As we do twice each year, we’re asking for your help in keeping this free service free. This year, we’ve gone to an abbreviated June fundraising campaign (two weeks instead of a full month) and a much less obtrusive ask on each page of the site (a dynamic header as opposed to popups). It’s low-key, but no less important: we count on you to help.
If you’re so inclined, you can donate here. We hope you will.
Robert Richards, a prolific Tweeter (@richards1000) on legal-informatics matters and the compiler of the fabulous Legal Information Systems & Legal Informatics Resources and its accompanying blog , the Legal Informatics Blog
, has done a piece for the LII’s VoxPopuLII on the relationship between legal informatics research and law librarianship. Well worth a look, we think.
We’ve long complained that Google’s search paradigm encourages behavior not unlike that of a slot machine addict. You put in some terms, you pull the handle, you see what you get, you put in some terms, you pull the handle… pull the handle… pull the handle… oh, sorry. Got lost there for a moment. The problem with the slot machine paradigm, of course, is that you can only change your bet (by changing terms) or get someone to rig the machine (by changing the underlying algorithms). The feedback you get from the machine is, perhaps, not so useful.
Over in VoxPop, Julie Jones looks at the question of better interfaces for legal research — a step away from the slot machine, and toward something better. Have a look.