INTERNET LEGAL RESEARCH WEEKLY
November 11, 2001
Tom
Mighell
Welcome to Issue #47 of the Internet Legal Research Weekly, a newsletter that delivers relevant and timely legal research information, and other fun stuff, to your inbox every Sunday. If you like what you read, please forward this newsletter to anyone you think might be interested, and encourage him or her to do the same! To subscribe, all you have to do is send an e-mail to ilrw-subscribe@topica.com. It’s free!
And away we go…..
Search Engine Review – Teoma
A few months ago, several new search engines appeared on the scene that deserve attention. We’ve already reviewed Vivisimo – this week I’ll talk about Teoma, a site that’s still in beta testing. In fact, when it’s ready for its final launch Teoma may not even be a publicly-accessible search engine; it’s initially intended to demonstrate the technology to potential corporate partners. But while it’s around, you should certainly take a look at it, and maybe add it to your list of search tools.
Teoma’s interface is similar to Google – clean and simple. In fact, it’s simpler than Google, because it doesn’t contain an Advanced Search feature. But when you type in your search terms, the results are definitely unique. First, Teoma searches its index (which contains about 100 million URLs), and finds a collection of links that match those terms. Next, Teoma’s technology analyzes just that collection of links to determine link popularity (like Google) and topic groupings. Teoma then gives you three ways to view your results: by scrolling through the list of sites found, browsing the web pages grouped by topic, or viewing the “Expert’s Links” for your search. I searched for “Microsoft Antitrust Case,” and here’s what I found.
Let’s start with the web pages first. Teoma returned 10,400 results, a large number. The results were pretty good on relevancy – the number one site was the Justice Department’s main page on the litigation. But I wasn’t interested in spending time on 10,400 web pages, so I concentrated on the other results Teoma furnished. At the top of the page were eight folders grouped by topic; some weren’t completely relevant, but there were folders for Antitrust Law, Tech News, Bill Gates, and Original Documents. Clicking on one of these folders will narrow your search. I tried Antitrust Law and I found 11 results – Tech News gets you 40 results and lots of news on the Microsoft case. None that’s recent, though.
I was most intrigued by the Expert Pages listed on the right side of the page. These listings are pages that provide links on related general subjects. For my search on Microsoft, I got a pretty good collection of general resources both on antitrust law and on the Microsoft case, including a terrific website from Harvard on the subject.
Like Teoma, more and more search engines these days are grouping search results by relevant category – this makes it much easier to find what you’re looking for. Give Teoma a try; you might like it!
Help Desk
Here’s a tip for those of you who use Microsoft Word. If you’re working on a long document and want to find out where you ended up during your last editing session, just press Shift + F5 after you open the document. Word will take you directly to where you last did any work in the document.This area is for you: if you have questions about search engines, websites, or using your computer in general, send me an e-mail and I’ll feature your question in an upcoming issue! (I promise I won’t use your real name…..)
Legally Relevant – Sites on the Internet
A Good Lawyer
Virginia lawyer Stephen Comiskey presents this informative website based on his book on professionalism in the law, A Good Lawyer. Subtitled “Secrets Good Lawyers (and their best clients) Already Know,” this site presents highlights from his book, and rules for lawyers to use in their practice. There are some great tips for new and experienced lawyers alike.Bloomberg.com Financial Glossary
Need to know what a “managed float” is? What about a “step-down note”? Bloomberg.com’s Financial Glossary can give you the answers to these and other financial questions. Here you can find over 6,000 entries with over 15,000 links. No frills – just the definitions here. A good place to learn your financial lingo.crashDATABASE.com
This site boasts the Internet’s first fully searchable online database of virtually every commercial airline accident in history. You can search by airline, aircraft type, date, or design your own custom search. For each crash you’ll get information on the date, location, aircraft registration, fatalities, and details on the accident. Another no-frills site; I wish there was more information here than just the basics.Evaluating Information Found on the Internet
Anyone who spends a lot of time on the Internet must learn how to evaluate the quality of the information found during research. Genie Tyburski’s Virtual Chase has a superior collection of links that on this subject, but Johns Hopkins University offers a handy one-page guide to assessing the data you find on the Internet.Elder Abuse Center
This site is provided by the National Center on Elder Abuse, and it provides a number of links to educate the public on the subject. There’s a list of phone numbers to use when reporting elder abuse, a lengthy collection of publications offered by the NCEA, a selection of elder abuse laws, links to other sites on elder abuse, a mailing list you can join, and much more. If your practice involves elder law, this is a good resource to have.Law and Politics: Internet Guide
The LPIG aims to be the lawyer’s one-stop source for legal research, and it does a pretty good job of living up to its promise. This site is really just a collection of links to other legal research sites. The menu on the left offers links to legal portals, resources, international law, law journals, CLE, lawyers and law firms, Criminal Justice, Medical, News, Reference, and many more. There’s also a handy feature that translates the site into 22 different languages. It’s a little cumbersome because the list of links is pretty long under each category, but it gets the job done nonetheless.Compliance Headquarters
This website is dedicated to providing reliable, convenient, and understandable regulatory compliance information and solutions to the financial services industry. There are specific areas on commercial lending, real estate, consumer lending, deposits, IRAs and privacy. You can sign up for Legislative Watch, which tracks the status of federal and state bills on financial services. Unfortunately, after January 1, 2002, this service will begin charging a fee. There are still some great free resources here.
Finally, a useful site for you to try this week. If you’re planning on mailing packages over the holidays, but want to estimate your costs in advance, check out the UPS Quick Cost Calculator. Just type in all the info about your package, and UPS will tell you how much it will cost, depending on how fast you want the package to get there.
Well, that’s it for Issue #47 – I hope you liked it! If you did, pass this along to anyone you think might be interested, and encourage him or her to subscribe. Also, feel free to drop me an e-mail any time if you have questions, or if you have websites or other topics you want included in a future issue.
Tom Mighell
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