[ba-unrev-talk] Fw: LAW-AI Digest - 11 Sep 2002 to 4 Oct 2002 (#2002-10)
Thought this might be of interest to some. (01)
--
Peter
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Subject: LAW-AI Digest - 11 Sep 2002 to 4 Oct 2002 (#2002-10) (02)
> There is one message totalling 153 lines in this issue.
>
> Topics of the day:
>
> 1. Call for Papers: Conference on Social Informatics and Law
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Date: Fri, 4 Oct 2002 17:24:42 -0400
> From: Jim Milles <jgmilles@BUFFALO.EDU>
> Subject: Call for Papers: Conference on Social Informatics and Law
>
> (Please distribute this notice on other relevant discussion lists.)
>
> Call for Papers: Conference on Social Informatics and Law
> March 14-15, 2003
> Buffalo, New York
>
> Baldy Center for Law and Social Policy
> University at Buffalo Law School
> Law School
> 511 O'Brian Hall
> Buffalo, NY 14260
>
> Sponsored by Baldy Center for Law and Social Policy, University at Buffalo
> and the Center for Computer-Assisted Legal Instruction
>
> http://www.law.buffalo.edu/baldycenter/socinfo02.html (website forthcoming)
>
> CONFERENCE DESCRIPTION
>
> As described by Rob Kling, Professor of Information Systems and Information
> Science, SLIS and Adjunct Professor of Computer Science, Indiana University
> at Bloomington, "social informatics" identifies a body of research that
> examines the social aspects of computerization. Specifically, it may be
> defined as "the interdisciplinary study of the design, uses and consequences
> of information technologies that takes into account their interaction with
> institutional and cultural contexts" ("Social Informatics," at
> http://www.slis.indiana.edu/si/si2001.html). However, unlike common lay
> speculations, social informatics research strategies are usually based on
> empirical data. Social informatics researchers use data to analyze the
> present and recent past to better understand which social changes are
> possible, which are plausible and which are most likely in the future. One
> of the key concepts of social informatics is that information technologies
> are not designed or used in social or technological isolation. From a
> social informatics perspective, information technology applications may be
> viewed as "socio-technical networks," that is, systems that include many
> different elements, such as IT hardware, software, legal contracts and
> people in relationship to each other and other system elements. Social
> informatics is an alternative to romantic (or anti-romantic),
> non-research-based approaches to information technology and social change.
> The research in social informatics has found that the ways that many IT
> applications are configured, regulated, and used often have consequences
> that their designers and supporters did not anticipate. In addition, social
> informatics research shows that an IT application's consequences can appear
> contradictory because the effects can vary considerably across the different
> situations in which the application is being used. The most advanced social
> informatics research emphasizes theories that allow for complex, ambiguous,
> or varied outcomes, and helps to anticipate seemingly contradictory
> consequences.
>
> To date little of this growing body of research has been directed toward the
> utilization and effects of information technology in legal education or the
> practice of law. The scholarship on the future of legal education and the
> legal profession is filled with punditry, supplemented by anecdotal reports
> of specific implementations of information technology in law schools or law
> firms. We have very little empirical data on how law has differed from
> other professions in the adoption of information technology, or the specific
> mechanisms of how information technology has affected and been affected by
> legal academics and practitioners. Why, for example, have PDA's have become
> almost ubiquitous in medical schools, while their impact in law schools has
> been negligible? Why have medical schools widely adopted a small-class
> model in conjunction with intensive use of information technology, while law
> schools continue with large Socratic-style classes? Sound empirical
> research into these questions is needed before we can begin to predict
> future outcomes of the interactions of information technology and the legal
> profession. The conference and its results may lead to future grant funding
> to sponsor further empirical research on the use of technology by students
> and other academic constituents.
>
> CONFERENCE FORMAT
>
> This will be a small, working conference, with no more than ten presenters
> and a total of 30 to 45 participants and attendees. The conference will
> begin Friday afternoon and continue through Saturday. It is anticipated
> that the completed papers will be published as a symposium issue of an
> interdisciplinary or law journal.
>
> IMPORTANT DATES
>
> December 20, 2002 Proposal abstracts due
> January 10, 2003 Authors notified
> February 21, 2003 Drafts due
>
> SUBMISSION DETAILS
>
> Abstracts and drafts should be submitted in Word or WordPerfect format, by
> email to the Baldy Center at baldyctr@acsu.buffalo.edu or on diskette to
> Baldy Center for Law and Social Policy, University at Buffalo Law School,
> 511 O'Brian Hall, Buffalo, NY 14260. Abstracts will be posted on the
> conference website and draft copies of the papers will be made available in
> advance to participants.
>
> CONFERENCE SPONSORS
>
> The Christopher Baldy Center for Law and Social Policy, at the University at
> Buffalo Law School, is an internationally recognized institute that supports
> the interdisciplinary study of law and legal institutions. Over 100 UB
> faculty members from 17 academic departments participate in Baldy Center
> research and teaching activities. The Center maintains cooperative ties to
> other interdisciplinary research centers at UB and co-sponsors a regional
> network of sociolegal scholars in New York and Canada. The Baldy Center
> hosts distinguished scholars from around the world as visitors, consultants,
> and conference participants. For more information, see
> http://law.buffalo.edu/baldycenter/
>
> CALI, the Center for Computer-Assisted Legal Instruction, is a consortium of
> law schools that researches and develops computer-mediated legal instruction
> and supports institutions and individuals using technology in legal
> education. CALI was established in June 1982 by the University of Minnesota
> Law School and Harvard Law School to continue and expand upon a
> collaboration which began in 1971. The focus of this early activity was the
> development of computer-based exercises for use in law school curriculum and
> in the development of a computer network for sharing these exercises. Now
> CALI has a membership of over 180 law schools and international affiliates
> and publishes over 150 computer-based tutorials in over 20 different legal
> subject areas. Other activities include the Conference for Law School
> Computing and the CALI Excellence for the Future Awards for law students who
> receive the highest grade in their class. CALI also runs a website with
> pages that relate to all of CALI's activities and is actively researching
> the use of the Internet as an educational delivery tool or collaborative
> learning environment. CALI maintains offices at the University of Minnesota
> School of Law and Illinois Institute of Technology Chicago-Kent College of
> Law. For more information, see http://www.cali.org/
>
> CONFERENCE ORGANIZERS
>
> James G. Milles
> Associate Dean for Legal Information Services and Director of the Law
> Library
> Visiting Associate Professor of Law
> University at Buffalo Law School
> 208 O'Brian Hall
> Buffalo, New York 14260
> Phone: (716) 645-2089
> Fax: (716) 645-3860
> jgmilles@buffalo.edu
>
> Shubha Ghosh
> Visiting Associate Professor of Law
> University at Buffalo Law School
> 724 O'Brian Hall
> Buffalo, New York 14260
> Phone: (716) 645-2749
> sghosh2@buffalo.edu
>
> ------------------------------
>
> End of LAW-AI Digest - 11 Sep 2002 to 4 Oct 2002 (#2002-10)
> ***********************************************************
> (03)