Internet Legal Research Dittakavi Rao

Associate Director

Duquesne University School of Law Center for Legal Information

Web 2.0 The Web 2.0 mainly includes works of

collaboration and social networking. Also the RSS feeds, Wikis, Blogs, Microblogging,

Podcasts, Tags, Folksonomies, Social Networks and Bookmarking etc. are part of Web 2.0.

Web 1.0 may include e-mail/webmail/gmail; Intranets and Extranets; Listservs; Search engines etc.

It is good to be a member of one or two job related listservs that helps when you need help. You can post a question or read others information exchange.

Blawgs Legal blogs are known as blawgs are web

sites belonging to an individual consisting of diaries, journals, opinions, reviews, clippings etc. posted typically daily for others to read. Blawgs contain very useful information.

www.blogger.com is a free blog hosting site.

There are several legal blawgs and blog indexes.

www.justia.com

Administrative Law G.P.O.

http://www.gpoaccess.gpo.gov Firstgov

http://www.firstgov.gov or usa.gov Regulations

http://www.regulations.gov The CRE

http://www.thecre.com

Wiki Wiki is a collaborative website comprised

of the collective work of many authors. Similar to blog in structure and logic, a wiki allows anyone to edit, delete, or modify content that has been placed on the website using a browser interface, including the work of previous authors.

Several free hosting sites for wikis: www.pbwiki.com and www.wikihost.org.

RSS Feeds RSS (Really Simple Syndication or Rich

Site Summary) feeds allows to see when sites from all over the Internet have added new content. Feeds are written in XML language. You need to have a reader to read the feeds. There are several free readers including Bloglines (www.bloglines.com)

Legal information, court cases, and statutes are available as RSS feeds.

Case Law Official Websites

www.supremecourtus.gov etc. U.S. Courts

http://www.uscourts.gov Pacer; Courtlink etc.

Statutory Law Thomas

http://thomas.loc.gov (no www) House

http://www.house.gov Gallerywatch

http://www.gallerywatch.com Statenet

http://www.statenet.com

www.law.cornell.edu

Podcasts Podcasting is a way to receive audio files

over the Internet. Many content providers offer podcast feeds at no cost. You can listen podcasts on your computer or other mobile devices.

Several legal talk radio stations and courts make cases and other legal information available as podcasts.

Justia provides a directory of legal podcasts (http://blawgsfm.justia.com)

Periodical Articles Infotrieve

http://www.infotrieve.com Publist

http://www.publist.com Ingenta

http://www.ingenta.com FindArticles

http://www.findarticles.com

Social/Legal Networks Sharing views, photos, etc. among people

through free websites (registration required) offered by online services.

Lawfirms and lawyers are becoming members of Popular social networking sites such as Facebook, Myspace.

There are several social networks exclusively for legal community are in the offing (beta mode.)

Social/Legal Networks - Websites

Facebook – www.facebook.com Myspace –

www.myspace.com/legallyblondepa Linkedin – www.linkedin.com Lawlink – www.lawlink.com Legallyminded – www.legallyminded.com Martindale –

www.martindale.com/connected Onramp – www.legalonramp.com

What is Web 2 & WEB 3 Networks & Collaboration Blogs Wiki RSS Feeds Podcast (recruitment & research

tool)

Acronyms What is EDD? (electronic data

discovery) What is ESI? (electronically stored

info), ESF (electronically stored files) What is TIFF & PDF?

Domain Names Cybersquatters Typosquatters ICANN Litigation (arbitration policies and

authorized arbitration firms) WIPO (25,000 disputes handled in 7

years)

Social Networking Facebook, Myspace Linkedin Martindale/connected Lawlink

Microblogging Microblogging referes to the ability to add

materials such as text, photos, etc. to one’s blog when away from a computer.

The postings are bare-bones (140 words), on-the-go versions of online journals in which people share their lives and dreams.

Twitter – www.twitter.com, Jaiku – www.jaiku.com are few examples.

Technology Terms, Acronyms

What is EDD? (Electronic Data Discovery) What is ECF/CM (Electronic Case Filing/Case Management) What is PDF (Portable Document Format) What is ESF (Electronically Stored Files) What is PACER (Public Access to Court Electronic Records)

Several websites available to find explanation to technology terms.

Websites Acronymfinder – www.acronymfinder.com Webopedia – www.webopedia.com Howstuffworks – www.howstuffworks.com Whatis – www.whatis.com ABA – www.abanet.org ALM – www.law.com Litilaw – http://litilaw.lexbe.com