Musings on law, tech, chess & other topics by a geek

One of the most common questions I receive, is what is Informatics? Informatics for me was the intersections of CSE (computer science and engineering) and HCI (Human computer Interaction) with a little bit of philosophy and ethics thrown in to broaden one’s prospectives.

The most recent Informatics cohort put has put a YouTube to try and explain the major to prospective students:

Brian Reyes, one of the grads talking in the video, did a great Drupal site for WSBA last year it is the ATJWeb.org site. Pass it on to your friends who might be interested in applying to Informatics! The application date is coming up on April 15. And of course, feel free to post it on your social networking pages, etc. (I need to talk to them about putting the video under CC). For more information about Informatics check out the Ischool website.

Bob Cohen gave a great talk today at Seattle University Law on using technology to reach under-served populations. Here are my notes on the talk:

The general rule you need to keep in mind when working with low income folks is that only 20 percent have access to legal services. This means that access to justice is not the reality in the system and that the justice system may be viewed negatively due to the real lack of access.

Orange County uses a three tier approach to providing legal services:

• 1st Tier – Initial Access = Once people access the system it is often very late in the legal process. A key is getting connected with people ASAP in the legal process. For Orange County this means providing hotlines where people can call in with issues and physical locations where people can come and ask questions.
• 2nd Tier – Interactive Community Assistance Network I-CAN! This is a system that works with clients to create documents to file directly with a court. This was extended to IRS tax filings in 2004 which directly helps households file taxes and gain earn income tax credits. www.icanefile.org
• 3rd Tier – Access to attorneys – This is primarily for individuals who are facing actions in court. Unfortunately only 30 to 40 percent of the need is meet at this level due to financial limits.

Beyond providing services Bob also focused on how to communicate your message for the public. One of those strategies is the communicate through new media. An example of this the Maria Shriver EITC Initiative You-Tube video.

This provides a way to both educate the public about programs and a proactive media approach for creating a positive image of the program. This event was hosted by Public Interest Law Foundation and Students for Free Culture.

The Silverfish, a publication of University of Washington’s Ischool, now has a list of Ischool related blogs. The Ischool at UW has done a lot to reach out to Alumni and keep to update best practices as technology changes.

Disclaimer: I am a proud Graduate of the Informatics program of the ISchool and regularly attend events they host such as Kahle’s speech on Access to Knowelge.

Over the last 12 months I have been following the presidential campaign and one candidate has stood out to me as representing progressive technology policy while also focusing on other needed reforms.

Here are my 5 reasons for supporting Obama:

1. Obama can bring about Universal Health Care. We are the richest country in the world, and it is a blight that we do not provide the basic Human Right of Health Care for everyone to our people.

2. Obama realizes the importance of a Chief Technology Officer (CTO) for the government, and he has specific tasks for this person, which will foster innovation.

3. Obama will ensure Network Neutrality. In the Information Age this is essential for enabling the people to have a real voice in a democracy.

4. Obama will end the war in Iraq. We were never justified to start the war in Iraq (No links to Al-Qada or WMDs) and we are only subsiding government contracts at the cost of American lives, by staying.

5. Obama is the only candidate with Passion that moves me on a personal and emotional level. Listening to him speak at Dr. King’s Church was moving. I feel hope that rings beyond just his word.

I, Brian Rowe, endorse Barack Obama for President.

If you have the chance I recommend attending the “Making A Difference: Using Your Law Degree to Make the World a Better Place No Matter Where You Go in Your Career – and Life.”

Seattle University School of Law
Thursday, February 28, 2008
5:00 p.m. to 7:20 p.m. • Room C1
Seattle University School of Law, Sullivan Hall
12th and Columbia

Judge Horowitz and Professor McKay continue their popular series by focusing on the development of excellent professional skills and exploring the opportunities and barriers to serving the public interest as a lawyer. Working for the powerless and the poor requires that attorneys continuously learn and improve their skills throughout their careers. This requirement is essential not only to personal success, but as much, if not more, for making a difference in the lives of clients and in the community. Along with exciting guest speakers, Judge Horowitz and Professor McKay will explore opportunities for public service, lay bare existing barriers to these opportunities, and demonstrate the importance of skills development in attaining and exercising personal and professional freedom. They will explain and show how public service choices on often unpredictable opportunities and barriers can shape our professional lives – and our lives as a whole.

This is the third in the four-part series “Making A Difference: Using Your Law Degree to Make the World a Better Place No Matter Where You Go in Your Career – and Life,” aimed at encouraging students, lawyers and others to make a place for public service in their careers and their lives.

To view videos of the first two symposiums, go to: http://media.law.seattleu.edu/public/events/events.htm

The University of Washington’s Ischool has started a podcast! It can be found on the Newsletter page for the Ischool with a convenient RSS feed:

http://www.ischool.washington.edu/events/newsletter.aspx

It is great to see the Ischool reaching out to the community and implementing best practices in the information field in the schools own administration.

I am working with Seattle University Law currently to try and persuade the school of the advantages of podcasting. A podcast focusing on social justice legal issues could be an incredible asset to the legal services community.

Background on the Ischool:

The ISchool is one of UW premier schools with a strong Ph.D program, a Masters in Library Information Science (MLIS), Masters of Science in Information Management (MSIM) and a unique Bachelor of Science in Informatics which consists of tradition Computer Science curriculum paired with cutting edge human-computer interaction and information science research.

My undergrad work was done in the Informatics program and the volunteer organization I now run Freedom for IP , was an out growth my Informatics research capstone.

The Freedom of Information Act is one of the laws I was able to study in depth in undergrad, this often came up in Human Rights based classes and Informatics. It has started to reappear in my IP class relating to trade secrets. I did not realize until recently that Ruckelshaus v. Monsanto Co., 467 US 986. 1002-05 (1984) accepted trade secrets as a property interest for the purpose of “taking” property without just compensation, in violation of the Fifth Amendment.  I need to explore this case more as a challenge to my strongly held position that IP is not P.

Here is my layman translation of the FOIA exceptions:
1. nation defense or foreign policy (under Executive order)
2. internal personnel rules or practices of agencies
3. from other statute
4. trade secrets / confidential financial
5. working papers / inter agency memos
6. personal or medical files (personal privacy)
7. Law enforcement (interfere with enforcement, cause unfair trial, personal privacy, confidential sources)
8. regulation or supervision of financial institutions
9. geological and geophysical information (maps wells)

Full text:

(as listed in Title 5 of the United States Code, section 552):

1. (A) specifically authorized under criteria established by an Executive order to be kept secret in the interest of national defense or foreign policy and (B) are in fact properly classified pursuant to such Executive order;
2. related solely to the internal personnel rules and practices of an agency;
3. specifically exempted from disclosure by statute (other than section 552b of this title), provided that such statute (A) requires that the matters be withheld from the public in such a manner as to leave no discretion on the issue, or (B) establishes particular criteria for withholding or refers to particular types of matters to be withheld;
4. trade secrets and commercial or financial information obtained from a person and privileged or confidential;
5. inter-agency or intra-agency memoranda or letters which would not be available by law to a party other than an agency in litigation with the agency;
6. personnel and medical files and similar files the disclosure of which would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy;
7. records or information compiled for law enforcement purposes, but only to the extent that the production of such law enforcement records or information (A) could reasonably be expected to interfere with enforcement proceedings, (B) would deprive a person of a right to a fair trial or an impartial adjudication, (C) could reasonably be expected to constitute an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy, (D) could reasonably be expected to disclose the identity of a confidential source, including a State, local, or foreign agency or authority or any private institution which furnished information on a confidential basis, and, in the case of a record or information compiled by a criminal law enforcement authority in the course of a criminal investigation or by an agency conducting a lawful national security intelligence investigation, information furnished by a confidential source, (E) would disclose techniques and procedures for law enforcement investigations or prosecutions, or would disclose guidelines for law enforcement investigations or prosecutions if such disclosure could reasonably be expected to risk circumvention of the law, or (F) could reasonably be expected to endanger the life or physical safety of any individual;
8. contained in or related to examination, operating, or condition reports prepared by, on behalf of, or for the use of an agency responsible for the regulation or supervision of financial institutions; or
9. geological and geophysical information and data, including maps, concerning wells.

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