then watch this news feature on 'the growing phenomenon of internet' from 1993 (found over at Law Librarian blog)...
In the Dock? Then Pretty Up
Posted on March 22, 2007Juries are more likely to find less attractive defendents guilty than they are theprettier ones, according to research carried out by psychologists at Bath Spa University. 96 Student volunteers were given a fictitious account of an old lady being mugged, they were then presented with a picture of one of four defendents who had been [...
Reasons to be Cheerful # 3: Pimp your Google Homepage
Posted on March 21, 2007Add themes to your personalised Google homepage. The recently added 'select theme' feature currently offers seven themes to choose from: classic (or plain old Google), beach, city scape, sweet dreams (all pretty plain), seasonal scape (a snowman at the moment), tea house (cute characters), and bus stop (people standing at a bus stop, yes really)...
Parliament's Secret Feeds
Posted on March 21, 2007Ok, so I made that sound more exciting than it really is. But if you regularly attend RSS Anon meetings then this is set to get your pulse racing. Parliament.uknow offers RSS feeds for a number of their pages, but they are strangely hidden. If you sign up for the email alerts that are offered [...
If They Rapped About DRM ...
Posted on March 21, 2007Convince the kids of the importance of copyright lawusing the medium of bad rap. Don't copy that floppy(foundat Zeropaid via Digg) is an uncomfortably long public service announcement come educational video from 1992. One guy raps his way through the many reasons why you shouldn't copy floppies, while the geekiest of geeks explain the thrill [...
New on Globalex
Posted on March 21, 2007Globalex has added a new category of articles and research guides entitled Tools for building foreign, comparative and international collections. At the moment this is fledgling and includes only a couple of guides, but it should be interesting to monitor...
E-Government Rankings
Posted on March 19, 2007Waseda University, Tokyo, has produced its third annual World E-Government Ranking, with the UK coming in at number 9.Thirty-twocountries were evaluated by a multidisciplinary team of researchers: 'A set of comprehensive indicators and parameters were defined and used by the Institute to measure E-Government development in those countries...
Can I Have a P Please Bob?
Posted on March 18, 2007Something fun for the weekend: We Dig TV hastaken classic gameshows/quizzesand made them interactive, so you can play Blockbusters with Bob Holness! I used to watch this after school, it's a lot easier now I must say. Other games available are Catchphrase, Family Fortunes and Countdown...
This Week's Useful Tools
Posted on March 18, 2007A small selection this week: wiki.is create wikis. SNiPiTRONsocial bookmarking for your research. Jimdo and Noovo allow you to create web pages. Show yourselfgather together your web identities and create a widget for your blogs and MySpaces. Guerrilla Mail disposable email address, lasts for 15 minutes...
Reasons to be Cheerful # 2: Leading Case Law by Subject
Posted on March 17, 2007BAILII, working in collaboration with members of the legal academic community, has identified and compiled lists of leading case law by subject. If you have a suggestion for addition then you can email openlaw@bailii.org Bookmark to:
A Twitter Reader
Posted on March 17, 2007So many blog posts and I have to admit I still don't really get it. The divide between card carrying Twitterers and those that see it as a time waster is vast. In the valley between the two live the confused. A selection of Twitter related posts (all mixed up, because that's how I feel [...
Snack-o-tainment
Posted on March 17, 2007'Music, television, games, movies, fashion: We now devour our pop culture the same way we enjoy candy and chips [or sweets and crisps to you and me] - in conveniently packaged bite-size nuggets made to be munched easily with increased frequency and maximum speed'...
You, Google and the Server
Posted on March 16, 2007Yesterday it was revealed that Google willanonymise personal data related to userssearchesafter 18-24 months. A statment from Google explains: 'By anonymising our server logs after 18 to 24 months, we think were striking the right balance between two goals: continuing to improve Google's services for you, while providing more transparency and certainty about our retention [...
Courtesy of the FOI Act
Posted on March 15, 2007I missed this before (it's over a week old now, which is ancient in blogosphere terms), but I thought I'd post as it is rather good. The Times has a list of 59 things that would have stayed secret were it not for the Freedom of Information Act. A few of stranger ones: The Thatcher Government [...
The Blooker Prize
Posted on March 14, 2007Blogs being made into books is not a new idea, apparently they are known as blooks. Examples of successful blooks: Seth Godin's Small is the new big, Anonymous Lawyer, and any number of Belle de Jour types. However, what is new is the Blooker Prize, organised by Lulu, the print on demand publisher...
Books as Decoration
Posted on March 13, 2007I spotted an odd enquiryin 'your questions answered' inthe Guardian magazine on Saturday. Someone had written in to ask where they could get hold of wallpaper 'with a pattern that looks like books on shelves'. Apparently this is 'very hip'. A3.3m drop costs 150 here, or 30 per metre here...
This Week's Useful Tools
Posted on March 11, 2007Selected bookmarks this week: Toggl - manage and track your projects,statistics and reports available. Collanos - workplace software for 'sharing documents, having online discussions, and managing tasks, all in a single consolidated space'. Zappr- 'web photo management service', like Flickr, default account allows for 25MB uploadsper month and 3 sets...
CanLII Beta
Posted on March 09, 2007CanLII Beta* is now available for testing and is really rather special. The interface is much cleaner and farless cluttered than the old CanLII. The homepage is now dominated by asimple search form, with databases listed on the left hand side. Much better than the old homepage which was really just a series of lists [...
Reasons to be Cheerful # 1: Cite this item
Posted on March 09, 2007Havinga hard time remembering how to cite a text? Look the title up on WorldCatand click on the 'Cite this item' link and you will get a list of ready-made references, including APA, Chicago, Harvard, MLA and Turabian. A very handy cheat, found via beSpacific Bookmark to:
Intute Subject Booklets
Posted on March 09, 2007Intute, the online gateway, has added to its collection of support materials. There is now a subject booklet for law, detailing the most usefulfree online legalresources. The booklet is available to download as a PDF and a full list of support materials is available here...
Animal Captcha
Posted on March 09, 2007Asirra, a new kind of Captcha, was showcased at Microsoft's recent Techfest. Captcha(Completely Automated Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart) is normally text based, asking users to identify a series of letters and numbers. Asirra, onthe other hand,uses picture identification to test for humaness...
Kevan vs. Charon
Posted on March 06, 2007This week Charon interviews Tim Kevan of the Barrister Blog. Who's next? Available here or here. Bookmark to:
Must Have/Need it Now/Cant Live Without
Posted on March 06, 2007A Pac-Man belt, of course! (found via Webware.com) Bookmark to:
Bytes and Bytes and Bytes
Posted on March 06, 2007According to a recent survey published by IDC, 161 exabytes or 161 billion gigabytes of digital content were generated last year. Approximately one quarter of this is original content and much of itis beingproduced by individuals. IDC predict that in 3 years time 988 exabytes will be produced, 70% of which will be created by [...
Melvil Maimed
Posted on March 05, 2007Britannica blog has an interesting post on library based murder mystery novels. Murder in the Library, Part 1: A-H includes the fantastic 'Dewey Decimated', what a title! I haven't read this, but I must. 'After accusations of a forged Gutenberg biblesurface at Washington's Werner-Bok Library, retired librarian Edward George helps piece together a tale of [...
Happy Birthday Blog!
Posted on March 05, 2007Wow, it's been a year since I started this blog. I've learned a lot along the way and myreading list has expanded to ridiculous proportions. It has helped me keep up to date and been fun to write(and I hope not too boring to read). Happy Birthday to me! Bookmark to:
Sorry, What Was That?
Posted on March 04, 2007Attention deficit seems to be the topic of the day. CNET reports on Seriosity's new email management system, where users are allocated currency (Serios)which they can spend on sending emails. Run out of Serios and you can't send that message. The idea being that people will have to consider the importance of their message before [...
This Week's Useful Tools
Posted on March 03, 2007Some bits and pieces this week: FeedFlash - create a feed reader widget for your MySpace or blog. Ultra simple, with limited customisation. yoktu.com scrape feed for web pages that don't have any. Zikleis aneasy way to create an unlimited number of simple web pages...
LIS-BLOGGERS
Posted on March 01, 2007JISCmail hasa new email list for UKlibrarians and information professionals who are involved in blogging for current awareness or user education. List owner, Duncan Chappell, says: 'More and more librarians are employing blogging and Web 2.0 technologies to develop new services and ways of reaching their readers - this forum provides an opportunity to exchange [...
Britannica Blog
Posted on February 28, 2007The Encyclopedia Britannica is now blogging! Britannica Blog is billed as 'a place for smart, lively conversations about a broad range of topics' including law and libraries. Found via Real Lawyers Have Blogs and Search Engine Journal. Bookmark to:
Patten v. Charon
Posted on February 26, 2007Justin Patten of Human Law recently collaborated with Charon QC for an interview/podcast. Among the items up for discussion was the future of UK law blogging. Well worth a listen, I hopethe interviewbecomes a regularfeature of theCharon podcast. Listen to the podcast over at Human Law or at Charon QC...
Does Snap Make You Snap?
Posted on February 26, 2007Snap Previewisone awfully dividing piece of code. When it first appeared everybody was pretty excited, but there is a growing and vocal backlash against those little pop ups.And this iscrux of the matter, for many people that's exactly what they are, unwanted and intrusive pop ups...
International Court of Justice
Posted on February 26, 2007Today the International Criminal Court (ICJ) ruled that Serbia was not directly responsible for genocide during the Bosnian war, but that it had failed to prevent the 1995 massacre at Srebrenica and therefore had violated international law. 'In the ruling, Judge Rosalyn Higgins, said: 'The court finds that the act of genocide at Srebrenica cannot [...
This Week's Useful Tools
Posted on February 23, 2007Bookmarked this week: rCache - 'a personal research repository', lets you create your own archive of online material. MindMeister - create mindmaps with the very easy to use MindMeister. Currently in private beta, but you may get an invite by signing up to their newsletter...
Digital Maoism
Posted on February 23, 2007Jaron Lanier*, who popularised the virtual reality concept in the1980s, has attacked Web 2.0 for its mob mentality. 'We have these designs on the internet where are whole bunch of people work together anonymously - a mob, in my opinion - in order to do something ...
Trust Assurance and Safety
Posted on February 22, 2007Yesterday the Government published a white paper concerning the regulation of healthcare professionals and includingproposalsunder whichdoctors would lose the privilege of self regulation. Trust Assurance and Safety (cm.7013)proposes, among other things, the setting up of an independent tribunal to deal with disciplinary discussions...
Exposing Unrighteousness
Posted on February 22, 2007A man who posed as an expert forensic psychologist and got away with it for 27 years has been found guilty of a range of deception charges. Gene Morrison gave evidence as an expert witness inapproximately 700 cases,but the only qualifications he had were those he purchased from affordabledegrees...
Perceptions
Posted on February 21, 2007Ian Snowley, CILIPs president-elect, reviews Underneath the Lintel in today's Guardian G2 supplement. The play, currently on at the Duchess Theatre, London, tells the story of a librarian on a quest tofind outwho anonymouslyreturned a book 113 years overdue...
Flaming aka The Online Disinhibition Effect
Posted on February 20, 2007Today's New York Times features an article on flaming or to use its fancy name, 'the online disinhibition effect'. Psychologist John Suler identified several psychological factors that can lead to flaming: the anonymity of a web pseudonym; invisibility to others; the time lag between sending a message and recieving feedback; an exaggerated sense of self [...
Publishers RSS Feed or Lack Thereof
Posted on February 19, 2007The most recent installment of Connie Crosby's Tao of Law Librarianship on LLRX, 'Using RSS feed for new titles - calling all publishers', struck a chord. The overwhelming trend among legal publishers in the UK is to alert people to new titles and editions via fliers, and lots of them...
Libraries in Space
Posted on February 19, 2007Billionaire Charles Simonyi is set to become the fifth ever space tourist and while thatmust beexcitement enough, Simonyi would ideally also like to see some libraries while he's up there. 'Everywhere where humans are I thinkthere should be a library' ...
New Blogs on the Block
Posted on February 18, 2007There are quite a few new and newish blogs that have been brought to my attention recently (mainly by Pupilblog).Links and vital statistics below: BabyBarista - is a fictional account of pupillage. Blogging since October 2006. Especially like the Library Lifepost...
Weblog Matrix
Posted on February 18, 2007Weblog Matrix allows you to compare weblog tools and discover which is the right one for you. Services can be individually selected and compared or users can search from a range of features to find the weblog that exactly matches their needs. This is currently still a work in progress and volunteers are invited to [...
This Week's Useful Tools
Posted on February 17, 2007Bookmarks this week include: myFeedz - create a 'social newspaper' courtesy of Adobe Labs. myFeedz, whichhas been released as a preview version,allows users to select tags which will then be used to filter RSS feeds. Wikipatternsis a 'collection of patterns and antipatterns, and a guide to major stages of wiki adoption that explores patterns that apply at [...
Trial Bundles
Posted on February 16, 2007District Judge Paul Mildred has written an amusingpiece on court bundles in this week's Solicitors Journal. He emphasises the importance of a tidy bundle, particularly with trials being timetabled on the basis that the judge has pre-read the case, and recounts a few horror stories...
Anna Nicole
Posted on February 15, 2007I'm not going to post about legal battles or the ever increasing list ofopportunists declaring 'Tis I,the child's father'. I wanted to mention something slightly less dramatic. I spotted a story about a not terribly successful biography of Anna Nicole: 'Great big beautiful doll', which is now flying off the shelves...
For Fun
Posted on February 15, 2007McDonald's videogame. Farm the cows, kill the cows, sell the cows in buns. Bookmark to:
Gimme Gimme Gimme A Foyalty Card!
Posted on February 14, 2007Foyles has announced its first ever loyalty card. I'm a sucker for being tracked big brother styleand I love to save a few pennies, so naturally I am very excited about this. Every 15 equals 1 stamp, 10 stamps equals 15. I don't even know if that is a good deal or not I just [...
Ipswich
Posted on February 14, 2007The publisher Sphere has acquired the rights to a book on the Ipswich murders, it already has a title 'Hunting Evil: inside the Ipswich serial murders' and will be written by Paul Harrison, a sky news correspondent(!) and David Wilson 'the number one expert on serial killing'(!!)...
Double Effect
Posted on February 14, 2007Monday saw the launch of a groundbreaking 'right to die' case at the high court. The Guardian reports: 'Kelly Taylor, who has been given less than a year to live, says the refusal to increase her morphine dose to sedate her into unconsciousness condemns her to live in pain and breaches the ban on 'inhuman [...
Valentines
Posted on February 14, 2007Be the ultimate cheapo boyfriend/girlfriend and send your dearest a personalised virtual candy heart. Aw, shucks! Bookmark to:
Criminal Cases Review Commission
Posted on February 13, 2007The Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) is ten years old. Since 1997 it has completed 8,500 cases and referred 343. Graham Zellick, chairman of the CCRC, being interviewed in the Times Law Supplement comments on the changes the CCRC has seen during its 10 year existence, its achievments and the challenges it now faces...
Sock Puppets Beware!
Posted on February 12, 2007Sock puppets (or businesses posting glowing reviews about themselves)could face criminal prosecution under a new European directive (2005/29/EC)to be implemented December 31st. Part of a 'European-wide overhaul of consumer protection laws' the directive will ban them from 'falsely representing oneself as a consumer'...
An Independent Guernsey
Posted on February 10, 2007The Telegraph reports on leading lawyer Roger Perrot's call for Guernsey to sever its ties with the United Kingdom. Originally reported by the Guernsey Press, Perrot, who is a senior partner of Ozannes, argues the need for a written constitution to protect against 'excessive influence' from Westminster and the EU...
This Weeks Useful Tools
Posted on February 10, 2007Squillions of them this week: Yahoo! Pipes is a feed aggreagator and manipulator, letting you remix feeds to make them more relevant. You do all this by employing pipes, of course. A better explanation is available via Read/WriteWeb. MediaMaxis causing a bit of a stir with its offer of 25 GB of free online storage! Nakido offers file [...
Bookseller Redesign
Posted on February 09, 2007The Bookseller web site has undergone a major redesign. The new site is a lot more user friendly and includes an 'innovative tagging facility' (apparently). The search function does seem to be much better, although I think it was pretty dire before. RSS feed is available and subscriber content is clearly marked which is rather [...
Media Bank
Posted on February 09, 2007I have been informedby the BBC's Media Bank Team,that I maypublish some of their content on my web site if I so choose. This is because a while back I did a post on a really dodgy show called The Verdict. So checking their incomings they have foundme and thought I might be interested in [...
Reports
Posted on February 09, 2007The Advisory Panel on Public Sector Information (APPSI) has recently published its third report. Set up in 2003 and now reporting to the DCA, the panel has the difficult job of advising 'ministers and officials on the opportunities for the information industry that flow from the greater use of public sector information'...
Law Commision Forum
Posted on February 09, 2007The Law Commission has added a forum to its web site, intended to provide the public with an opportunity to discuss areas of the law in need of reform. The press releaseexplains: 'Any proposal that is put forward will be considered. In making decisions the Commission will look at the extent to which the law [...
CILIP in London?
Posted on February 09, 2007Last November the London branch of CILIP surveyed its 4000 members, 302 or 7.5% responded. The results have now been analysed and reported and they can be read in full on the CILIP in London web site. One interesting revelation is that many of the respondents were unsure of what CILIP in London was...
British Library e-petition
Posted on February 09, 2007Plans to cut up to 7% of the British Librarys budget, potentially forcing it to charge researchers and reduce its opening hours, has rightly caused outrage. A petition to 'keep the British Library FREE OF CHARGEto users!' is now online via the 10 Downing Street web site...
A Million Penguins
Posted on February 07, 2007Alas, not literally a million penguins which would be pretty spectacular, rather a 'collaborative, wiki-based writing exercise'. Penguin, working in collaboration with De Montfort University, are seeking to address the following questions: 'Can a collective create a believable fictional voice? How does a plot find any sort of coherent trajectory when different people have a [...
New Look Times
Posted on February 06, 2007The new look funky Times, which I think may have been launched yesterday, lets you post articles to del.icio.us - neat. Not so neat - lime green. They are being quite considerate/savvy about the redesign by providing a latest updates page with news on bugs, fixes and feedback...
Web 2.0 & The Machine is Use/ing Us
Posted on February 04, 2007By Michael Wesch (Cultural Anthropology, Kansas State University)
This Week's Useful Tools
Posted on February 04, 2007Added to my del.icio.us bookmarks this week: Share2me - share your web favourites with your friends using this browser plug-in, currently only available for Firefox. Good Reads - keep track of what you've read, get book recommendations, similar to LibraryThing et al...
Cornell Legal Research Engine
Posted on February 04, 2007Cornell University Law Library has built a Google custom search engine for legal research guides. Don't yawn! This is really very good. It claims to provide 'easy access to authoritative legal research guides on every subject' andsources include LLRX, Globalex, NYU, LOC and Washlaw, among many others...
Infomania
Posted on January 28, 2007No, it's not Peter Andres new single, it's a serious problem (apparently). 'Living as we do in a sea of e-mail, Blackberries, cel phones, Twitter, instant messages, forums, RSS feeds, newsgroups, conference calls, WebEx's and video conferences, web workers may be more familiar with infomania than just about anyone'...
Flash Bunnies
Posted on January 28, 2007Flash Bunnies from Icklebug Must have Flash Bunnies! Get them at Icklebug
Status of Legal Resources on the Web
Posted on January 26, 2007Richard J. Matthews is law librarian in the United States and the current Visiting Fellow in law librarianshipat the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies (IALS). Matthews has undertaken research into the official or unofficial status of legal resources on the web...
Legal Hub
Posted on January 26, 2007The latest offering from Sweet and Maxwellis a free online resource called the Legal Hub, providing access to the Bar Directory and the Expert Witness Directory (in full!), as well as articles and conference programs. Users are urged to sign up in order to enjoy the full benefits of the Hub, but registration is free...
This Week's Useful Tools
Posted on January 25, 2007Some of the things I've added to my del.icio.us bookmarks this week: bubbl.us is a mindmapping tool where users can create bubbles and link them together. It is ultra simple to use and pretty nice to look at too. If you like startpages then there are a couple of new ones you might want to check out: [...
Google Librarian Central is Listening
Posted on January 25, 2007In a recent post Google Librarian Central announced that they have enabled comments: 'One thing that stood out to many of you was the absence of comments. Historically weve not featured them on any of the Google blogs simply because wewant to be responsive to comments and questions, and typically all of our blog efforts [...
Terminology
Posted on January 23, 2007In this week's Times Law Supplement Richard Susskind calls for you to pick your side on the technology issue, will you embrace the new web 2.0 technologies or reject them? Are you a nerd or a luddite? But what do you make of Susskind's terminology? Are you nerds? I thought we were all geeks...
Where's Wally?
Posted on January 23, 2007The media group Entertainment Rights (ER) have just purchased Where's Wally? for 2.5m and they have big plans for him. A Wally search engine could be in the pipeline, with ER's chief executive, Mike Heap, speculating: 'In the future I think you will be saying I'm going to 'Wally' it'...
5 Things
Posted on January 23, 2007I have been tagged by Pupilblog withthe memetag: 'five things you don't know about me'.I supposeits a bit like a chain letter, but with less threats attached. So here goes ... 1. I have 32 handbags in my wardrobe (but don't tell my boyfriend) 2.One of my most prized possessions is a signed (and personalised!) photograph of [...
Exhibit A
Posted on January 22, 2007A Court of Appeal judge has been arrested by transport police for flashing a female passenger on a train. Charon QC got the scoop as he reads the News of the World and this is like gold to the red tops. Interesting fact: 'a judge cannot be suspended, but there is a convention that they [...
Law Search Beta Again
Posted on January 22, 2007Nearly Legal's Law Search beta is now available for you to host on your blogs and web pages. Code is available here and it will look like this ...
LLRX Articles
Posted on January 19, 2007Some really good articles recently published on LLRX: Do you give good Google? 'LaJean Humphries identifies the wide range of social networking sites with which researchers should be knowledgeable, and addresses legal, privacy and ethical concerns associated with their use...
This Week's Useful Tools
Posted on January 19, 2007Bookmarked this week: Badged.netallows you to add social network badges to your blog or web site, the pretty kind you see beneath posts. (Via Phil Bradley) Hey!Watchis an online video converter, you never know when you might need one of these. RSS to Web Page - davidrothman...
Google Librarian Central Blog
Posted on January 17, 2007Google's Librarian Newsletter has just announced the Librarian Central Blog. Promised content includes: 'the latest Google news, updates and tips relevant to the librarian community'. Readers are asked to consider the blog to be a beta test, and urged toprovide feedback...
Product Placement
Posted on January 17, 2007'If all you knew about computers was what you saw in movies and television, you'd be convinced that Apple Macintosh held about 97 percent computer market share instead of less than 3 percent. Apple has achieved this visibility because of its aggressive product placement program with the entertainment industry'Robert Scobleand Shel Israel in Naked Conversations...
Unazukin
Posted on January 16, 2007Reading a short article on obsessive behaviour and the internet, I came across an interesting web site. Alan Lubin is letting Unazukin make his decisions for him and blogging it. Unazukin is a cool Japanese doll, she is quite small and she reacts to your voice by nodding or shaking her head...
Firefox Extensions
Posted on January 16, 2007The latest issue of .net magazine includes an article on the top 50 Firefox extensions. Lots to choose from, with a few silly ones thrown in for good measure (e.g. UK Threat Level, you can imagine). All can be found at: http://del.icio.us/netmag/firefox159
Happy Birthday Justice
Posted on January 16, 2007Justice, the independent legal human rights organisation, will be celebrating its 50th anniversary this year. Founded in 1957, it was set up to promote the rule of law and to assist the fair administration of justice. To celebrate they are planning 'an ambitious year-long programme of events and publications under the umbrella title of 'Defending [...
Wikiseek
Posted on January 16, 2007Wikiseek has just been launched and is here to make your life that little bit easier.Wikiseek is a search engine which indexes Wikipedia entries and sites linked to from Wikipedia. It provides better results, a more comfortable results display and tag clouds...
Monkey Bites Tutorials
Posted on January 15, 2007This week the Wired blog Monkey Bites will be themeing their'tutorial o' the day', givingRSS tips, tricks and hacks all week.Read the first of this week's posts here.
Read Blogs On Your DS/Wii/PSP
Posted on January 15, 2007How exciting! If you are blogging using WordPress (like me) then there is a plugin available that will make your blog console friendly. David Harper has developed the WordPress Ultimate Gamer's Pack, which 'automatically renders an optimised version of your posts and pages when visitors come to your blog on a Nintendo Wii, Nintendo DS-Lite, [...
Chambers Web Sites
Posted on January 15, 2007Thanks to Delia Venables and her fab Internet Newsletter for Lawyers for highlighting some useful chambers web sites, packed with case summaries, articles and news. A selection of these were voted for by barristers, the top three are: One Crown Office Row's Human Rights Update- includes over 800 reports and commentaries, practical guidanceand articles...
Found Blog
Posted on January 14, 2007I subscribe to a lot of feed and monitor a range of different blogs. I find many of them invaluable and I've started to wonder how I got by without this constant stream of useful and interesting posts. My aggreagtor is pretty full but I'm not feeling the effects of information overload just yet...
Lawyers Seek Help For Stress and Drink
Posted on January 13, 2007The Law Society Gazette reports a 20% increase in 2006 of the number of lawyers who sought help regarding stress, depression and other problems. LawCare, a charity providing support and advice, received 424 calls in 2006, 67% of which related to stress or depression...
Typographys In Fashion
Posted on January 12, 2007Typography is cool, it's official. Veer.com are sellingt-shirtsetc. with a typographical twist. I particularly like the baseline one (above).Wear them and feel superior (in a geeky way) to people who don't know what an Emdash is. Also spotted - nudeytypographical ladies (below) asfeatured on Epica Europespremier creative awardsweb site...
This Week's Useful Tools
Posted on January 12, 2007Added to my del.icio.us bookmarks recently: Edit Grid- Impressive online spreadsheets, with charts and permalinks! Even if you're settled with Google docstry this! I like it alot. Swivel preview- Create graphs online, this could be a little more user friendly but it does admit that'as a preview it's rough around the edges'...
Harry Potter and the Staggering Discounts
Posted on January 12, 2007The Bookseller has surveyed independent bookshops and discovered that 25% would boycott themost recent offering fromJ.K. Rowling. Stocking Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows would not make indies anyprofit in the face of online, chain and supermarket discounts...
More Feed From Vancouver
Posted on January 11, 2007Steve Matthews aka Vancouver Law Librarian has added a Linkblog to his site. Intended 'for tracking online 'stuff' I want to hold on to, but not necessarily comment on' you will find a mixture of posts and articles of interest.VLLB Linkblog has feed too...
Transformational Government Report
Posted on January 10, 2007Today saw the publication of 'Transformational Government: enabled by technology', the annual report on transformational strategy. The report revealed a web site rationalisation policy that will see at least 551 government web sites closed down in favour of 'supersites' such as Directgov...
International Criminal Court
Posted on January 09, 2007TheInternational CriminalCourt (ICC) is under pressure to cancel its first ever war crimestrialaccordingto an article in today's Guardian. The ICCissued an indictment against Joseph Kony, leader of the Ugandan Lord's Resistance Army, and four of his commanders in 2005...
Robotic Librarians
Posted on January 09, 2007Just read the latest Wired magazine and there is a fab piece in the news section on Chicago State University's new library, which boasts robotic librarian action! The library has an 'Automated Storage and Retrieval System called ROVER (Retrieval Online Via Electronic Robot)'...
Must Read Blogs 2007
Posted on January 09, 2007LISNews is compiling a top ten of 'must read' library blogs for 2007 and would like to hear from you. 'What blogs do you read every day? What blogs help you learn? What blogs keep you informed? What blogs make you laugh? Who's the best writer out there?' To send your list fill out the [...
Stock Photography
Posted on January 09, 2007I have come across a fair few sites offering databases of free stock photography, always useful for displays etc. I thought I'd post about these (mainly for my own benefit so I have all the links in one place): Openstockphotography - searchable database of free stock photos, with option to open image with SnipShot so you [...
Colour Schemes
Posted on January 09, 2007There are quite afew tools available that let you mess around with colours and create your own schemes. At the moment I am using a bog standard blog template, but I have created a web site from scratch in the past and some of these would have been v. handy, if only for working outthe [...
Sex and Power
Posted on January 07, 2007The Equal Opportunities Commission has published its 4th annual index of women's representation in Britain. According to the report women make up just 9.8% of the 'senior judiciary, high court judges and above'. It notes that 'at this pace it will take another 40 years to achieve an equal number of senior women in the [...
A Tiny Icon Factory
Posted on January 07, 2007Make tiny icons at the tiny icon factory, more difficult than it seems (as illustrated).
This Week's Useful Tools
Posted on January 06, 2007Bits and pieces bookmarked: 15 tips to choose a good text type from Typies: a blog of typography and graphic design davidrothman.net has created an online image editor comparison spreadsheet, so many of these around now that this is v. useful Top 100+ search engines posted on John Battelle's Searchblog Give away of the day - everyday they give [...
Free Britannica
Posted on January 06, 2007The Encyclopaedia Britannica, a paid for service, is offering free access to its articles for bloggers, webmasters and their readers (sort of). Upon viewing an article abstract you are presented with a button prompting you to 'share full article with your readers'...
Blogging Courses and Conferences
Posted on January 06, 2007There is now a veritable feast of courses and seminars available on blogging related matters.Most of the main library training providers seem to have included a Web 2.0 element to their schedules and this is very encouraging to see. These can be essential introductions to a topic many people are unfamiliar with or confused by [...
Developments in Legal Information
Posted on January 06, 2007Nick Holmes of Binary Law has a piece on 'Developments in Legal Information' which will be featured in January's issue of the Internet Newsletter for Lawyers. It serves as a retrospective of developments in free legal resources in 2006and includes some predictions for 2007...
Current Awareness Database
Posted on January 05, 2007I recently spotted the Current Awareness for Legal Information Managers Database (CALIM), I'm not sure exactly how long this has been around, but its extremely useful. Based on the Current Awareness column featured in the BIALL journal Legal Information Management, the database contains 'bibliographic records for articles and books relevant to legal information professionals' from [...
Web 2.0 Book
Posted on January 05, 2007Phil Bradley has just finished a book on Web 2.0, 'Using Web 2.0 in your library' is due to be published by Facet around April this year. It will include chapters on RSS; Podcasts; and Search Builders and will be accompanied by a web site that readers can contribute to.
Human Law Blogging Book
Posted on January 02, 2007Areyou fragile after theChristmas festivities or ready for aninteresting and exciting new year project? Justin Patten of Human Law is writing a book on blogging (Bloggingand other social media: technology and law) and has decided to 'ask the audience'...
Statute Law Database
Posted on December 20, 2006The Statute Law Database is now live! A rather low key launch, but its finally here! http://www.statutelaw.gov.uk
Islamic Family Law
Posted on December 19, 2006Last week's Law Society's Gazette included an interesting article on Islamic family law. 'Culture clash' by Grania Langdon-Down focusseshow important it is forfamily practitioners to have anunderstanding of the principles of Sharia law. Deputy chairman of the Associationof Muslim Lawyers (AML), barrister Hajj Ahmed Thomson states: 'I have Muslim clients who say they need to [...
Westlaw New Platform
Posted on December 15, 2006I recently got a chance to see the new Westlaw platform in action and it is really rather special. The main search screen has been completely decluttered and is much simpler to understand. It has been stripped down to a simple free text search box and users can select/deselect from the list of contents displayed [...
The Verdict
Posted on December 15, 2006BBC2's new year schedule will include a programme called The Verdict, in which a jury of celebrities will determine the outcome of a fictional high profile rape trial involving two celebrity footballers. Scheduled for February 2007 and to beshown over four nights, The Verdict includes a jury made up of some fairly controversial celebrities, including [...
Internet Tutorial for Lawyers
Posted on December 10, 2006Intute has relaunched an updated Internet Tutorial for Lawyers. Designed to help improve internet research skills, the tutorial includes a tour of the best of the legal web,providing users with a'shopping basket'allowing themto collect or bookmark sites of interest as they complete the tutorial...
This Weeks Useful Tools
Posted on December 10, 2006I've been very lazy this week, so just a few things ... Adobe Reader 8 - new interface, new tools, you have to have it PXN8 - online photo editor Spokeo - import all your blogs, social networking lists, photos etc.to 'simplify your online social life', cute hedgehog logo too!
Rape and Asylum Claims
Posted on December 08, 2006'Misjudging Rape', areport commissioned by the Black Women's Rape Action Project, has drawn attention to the behaviour of immigration judges serving on the Asylum and Immigration Tribunal (AIT). The report looked at 65 rulings, finding rape claims to be belived in just 35% of cases, with requests for adjournments, to enable independent specialist reports to [...
NAO Value For Money Study
Posted on December 08, 2006TheNational Audit Office (NAO) has launched a value for money study into UKgovernment services online.'Government on the Web: Delivering Services Online', whichis being carried out by the LSE Public Policy Group (PPG)and the Oxford Internet Institute (OII), has its own 'research site'where users can communicate their views andexperiences of using central government web sitesas well [...
Weblog Awards 2006
Posted on December 06, 2006The finalists in the 2006 Weblog Awards have been announced. The best law blog category includes: How Appealing; Becker-Posner; Blawg IT; Balkanization; Concurring Opinions; Consumer Law and Policy Blog; The Grotian Moment: Saddam Hussein Trial Blog; IMPACT; The Volokh Conspiracy; and JURIST - Paper Chase...
Adopt a Pet
Posted on December 01, 2006adopt your own virtual pet! Adopt a virtual pet for your web site / myspace etc. At Bunnyhero labs there are a selection of cute animals to choose from. Click on the Penguin til he falls into the icy sea, ha, ha! Found via Mashable!
Objects of Desire
Posted on November 30, 2006Must have / can't do without this Chewbacca USB pen. How have I managed up until now? Pre-order yours now at Mimoco.com
The Good Barrister Guide
Posted on November 30, 2006The Bar Standards Board (BSB), the new(ish) independent body charged with the responsibility of maintaining discipline and standards in the profession, launched its three year strategic plan this week. The formation of a consumer panel, intended to provide independent consumer-focussed information, form part of its plans to protect consumers and promote excellence...
The Legal Profession - Technology
Posted on November 30, 2006This week'sLaw Society Gazette features an article highlighting some of thekey issues raised in a recent round table on the modernisation of the legal profession. With eleven attendees, representatives of large and small firms, the forum was organised by the Gazette with the intention of enabling an 'exchange of ideas'...
A New Homicide Act?
Posted on November 30, 2006The Law Commission have published proposals for an overhaul of homicide law, recommending a three tiered system, with the introduction of a new category: second degree murder. A Home Officeconsultation process on how each category should be punishedwill begin next year Law Com No...
Random Library Related Pics
Posted on November 29, 2006by John Uibel, found via Sugar Frosted Goodness
Embrace Your Geek
Posted on November 28, 2006Wired magazine's Bodyhack blog is calling for nominations for the sexiest geeks of 2006 'brainy men and women who filled your Google search boxes and fuelled your dreams'. I think I'll be really obvious and go with Kevin Rose and Xeni Jardin. But then I'm not a true geek, I only moonlight...
Researchers and Discovery Services
Posted on November 28, 2006According to a recent study conducted by the Research Information Network, academics are bypassing their friendly librarians in favour of online research. Researchers and Discovey Services: behaviour, perceptions and needs surveyed 395 researchers at universities across the UK...
Mind (Boggling) Maps
Posted on November 28, 2006I have mentioned before my inability to understand mind maps. Ithink its an age thing come mental block but I can not fathom any graphical representation of knowledge. I have learned to accept this, so no pity please. However, for those of you that are able to understand them and are intrigued by this way [...
To Wii or not to Wii ?
Posted on November 26, 2006For: Release date coincides quite nicely with Christmas break Archive of ultra cool games for free It's a new thing! I am swayed by gadgets Ooh, pretty wii, will look nice in my front room Against I don't need one Looking stupid using the wii mote Risks being co-opted by b/f Novelty may wear off sooner than I think In conclusion ...
LibWorm
Posted on November 25, 2006LibWorm beta lets you search over 1000 librarian blog RSS feeds. Register to create a MyLibWorm account where you can save articles and your favourite feeds. Found via davidrothman.net
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