Thursday, February 27, 2003I've been reading rumors in the CaseMap listserv that CaseSoft is already planning the release of CaseMap 4.5 (CaseMap 4.0 was released in July 2002). Yesterday, Haans Bomberger of CaseSoft confirmed that release 4.5 is anticipated this spring. In my office, we've been struggling with a workaround to generate links from documents in the Documents database to specific pages in Adobe Acrobat files. The CaseMap Plug-In for Adobe Acrobat that generates image links does so by dropping them into CaseMap to associate with a fact in the Facts database (rather than dropping the image link to associate with a document in the Documents database). So, I was quite pleased to learn that CaseSoft is revising the CaseMap-Adobe plug-in so that it will automatically create a document in the Documents database the first time text is sent from a particular Acrobat file and link the document to the fact using the CaseMap Short Name. Haans says the Source field will only show the Short Name of the document and the page and line references, but the link will still take you back to the specific part of the document originally sent. Cool! This is precisely what we're looking for. (No word yet on the cost, if any, of this upgrade.)
11:41:44 PM
ALWD Citation Manual
An e-mail this week from my sister* about The ALWD Citation Manual made me realize that perhaps more lawyers than I previously thought haven't added this handy citation reference to their libraries. It was first published by the Association of Legal Writing Directors in February 2000, "designed as a 'restatement of citation'" and to "replace" the Bluebook. I just learned that the ALWD CM's second edition came out in December 2002 (I guess I should have read that e-mail from Aspen Publishers, after all, huh?). I highly recommend this reference book (but I'll always keep the Bluebook handy, too). It's spiral-bound, well-organized, and pretty thorough. I especially like the examples and the detail. They tell you stuff like how many spaces to put and where to put them in a citation. See the list of law schools, paralegal education programs, law journals and publications, and courts that have (either fully or partially) adopted it here. Buy the ALWD Citation Manual: A Professional System of Citation, Second Edition, from Aspen Publishers here.
*Getting an e-mail from my sister, and particularly an office e-mail from my sister (and nobody even died), is a Big Deal for me. You see, my sister, Barbara Theriot Hodgson, is a super-sharp attorney (licensed to practice in Louisiana, Kansas, and Missouri) with the State of Kansas, Department of Agriculture, who only tolerates technology. This is what she does for the great State of Kansas. Look for a guest post from Barbara in the near future (hint, hint).5:57:45 PM
Weblog Terms for Weblog Readers
"And if all this weblog stuff is confusing.... Phil Gyford offers this nice page describing weblog terms for weblog readers. Learn more about RSS, permalinks, trackback, and more." [Inter Alia] This is a good starter article to read if you're new to blogging and don't quite know what such things as permalinks, RSS feeds, and trackbacks are.
5:34:44 AM
