Law X.0

Lawmakers' Blogs Share Views, Insights

Interesting article from Stateline.org:

Alabama state Rep. Mike Ball (R) posts “this day in state history” tidbits on his blog, Idaho state Rep. Nicole LeFavour (D) offers behind-the-scenes insight on hers, and Nevada state Sen. Bob Beers (R), running for re-election, posted this limerick: “Beers’ opponent’s positions defy/Common sense, so she’ll have to rely/On attacking the man,/Researched “dirt” is her plan,/And when none can be found, she will lie.”

There are 175,000 new blogs launched every day across cyberspace, according to web observer Technorati, and state legislators’ offerings are sprinkled among them. More than 50 lawmakers regularly blog, and more are joining the blogosphere every year.

Click here for a list of state lawmakers' blogs

Like many bloggers, state lawmakers give their opinions on the topics of the day and share their personal life with readers. But unlike other bloggers, they also sometimes give the public a unique view into the workings of the statehouse."

[RJ]

Topical Blog Directories Masquerading as Blog Rankings: Criminal Justice and Law School Blogs

Producers of Criminal Justice Degrees Guide and College Degree websites have realized that if they create selected topical blog directories and call them "Top [insert number] Blogs" their websites will get more visitors than if they call them what they really are. Of the two listed below, the selected directory of criminal justice blogs is better executed and may be useful.

Criminal Justice Degrees Guide's Top 100 Criminal Justice Blog Directory is organized by the following categories:

• Police and Detective Blogs
• Law Schools
• Advice, News and Resources
• Corrections and Sentencing
• Attorney Blogs
• Judges and Court
• Criminal Psychology and Social Psychology
• Individual Rights and Public Defenders
• Federal Criminal Justice and Issues
• International Criminal Justice and Immigration
• Forensic Science and Technology
• Miscellaneous

College Degree's Top 50 Law School Blog Directory is organized by the following categories:

• Law Within and Beyond Academia
• Types of Law
• Specific Law Schools
• Blogs Featuring Blogs
• Especially For or By Students

[JH]

Google's Joe Kraus on How to Make the Web More Social

Wharton legal studies professor Kevin Werbach interviewed Joe Kraus, director of product management at Google, recently about the increasing socialization of the Internet. Here's the transcript (or listen to the podcast for the provided link). [JH]

Free Speech and the Blogosphere

Check out Bloggingheads' podcast of Cass Sunstein and Eugene Volokh discussing free speech and the blogosphere. Hat tip to Daniel Solove, Concurring Opinions.

Legal Blog Watch reports that a U.S. lawyer was arrested in Singapore recently for offensive comments made on a blog and in an email about a judge in a pending case. Hat tip to Mitchell Rubinstein, Adjunct Law Prof Blog. [JH]

Designing for the Mobile Web

As reported in an earlier post, the W3C has chartered the Mobile Web For Social Development (MW4D) Interest Group to explore the potential of mobile technology to help bridge the digital divide. See also White Paper on Mobile Web for Social Development (January 2008). By doing so, W3C raises design and usability considerations for the mobile web from the status of an also-ran platform, secondary to other information and communication technologies platforms for the delivery of web content, to a platform deserving product development considerations based on what is unique to the mobile information space. Listed below are several recent books on designing for the mobile web with book descriptions, pricing and order information provided below the fold. [JH]

• Mobile Web Development (2008) by Nirav Mehta
• Mobile Web Design (2008) by Cameron Moll
• Designing the Mobile User Experience (2007) by Barbara Ballard
• Mobile Interaction Design (2006) by by Matt Jones & Gary Marsden

Mobile Web Development
by Nirav Mehta

List Price: $44.99
Paperback: 236 pages
Publisher: Packt Publishing (February 7, 2008)
ISBN-10: 1847193439
ISBN-13: 978-1847193438

Description: This complete, practical guide to writing mobile websites and applications shows developers how to build a powerful mobile web presence. Readers need knowledge of HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and a server-side language; the examples use PHP, but are easily adapted to other languages. The book does not use J2ME, but uses mobiles' web browsers and other standard features with XHTML Mobile Profile (XHTML MP) and Wireless CSS (WCSS). Examples illustrate each technique, focused on real-world solutions, pragmatic tips, and fast results rather than theory. Whether you want to provide website customers with new ways to access your services, or build applications to keep staff up to date on the road, this book covers it: adapting content to the capabilities of target devices, saving bandwidth with compression, creating server-side logic integrated with a mobile front end, sending and receiving SMS and MMS messages, accepting mobile payments, and developing voice and touchtone responsive systems.

Mobile Web Design
by Cameron Moll

List Price: $19.95
Paperback: 108 pages
Publisher: Cameron Moll (January 29, 2008)
ISBN-10: 0615185916
ISBN-13: 978-0615185910

Description: Mobile Web Design, a book by industry expert Cameron Moll, provides a web standards approach for delivering content beyond the desktop. Much has been written about mobile devices. Plenty has been written about developing websites for the so-called "standards era" of the web. However, little has been written about the two colliding. This resource aims to fill that void. If you're in a position to develop for, manage, or give advice regarding your organizations foray into a web strategy for mobile devices, then this book is for you. Discover how to deliver web content to mobile devices (nearly 3 billion worldwide). Includes statistics, code samples, and more than 40 screens from actual devices.

Designing the Mobile User Experience
by Barbara Ballard

List Price: $80.00 
Hardcover: 260 pages
Publisher: Wiley (April 16, 2007)
ISBN-10: 0470033614
ISBN-13: 978-0470033616

Description: Designing the Mobile User Experience provides the experienced product development professional with an understanding of the users, technologies, devices, design principles, techniques and industry players unique to the mobile and wireless space. Barbara Ballard describes the different components affecting the user experience and principles applicable to the mobile environment, enabling the reader to choose effective technologies, platforms, and devices, plan appropriate application features, apply pervasive design patterns, and choose and apply appropriate research techniques.

Mobile Interaction Design
by Matt Jones and Gary Marsden

List Price: $65.00 
Paperback: 398 pages
Publisher: Wiley (February 10, 2006)
ISBN-10: 0470090898
ISBN-13: 978-0470090893

Description: Mobile Interaction Design shifts the design perspective away from the technology and concentrates on usability; in other words the book concentrates on developing interfaces and devices with a great deal of sensitivity to human needs, desires and capabilities. Features include:

• Exercises, case studies and study questions make this book ideal for students.
• Provides ideals and techniques which will enable designers to create the next generation of effective mobile applications.
• Critiques current mobile interaction design (bloopers) to help designers avoid pitfalls.
• Design challenges and worked examples are given to reinforce ideas.
• Discusses the new applications and gadgets requiring knowledgeable and inspired thinking about usability and design.