Something about… Social Redundancy

Social media seems pretty big, huh? Still kind of shiny and new. Every new bit of functionality is exciting and worth a blog post or tweet.

One thing that still stops me from fully embracing the social media universe is something that goes hand in hand with its novelty. People are still experimenting with different forms of it – which is good – but  it reminds me of the exchange in Something About Mary:

Hitchhiker: You heard of this thing, the 8-Minute Abs?
Ted: Yeah, sure, 8-Minute Abs. Yeah, the excercise video.
Hitchhiker: Yeah, this is going to blow that right out of the water. Listen to this: 7… Minute… Abs.
Ted: Right. Yes. OK, all right. I see where you’re going.
Hitchhiker: Think about it. You walk into a video store, you see 8-Minute Abs sittin’ there, there’s 7-Minute Abs right beside it. Which one are you gonna pick, man?
Ted: I would go for the 7.
Hitchhiker: Bingo, man, bingo. 7-Minute Abs. And we guarantee just as good a workout as the 8-minute folk.
Ted: You guarantee it? That’s – how do you do that?
Hitchhiker: If you’re not happy with the first 7 minutes, we’re gonna send you the extra minute free. You see? That’s it. That’s our motto. That’s where we’re comin’ from. That’s from “A” to “B”.
Ted: That’s right. That’s – that’s good. That’s good. Unless, of course, somebody comes up with 6-Minute Abs. Then you’re in trouble, huh?
[Hitchhiker convulses]
Hitchhiker: No! No, no, not 6! I said 7. Nobody’s comin’ up with 6. Who works out in 6 minutes? You won’t even get your heart goin, not even a mouse on a wheel.
Ted: That – good point.

There were blogs, then there were social media sites like Facebook; then there were microblogs like tumblr, and then there was twitter and its ilk. I think there’s a good chance that we’ve reached the critical mass of ‘blogging; most of the new advances will be aggregation services, such as ping.fm and flockr. As we all know, new media spawns alternatives. VHS and Betamax; HD-DVD and Blu-Ray. Until “the people” make a choice, we’ll continue to see sites littered with millions of social media badges.

I’m not insinuating that social media has a Highlander-like demand for there to be only one. I’m just pointing out that there’s a lot of redundancy out there. As an example, I was discussing tumblr with Martha Sperry on twitter and we were weighing tumblr’s function and format against a traditional blog and twitter. It finally occurred to me that all the functionality in tumblr exists on Facebook’s wall; and with Facebook you already have the built-in networking functionality.

Discussion Question:

Does an extended quote from a movie count as a “movie reference”? Explain.

Regarding e-Discovery and metadata

I mentioned the ABA EDDE Case Digest I received by email in my last post. Since training at work is over and I only have 3 finals left, I took some time to look over the digest.

In general, the cases cited simply reinforce the notion that attorneys must be savvy enough to know what to ask for during discovery and that if you don’t request it, you don’t get it. One thing that stuck out at me, though, is the list of types of metadata in the Sedona Principles:

“a. Substantive Metadata”

“Substantive metadata, also known as application metadata, is “created as a
function of the application software used to create the document or file”
and reflects substantive changes made by the user. Sedona Principles 2d Cmt.
12a; Md. Protocol 26. This category of metadata reflects modifications to a
document, such as prior edits or editorial comments, and includes data that
instructs the computer how to display the fonts and spacing in a document.
Sedona Principles 2d Cmt. 12a. Substantive metadata is embedded in the
document it describes and remains with the document when it is moved or
copied. Id. A working group in the District of Maryland has concluded that
substantive metadata “need not be routinely produced” unless the requesting
party shows good cause. Md. Protocol 26. ”

“b. System Metadata”

” System metadata “reflects information created by the user or by the
organization’s information management system.” Sedona Principles 2d Cmt.
12a. This data may not be embedded within the file it describes, but can
usually be easily retrieved from whatever operating system is in use. See
id. Examples of system metadata include data concerning “the author, date
and time of creation, and the date a document was modified.” Md. Protocol
26. Courts have commented that most system (and substantive) metadata lacks
evidentiary value because it is not relevant. See Mich. First Credit Union
v. Cumis Ins. Soc’y, Inc., No. Civ. 05-74423, 2007 WL 4098213, at *2
(E.D.Mich. Nov. 16, 2007); Ky. Speedway, LLC v. Nat’l Assoc. of Stock Car
Auto Racing, No. Civ. 05-138, 2006 WL 5097354, at *8 (E.D.Ky. Dec. 18,
2006); Wyeth v. Impax Labs., Inc., 248 F.R.D. 169, 170 (D.Del.2006). System
metadata is relevant, however, if the authenticity of a document is
questioned or if establishing “who received what information and when” is
important to the claims or defenses of a party. See Hagenbuch v. 3B6 Sistemi
Elettronici Industriali S.R.L., No. 04 Civ. 3109, 2006 WL 665005, at *3
(N.D.Ill. Mar. 8, 2006). This type of metadata also makes electronic
documents more functional because it significantly improves a party’s
ability to access, search, and sort large numbers of documents efficiently.
Sedona Principles 2d Cmt. 12a.”

“c. Embedded Metadata”

“Embedded metadata consists of “text, numbers, content, data, or other
information that is directly or indirectly inputted into a [n]ative [f]ile
by a user and which is not typically visible to the user viewing the output
display” of the native file. Md. Protocol 27. Examples include spreadsheet
formulas, hidden columns, externally or internally linked files (such as
sound files), hyperlinks, references and fields, and database information.
Id. This type of metadata is often crucial to understanding an electronic
document. For instance, a complicated spreadsheet may be difficult to
comprehend without the ability to view the formulas underlying the output in
each cell. For this reason, the District of Maryland working group concluded
that embedded metadata is “generally discoverable” and “should be produced
as a matter of course.” Id. at 27-28.”

It’s a start, but I think the principles are going about this the wrong way. Some of these distinctions are artificially created for the purpose of the list. Take the new MS Word file format – the files are now xml based. That means that embedded within the file there can be substantive metadata as well as system metadata. What do you demand? You can’t expect the opposing side to parse through the code in a plain text editor and weed out the important stuff; instead they’ll claim that it’s not necessary to produce any of it.

So what can we do? We can treat metadata like we treat any other type of data or information or document that exists; don’t pretend that metadata is special.

DISCLAIMER:  When I say “we” I mean “you”. I’m only a lowly law student who had J. Grimm for Evidence.

Quick rundown of interesting tidbits of the week…

I’m in training this week for Scripting and Automating WebSphere Application Server (WAS) v.6.1. I currently script and automate WASv.6.1 but I do it much the way a typical toddler solves differential calculus. Hence, the training.

Betwixt the lectures and labs I’ve been seeing some interesting things I wanted to share (read as tweet) but haven’t been able to (thanks to a bandwidth tight agency around the holidays restricting everything from twitter to gmail):

• EverNote and Eye-Fi teamed up, hopefully making the whole so much more than the sum of its parts: http://lifehacker.com/5106529/evernote-teams-up-with-eye+fi-for-wireless-photo-upload
  • While we’re on the topic, I wonder if EverNote ever plans to allow users to “draw” on photos? That would be one killer addition to the currently great mobile version.
• I downloaded and installed the newest ceTwit for WindowsMobile touchscreen phones. http://www.kosertech.com/blog/?page_id=5
  • Great job on it, but I’d love touch scrolling functionality.
• I got an interesting email from the E-Discovery section of ABA discussing Aguilar v. US Immigration and Customs… http://www.ca1.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/getopn.pl?OPINION=07-1819.01A
• Will post more when I have time to review the salient points of the email.

Well, that’s all for now. Time to head home.

Practical scholarship

Supreme Court at night

In the throes of finals preparations, I have been circling an idea that I decided needed to be recorded. I took Federal Jurisdiction this semester with a brilliant professor who was extremely capable of both communicating the intricacies of the material as well as boil it down to what it means to a practicing attorney.

The issue that is gnawing at the back of mind is that the practical use of the class can be cut short to maybe a week of material. Most of it ends with, “…and the Court will end up doing whatever it feels like, so hedge your bets.”

I found the class and material fascinating, but was it necessary? All I needed was for someone to tell me the important cases to cite in certain circumstances and warn me that there’s no telling what will happen… Which, I gather, is the first piece of advice any litigating attorney has to offer.

Life goes on… and on… and on…

‘Tis the season! The finals season, as opposed to the holiday season. The two are nearly similar: one is  a time of bitterness, depression and strife; and finals season is even worse.

Allow me to pause while you groan.

Being a non-traditional law student gives me a unique perspective on finals. My day job is extremely flexible and I am able to take days off to study; and my family – my wife, since the kids are too young to have a real say – is also supportive and wonderful, letting me study in (relative) peace while I’m home.

That  being said, life for a non-traditional student does not stop during finals. I can’t study through the night since I have a family to pay some modicum of attention to and work to go to (early) the next morning. I can’t focus my entire brain power solely on the issues of the semester since I have a job that requires the use of my brain. How fondly I recall my days doing construction work! Ok, not so fondly…

Email can be hazardous to you health

http://davefleet.com/2008/11/how-rich-is-your-communication-conflict/

Interesting article discussing conflict resolution through various media formats. I wanted to share my expeiences with email in particular.

The uselessness of email as a serious communication method cannot be overstated. I have stepped into heated email threads across divisions by walking to one side’s desk and simply stating the same argument that was made by email. The result? Smiles, cooperation.

Have you ever received an email that infuriated you? I have. I must admit that I have sent emails that I knew would frustrate people. One word responses, deliberately not answering the unasked-but-implied question. When I’ve had my coffee, though, I will never reply to an email that gets to me when I receive it. If it’s possible I’ll walk over to discuss the issue with the person; if that’s not possible, I’ll wait until I can write a rational and unemotional response.

Using email without actively thinking about its possible pitfalls will never work for you.

Translate “Troubleshooting” into something resume-friendly

I work in IT. I’m not a programmer, so I end up doing the odd jobs that no one else has any desire to do nor any idea how to do.  One item on the long list of my de facto responsibilities is troubleshooting. I help troubleshoot code that is still in development; I help the validators troubleshoot while they test the supposedly finished code; I troubleshoot security issues that come up in the field across the country when the official support personnel are out of ideas.

I would like to leverage that experience on my resume – highlighting the dynamic, problem-solving aspect of the job and downplaying the technical knowledge/experience aspect. Take two hypotheticals:

“I have experience troubleshooting software throughout all stages of its development and I support production personnel in troubleshooting end-user issues.”

“I have experience troubleshooting issues that come up across all levels of my team and our clients. I dynamically utilize my problem-solving skills by thinking outside the box to achieve business results.”

The first one is dry and more attuned for an IT job. The second makes me sound like a pretentious jerk with a thesaurus.

How do you translate what you do into resume-speak?

Career Development? In your dreams.

I met with the Dean of our Career Development Office (CDO) last week. That’s not to be confused with the Office of Career Development (OCD). She is an extremely friendly person who is more than willing to go out of her way to help students; however, there is only so much anyone can help students – particularly non-traditional students.

I laid out the facts for her and saw her face tighten; I could almost hear her mind shrieking in frustration. Full-time work; no weekends available; minimum salary requirements; IT background… it just kept getting better. At one point I responded to the look of resignation on her face by laughing and commenting how I’m all over the place.

And then something changed. She straightened her shoulders, looked me square in the eye and told me that it can work. I mentioned how I’m rearranging my work schedule this coming semester for the mediation clinic, since there will be daytime mediations. That was all she needed to work with. I was given suggestions of paths to follow, suggestions of how to approach people regarding part-time internships and names of judges who enjoy hiring evening students as clerks.

Most importantly, however, was the fact that she was now aware of my situation and that I am actively looking for experience. When she expressed her hopes that she was being helpful, I honestly replied that I hadn’t expected any options to be available to me. She answered that there are always options; but she’s not entirely correct.

There are only options if you open yourself up to the possibility that options exist and take the first step.

Comments to the Editor

I used to read the letters to the editor in the paper. I would be amazed and disgusted at some of the opinions. I wondered why the editors published them.

Then I read the comments on online news articles and I realized that the editors picked the best of the lot.

Yikes.

The other kind of Social Networking

I know what you’re thinking, “Blogging, twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, indenti.ca, whatever other newfangled applications with mangled English for names are all the rage now….”

The truth is, I spent about an hour yesterday evening walking around my school’s “Career Exploration Fair”. Employees from large law firms, public interest groups and government agencies set up tables handing out info and tschotchkes to curious law students.

It was not a recruitment opportunity. As a result, I received some solid answers to the types of frank questions I probably would not have asked. It was also an educational experience in immediate networking; unfortunately much less enjoyable (personally) than the online variety and something I expect I’ll be doing a lot more of.