Law X.0

Pew/Internet's Survey on Problem-Solving Information Search Patterns

In a national phone survey, respondents were asked by Pew/Interent whether they had encountered 10 possible problems in the previous two years, all of which had a potential connection to the government or government-provided information. Those who had dealt with the problems were asked where they went for help and the internet topped the list:

58% of those who had recently experienced one of those problems said they used the internet (at home, work, a public library or some other place) to get help.

53% said they turned to professionals such as doctors, lawyers or financial experts.

45% said they sought out friends and family members for advice and help.

36% said they consulted newspapers and magazines.

34% said they directly contacted a government office or agency.

16% said they consulted television and radio.

13% said they went to the public library.

For details, check out Pew/Internet's Information Searches That Solve Problems [Report (pdf)]. [JH}

Sidebar, the Blog for Court TV Junkies

When Court TV was replaced with truTV ("not reality. actuality" programming) this year [our post], fans were left with only six hours of trial coverage, In Session, which is aired from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. (ET). But Sidebar, In Session's blog, has been added to the mix. "Sidebar takes you behind the scenes of the day's legal headlines with breaking news and in-depth analysis from In Session's anchors and correspondents."

From the blog's About Page:

At Sidebar, our distinguished anchors and correspondents will bring you the latest breaking trial news, along with expert legal analysis. We’ll tell you what’s coming up on the docket. Our correspondents and anchors take you behind the scenes. We’ll give you our observations, insights, comments and opinions on what is happening in and around America’s courtrooms. We are excited about our new home at CNN.com and look forward to your suggestions and ideas as we continue to develop this new venture.

[JH]

Harvard Faculty Adopts Open Access Requirement

The Chronicle  of Higher Education is reporting that Harvard University’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences adopted a policy that requires faculty members to allow the university to make their scholarly articles available free online. I believe this is a first and it opens the door for other universities and colleges to adopt similar policies.

Here's the text, provided by Open Access News:

The Faculty of Arts and Sciences of Harvard University is committed to disseminating the fruits of its research and scholarship as widely as possible. In keeping with that commitment, the Faculty adopts the following policy: Each Faculty member grants to the President and Fellows of Harvard College permission to make available his or her scholarly articles and to exercise the copyright in those articles. In legal terms, the permission granted by each Faculty member is a nonexclusive, irrevocable, paid-up, worldwide license to exercise any and all rights under copyright relating to each of his or her scholarly articles, in any medium, and to authorize others to do the same, provided that the articles are not sold for a profit. The policy will apply to all scholarly articles written while the person is a member of the Faculty except for any articles completed before the adoption of this policy and any articles for which the Faculty member entered into an incompatible licensing or assignment agreement before the adoption of this policy. The Dean or the Dean’s designate will waive application of the policy for a particular article upon written request by a Faculty member explaining the need.

To assist the University in distributing the articles, each Faculty member will provide an electronic copy of the final version of the article at no charge to the appropriate representative of the Provost’s Office in an appropriate format (such as PDF) specified by the Provost’s Office. The Provost’s Office may make the article available to the public in an open-access repository.

The Office of the Dean will be responsible for interpreting this policy, resolving disputes concerning its interpretation and application, and recommending changes to the Faculty from time to time. The policy will be reviewed after three years and a report presented to the Faculty.

Inside Higher Ed's coverage of the story: Harvard Opts In to ‘Opt Out’ Plan. See also Harvard University Librarian Robert Darnton's The Case for Open Access (Harvard Crimson). [JH]

The Nerd Handbook

To understand nerds, you need to RTFM. [JH]

30 Google Apps You’ve Never Heard Of

Well, not really but that's the title of Laura Milligan's article which is useful for listing Google Apps and providing brief descriptions of ones you may not know. I, for example, didn't know Google's News Archive Search existed. Here's Milligan's description of it:

Archive Search: Forget dusting off old microfiche and microfilm from the library to discover archived photos and newspapers. Google’s Archive Search goes back 200 years and “can automatically create timelines which show selected results from relevant time periods” to augment your search.

NB: Google Answer is listed but that app died several years ago. [JH]