Some Practical Advice on File Naming Conventions

 

Continuing with our practical advice October...

Courts create a lot of document files.  Some of those files get uploaded, saved, and organized in the court's case management or electronic document management systems.  And some courts use tools like SharePoint.  But even these tools can benefit from a consistent useful file naming standard.  I looked online and found two excellent pages on the subject. 

More below…

Electronic Archives and Microfilm

While Block Chain, AI, and GDPR are new and exciting, sometimes we need to talk about older technology.  Most of it is paper which has its own set of challenges.  But microfilm has been the court archiving standard since at least the 1950’s in many jurisdictions.  Should it still be used?  If so, can it be made more useful?  We discuss below.

This and That in Court Technology – August 2018

In this edition, we share news about eCourts 2018 conference, law enforcement body cameras, the 25th anniversary of PDF, and microfilm to digital conversion technology to write up while the software is installing on my new laptop. 

Digital Evidence Collection Standards

In the “missed an announcement in December category”, the US National Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST) released federated testing tools that are “designed to help law enforcement and forensic practitioners”…”in making a copy of the data from a seized electronic device”.

Since courts deal with evidence, we need to discuss this below…

Court Document Verification in Brazil

The Supreme Court of Brazil

Last week I had the great honor of speaking with a very distinguished group of judges and lawyers from Brazil here at the NCSC. 

While I was preparing for the visit I found an order from one of the Federal Judges.  While reviewing it I found several very interesting ways that they are dealing with the electronic document verification in their courts.

Preserving the Record

The article last week regarding Judge Michael Marcus and his website, smartsentencing.com got me thinking about one of the court’s most important duties, preserving the record.  I share my list of strategies and options below.

Not Just Police Body Cams

GoPro Pet Camera Mounts

A recent Pennsylvania appellate court decision points out that the record keepers will deal with more than just law enforcement body camera evidence. Courts are having to deal with video evidence from many sources.

Storage, SSD’s and the Future of Court Records

A recent article stated “SSD prices plummet again, close in on HDD”.  Translated that means that solid state “flash” storage that runs much faster than traditional hard disk drives (HDD’s) is closing in on price parity.  But what does this mean for court records?  We discuss and speculate below.

This and That in Court Technology – December, 2015

We talk about saving websites as PDF's, an IT administrative position announcement, another judge reprimanded for social media use, police body cameras infected with a computer virus, LexisNexis acquisition of Lex Machina, and more...

This and That in Court Technology – October, 2015

News about CourtHack, a new judge research tool for lawyers, the FBI’s NextGen identification system, online digital record preservation classes, a new high-speed departmental scanner, and just what everyone needs: a “Flux Capacitor” for your car.

JTC Electronic Court Records Webinar Redux

The Joint Technology Committee (JTC) of COSCA and NACM recently conducted a webinar on "Developing an Electronic Court Records Disposition and Preservation Plan."  Huge demand and technical difficulties encountered the first time around prevented many from connecting to the webinar.  So the JTC is presenting this webinar again this Thursday, July 23, 2015 at 1:00pm EDT.

Even More This and That in Court Tech – June, 2015

2,500 year old Babylonian clay tablet

Remember that CTC-2015 is only three months away.  See http://ctc2015.org for more.  This week's post notes the CITOC Innovation Awards nominations, IJIS, PDF, NAJIS conferences, South Africa recognizes E-signatures, Michigan state court videoconferencing, M-Disc, and a funny from Harvard Business Review.

JTC Webinar on E-Records Disposition and Preservation

The Joint Technology Committee (JTC) of COSCA and NACM will host a webinar on Wednesday, June 24, 2015 at 1:00pm EDT.  The topic will be "Developing an Electronic Court Records Disposition and Preservation Plan."

JTC Resource Bulletin on Electronic Records Preservation and Disposition . . .

Our court’s case records are finally all electronic (well, almost) and storage is cheap and fast – so we won’t ever need to purge case records again, right? Well, you may want to reconsider if that’s what you’re thinking. A new Joint Technology Committee (JTC) Resource Bulletin, “Developing an Electronic Records Preservation and Disposition Plan,” explores a myriad of issues relating to electronic records retention. It builds on a 2012-2013 Policy Paper published by the Conference of State Court Administrators (COSCA), “To Protect and Preserve: Standards for Maintaining and Managing 21st Century Court Records.”

A Recommended E-Courts 2014 Session

Having just returned home from the excellent E-Courts 2014 conference, I would like to recommend a particular session on digital preservation.

US Federal Courts Data Conversion Explained

Many of you may have read about the controversy regarding some of the US Federal Courts "losing" PACER case file information.  Fortunately, the Wall Street Journal clarifies.

Court Decisions, “Link Rot”, and Perma.cc

As defined in Wikipedia, “Link rot” is an informal term for the process by which hyperlinks (either on individual websites or the Internet in general) point to web pages, servers or other resources that have become permanently unavailable.  This has become a serious problem in legal opinions and decisions.  A consortium of law libraries is taking action by creating Perma.cc.

This and That in Court Technology – March, 2014

Yes, it’s time for another post on news and notes regarding court tech.

PDF Archival Format Guidance Issued

The USA National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) has released a bulletin on January 31, 2014 detailing guidance on the use of PDF for electronic archival records.

This and That in Court Tech – December, 2013

Big news on credit card fees and much more in a busy month of announcements.