Social Media Law Student

When to use Google Wave

Rex Gradeless — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 20:53:57 PST

When to use Google \/\/ave

There are tons of ways to use Google Wave–here are just a few examples to get you thinking and an overview video that shows Google Wave in action.

Organizing events

Keep a single copy of ideas, suggested itinerary, menu and RSVPs, rather than using many different tools. Use gadgets to add weather, maps and more to the event.

Sample event planning wave (Need Google Wave)

Meeting notes

Prepare a meeting agenda together, share the burden of taking notes and record decisions so you all leave on the same page (we call it being on the same wave). Team members can follow the minutes in real time, or review the history using Playback. The conversation can continue in the wave long after the meeting is over.

Sample meeting notes (Need Google Wave)

Group reports and writing projects

Collaboratively work in real time to draft content, discuss and solicit feedback all in one place rather than sending email attachments and creating multiple copies that get out of sync.

Sample project (Need Google Wave)

Brainstorming

Bring lots of people into a wave to brainstorm – live concurrent editing makes the quantity of ideas grow quickly! It is easy to add rich content like videos, images, URLs or even links to other waves. Discussion ensues. Etiquettes form. Then work together to distill down to the good ideas.

Sample brainstorm (Need Google Wave)

Photo sharing

Drag and drop photos from your desktop into a wave. Share with others. Use the slideshow viewer. Everyone on the wave can add their photos, too. It is easy to make a group photo album in Google Wave.

Google Wave in action

Product managers, Stephanie and Greg explain many of the features of Google Wave [8 minutes].

Twitter: A Worthless Tool for Conversations

Rex Gradeless — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 16:16:39 PST

Chris Pirillo argued last Sunday that Twitter is essentially a worthless tool for having conversations. After listening to the video below, it was clear Chris was right.

Twitter is a pretty worthless tool to have a conversation.

I define a conversation as back-and-forth dialogue between two or more parties. If you have ever been on Twitter, you’ll notice that the tweets are not threaded and therefore trying to figure out the context of a conversation is nearly impossible.

For me, Twitter leads to a little back-and-forth and Direct Messages (DMs). DMs lead to email address exchanges and then more in-depth conversations. A great networking tool – no question!

The closest thing to conversations on my stream are typically 2-4 back-and-forths at most (rare).

You, or your business, can respond to consumer questions (this is a good thing) and you should be monitoring what people say about your brand on Twitter. However, actual conversations (meaning more than a few back-and-forths) are nearly impossible using Twitter.

Do you agree? Lets have the conversation below!

5000 Readers

Rex Gradeless — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 15:00:57 PST

We’re proud to announce Social Media Law Student has over 5,000 active subscribers and readers to our blog according to Feedburner. In just under a year, SMLS blog has morphed form a lone law student’s blog on social media, to a collaborative project of 19 individuals (some behind the scenes) to provide the legal community with a resource for new technologies.

Here’s a list of our current published contributors:

Rex Gradeless

Josh Camson

Jessica Dobias

Laura Bergus

Huma Rashid

Tyson Mutrux

Yana Siganur

Madeleine Flannagan

Loi-Natalie Laing

Sharon Lovell

Katie Luper

Jonathan Ingram

While this may seem like pocket change compared to the social media juggernauts, we have always operated with humble beginnings, building a strong foundation for future growth. The user base has continued to grow substantially throughout the past year and traffic has been consistently increasing as well. We are very much appreciative of all the great feedback and support we’ve received over the past year, and will continue to develop a service that caters well to the legal community as a whole. Onward and upward…

Click the following to subscribe to the magic that is SMLS blog:

Subscribe to our RSS feed here.

Subscribe to our Email list here.

Subscribe to our Podcast here.

Subscribe to our Social Media Outlets here:

To get an idea on how what 5,000 readers (tweeters?) looks like:

Barbri iPhone App: Is there any utility?

Katie Luper — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 09:41:42 PST

Barbri is a known frenemy (see definition here) to law students around the nation. You hate the price and the grueling schedule, but many of us would not make it to the licensed attorney stage without it. On September 17th of this year, Barbri released an iPhone app, now on version 1.1.

I downloaded the app a while back but I’ve recently started playing around with it. In my Wills and Trusts class, I was getting a little confused about per stirpes and various intestacy statutes and I decided to check out the Wills & Trusts lectures on the barbri app. I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised. It was a great overview of the subject and it was easy to access. Basically, there is a bank of audio lectures for both first year students and upper level students that are nice generic overviews.

After that surprise, I decided to play around a little with the “barbri challenge” the law school game on the app. Now, for those of us fortunate enough to be in law school, the concept of a law school game based on the multi-state bar exam is truly laughable. However, it’s a nice little game to kill time (think waiting in line at lunch) and learn a few things.

One interesting thing for the 1Ls out there is that barbri is offering a promotion where you can save some money on a iPhone or iPod Touch purchase! As seen on barbri’s site:

Special Offer: BARBRI is running a special promotion to make it easier for you to purchase your own device. If you are a law student who purchases a new iPhone® or iPod touch® between August 15, 2009 and November 20, 2009 from an authorized Apple retailer and downloads the BARBRI app, you can receive a discount on your BARBRI Bar Review or BARBRI Mobile™ course tuition. For more information, please see the iPhone® / iPod touch® Discount Claim Form.

If you are a Repeater or Alumni student who purchases a new iPhone® or iPod touch® between August 15, 2009 and November 20, 2009 from an authorized Apple retailer and downloads the BARBRI app, you can receive a discount on your BARBRI Mobile™ course tuition. For more information, please see the iPhone® / iPod touch® Discount Claim Form for Alumni & Repeaters.

You’re probably going to take barbri (or some other bar prep service) anyway and so this is a neat way to get a cool gadget and save a little dough.

Pros: it’s free, learn a little while killing time, decent summary lectures

Cons: Since it’s free, how can there be a con? I wish it had more information but again, it’s free.

Google Offers Free Airport Wi-Fi for the Holidays

Josh Camson — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 05:54:39 PST

This holiday season, Google is sponsoring free wi-fi at 47 airports and on every Virgin America flight. The free wi-fi will likely be supported by soft ads, like encouraging you to try Chrome, or use Google for your default search engine. So, if you don’t mind that, you can probably save yourself a few dollars while your plane is delayed. You could also win some prizes:

Starting Monday, November 16, 2009, you’ll be able to win prizes by submitting a photo of yourself using the WiFi in any participating airport or on a Virgin America flight. In addition to being able to win great stuff, we’ll feature winning photos on this website.

Google is also asking people to contribute to charities. Google will match contributions made via their free wi-fi up to $250,000.

The list of participating airports is below.

* Austin (AUS)
* Baltimore (BWI)
* Billings (BIL)
* Boston (BOS)
* Bozeman (BZN)
* Buffalo (BUF)
* Burbank (BUR)
* Central Wisconsin (CWA)
* Charlotte (CLT)
* Des Moines (DSM)
* El Paso (ELP)
* Fort Lauderdale (FLL)
* Fort Myers/SW (RSW)
* Greensboro (GSO)
* Houston (HOU)
* Houston Bush (IAH)
* Indianapolis (IND)
* Jacksonville (JIA)
* Kalamazoo (AZO)
* Las Vegas (LAS)
* Louisville (SDF)
* Madison (MSN)
* Memphis (MEM)
* Miami (MIA)
* Milwaukee (MKE)
* Monterey (MRY)
* Nashville (BNA)
* Newport News (PHF)
* Norfolk (ORF)
* Oklahoma City (OKC)
* Omaha (OMA)
* Orlando (MCO)
* Panama City (PFN)
* Pittsburgh (PIT)
* Portland (PWM)
* Sacramento (SMF)
* San Antonio (SAT)
* San Diego (SAN)
* San Jose (SJC)
* Seattle (SEA)
* South Bend (SBN)
* Spokane (GEG)
* St. Louis (STL)
* State College (SCE)
* Toledo (TOL)
* Traverse City (TVC)
* West Palm Beach (PBI)

Via Lifehacker

Georgia Judge Bans Twitter From Courtroom

Rex Gradeless — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 21:13:50 PST

As the following legal blogs have reported, a federal judge in Georgia has ruled that a reporter may not use Twitter to send updates about a court proceeding.

ABA Journal

The Volokh Conspiracy

The Legal Blog Watch

CBS News

CNet

Slow news day everyone?

In the court order, the judge rules that Tweeting from inside a courtroom violates the Federal Rules of Procedure. Citing the good old reliable Webster’s Third New International Dictionary from 1993 (long before Twitter was invented) the court ruled:

“Rule 53 states in relevant part: “[T]he court must not permit the taking of photographs in the courtroom during judicial proceedings or the broadcasting of judicial proceedings from the courtroom.” Fed. R. Crim. P. 53 (emphasis added). The Court finds that the term “broadcasting” in Rule 53 includes sending electronic messages from a courtroom that contemporaneously describe the trial proceedings and are instantaneously available for public viewing. Although “broadcasting” is typically associated with the dissemination of information via television or radio, its plain meaning is broader than that. The definition of “broadcast” includes “casting or scattering in all directions” and “the act of making widely known.” Webster’s Third New International Dictionary (Unabridged) 280 (1993). It cannot be reasonably disputed that “twittering,” as previously described, would result in casting to the general public and thus making widely known the trial proceedings. Moreover, it appears clear that the drafters of Rule 53 intended to extend the Rule’s reach beyond the transmission of trial proceedings via television and radio.”

Apparently the reporter making the request will be barred form sending tweets to others outside the courtroom. This federal judge’s ruling is in direct contradiction to rulings made by a judge in Colorado who allowed a Kansas reporter to tweet.

There was also a Kansas federal judge who allowed a court reporter to use Twitter inside the courtroom. Now we have two different rulings on whether the Federal Rules preclude Twitter inside the courtroom. Interestingly, state courts often model their rules from federal courts and are probably just as confused as to whether there’s a place for reporters using Twitter inside the courtroom as the federal judges.

Whenever this finally gets decided, we can hopefully all agree on one thing -Tweeting on the witness stand would be an egregious and deliberate attempt to subvert our justice system.

To read the entire the court order click here.

Twitter List Now in Seesmic Web

Rex Gradeless — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 21:57:17 PST

This is turning out to be a very busy week! A few days ago we shared with you our release of Twitter Lists for Seesmic Desktop. Today, we’re happy to share with you the integration of Twitter Lists in Seesmic Web. This is open to everyone and you can check it out here: http://seesmic.com/app/.

Twitter Lists integration includes:

Viewing your Twitter Lists in the sidebar
Your Twitter Lists will be located in the side bar under Lists. View both your own Twitter Lists and Lists that you follow.

Auto-refresh of Twitter Lists columns

We’ve configured Twitter Lists to auto refresh with minimal impact to you API limits.

Unlimited columns
As with searches, you can create unlimited columns with Seesmic Web for your Twitter Lists. Also, when you log in with your own Seesmic Web Account, those columns will be automatically saved. Make sure to create your own Seesmic Web account by clicking on the “Sign Up” link after signing in with your Twitter Account.

Add User to Twitter Lists
You can add a user to your twitter list by hovering over the username. You’ll see the selection “Add to List” to add the username to your Twitter List. You can also add users to your Twitter Lists in the Profile view when clicking on the user name

Trending Topics
We’re also happy to provide you with Trending Topics. You can now keep up to date with what the Twitterverse is talking about.

Geolocation Support

Although not yet available in Twitter, Seesmic Web offers Geolocation support via a location marker on a tweet, you can hover over it to bring up a Google Map overlay showing where the tweet was sent from.

Additional details for accessing and viewing lists are located in our help site. You may also leave any comments for feedback there:We’re very excited at our integration, and will look forward to your feedback in building additional features.

If you like what we’re doing, vote for us here:

Mashable Open Web Awards – Vote for Seesmic as Best Twitter App

Rate Seesmic Web and Seesmic Desktop on oneforty.com

Don’t forget to become a fan at http://www.facebook.com/seesmic
And follow us at http://twitter.com/seesmicYou can also communicate with us through our various channels:
For help and technical support: http://help.seesmic.com/
For feedback: http://feedback.seesmic.com/
Join our community: http://teamseesmic.com/
And of course, you can contact @askseesmic on Twitter

Digital Life after Death: Social Media and Your Digital Content Post Mortem

Jessica Dobias — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 23:00:09 PST

How Lawyers View Death

Death is always a morbid topic, but we’re mortal beings and it’s better to discuss this topic sooner rather than later. As law students we are quite detached from death because we are trained to think of death in legal terms infused with logic and exempt from pathos.

In law school, students learn a logical sequence of events for determining the next required action. A law student who has just learned of the passing of a person might view his or her passing as a logic problem filled with questions and variables. The student will ask whether the decedent left a will, whether the will was handwritten, was the will written in proper language, what does the will say, are there any ambiguities in the terms of the will, and what sort of conveyances are being given, etc. etc. etc. All of theses questions to answer a simple question: What happens to the decedent’s property and possessions after death?

Death 2.0

A few online companies have taken the idea of a will to a new level. Legacy Locker allows the user to convey his or her digital assets to a beneficiary. A user can convey his or her PayPal, Facebook, iTunes, Gmail, and Flickr account information to a beneficiary for safekeeping after death.

If the user is worried about unresolved issues before death, he or she can write a letter to a friend or foe that will be sent upon his or her death with My Wonderful Life. Users can plan out their funerals, indicate to loved ones what they’d like to be placed on their headstone, how they’d like to be buried, which songs to play at their funeral, etc. Also, share photo albums and content with other users.

Here’s what the website offers:

* Make funeral plans

* Write your obituary

* Design your own headstone

* Write letters to loved ones

* List where your stuff is

* List your favorite music, memories, values, photos, and writings

* Take care of your pets

Social networking sites have also equipped their sites for dealing with death. Facebook created a new feature allowing deceased users’ pages to be memorialized. In other words, if your friend passes away, Facebook will allow that user’s information to be memorialized and will no longer allow friend requests to be sent to the deceased user. Only confirmed friends will be able to view the deceased user’s page and the deceased user’s page will not longer be searchable. The intent of this new feature is to allow friends and family of the deceased user to share content, memories and thoughts on the deceased user’s wall while protecting the privacy rights of the deceased.

The Battle Over A Deceased User’s Content

Facebook recently had a small battle with a relative of a deceased user who wished to have her brother’s content removed from the website. Facebook refused to remove the user’s content, but later changed its mind once the Consumerist wrote a nasty post claiming Facebook could not legally refuse to remove content from its website if the estate holder requested it be removed. It seems Facebook’s new memorialized user content pages are reflective of Facebook’s desire to maintain deceased users’ content, while combating the legal and ethical battles that could ensue.

Yahoo, Inc. also lost its battle with the family of a deceased U.S. soldier killed in Iraq. The family of Lance Cpl. Justin M. Ellsworth sued Yahoo for the right to access their son’s email account. Yahoo finally handed over the 10,000 pages of contents from the email address after a judge handed down the order last year.

Questions Thanks to Anne Frank

Legally speaking, I own my content. I can remove, add, change all of the content I put on social networking sites, on my personal blog, share on Twitter, send in an email, etc. But after death, I don’t have the same control. My beneficiary has the rights to all of my digital content.

Do you care what happens to your digital content after death? In some small way we all hope to be remembered, whether it be in the memories of our loved ones and friends or by the online world. However, there is some digital content that content creators produce and publish on private webistes that they don’t necessarily intend to be made public.

I’m sure many of you have read The Diary of Anne Frank. I remember as a little girl reading the appendix of the book and reading how Otto Frank, Anne’s father, excluded certain content from the published version of Anne’s diary because he felt it was too personal and were Anne’s private thoughts. Anne was only fifteen when she died and she could have never imagined her diary would be such a phenomenon and so widely loved and cherished by millions of readers across the world.

Yet, as digital content creators we know our content will be published and we know one day we will die. So it only seems logical that we should leave some sort of instructions on what should happen to our digital content when we die. I can’t help wondering if Anne would have chosen to leave in those portions of her diary for the world to read or if she would have omitted more of her thoughts had she had the opportunity to leave such instructions.

Maybe we should learn from Anne Frank and consider leaving instructions for our digital content either in our actual wills or through Legacy Locker and websites like it. What are you thoughts?

Secret Copyright Treaty Leaks – Goes Viral

Rex Gradeless — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 11:21:58 PST

According to BoingBoing.net, the internet chapter of the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, a secret copyright treaty whose text Obama’s administration refused to disclose due to “national security” concerns, has leaked. It’s bad. It says:

That ISPs have to proactively police copyright on user-contributed material. This means that it will be impossible to run a service like Flickr or YouTube or Blogger, since hiring enough lawyers to ensure that the mountain of material uploaded every second isn’t infringing will exceed any hope of profitability.
That ISPs have to cut off the Internet access of accused copyright infringers or face liability. This means that your entire family could be denied to the internet — and hence to civic participation, health information, education, communications, and their means of earning a living — if one member is accused of copyright infringement, without access to a trial or counsel.
Mandatory prohibitions on breaking DRM, even if doing so for a lawful purpose (e.g., to make a work available to disabled people; for archival preservation; because you own the copyrighted work that is locked up with DRM)
That the whole world must adopt US-style “notice-and-takedown” rules that require ISPs to remove any material that is accused — again, without evidence or trial — of infringing copyright. This has proved a disaster in the US and other countries, where it provides an easy means of censoring material, just by accusing it of infringing copyright.

The ACTA Internet Chapter: Putting the Pieces Together

To make matters worse, the chapter has gone viral. Here were the latest counts on BoingBoing.net: