Technology Tools for Legal AidGabrielle Hammond, NTAP

January 31, 2007

I never…

Participated in a Legal Meetings (WebEx) call

Hosted a Legal Meetings call Visited the new LSNTAP website (www.lsntap.org)

Completed an online survey using the Poverty Law Survey Tool

Used a wiki Created a survey using the Poverty Law Survey Tool

Added content to the LSNTAP Website

Technology Tools for Legal Aid

LSNTAP.Org Poverty Law Survey Tool Wikis LegalMeetings

Coming soon…. GIS Mapping Server

Other Tools

Meeting Scheduling Online RSS Feeds and Readers Open Source Apps

Why are you here…

Want to learn about all the tools available to my program.

Want to learn how the community is using these tools (generally)

Want to learn specifics (i.e. nuts and bolts) how to use tools- Which tools?

Curious about what all those acronyms in the agenda meant: LM, LAU, GIS….

LSNTAP.Org

Technology information for poverty law Training for poverty law Blogs and entry to national projects

(national wikis, email lists) It is not just for techies….Your role:

Tell other staff about it in your program

Bookmark: www.lsntap.org/techlibrary

The LSNTAP.Org Tour

Tech Library: Name that Tech Topic! (or Search Game)

Portal for national email lists and wikis

News and Views (blogs available) Training (Calendar, Lists, and Registration)

Posting Content and Logging In Posting Jobs

Resources

www.legalmeetings.org (aka www.lsntap.org/aboutlegalmeetings) Information on Sign Up Information on Using LegalMeetings

Trainings: Energizing Online Meetings, Oct 26 First Tues of Every Month: LegalMeetings Roundtable). Starts February (For Existing Users)

Online Surveys

Client Satisfaction Surveys (from Hotline)

Staff Surveys on Management Issues

Retreat and Conference Planning National Initiatives -- Getting Feedback

Technology or Other Project Evaluation

Online Survey Tools

Survey Monkey Poverty Law Survey Tool Zoomerang Others…

Poverty Law Survey Tool

Free Robust Features Support is Available During Use

Important Features

Customize look & feel and include images Question types and logic of questions Share Your Surveys with Others in the Community (avoid recreating from scratch)

Send Surveys Out Anonymously, With Tokens, with Registration Options

Reporting and Statistics includes Charts and Graphs

Ability to copy questions between surveys or reuse yours or others’ shared surveys as a template

Before You Begin

A Survey Tool cannot write the survey for you…

Strength of your survey depends on preparation

Before you go online, know:The Question TypesHow you’ll distribute the surveyHow it will be administeredStart and end date

What if….You Don’t Know

How would you know which one to use? What are Tokens? What do you mean by Question Types What do you mean by Skip Logic and Branching?

We have resources: http://lsntap.org/node/1706 (question types) http://lsntap.org/surveyhowto (step-by-step) http://lsntap.org/node/890 (administration options)

Basic Steps in Survey Creation

Login to your account and create a new survey

Fill out as much of the survey metadata as you can at this point

Create a group (to contain one or all questions) and name it with the knowledge that groups are arranged alphabetically

Create a question and choose an appropriate question type. Enter the possible answers to the question. (for certain question types)

Create new questions/groups as required Test the survey and make any changes

required Activate the survey and send the link to

your respondents

Resources

Sign up for an account at survey.lstech.org

Trainings and resources available in the lsntap.org resource library

Sign up for upcoming NTAP trainings on using the survey tool February 15, 2007 November 16, 2007 ADVANCED training for current users only: TBA (likely March and December)

Email support: madhu@lsntap.org

Online Tool for Collaboration

What if there were an easy way to: Share versions of your hotline or housing manual across multiple authors, without using email…

Store and update passwords that change quickly (like tech pwds) so you don’t have to wait to find your techie to log back in…

Save on the email bulk…

Wikis

An online space, like a website, where "anyone" can add, edit, or remove web pages without specific web tools or knowledge.

Preserves prior versions of pages and logs changes made to its pages.

A group of people can use it to create a collaborative work or reference environment.

Some uses in Legal Services

Personnel Manuals, Administrative & Litigation Manuals

Technology State Task Force Projects & Conferences National Projects To support meeting planning Examples

Wikis In Action…

Wikipedia Fema Answers (http://femaanswers.org)

NTAP’s Wiki (password protected)

LSSCM’s Technology Wiki Cyber Piracy Wiki

Starting a Wiki: Determine Platform

Just like with website platforms, there are many wiki “platforms” to choose from…

Decide whether you host it yourself or have it hosted. (Security versus ease of use and administration)**

We use MediaWiki -- not the prettiest, but “industry-standard.”

NTAP will be offering programs wiki hosting (we’ll give you space on a server to host your wiki) starting in March.

Other options: http://lsntap.org/node/1064****

Starting a Wiki

No one is that excited about a blank page

Change of Mindset (NTAP’s example) Tips for Successful Wikis

Get someone who is willing to try Put up content before you distribute Share materials on how to edit (on the wiki itself)…make it easy

Basic Editing (Mediawiki)

Let’s see how to edit a Wiki:

http://lsntap.org/node/1062

Other Resources: http://lsntap.org Tutorial All About Media Wiki Lessons Learned And more….

Resources

LSNTAP.Org resources on wikis Mediawiki resources at

http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Help:Contents

Upcoming Trainings March 2, 2007

Wiki Tools

Jotspot Confluence (free for nonprofits)

MediaWiki PBwiki

LegalMeetings Web Conferencing

How many use it? Sign Up: www.legalmeetings.org Use it: http://lm.webex.com

Prices range from $10 - 32 a month depending on program budget size…first three months for LSC funded programs free.

Non-LSC funded programs at $75 a month, first three months at $50.

Poverty Law & LegalMeetings

Staff Meetings, Task Force Meetings, Staff Training, One-On-One Document Review and Edit, Advocacy Brainstorm Sessions, Substantive Law Review Sessions, Board Meetings, Management Meetings, and Remote Tech Support.

A Look at Use

GLSP 157 Online Meetings 47 of these meetings

were used to train on new CMS, LegalServer

Average distance between offices is 175 miles (3.5 hours)

Estimated $$ saved just in LegalServer trainings: $23,424.00

Community Legal Services - Mid Florida 26 meetings in last

year (started in Sept)

Used to train Helpline staff on areas of law

Average distance is 59 miles

Estimated $$ saved is $1076.00

What if we all…..

If 30 programs used it like GLSP, the national community would have saved an estimated: $820,704.00.

If 30 programs used it like CLSMF, the national community would have saved an estimated: $68,194.24.

GIS Mapping National Server Project

Map Census Data by Legal Aid program

Map Case Management Data with Google Earth

www.lsntap.org/gisnationalserver

Coming Soon: April

Other Tools

Meeting Scheduling www.meetomatic.com www.meetingwizard.com

Upcoming: Phone Conferencing for Legal Aid Programs 6 cents a minute for toll-free Award winning phone service

RSS Feeds and Readers: www.lsntap.org/techlibrary

Other Tools

Open Source Software Diagram Software: http://live.gnome.org/Dia

Open Source Suites: http://openoffice.org

More Tips Training by NTAP on May 4 http://lsntap.org/50techtips