Annual Report of the IJA (http://ija.org/) Electronic Media Committee 2004 http://ija.org/commelec.htmTo: Ann Brackley
Jorgensen, President I hope this details the accomplishments this past half-year of the IJA (http://ija.org) Electronic Media Committee 2004 http://ija.org/commelec.htm (EMC), our current projects (ongoing or proposed) and any suggestions we have for things we can do in the future with our committee. Listproc to Mailman Migration Why are we migrating? February 2004 -- The previous program became outdated and Mailman offers Web-based management for subscribers, listowners, and site administrators alike. It offers regular upgrades to address any new problems that arise and a well-established user community for technical support. Plus, it's free! Our e-mail list now numbers about 559 e-mail addresses (increased from 484 on October 7, 2003) and is a useful tool for the IJA leadership to assist them in quickly and cheaply contacting the membership. Nowhere was this proven more true than this past year, when IJA leadership used it for prompt alerts to the membership of the final vote on Third Reading in the Illinois House of SB 100 (COMP REV-JUDGES COLA-REPORTS) which resulted in a resounding reversal the next morning of the previous vote and successful passage (69 to 40) of the "Cola Repeal Repeal"! We currently have 28 special icons on the IJA Homepage (http://ija.org) for easy member access to items of interest. One new recent area is the "COLA Suits Index" at http://ija.org/bb/cola/index.htm, which currently contains 38 items relating to the IJA COLA suit against the Governor and Comptroller over executive branch efforts to curtail judicial compensation. That area is currently password protected. I am very pleased with the positive reaction to our new Online Benchbook (http://ija.org/bb/benchbok.htm) and would urge each IJA member personally to consider making a contribution in the near future. It is slowly growing and I want it to grow faster and become a really positive and practical resource for Illinois Judges, not just for rote law helps, but practical stuff that does not involve legal research, the humdrum daily stuff we all do on the bench. With the growing size of the Benchbook area and my desire to archive all of the bb contributions into a self-extracting compressed Zip file (http://ija.org/bb/bb.exe) on the website, our storage needs on our host website (Prairienet) computer are growing as well. Our committee is gratefuI to our leadership for $2000 received this past fiscal year for our host Prairienet. As you know Prairienet operates on voluntary contributions and not specific member assessments. This level of support helps fund all the goodies they provide to our webvisitors instantly, and 24 hours a day, via Internet backbone connected to any computer on the planet! Such as: - Maintaining our domain name (ija.org) with the Internet at large. - Answering all my Internet technical questions quickly (which most of you do not know about!) - Maintaining the new Mailman list software for instant e-mail messaging to 559 online IJA members (56% of the 999 current IJA members) - Setting aside a secure password-protected directory area (http://ija.org/bb/) for the Benchbook and for very confidential communication to the membership from our officers (e.g. COLA stuff). - And links on our homepage (http://ija.org/) Prairienet (http://www.prairienet.org/) is non-profit and raises the bulk of its operating money through the University of Illinois Foundation each year (http://www.uif.uiuc.edu/). It is connected directly to the UI fast Internet pipes, and is available to any user on the planet 24 hours a day! Our committee wants to start a Law Forum using the new Mailman list e-mail to allow our membership to exchange questions and answers on specific problem areas of cases they are currently handling. The e-mail would not be encrypted, but would be restricted to our e-mail list members and be confidential. To start it out at least, I would moderate and forward the question to the list members for a response from judges interested in a reply. We could divide the forum into areas of specialty (civil, criminal, juvenile) and invite participants on a regular basis. I would set up an e-mail icon on the website homepage for judges only to send me their questions. This would be of particular use to downstate judges in small counties who often do not have a regular opportunity for interchange in the law with colleagues and specifically with judges who have experience in dealing with issues that are unique to them but come up fairly regularly in larger jurisdictions. Let's everyone read a book this year and write a book review to share at http://ija.org/bookrev/newbooks.htm!! Please consider this the report of our committee (http://ija.org/commelec.htm), since you know by now that the only way we do business is by e-mail and web pages! Thank you for the privilege of serving the Illinois Judges Association.
Respectfully submitted:
CHAIR: David A. Youck
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