As part of its Public Service Graduate Education Resource Center, Idealist.org has developed an excellent resource for prospective graduate students contemplating a career in public interest law. Available as a downloadable PDF, it provides a wealth of information on what to look for in a law school, the law school application process, possible career paths, and the challenges facing public interest lawyers after they graduate. -M

The Social Science Research Council just published a new study, "Broadband Adoption in Low-Income Communities," by Dharma Dailey, Amelia Bryne, Alison Powell, Joe Karaganis and Jaewon Chung. The study is based on “170 interviews of non-adopters, community access providers, and other intermediaries conducted across the US in late 2009 and early 2010 and identifies a range of factors that make broadband services hard to acquire and even harder to maintain in such communities.” More information and a link to download the study is available here. -M (Thanks, @shrivercenter!)

I recently came across this impressive online database of social media policies, which includes over 100 policies from several different industries. The nonprofit and government section includes examples from both large and small nonprofits and government agencies. For more information on crafting a social media policy for your organization, check out thisrecent post on NTEN’s blog and this white paper on Social Media, Risk, and Policies for Associations. -M

Aviary, a robust online image editor that used to cost $24.99 a year for the full version, is now available for free. According co-founder Michael Galpert, a "recent round of funding (by Spark Capital, Bezos Expeditions & others) enables [Aviary] to finally achieve this goal." The full announcement is available here. -M

For over 10 years, the Legal Aid Center of Southern Nevada and the William S. Boyd School of Law at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas have partnered to teach community education classes covering several areas of law for the public. In order to extend their reach, the law school and legal aid program collaborated with their local PBS affiliate Vegas PBS to record one of their bankruptcy classes. Now this class is available to everyone on YouTube in seven short segments. - K

Creative Commons is "a nonprofit dedicated to making it easier for people to share and build upon the work of others, consistent with the rules of copyright." They provide six free licenses that you can use to license your creations:

• Attribution
• Attribution Share Alike
• Attribution No Derivatives
• Attribution Non-Commercial
• Attribution Non-Commercial Share Alike
• Attribution Non-Commercial No Derivatives

A while ago, Hugh Calkins asked whether the legal aid community should be licensing its community and self-help materials under Creative Commons licenses in his posts Creative Commons and I Get All the News I Need on the Boing Boing blog (Episode II).The legal aid community seems to be slowing warming to these licenses. Technola is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 License, and the LSNTAP website is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.5 License.

Personally, I really appreciate Creative Commons licenses, especially when I'm looking for a picture to add to a presentation or post. Flickr, an image-sharing site, lets you search for Creative Commons-licensed content, which means that I can quickly find pictures that I can use without violating copyright. However, I struggle with how to comply with the attribution requirements of the license. Recently, I came across a great post, How to write attributions for the Creative Commons licensed images you use on your blog from In Propria Persona, that sets out guidelines to follow: add the label "[title] by [person], used under a Creative Commons [license type] license" with links as appropriate. A great, simple way to comply.

Have you been using Creative Commons licenses to license your content? Have you been using Creative Commons-licensed content? What have you been doing to comply with the attribution requirement of the license? - K

The Center for Access to Justice & Technology and the Center for Computer-Assisted Legal Instruction released A2J Author 3.0 last week. With A2J Author, non-techies can create user-friendly interfaces that help self-represented litigants fill out court forms and other legal documents. Several states with great A2J Author interviews, including New York, Washington state, and Washington, DC, have been highlighted on Technola previously.

New features included in A2J Author 3.0 include the ability to

• add graphics and videos to questions;
• customize how users exit an interview and let them leave before an interview is completed;
• create new interviews by "cutting and pasting" existing questions or question sets; and
• add a logo to the interview.

You can download A2J Author 2.0 from the A2J Author community website. A2J Author is free for noncommercial use. - K

After I posted "We Love the Cloud; We Hate the Cloud," I noticed a tweet from Tim O'Reilly: two free webcasts on cloud computing on January 20.

• Cloud Security & Privacy - A 75-minute look at a large number of privacy and security issues.
• Cloud Security Deep Dive - A 90-minute session focusing on three areas--data security, identity management, and governance.

Both sessions are led by the authors of "Cloud Security and Privacy." You can register for one or both online. - K

This month, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) asked the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to examine the security risks of cloud computing as the FCC puts together the national broadband plan. This request grew from the FTC's concerns that Americans love cloud computing but don't understand the risks of storing data on remote systems.

Cloud computing is something I've written about before (Cloud Computing Explained) and something that I've become enamored with. I like not being tied to one computer and not worrying about losing a lot of information if a computer fails.

But I know that cloud computing comes with risks that stem from no longer being in control of my data. Perhaps someone will intercept my data transfer, the provider isn't as trustworthy as their privacy policy and terms of service suggest, or maybe they don't care about security as much as they should. Each time I add data to the cloud, I need to think about whether I'm okay with the risk.

For a more in-depth analysis of the security Software as a Service (SaaS), a type of cloud computing, check out two articles from Idealware: Is SaaS more secure? and SaaS and Security - the Response! - K

Kate and I were recently interviewed by Lisa Kennelly, Editorial Manager at LexBlog. We shared the story behind Technola, how it has evolved, and our thoughts on technology, blogging and the public interest legal community. -M

Law Technology News (LTN) just published a nice article on LawHelp Interactive (fka NPADO), a document assembly program that helps pro se litigants and volunteer attorneys prepare legal documents online. LawHelp Interactive is managed by Pro Bono Net in collaboration with Ohio State Legal Services Association, with funding by the Legal Services Corporation and the State Justice Institute. -M

User Effect, a consulting firm specializing in website usability, has put together a helpful guide to free and low-cost web usability tools that covers twenty tools in four categories: heat mapping, screen recording, user testing, and user feedback. The free guide is available for download here (PDF). –M [Thanks, Dan!]

Illinois Legal Aid Online will once again be webcasting several live sessions from the LSC TIG conference, which takes place next week. Below is a list of sessions and links. To view the live webcasts click on the link at the scheduled time. Note that all times are Central.

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

9:15am-10:30am
Opening Plenary: Generational Approaches to Change and Technology Adaptation

10:45 am-12:15pm
Emerging Trends in Technology

2:00pm-3:30pm
Knowledge Management - What It Is, Why It Matters, and Options For Making What You Know Findable

3:45pm-4:45pm
Mission-Based Technology Planning

Thursday, January 14, 2010

9:00am-10:30am
The New Frontier of Intake - Enhancing Intake with Online Tools

10:45am-12:15pm
E-Discovery Jeopardy

1:15pm-2:15pm
Ignite Session - Show and Tell of Technology Projects

2:30pm-3:45pm
Strategic Planning for Telephone Systems - How-to's and Examples

4:00pm-5:00pm
Pro Se Clinics and Document Assembly

Friday, January 15, 2010

9:00am-10:00am
NTAP and Pro Bono Net Updates

10:15am-11:00am
BTOP and Other Funding Sources

11:15am-12:00pm
TIG Updates from LSC

A calendar of sessions is also available here. -M

PSLawNet, an online resource for public interest law job-seekers, recently launched a new blog covering public interest news and the job market for public interest lawyers and law students. If you’re interested in keeping track of new legal aid and public interest law blogs be sure to check out our blogroll page, which we update regularly. If you don’t see your blog there, and think it should be, shoot us an email at technolablog at gmail.com. – M

The January 2010 ABA Young Lawyer magazine features an article on LiveHelp by Liz Keith, LawHelp program manager at Pro Bono Net. In addition to explaining how LiveHelp works, Liz showcases innovative LiveHelp projects and staffing models that are being implemented by legal services organizations across the country. -M

The D.C. Bar Pro Bono Program recently launched six interactive online court forms for use by pro se tenants and landlords. The forms include an answer in a residential landlord-tenant case, an application to proceed in forma pauperis, a motion to modify a protective order, a motion to vacate default judgment and quash writ, a motion to vacate dismissal, and a notice to quit for nonpayment of rent. Using guided A2J Author interviews and Pro Bono Net’s LawHelp Interactive service, pro se users answer a series of questions that are used to populate an approved court form that can be printed and filed. The project was done with cooperation from the Superior Court of the District of Columbia, support from the D.C. Consortium of Legal Services Providers, and funding from the D.C. Bar Foundation. -M

As part of their year-end fundraising campaign, Illinois Legal Aid Online (ILAO) has created a video that does a fantastic job of highlighting the potential of technology to help increase access to justice for low and moderate-income individuals. It focuses on LiveHelp, a project funded by the Legal Services Corporation, supported by Pro Bono Net, and originally piloted by Montana Legal Services Association and Iowa Legal Aid, which was recently launched in Illinois to assist those in need of legal help find quality free legal information, forms, and referrals. As the video portrays, in less than a month ILAO and their remote law student volunteers assisted over 1,300 users. It’s an excellent example how the innovative use of technology can help to mobilize volunteers, increase access to services, and ultimately address the unmet legal needs facing so many low and moderate-income Americans. Please consider donating to justice innovators like Illinois Legal Aid Online and Pro Bono Net this holiday season. Without them, projects like LiveHelp wouldn’t exist. -M

This excellent, frequently updated list offers a wealth of information about Google products, including audience, launch date and cost. It also provides helpful links to discussion boards, help and idea pages, and official Google product blogs and Twitter accounts. According to the list, Google currently support nearly 350 products!  -M [Thanks, Dan]

A team of experts from the Proskauer Rose LLP's Not-For-Profit/Exempt Organization Practice has started to blog about nonprofit law at Not-For-Profit/Exempt Organizations Blog. In addition to helping legal aid administrators with issues at their own programs, this blog can be passed on to directors at partner programs as a resource to help them with their questions. - K

The National Center for State Courts, the Self-Represented Litigation Network, and the Legal Services Corporation are hosting a two-day conference on how public libraries can improve access to online legal information. The training takes place on January 11th and 12th in Austin, TX. Participants will learn how to access legal information online and how to develop effective partnerships between libraries and legal services organizations, among other topics. Conference organizers will select between 10 and 15 teams from around the country to participate. More information about the training is available here. -M