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April 04, 2006

Our Electricity is Back

A short, but violent, storm swept through St. Louis on Sunday afternoon. Our electricity went out with the first gust of wind. Power returned late last night. The electric company returned this morning for more repairs in our neighborhood and the power was out again for a few hours today.

As we rely more and more on technology, this state of affairs can be a real drag, especially if you work out of a home office (or any office that happens to be an area without electricity).

I was talking with a writer today who had interviewed me for quotes for an article for on extranets and we joked about writing an article on the trials and tribulations of the tech-reliant in a time without electricity.

I did some thinking about whether there were some lessons I could learn about disaster recovery planning. There are some, of course.

The tricky part in all in this episode was that the power could have returned at any time, and it usually is not out for as long as it was this time.

For example, I did the trip to a local restaurant with WiFi access yesterday and then was surprised that the electricity was still out (as was my battery on my Tablet PC by then).

I did not try some of my more creative options - heading over to my father-in-law's to check in on him and use his electrical outlets, for example.

The irritating thing in this episode is that we were right on the dividing line - our neighbors across the street all had power the whole time.

By the way, I'm not sure how Abe Lincoln and others were able to read by candlelight.

[Originally posted on DennisKennedy.Blog (http://www.denniskennedy.com/blog/)]

Learn more about electronic discovery at Dennis Kennedy's Electronic Discovery Resources page.

This post brought to you by LexThink!(R) - The Legal Unconference. Ask us about private LexThink retreats and conferences for your firm, business or organization. Coming soon - LexThink Lounge - April 19, 2006.

Technorati tags: legal technology disaster recovery planning

Posted by dmk at 08:39 PM | Comments (0)

March 27, 2006

National Sleep Awareness Week 2006 Starts Today

I'll be ringing in National Sleep Awareness Week this evening by taking a follow-up sleep study tonight. As some of you know, I'm among the estimated 18 million Americans trying to deal with sleep apnea. My condition has lasted several years and is characterized as mild-to-moderate (but still difficult). I have made some significant improvement and have gotten praise from my doctors for doing everything they suggest.

As a result, I've become a big advocate for getting sleep-tested when the symptoms are apparent (male, over 40, snorer, 17" neck size, to name a few). For more info, check out this article and Wikipedia entry.

If you have sleep apnea or know someone who does (or might have), the best resource I've found is Paretz Lavie's excellent book, Restless Nights.

[Originally posted on DennisKennedy.Blog (http://www.denniskennedy.com/blog/)]

Like what you are reading? Check out the other blogs where I post - Between Lawyers (feed) and the LexThink Blog (feed).

Technorati tags: sleep apnea apnea

Posted by dmk at 04:57 PM | Comments (0)

March 21, 2006

Ray Bradbury on the Uneasy Coexistence of Art with Advertising

Something to think about:

"If you go to the newsstand today, you see 1,000 magazines, and there's hardly an idea in them. They've been invaded by advertising. I had a poem in Good Housekeeping a few years ago. I looked through and I couldn't find it. I finally called them and asked, 'Where's my damn poem?' It was on Page 150, opposite the Clorox ad."
Ray Bradbury, author of Farenheit 451

From the March 19 NY Times via the Rock & Rap Confidential email list.

[Originally posted on DennisKennedy.Blog (http://www.denniskennedy.com/blog/)]

Like what you are reading? Check out the other blogs where I post - Between Lawyers (feed) and the LexThink Blog (feed).

Technorati tags: musings ads

Posted by dmk at 09:39 AM | Comments (0)

March 16, 2006

Blog Posts That Got My Attention Today

A few blog posts I liked today, all of which will make you stop and think:

Shelley Powers' "Simple Philosophy"

David Maister's "Why Training is Useless"

Deborah McMurray's "Are companies really firing their outside law firms in record numbers?"

Tyler Cowen's "Why don't more businesses use prediction markets?"

Steve Dembo's "EdTech Connect Webinar Series| DiscoverySchool.com"

Jonathan Snook's "Feeds as a platform + future of aggregators"

MasterMaq's "Teaching Kids About Cybersecurity"

Jesper Bindslev's "Strategic Agility and Corporate Blogging - The OODA loop as a model for organizing corporate blogging activities"

[Originally posted on DennisKennedy.Blog (http://www.denniskennedy.com/blog/)]

Posted by dmk at 08:07 PM | Comments (0)

March 09, 2006

Too Busy to Be Productive?

Everyone I know is incredibly busy. As an example, here's a quote from a recent email from a friend of mine: "I am DROWNING right now."

We all face the ironic situation that our labor-saving devices and productivity tools (software and hardware) have left us with a vague feeling that they have helped us only to work harder and less productively.

So you see people stretched thin and becoming less patient. Notice what happens 15 or 20 minutes into a meeting or phone call. People even schedule calls a few minutes before another meeting so they can jump off and feel they have knocked another item off the to-do list.

People regularly come to me with ideas for group projects (often related to blogging). My new test is to say that it will be worth pursuing only if the people who want to do it are willing to commit to doing a one-hour conference call. Often, that call never gets scheduled - people get too busy to give up the time and effort to put together, set-up and have that call.

So, for all you busy people, which is probably all of us, I've found something that you must find some time to read and think about. It's from Dave Pollard and its a post called "Too Busy Being Unproductive to Learn to Be Productive."

The money quote (among many):

One of the paradoxes of modern life is we're too busy to learn to do things that would make us less busy and more productive. . . . If you're skeptical, spend a half hour observing a co-worker at his/her PC and you'll be astonished: It's like watching someone being tortured -- awkward workarounds, unnecessary steps, time wasted searching in the wrong places the wrong way. The cost to every enterprise, and our economy as a whole, must be gargantuan.

An important guide for the too busy society.

[Originally posted on DennisKennedy.Blog (http://www.denniskennedy.com/blog/)]

Technorati tags: Dave Pollard productivity too busy

Posted by dmk at 04:01 PM | Comments (0)

March 01, 2006

Spring Bike Rides

The temperature today hit 75 degrees and I had to go out on my first long bike ride of the winter. I took my usual route - Grant's Trail. The good news was that the gap between my hoped-for level of fitness and my actual level of fitness wasn't as big as I had feared it would be. The bad news is that someone seems to have made the hills a little higher over the winter.

As I rode today, I realized that part of what I like about bicycling is that it is a form of moving meditation, giving you both a time to think and a time to slow your thoughts down.

Part of the reason for this comes from the safety issues. It's not safe to ride while listening to an iPod on headphones or talking on a cell phone. Checking email on a Blackberry - pretty dangerous.

So, you get a time of relative quiet and removal from distractions - a good combination for most of us.

Now, if there were only a good, safe way to capture the thoughts and ideas that flow while riding . . . .

When I returned from my ride, there was a single yellow crocus blooming in our front yard. It's not spring yet, but it's a taste of spring, with a promise of more rides to come.

[Originally posted on DennisKennedy.Blog (http://www.denniskennedy.com/blog/)]

Like what you are reading? Check out the other blogs where I post - Between Lawyers (feed) and the LexThink Blog (feed).

Technorati tags: cycling

Posted by dmk at 08:03 PM | Comments (1)

February 24, 2006

Curl up with a Good Book this Weekend

Rosa Say has done a cool thing on her blog by getting a bunch of bloggers to let her know of posts where they reviewed books they liked. She's then posted a list of of those books and excerpts of the review posts. She calls this the 2nd Annual Love Affair with Books.

The result is a great reading list. Take a look at the post and make a list for your next trip to your favorite library or bookstore (or Amazon). You'll also find some new blogs that you will want to check out.

My contribution was my review of Cliff Atkinson's Beyond Bullet Points.

I'd like to thank Rosa for inviting me to join in and for creating a cool way to use blogs in a helpful way that benefits her readership greatly. Happy reading.

[Originally posted on DennisKennedy.Blog (http://www.denniskennedy.com/blog/)]

Posted by dmk at 04:32 PM | Comments (0)

February 23, 2006

St. Louis Blogger Lunch Today

By a string of coincidences and an exchange of emails, I ended up at an impromptu lunch with four St. Louis bloggers today. It was so much fun that we are talking about making it a regular event.

We also want to do a St. Louis blogger meet-up one of these days soon and get even more of the St. Louis bloggers together.

We had three BlawgThink alums (four, if you count me) - Michelle Golden, George Lenard and Marianne Richmond - and Microsoft's Randy Holloway (who wanted to attend BlawgThink but had other commitments).

Meeting other bloggers is my favorite part of blogging.

I'm pushing Randy to see if he can get the keys to one of the meeting spaces at Microsoft's offices here in St. Louis to host a blogger meet-up. Watch for more details. Maybe I'll finally get my chance to meet my favorite St. Louis blogger, Shelley "Burningbird" Powers, in person if we can put this event together.

[Originally posted on DennisKennedy.Blog (http://www.denniskennedy.com/blog/)]

Technorati tags: St. Louis bloggers BlawgThink

Posted by dmk at 08:36 PM | Comments (1)

Smart Man Online Interview

I've long enjoyed Yvonne Divita's Lipsticking blog, so it's an honor to be interviewed by Yvonne for her "Smart Man Online" feature today.

I talked about a number of topics and talk quite a bit more about writing and blogging than I typically do on this blog.

If you don't already read Yvonne's blog, shame on you, but go ahead and check out the interview and sample some of the excellent material she has there on Internet marketing to women. I got to meet Yvonne at the first LexThink conference, but I was a fan of her blog long before that.

Thanks, Yvonne, for all your kind words and giving me the chance to be one of your "smart men online." It's a blogging honor that I truly appreciate.

[Originally posted on DennisKennedy.Blog (http://www.denniskennedy.com/blog/)]

Like what you are reading? Check out the other blogs where I post - Between Lawyers (feed) and the LexThink Blog (feed).

Posted by dmk at 08:20 PM | Comments (1)

February 21, 2006

Pulling the Plug on the All Q & A Format for this Blog

I decided last night to put an end to the all question-and-answer format I have been experimenting with since the beginning of the year. For new readers, the idea was that I would write the title of each post as a question that the post would then answer.

My reasons for taking the approach were:

1. It was something different and might be a way to reinvent my blog a bit.

2. People have always enjoyed my "By Request" days where I answer questions.

3. Mainly, though, I thought it might be a way to help me write blog posts more quickly and easily.

After almost two months, I had drawn a few conclusions:

1. It wasn't making it easier and quicker to writer blog posts. In fact, in some cases, I spent more time working on the question than the answer (I'm kidding), and some posts didn't lend themselves to the Q & A format or resulted in awkward questions.

2. I did not get a lot of feedback on the new format and what I did was from people who questioned the approach I was taking or liked the old way better.

3. I noticed some interesting, slightly negative results in Google search rankings that might be attributed to the use of questions in the post titles.

In other words, I was beginning to shrug my shoulders whenever I thought about the approach. It wasn't a negative experience, but it wasn't a positive experience either.

Last night, some of the smartest bloggers I know told me it was time to abandon the approach. That confirmed my thinking.

I decided that since it's my blog, I can do whatever I want, including changing my mind.

So, I'm dropping the all Q & A approach, although I still do the occasional "By Request" days and use a question as a post title from time to time.

Blogging is about experimenting. Some experiments work really well and some not so well. Those are the easy experiments to evaluate. It's the ones that end up in the middle that are hardest to decide what to do with.

So, I'm thinking up a new experiment. Anonymous blogging has been done to death and probably won't work for me (see the title of this blog). I've seen pictures of me appearing on various blogs lately and I'm intrigued by the idea of doing graphics and pictures on my blog.

By the way, of the recent pictures of me from BlawgThink, I greatly prefer the one here to the one here (from the fun-loving bloggers at RethinkIP).

[Originally posted on DennisKennedy.Blog (http//www.denniskennedy.com/blog/)]

Like what you are reading? Check out the other blogs where I post - Between Lawyers (feed) and the LexThink Blog (feed).

Posted by dmk at 07:42 PM | Comments (0)

February 20, 2006

Where's the Rest of Blogiversary Week?

Life intervened on my blogiversary plan. My father-in-law had chest pain and was hospitalized and had a few procedures last week. He's now home and doing well. Our plans and schedules got turned around for a few days.

So, blogiversary week will just end without further fanfare. I have some "by request" posts that I'll respond to later this week, but I think I'll simply return to regular programming.

[Originally posted on DennisKennedy.Blog (http://www.denniskennedy.com/blog/)

Posted by dmk at 10:35 AM | Comments (0)

February 16, 2006

What Was The Most Important Blog Post You Read (or Re-read) Today?

It has to be John Robb's post, "The Next Attacks." Read it and see if you agree. Be sure to follow the link that explains his reference to a "black swan."

Dave Pollard's "Three Things to Teach Your Children" is another candidate for most important post.

On the professional side, Ron Baker's "Attorneys Aren't Knowledge Workers" is another must-read.

[Originally posted on DennisKennedy.Blog (http://www.denniskennedy.com/blog/)]

Like what you are reading? Check out the other blogs where I post - Between Lawyers (feed) and the LexThink Blog (feed).

Posted by dmk at 06:48 PM | Comments (0)

February 15, 2006

By Request: What Would I Do Differently If I Started Blogging Today?

Leading intellectual property law blogger Steve Nipper had a great post the other day called "Five things I would do differently if I started blogging today" that I highly recommend to your attention. He has some wise observations and some great tips for both new bloggers and long-time bloggers.

I started this blog three years ago today. To help you understand my point of view, at the time I felt that I was starting my own RSS feed and that the blog was the vehicle for the RSS feed. RSS was the motivation and the driver for this blog. As I've mentioned before, I was soaking up everything I could about RSS at the time, Dave Winer's Scripting News was my prime and daily resource, and I spent much more time researching what the blogging tools could do in generating RSS feeds than I did in researching what they could do in terms of blogging.

First, let me concur that Steve's main points in his posts - portability and user friendliness - are ones that every blogger needs to think about on a regular basis.

Here is my somewhat iconoclastic list:

1. I'd Treat My Blog More Like a Website. I make no secret that my focus for my blog and the audience I consider when writing my blog is the audience that subscribes to the RSS feed. Even though I know that a huge number of readers visit my blog directly, I'm surprised when someone tells me that they "visited" my blog.

As a result, I think I underserve the non-RSS portion of my audience, don't think about the blog experience as much as I perhaps should, and have not explored what blogging software, such as Movable Type, can do as a content management tool for a combined blog/website experience. I'm intrigued by some of the things another RethinkIP guy, Matt Buchanan, has done and has talked about doing in terms of making his blog more webpage-like.

What does that mean? Updating certain posts with fresh information or lists of links. Using posts as repositories of information (say, a list of my articles). Fleshing out the "blog as mini-portal" concept. There are a lot of ideas there.

Once you move into a feed-dominant approach, I think that you focus primarily on content and less on the actual design and user experience of the visitors to the blog (do bloggers really understand what the message they are sending when they have a long column of not-very-relevant Adsense ads on the front page of their blogs or a blog roll in which there are hundreds of blogs and six of the first ten are either dead links or blogs which haven't been posted to in months?)

In retrospect, I might have decided to do the idea I had a few years ago to redesign my site and adapt it into Movable Type. RSS is still what interests me most, but I think I neglected some things that would have worked well for the large numbers of people who do not yet use RSS.

2. I Would Have Used More Emoticons and Humor Warnings. Many people still do not believe me that I started this blog not as a lawyer blog, but as an experiment in writing. I wanted to try different kinds of writing and let it find its own audience. As a result, I'll do things on my blog that I would not recommend that the standard lawyer blog do. But, I know that.

One thing that I like to do is write about subjects ironically or to attempt to inject some humor. One of my friends likes to tell me that my humor is pretty dry and it's hard enough to know when I'm not being serious in person, but it's even harder to know that in my blog writing.

Once upon a time, I used little "humor warnings" when I thought there was a good chance that people, especially lawyers, would not be able to tell from the context that I was joking around. I haven't done that in a while. I also use a lot of self-deprecating humor, which people don't always understand that I'm doing (that comes from growing up in small-town Indiana, where both self-deprecating humor and deadpan-delivery are admired traits).

The unstated rule in blogging seems to be that you not use emoticons (smileys) to let people know that you are joking. ;-) This, of course, preserves the "but I was just joking" defense if someone takes exception to your post, but sometimes leads to some misinterpretations.

This has become more of a concern as the blogworld has grown and not every blogger knows every other blogger. In the past few months, I've felt that too many of my comments have been misinterpreted and a smiley here or there would probably help matters.

3. I Would Have Done More Collaborative Blog Projects Earlier. The whole blogging thing is worth it for me just because it gave me the chance to work with Between Lawyers group. If you add LexThink!(R) to that, that's quite a "return" on my blogging investment. I'd like to do more of that, and to have done it sooner. The bloggers I've met over these three years are amazing people. I'm happy that they've let me join them in creating whatever blogging will grow into.

I'd still like to do that big collaborative project that a bunch of us have been talking about for way too long.

4. I Would Not Have Turned on Comments. I turned on comments on my blog after not enabling them for close to the first two years of my blog's life. Now that they are on, I don't really think that I can (nor do I really want to ) turn them off. But I have a lot of second thoughts about them.

I estimate that the ratio of comment spam to good comments is at least 50:1. It's part of my regular routine to clear out spam comments. On the other hand, one good comment from someone you respect makes all the hassle seem worth it - at least now that they are on. In retrospect, I would have left them turned off and ignored the people who like to say that you don't have a "real blog" if you don't have comments on.

5. I Would Not Have Spent Two Years Trying to Decide What the Right Thing to Do on Ads and Sponsorships Was and Then End Up at the Same Place I was at Two Years Ago. I used to write a lot on this topic. My feeling was that randomly-served ads really did not make sense for blogs (unless you have huge amounts of traffic) and that the National Public Radio sponsorship model was more appropriate for blogs. However, there was tons of discussion about ads on blogs, ads in feeds and related issues. I wanted to do the right thing and follow the model that the leading blog thinkers felt was best.

The blog world moved to server-based ads. I do some of that, through Blogads, in part because Henry Copeland was a speaker at our BlawgThink conference, but, now more than ever, I think that a tailored sponsorship model is the better approach. I'll consider any approach these days and it is clear that the ad-based model has become a standard, but I think I should have gone my own way from the beginning.

6. I Would Have Done More Experimenting. I'm really curious to see where today's generation of highly-focused, marketing-oriented blogs go. I think that many of them are great and I learn from them on a regular basis. I also know that most of the long-time bloggers are writing on topics and in ways that are far different and far broader than what they did when they started. It seems that somewhere between a year and a year-and-a-half, many bloggers start to write more personally or to explore new directions. It will be interesting, in a good way, to see what happens with the more corporate blogging efforts.

Some might say that I've probbaly experimented more than most with the blogging form. I still remember the negative feedback I got when I experimented with a blog post written in the third person.

However, there are many things I haven't tried and I'd like to have been more willing to experiment with new features, approaches, audio and the like.

So, I'd add to Steve's list of key points one thing - a willingness to experiment.

[Originally posted on DennisKennedy.Blog (http://www.denniskennedy.com/blog/)]

Like what you are reading? Check out the other blogs where I post - Between Lawyers (feed) and the LexThink Blog (feed).

blogiversary

Posted by dmk at 05:18 PM | Comments (3)

Is It True That My Blog Has Its Own Amazon Wishlist?

My working theory is that at some point after your second year of blogging, your blog begins to take on a life of its own. It's more than just that it demands to be fed with new posts every day, like an online Tamagotchi pet.

Bloggers start talking about their blogs as if they are another person and they even have pet names or acronyms for their blogs. Last summer, Doug Sorocco of the RethinkIP blog was in St. Louis and we had lunch. He kept talking about the "Artip" blog this and that. Gradually, I figured out that he meant RTIP. I didn't want to admit that I didn't know about his new blog and I resolved to look it up later. On the drive home, I finally realized RTIP was the insider name for RethinkIP.

I can't believe the number of bloggers who have pet names for their blogs. I've started to refer to mine as DKB. Between Lawyers has, of course, turned into "BL" when we talk about it among the authors. We actually considered what the shortened or pet names might be when we named Between Lawyers.

Anthropomorphize is the technical term for this phenomenon.

So, to make a long story short, I was talking with my blog about the blogiversary week thing. It said, "Shouldn't I be the one getting presents? Let's face it, the audience comes to me, not to you."

A fair point.

My blog then said that there were a lot of things that I had touched on in my posts (actually, it said "our posts") in the last three years that it would like to learn more about. It then said that it would like to put together an Amazon wishlist so that readers could send the blog books and other items it was interested in.

Right. So, I said, "If you can make the wishlist, I'll post about the wishlist in the blog and we'll see what happens." I thought that would be the end of it, seriously, but blogs can be innovative, insistent and persistent. Today my blog reminded me that today is its official birthday and handed me the URL to its very own Amazon wishlist.

Well, a promise is a promise, right? If you like my blog and want to send it a birthday present, you now have a handy list of gift suggestions. Send any gifts to me and I'll pass them along to the blog.

Blogs really do seem to take on a life of their own.

[Originally posted on DennisKennedy.Blog (http://www.denniskennedy.com/blog/)]

Like what you are reading? Check out the other blogs where I post - Between Lawyers (feed) and the LexThink Blog (feed).

Technorati tag: blogiversary

Posted by dmk at 04:01 PM | Comments (0)

February 14, 2006

Did You Say You Were Offering Some Discounts on Your Services for Your Blogiversary Week?

I did say something about some special discounts for some of my services during my blogiversary week.

I was going to offer some discounts on a few selected speaking and consulting packages, but I decided to do something much simpler.

Simply, if you book any speaking or consulting engagement from me this week (until February 20), you'll get a ten percent discount on the price we agree to. If it's a flat-fee arrangement, I'll knock ten percent off the price. If it's an hourly-fee engagement, I'll reduce my hourly rate by ten percent. It's that simple. The only catches are that you need to book with me this week and this discount does not apply to my legal services or to LexThink services and/or events.

Take a look at my speaking and consulting pages on my website for some ideas of the services and seminars I provide. This would also be a great time to book one of the new legal tech audit packages I've just started to offer.

As I said before, I mean for this week to be a reader appreciation week for readers of my blog.

[Originally posted on DennisKennedy.Blog (http://www.denniskennedy.com/blog/)]

This post brought to you by Dennis Kennedy's legal technology consulting services, featuring RSS and blogging consulting, technology audit, strategic planning and technology committee coaching packages especially for medium-sized law firms (15 - 100 lawyers) and corporate legal departments. More information on the "Second Pair of Eyes" packages for legal technology audits and strategic planning may be found here (PDF).

Technorati tag: legal technology blogiversary

Posted by dmk at 08:00 PM | Comments (0)

February 13, 2006

What Free Downloads Are You Offering for Your Blogiversary Week?

There are five free PDF downloads I'm offering to readers of this blog this week

1. My eBooklet called Preparing Your Law Firm for the Internet Era: 150 Steps Toward a 21st Century Practice of Law (PDF, 324K)

2. My eBooklet on Rethinking Legal technology (PDF, 215K)

3. An introduction to my thinking about electronic discovery technology issues (PDF, 128K)

4. The collection of my articles I republished on my blog last fall (PDF, 740K).

5. My PowerPoint slides from my recent presentation on Trends in Electronic Discovery Technology for 2006 (PDF, 594K).

[Originally posted on DennisKennedy.Blog (http://www.denniskennedy.com/blog/)]

Technorati tag: legal technology

Posted by dmk at 02:27 PM | Comments (0)

Announcing the 2006 Blogiversary / Birthday Week at DennisKennedy.Blog

Longtime readers of this blog will know that I like to do something now and then to show my appreciation for my readers.

Last year, I had the idea to use the week of my blog's anniversary (February 15) and my birthday (February 17) - this blog was an early birthday present to myself in 2003 - as a way to have a reader appreciation week. It seemed to work out well last year and I've decided to have another blogiversary / birthday week this year. It's meant to be fun and to help me remember not to treat my blog or me too seriously.

So, I'll have a continuing set of blogiversary-related posts this week and some regular posts as well. I'd also like to answer your questions, so ask away and I'll have some "By Request" posts this week too.

I've put together some special features, some free downloads, some discounts on some of my consulting and speaking packages, and some surprises. And three big announcements below.

I want to thank the people, like Ed Poll, who have already wished my blog and me happy birthday. Best wishes to Ed, who is celebrating his birthday by going to a professional cycling camp, something I'd like to do someday.

Let's jump right into the three big announcements for the week.

1. In a HUGE announcement, NASCAR has decided to recognize my willingness to mention that I am a NASCAR fan, despite the preachy advice you get that lawyers should never mention any personal interests or show any personality on their blogs (especially not for stock car racing or anything else seen by these critics as not professionally dignified), by graciously scheduling this year's Daytona 500 on Sunday, February 19, as the capper to blogiversary / birthday week at DennisKennedy.Blog.

2. As a special gift to my readers who would like to extend the celebration an extra day, the US government has generously designated Monday, February 20, as a holiday. That's the kind of appreciation I want to show for my readers.

3. The Law List on PubSub jumped the gun on this week's celebration by listing DennisKennedy.Blog as the #1 law-related blog on Saturday February 11! To go from our modest blog beginnings to the coveted #1 slot is an accomplishment that I am quite proud of, even if I did notice the irony of achieving that ranking when I didn't post anything that day or the day before. No matter - it was still a #1 ranking and I'm planning to have the screen shot framed. I see that I've slipped to #2 today, but you can still tell that I was #1. I'll let wiser minds than mine try to figure out what that all means.

Please enjoy the week. Take it in the spirit that it is intended. And, thank you so much for reading this blog and being part of the network that it has created.

[Originally posted on DennisKennedy.Blog (http://www.denniskennedy.com/blog/)]

This post brought to you by LexThink!(TM) - The Conference, Re-imagined. LexThink! - Think big thoughts, do cool things, change the world. Ask us about private LexThink retreats and conferences for your firm, business or organization. Coming soon - LexThink Lounge - April 19.

blogiversary

The official announcement.

Posted by dmk at 02:18 PM | Comments (1)

February 12, 2006

Will There Be A Blogiversary / Birthday Week Again This Year at DennisKennedy.Blog?

Yes, there will - starting tomorrow, Monday, February 13.

Tom Mighell (who is my #1 answer to the question Neil Squillante poses here) asked me yesterday if I really needed a whole week to celebrate my combined blogiversary (#3 - this blog debuted on Februrary 15, 2003) and birthday (February 17, which I share with Michael Jordan and Jim Brown, among others).

The answer, of course, is "Yes!"

I had the idea last year to do a blogiversary/birthday event as a fun, tongue-in-cheek way to have a reader appreciation week and to have an excuse to have some fun on my blog.

You can expect a variety of special posts, giveaways and free downloads, discounts on some of my services, and other surprises. I'll also try to answer as many of your questions as I can in a whole week of "By Request" posts (email your questions for me at denniskennedyblog @ gmail.com). There's way too much stuff going on for me to accomplish it all in anything less than a week.

Expect more details tomorrow, but you can start off with a free download of the slides from my recent presentation on Trends for 2006 in Electronic Discovery.

Long-time readers will know that it's blog features like this one that have brought me criticism from those who believe that law-related blogs must be totally serious and oh-so-professional every second of every day. However, I want to do something to show that I appreciate my audience and that it is important to have fun every now and then. I expect that I'll give them more fodder for their criticism before this week is over.

Stay tuned for more details.

[Originally posted on DennisKennedy.Blog (http://www.denniskennedy.com/blog/)]

Like what you are reading? Check out the other blogs where I post - Between Lawyers (feed) and the LexThink Blog (feed).

Technorati tag: blogiversary

Posted by dmk at 07:53 PM | Comments (0)

February 06, 2006

What Was Worse: the Super Bowl Game, the Commercials or the Rolling Stones?

I must admit how I am flummoxed at how people who brag about how they use their Tivos to skip commercials seem to watch and study commercials during the Super Bowl.

However, let me address the question.

1. The game was not very good, but Hines Ward had an MVP game and the Jerome Bettis story line was a great one. And the Steelers had a atrick play that worked. The game was not the worst of the three choices, although the clock management of the Seahawks at the end of the first half and at the end of the game reminded me why I don't like to watch college football games anymore.

2. Admittedly, I don't get the fascination with commercials, but I did see a colleague from my old law firm, Andy Puzder, now CEO of Hardee's in a commercial. Being able to say that you know someone in a Super Bowl commercial is kind of cool. So, for admittedly a personal reason, the commercials were not the worst, although I think most of the advertisers would have gotten a zillion times more bang for the buck by advertising on blogs - but you knew I would say that.

3. With all the prep for this event, did anyone think of doing a sound check for the Rolling Stones? The sound was terrible. The recording of "Start Me Up" that plays over the PA at every sporting event must sound about ten times better. I don't think that we need an extended version of "Satisfaction" last night or ever. I found myself thinking, "Let's get back to the game. Will this ever end?" Yet another of those odd cultural events that was better in concept than reality. So, the Rolling Stones get my vote as the worst of the three.

[Originally posted on DennisKennedy.Blog (http://www.denniskennedy.com/blog/)]

This post brought to you by Dennis Kennedy's half-day electronic discovery seminar - "Preparing for the New World of Electronic Discovery: Easing Your Transition from Paper to Electronic Discovery." Contact Dennis today for more information and to schedule a seminar for your firm or legal department.

Posted by dmk at 06:08 PM | Comments (0)

February 03, 2006

Did You Want to Clarify that You Are NOT Part of the USALAW.com Blog Network?

I definitely want to clarify that and correct any misimpression people may have.

One of the best things about my trip to LegalTech was that I got a number of opportunities to talk with Kevin O'Keefe, who I have long admired as one of the pioneers in the use of the Internet by lawyers. Check out this roundtable article we did with Kevin from back in 2000 about virtual communities to learn more about his background and get some insights into his innovative thinking about ways lawyers might use the Internet.

I read Kevin's recent post on the USALAW.com blog network and found myself nodding my head in agreement as I read about the concerns he expressed.

It would be very easy for someone going to that site to see a listing of excerpts of my posts on this blog and conclude that I had applied for and was part of that blog network. THAT IS ABSOLUTELY NOT THE CASE.

I want to make it clear that I have no involvement in the USALAW.com blog network WHATSOEVER. I have not talked with them and, like Kevin, was not asked for permission to have excerpts put on their site. Although what they are doing may qualify as "fair use," I am concerned that people think that I am part of their blog network, endorse it or receive financial benefit from it. THAT IS NOT THE CASE.

It is very likely that my blog will become part of a blog network in the near future and I do not want people to be confused about which network I might be in. In addition, I do not want to lose opportunities to be invited into another blog network because people mistakenly believe I am part of the USALAW.com blog network.

It is possible to repurpose RSS feeds in many ways these days and probably many of those ways will technically qualify as "fair use."

HOWEVER, I have two simple rules for blog networks and other aggregation sites whose business model presumably involves making money, through ads or otherwise, by aggregating other people's feeds or "repurposing" their content where there is no license that explicitly allows for that:

1. Ask yourself how you would feel if someone else took your writing or other creative work and used it in the way you intend to use other peoples' work.

2. Notify people and ask permission, at least as a courtesy, when you "repurpose" their feeds on an ongoing basis, even if you think it is "fair use." Most of the time I will say yes (I let people reprint my articles and posts on a regular basis), but I hate to learn from someone else that my content is appearing somewhere else and that people think that I am involved in the other site, especially when I know nothing about the other site or who is behind it. And I really don't like it when I'm talking to someone about joining a blog network, since it makes it look like I am part of another blog network.

I've already posted a notice about another site that I am not associated with. I'm hoping I do not need to set up a new category for posts in which I announce that I am not associated with blogs or aggregation sites. Just ask me about what you plan to do - it's really easy to do.

Read Kevin's post - he makes some excellent points.

As a final point, as we continue to move into a more commercialized blog era, bloggers do not want to find out that someone unknown to them is making more money off their content than they are, unless they have applied a Creative Commons or other license that allows others to do so. I have not.

[Originally posted on DennisKennedy.Blog (http://www.denniskennedy.com/blog/)]

Like what you are reading? Check out the other blogs where I post - Between Lawyers (feed) and the LexThink Blog (feed).

Posted by dmk at 06:52 PM | Comments (0)

January 27, 2006

When and Where is the Blogger Meetup at LegalTech NY?

Tom Mighell and I have put together the details for the Sunday evening blogger meetup we're putting together while we are in New York for the LegalTech conference.

This is going out to everyone who expressed interest in meeting up (bloggers or otherwise) on Sunday night in NYC. Rather than try to find a restaurant that would fit all of us, we decided that you're on your own for dinner. Let's meet for drinks at 8:00 p.m. at the Hilton New York's Bridge Bar. The address is 1335 Avenue of the Americas. It's just off the lobby. The Hilton is where LegalTech will be held, so hopefully you'll all be somewhere in the neighborhood. See you Sunday night!

There's no need to RSVP for the meetup, but you can let Tom or me know that you will be joining us so we can look for you. My guess right now is that there will be ten to twenty people there, but we'll be happy to have as many people join us as are available. And, no, you don't have to be a blogger (or a legal blogger) - just pretend that you are thinking about starting a blog.

Just a reminder that I'll be speaking about Top Trends in Electronic Discovery Technology on Tuesday, January 31 at 3:30 PM as the guest of my friends at Caselogistix.

[Originally posted on DennisKennedy.Blog (http://www.denniskennedy.com/blog)]

Like what you are reading? Check out the other blogs where I post - Between Lawyers (feed) and the LexThink Blog (feed).

Posted by dmk at 04:49 PM | Comments (0)

How Do You Think Nonprofits Can Benefit from Blogs and RSS?

Marshall Kirkpatrick interviewed me via Skype IM last night about this question and a wide range of other technology, blogging, RSS, OPML, legal and nonprofit questions. It was a lot of fun.

He's posted the interview, Communication, Law and Web 2.0, on the Netsquared.org site, where there is a lot of great stuff happening at the intersection of nonprofits and technology, including a cool upcoming conference.

I encourage you to read the interview, of course, but I also hope that you spend some time on the site and see what they are doing and whether there might be ways that you can help.

Originally posted on DennisKennedy.Blog (http://www.denniskennedy.com/blog/)]

Posted by dmk at 04:31 PM | Comments (0)

January 26, 2006

Was That Just Your One Thousandth Blog Post I Saw?

Hey, it was! That's cool. One thousand posts. As some wags who think I write long posts might say, "That must be, what, five million words?"

The third anniversary (or, as some bloggers like to say, the start of my fourth year of blogging) is fast approaching. Since my blog's birthday is quite close to my birthday, I'm thinking over having another blawgiversary event on my blog this year. Details to come.

Speaking of birthdays . . . earlier this week I became an uncle again, time two, when my wife's sister and my brother-in-law, Mike and Maureen McLean, became the parents of twins, Ava and Marissa. Everyone is still in the hospital, but it sounds like all is going well. Pretty exciting.

[Originally posted on DennisKennedy.Blog (http://www.denniskennedy.com/blog/)]

Like what you are reading? Check out the other blogs where I post - Between Lawyers (feed) and the LexThink Blog (feed).

Posted by dmk at 07:18 PM | Comments (0)

January 23, 2006

How Can Web 2.0 Help 24 and Jack Bauer Fans?

Brad Feld points to the JackTracker, a way to track Jack Bauer's activities on 24 using Google Maps. If you are a 24 fan, this app will give you a nice example of what a Web 2.0 app is.

[Originally posted on DennisKennedy.Blog (http://www.denniskennedy.com/blog/)]

Like what you are reading? Check out the other blogs where I post - Between Lawyers (feed) and the LexThink Blog (feed).

Posted by dmk at 08:41 PM | Comments (0)

January 16, 2006

Why is Martin Luther King Day One of Your Favorite Holidays?

As I've written before, I have some historical reasons for considering Martin Luther King Day as one of my favorite holidays. I was also thinking today that this is a reflective holiday, one that allows you some welcome time to reflect after the hustle and bustle of the Christmas / New Year's / winter holiday season.

For 2006, I thought I'd note the day by linking to some of the posts on the day that I especially enjoyed from people like Dan Oestrich, Halley Suitt, Heather Leigh, Bernard Hibbitts, Joyce Wycoff, Lisa Stone, Tom Watson, Betsy McKenzie, Troy Worman, Doc Searls, W. David Stephenson, Paul Caron, Don Blohowiak, Tony Colleluori, Ernster the Virtual Library Cat, Will Richardson, and Marty Schwimmer.

From MLK: "I refuse to accept the view that mankind is so tragically bound to the starless midnight of racism and war that the bright daybreak of peace and brotherhood can never become reality."

Technorati tag: Martin Luther King

Posted by dmk at 05:15 PM | Comments (3)

January 13, 2006

What's a Monk-Fest?

My daughter and I are big fans of the Monk TV show. My wife is a much more casual watcher of the show.

So, Grace and I have been gearing up for the season premiere of Monk tonight. Yesterday, she decided to invite three of her seventh grade classmates (also Monk fans) over for what we are calling a "Monk-Fest" to celebrate the new season. I understand that I will be allowed to watch the episode on the same TV that they will be watching, but then will probably have to clear out of the way.

I'm also gearing up for the first four hours of the new season of 24, which starts Sunday night. I've long been a fan of that show. Unfortunately, I don't have any friends who are fans that I'll be inviting over for the premiere. I'll be waiting to see what other bloggers who watch 24, such as Professor Yin and Fred Faulkner, have to say about the new season. However, it'd be more fun if geography weren't an issue and I could watch the premiere with Professor Yin, Fred and a few others simply by walking over to his house or having them over to mine. That's one of the limitations of the blogosphere.

[Originally posted on DennisKennedy.Blog (http://www.denniskennedy.com/blog/)]

Posted by dmk at 01:12 PM | Comments (1)

January 11, 2006

What Were Justice Blackmun's Law School Grades?

What can't you find on the Internet these days?

From the "too much about nothing" blog (hey, I gave up trying to find the author's name or I would have mentioned it), it's the list of Justice Harry Blackmun's law school grades from his law school transcript.

Obviously, Blackmun went law school in the days before "grade inflation."

That "C" in constitutional law probably would be a problem in today's world of Senate hearings. Interesting how grades that today would all but keep someone from getting hired at most law firms proved to be no impediment to well-respected service on the Supreme Court.

[Originally posted on DennisKennedy.Blog (http://www.denniskennedy.com/blog/)]

Posted by dmk at 06:41 PM | Comments (1)

Are You the Anonymous Editor of the Blawg Review?

All right. Move on. Move on. There's nothing to see here.

I had hoped to stay out of the anonymous Blawg Review editor brouhaha, but now I have people wondering if I'm the editor. I can say categorically that I am not.

While I understand that there are good reasons that people want to blog anonymously (and my point of view on blogging is to let a thousand flowers bloom), the flip side of anonymous blogging is that it can put people who are suspected of being an anonymous blogger into the different position of trying to prove that they are not the anonymous blogger.

I'm now quite sympathetic with what Evan says in his post here about the difficulties of being caught in the middle. I should be even more sympathetic with Evan because I jokingly suggested at one point that he was the famous Anonymous Blogger and then found that far more people than I expected took me seriously.

For what it's worth, until the comments from people close to the situation that were added to Matt's post explained how the whois information pointing to ALM and other "clues" could be misinterpreted, I was utterly convinced by Matt Homann's "Monkish" explanation of the "solution" to the mystery.

As I'm able to understand the logic, the question whether I am the anonymous editor of Blawg Review arises from the following "clues":

1. On Between Lawyers, we have used an anonymous "Lawyer X" character. So, you have a pattern of behavior.

2. If you "Google" the name Ed Post that has been associated with the anonymous editor, you'll find references to a famous St. Louis murder case. This suggests that the editor is in St. Louis or has ties to St. Louis and I've been known to refer to St. Louis as Blawg City USA. (This clue, of course, also points to Evan.) Indeed, by coincidence (or as further proof, depending on how you look at these things), I worked as a staff attorney for the St. Louis court that tried the Ed Post case and, it's possible, but I don't remember for sure, that I might have even researched an issue or two that came up in that case. So, the thinking goes, if the editor is actually leaving clues, I might be leaving obscure clues that point to me.

3. The Blawg Review Awards post, like my Blawggie awards post, was quite long. Long posts automatically get associated with me, I guess. So, the argument would be that a leopard cannot change his spots.

Hmmm, I'm starting to convince myself - maybe it is me. No - I got an email from the BR editor and I know that I did not send it to myself, so I'm certain that it cannot be me.

As impossible as it may be to prove or disprove a negative, I simply point to the name of my blog and ask how likely is it really that I would be blogging anonymously? Some wags might also note that the fact that there was no award for me or my blog in the Blawg Review awards conclusively proves it wasn't me behind the awards. In addition, I could hardly both praise Neil Squillante's BlawgWorld in the Dennis Kennedy character and then criticize it anonymously - that's not who I am. Similarly, after Law.com canned my partner in LexThink, Matt Homann, from its blog network, it would be very bad form, and completely out of character for me, to anonymously do another blog that joined the Law.com network - I'd have some seriously 'splaining to do to Matt.

So, no need to speculate about me or ask me about this anymore. Let's move on. Let me get back to regular blogging. Nothing to see here. As a time-filler until the new Monk season starts on Friday night, though, I do admit that I am enjoying reading about the detective side of the story.

[Originally posted on DennisKennedy.Blog (http://www.denniskennedy.com/blog/)]

Like what you are reading? Check out the other blogs where I post - Between Lawyers (feed) and the LexThink Blog (feed).

Posted by dmk at 04:52 PM | Comments (1)

January 01, 2006

Did You Decide Whether You Are Changing to a Question-and-Answer Format for Your Blog in 2006?

I'm going to experiment with the approach for a while.

When I mentioned in a post a little while ago that I was thinking of going to a Q & A approach (a la the Ask Dave Taylor blog (and it was cool that Dave left a comment about that post)), I wasn't as surprised by the number of negative reactions I got as I was by the most common reason that people gave me not to go that route - that I'd find the format too confining.

Maybe I will, but my initial thought was that it would actually be a less confining approach for me and I wanted to shake things up at DennisKennedy.Blog and try a different approach. I think that the Q & A approach will make it a bit easier for me to write more focused posts and maybe more posts, giving me the ability to cover more topics. I suspect that I'll do a mixture of types of posts before I decide whether to adopt the new format completely.

Just to remind people: although I welcome questions from my readers and think that the Q & A approach will generate more of them, the question-and-answer format is simply a writing device where in most cases I'll be writing both the questions and the answers.

Later, I may see what people think of the new format using the cool new Web 2.0 survey tool called Quimble that Tom Mighell just alerted me to.

[Originally posted on DennisKennedy.Blog (http://www.denniskennedy.com/blog/)]

Posted by dmk at 07:40 PM | Comments (0)

Happy New Year - 2006

Best wishes to all readers of DennisKennedy.Blog for a great 2006!

To those of you I got to meet and work with in 2005, I want to thank you for getting the opportunity and hope to work with you on more cool projects in 2006. To those I haven't gotten the chance to work with yet, I hope that we get that chance in 2006.

In all events, I truly appreciate what the readers of this blog have brought into my life in the past few years. I hope I can continue to make this blog one of your regular reads.

[Originally posted on DennisKennedy.Blog (http://www.denniskennedy.com/blog/)]

Posted by dmk at 07:29 PM | Comments (0)

December 31, 2005

A Reflection on Blogging at the End of 2005

This quote from Rich Karlgaard via Doc Searls captures something essential about blogging at the end of 2005:

Blogging is not overhyped. You may be forgiven for thinking so, as no day goes by without a story on blogs. But blogs are no fad. They are cheap and easy to do. And blogs fulfill that deepest of human needs as defined by psychologist Abraham Maslow: self-actualization. People write blogs because they want to know themselves and want to be known by others and because they want their lives to count. When a communications medium is both riding the Moore's Law cost-capability curve and tapping into a deep need, it's no fad.

All best wishes for 2006!

[Originally posted on DennisKennedy.Blog (http://www.denniskennedy.com/blog/)]

Posted by dmk at 11:03 AM | Comments (1)

December 29, 2005

Disaster Remembrance Week

Blogs got a lot of attention in 2005 - for a lot of reasons, good and bad. However, there probably has not been enough attention paid to the practical impact blogs have had in times of disaster to assist others in need.

The WorldWideHelp Group is promoting this week as Disaster Remembrance Week.

From the announcement:

"Last December and this January, the online community came together as never before to help in the aid efforts in South-East Asia. The lessons learned there were put to use, and improved upon, when the other tragic events of the year unfolded.

Can we harness that goodwill, that togetherness, that willingness to help once more?

[Originally posted on DennisKennedy.Blog (http://www.denniskennedy.com/blog/)]

Disaster Remembrance Week

Posted by dmk at 08:47 AM | Comments (0)

December 27, 2005

Reinventing DennisKennedy.Blog for 2006

I have been thinking quite a bit lately about DennisKennedy.Blog and the directions I want to go with it. I've gotten some constructive criticism lately (or at least I think it's meant to be constructive) and some good suggestions from a number of people.

The four comments that seem to arise most often are: (1) the posts are too long, (2) the blog should have more focus, (3) jokes or other attempts at humor should be labeled, and (4) the posts are way too long.

So, I had been thinking about "reinventing" the blog before I saw Hugh McLeod's great drawing called "if you can't re-invent yourself." Now I'm working on at least a modest reinvention of this blog for 2006. Reinvention, from time to time, is a good thing, I think.

I'm also encouraging people to let me know your ideas and suggestions.

What's in the works? Here's what I'm considering:

1. Shorter posts. People have convinced me that "long posts" should actually be done as podcasts.

2. The biggest change I'm considering is to move completely to a question-and-answer format, much like the Ask Dave Taylor blog, of which I'm a big fan. There's always been a good response to the "By Request Days" (other than by people who got confused the first time I did it). Someone told me that they really liked the Q-and-A format for my writing and, as I've read Dave Taylor's blog, it seems attractive to me. Just to be clear, I'd be making up most of the questions are using the questions as titles of the posts, although I'm sure that the format would lead to more audience questions.

3. One thing that became very clear in 2005 is that blog advertising and blog advertising networks are now considered quite acceptable. I've had some reluctance to go very far in that direction, but now will move in that way. Your sponsor and advertiser inquiries are now welcome.

4. I also think that the blog's focus will be more explicitly on technology - legal technology and the impact that technology has on the law and the practice of law.

But that's just my current thinking - I'm not sure yet what I'll finally decide - and I do have some other ideas as well. I invite your reactions and suggestions.

[Originally posted on DennisKennedy.Blog (http://www.denniskennedy.com/blog/)]

Like what you are reading? Check out the other blogs where I post - Between Lawyers (feed) and the LexThink Blog (feed).

Posted by dmk at 01:19 PM | Comments (3)

December 26, 2005

Dan Donovan's Limited Edition, Fine Art Photographic Prints of Busch Stadium

Dan Donovan - professional photographer extraordinaire and my brother-in-law - has partnered with the St. Louis Cardinals baseball team (a long-time client of his) to produce a series of limited edition, fine art photographic prints of Busch Stadium, which you can see and purchase at http://www.dandonovanfineart.com.

As Dan notes, "The last game at the original Busch Stadium was played on October 19, 2005, with the team moving to the new Busch Stadium in 2006. To commemorate both stadiums, this series of prints has been created. There are currently 5 prints in the series, with more in development."

My personal favorite is the one Dan calls "Clouds," but I encourage you to check out the collection and how talented Dan is. Even if you are not a baseball fan or a baseball stadium buff, you'll enjoy these photos. If you are, you'll want to add one of these to your collection.

Dan also does great, creative portrait photography.

The details on the photo series and purchase info can all be found at http://www.dandonovanfineart.com. Be sure to tell Dan that you learned about the photos on this blog.

[Originally posted on DennisKennedy.Blog (http://www.denniskennedy.com/blog/)]

Like what you are reading? Check out the other blogs where I post - Between Lawyers (feed) and the LexThink Blog (feed).

Posted by dmk at 11:00 AM | Comments (0)

December 14, 2005

"By Request Day" - What Are Those Funny Symbols in Some of Your Posts?

Here's what I'd like to say: Writing on the Internet requires that you consider a different type of reader and that you accommodate a reader who likes to scan. Although some recommend avoiding long posts, like I have been known to write, if you write long (or short) posts, you want to break things up into short paragraphs, use headings, bullet points, bold and italics, and make the posts easier to read and visually interesting.

The funny little symbols and characters, I'd like to say, are a clever device to create visual interest and give my readers something break up the parade of words on a page.

That's what I'd like to say.

Unfortunately, the real story is this:

I sometimes write posts in Word. In the case of my reposted articles, I create the posts from Word documents. I might also copy portions of Word documents into my posts when I write them.

Unfortunately, in some Word documents I had turned on the "smart quotes" or "curly quotes." For reasons I don't understand, my version of Movable Type does not handle those curly quotes as regular quotes. Even worse, I cannot see that there is a problem when I "preview" he post before I published it. Even worse than that, I don't see the problem in my newsreader when I view the RSS feed for my blog. That's important because I don't often look at my blog in my browser, but I do look at the feed in my newsreader.

What I've learned is that the "smart quotes" and the "smart apostrophes" turn up as odd symbols and characters on my blog rather than as regular quote marks and apostrophes. I then have to edit the original post, change the quote marks and apostrophes (which are visible at that point in Movable Type) and republish the post. It's a pain and it's not a task that ranks high on the priority list.

I've now found a few tricks that usually catch the problem before it happens, but the problems occurs every now and then, especially in the reposted articles. I'll eventually find a more or less fool-proof method, but that's the explanation. If you can visualize a quote mark or apostrophe when you see those funny symbols, you'll know what I meant - but you were probably already doing that.

[Originally posted on DennisKennedy.Blog (http://www.denniskennedy.com/blog/)]

Posted by dmk at 09:06 PM | Comments (0)

"By Request Day" - Read Any Good Books Lately?

I'm always interested in what books people are reading and what they like. I always try to read books that people recommend to me. Lately, my brother and I have been recommending spy novels and thrillers back and forth. A few years ago, I gave him a Robert Ludlum book and he stayed up all night reading it. That started us on passing books back and forth.

There are two books that I've read recently that I highly recommend for the audience of this blog.

The first is Gerry Riskin's The Successful Lawyer - a great collection of practical wisdom on a variety of subjects involved in the practice of law or any other profession. It's also available with a companion audio CD through the ABA Law Practice Management book store.

Earlier in my career, I had the chance to participate in the Edge Group's rainmaker education program at my law firm. I'd rank it among the very best training I ever received as a lawyer. I mention this because this book includes the core principles from that rainmaking course. They're solid, practical and well-supported by my experience.

The book has 49 short chapters, each of which is packed with a punch and great practical tips. In fact, each chapter is like the conversation you would have liked to have with a mentor or experienced colleague during your career. It's a book that you can read quickly, if you want, but also one that you will want to return to again and again and work through the ideas and exercises in it. Add me to the long list of fans of this book. It'd be a great gift for yourself or for a lawyer you know.

The other book I want to recommend is Bob Burg's Endless Referrals, just out in a third edition. Ironically, I met Bob recently via email when I committed one of the cardinal sins of emailing people you don't know - accidentally using the wrong name in the salutation to the email. Even worse, I didn't realize who Bob was until he sent me a polite reply and we exchanged a few emails and got to know each other a bit.

Finally, I realized that Bob was the author of Endless Referrals, a book that I had found quite valuable when I began my solo career. Bob told me that a new edition of the book was out and asked me if I wanted to get an early review copy. Of course, I would.

Bob sent me a copy and I devoured it in one setting. I think that this is a gem of a book that is required reading for anyone who has customers or clients or works with other people. That, I believe, would be everyone. The book is about principles of business networking, but it goes far beyond that.

The money quote:

"All things being equal, people will do business with, and refer business to, those people they know, like and trust."

Think about blogging in that context.

Like Riskind's book, this book is full of practical information that you can really use, including suggested language for certain conversations. I dog-eared a lot of pages in this book. I was also surprised to see how much of Burg's advice from the earlier editions I had internalized and made part of what I do. Even if you have read the earlier editions, the third edition is still a must-read.

As an aside: I've been sounding out a few people about using Skype chat to create a book group to discuss books like these on a regular basis. Let me know if you might be interested.

[Originally posted on DennisKennedy.Blog (http://www.denniskennedy.com/blog)]

Posted by dmk at 08:01 PM | Comments (0)

November 19, 2005

Starting off my Vacation with Ross and Paul

It's nice to take a little vacation.

I started off my vacation visit with my family for Thanksgiving week by speaking with Ross Kodner and Paul Unger at an all-day seminar on legal technology for the Allen County Bar Bar Association. We covered almost every aspect of legal technology during the day and I really enjoyed myself doing the event.

Ross, Paul and I spoke for the same group last year and I believe it was even more fun than last year. As most everyone knows, you won't find anyone more knowledgeable about legal technology and how to present it than Ross is. Paul is also quite knowledgeable and a pleasure to present with.

I took the lead on a digital marketing session and chipped in with a few insights, ideas and tips of my own throughout the day. Well, maybe more than a few, because my voice is gone today. Anyway, the whole day was just a pleasure for me and I left thinking about how genuinely fun the day had been. Thank you Ross, Paul, Maribeth and the other people at the Allen County Bar and all the attendees.

We're back for Thanksgiving visiting my parents, brothers, nieces, nephews and other relatives. I'm planning to take some time to rest and relax and might avoid, to a large extent, the blogosphere and email.

Matt Buchanan of RethinkIP is nearby and we'll probably get together one day this week and that likely means some "rethinking" will be going on. It's unavoidable when you get together with those guys.

But otherwise, I may decide to stay pretty far off the radar for a week or so. I'm sure the blog world will get along just fine without me for a few days.

[Originally posted on DennisKennedy.Blog (http://www.denniskennedy.com/blog/)]

Posted by dmk at 11:22 AM | Comments (0)

November 14, 2005

Blawgspace is a Generous Place - Round 2

If you asked me to pick out my favorite blog posts on this blog, I know that a post I wrote in December 2003 called "Blawgspace is a Generous Place" would always, always be on my list and I recommend that you read it.

On my plane ride home from BlawgThink last night I found that when I wasn't looking forward to getting home to my wife and daughter, I was thinking about that post.

There was a session on Saturday morning, which we had called a "Five by Five" where five of the first and best legal bloggers were going to be asked five questions as an introduction to the day of Open Space discussions. Matt and I were to be the moderators. Just before the session, I talked through the way we would handle the moderating with Matt and how my goal was to stay out of the way of our speakers. I was going to ask the first question and we then alternate asking the questions.

Matt surprised me (and for those who saw my surprise, I can assure you it was genuine) by asking the first question and turning the session into a Six by Five by telling me that I was part of the panel when he asked the first question. When he started asking the question, I couldn't believe that he had forgotten the sequence we had talked about moments before. Of course, as soon as I felt a microphone in my hand, I was ready to join right in.

At more points than you can imagine, I looked down the line of speakers - Ernie, Marty, Sabrina, Tom, Carolyn - who I now know so well and have admired so much for so long, and realized that I am the "baby" blogger among them and that I truly felt honored to be with them and thankful for all the help and friendship they've given me and so many others over the years.

The word I also think about with them is "generosity." There is a generosity in sharing information, insights, time, experience, wisdom and friendship. They and the other "First Ones" of legal blogging - we wish that all of the others in that first group of legal bloggers could have been there, especially Denise Howell and Sherry Fowler - created something unique and special in the world of legal blogging. It's something that made me want to be part of it and to carry on, in my imperfect way, the generosity, helpfulness and sharing that they have always shown.

What's really cool is that each succeeding group of legal bloggers have shown that same generosity, a willingness to help others and a tendency to push toward new forms of collaboration. I get so much energy and so many new ideas from the newer bloggers. They are show their own kinds of generosity and also seem to be reaching out to build bridges and create new kinds of relationships. I don't want to mention names (because this post is already long and the young bloggers love to tease me about my tendency to write long posts), but examples would be the role Evan Schaeffer has played in helping law student bloggers and almost everything the RethinkIP guys have done (even teaching me Skype instant messaging so I can hang out with them in real-time).

These days, you can get all wrapped up and even exercised about the blogging phenomenon, blogging as a marketing or even whether everyone should or should not be a blogger. So much so that you can forget that blogging is ultimately about people and people who care about words, getting the word out, about causes and getting the word out, and about helping people and getting the word out.

From BlawgThink, I 'll remember many things, but the ones I'll carry with all involve people and people meeting people.

As just one example, I knew that BlawgThink was going to be the first in person meeting between Ernie and Marty. From the time I first saw Ernie in Chicago, he kept saaying "I can't wait to meet Marty." He kept asking when Marty was getting in and what time we'd get to meet him. I started joking with Ernie that he was acting like meeting Marty was like meeting the one of the Beatles. Ernie said, "No, it's better than that." Of course, even as I teased Ernie, I couldn't keep from saying, "Marty is such a great guy!" and trying to be sure that I was there when they first met in person.

The meeting was magical, in case you wanted to know. And, one of these days soon, we're all getting out to California, or wherever, to get the whole Between Lawyers group together.

It's easy to get over-analytical about blogging. Today, I see blogging as being about good people with good hearts trying to do good things and make this world a little better place who have found a communications tool that works for us. We don't always succeed and blogging may well not be the right tool for everyone, but sitting on that panel Saturday morning made me feel like I had found a great place and a great community of kindred spirits, and that Blawgspace in 2005 was still a generous place.

As I've also said in another of my favorite posts, which referred to the great song "People Get Ready" - you don't need a ticket, just climb aboard.

Thank you to everyone in any way involved with BlawgThink (especially JoAnna), everyone who has helped on inspired me with my blog, and to all the readers of this blog. And to Matt, I think we really did something we can be proud of - there could have been no better partner to work on this than you, my friend.

[Originally posted on DennisKennedy.Blog (http://www.denniskennedy.com/blog)]

blawgthink

Posted by dmk at 12:04 PM | Comments (0)

November 08, 2005

Randy Holloway and I Are Interested in a Big St. Louis Tech Event - How About You?

Randy Holloway at Microsoft is looking for feedback on the idea of staging a low-cost tech event (perhaps on Web 2.0?) in St. Louis. Count me in. It'd be great to have a big, cool tech show in the middle of the country,

Randy says:

"If a free (or very low cost) technology conference were hosted in the St. Louis area (or perhaps at a nearby university), would there be any interest? Something like this takes about 100 people to gain critical mass."

If interested, please respond to Randy's poll or or email at the addresss he gives in this post.

Randy is a great guy and very passionate about blogging, technology and the tech community. You might enjoy the podcast Randy and I did together a few months ago.

[Originally posted on DennisKennedy.Blog (http://www.denniskennedy.com/blog/)]

This post brought to you by Dennis Kennedy’s consulting services, featuring RSS and advanced blogging consulting and technology committee coaching packages for law firms, corporate legal departments and other professional services providers.

Posted by dmk at 10:14 AM | Comments (1)

October 26, 2005

Al Robert Requests Some Help

Al Robert, an alumni of LexThink 1.0, posts a request for help in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. He's a great guy in a tough spot, as you'll see from his post. I wanted to help get the word out and, if you have ways you can help out, please get in touch with Al. As he suggests, "what a difference a day can make," for any of us, at any time.

It's important to remember that the effects of natural disasters do not end for those directly involved as our memories of the disasters start to recede.

[Originally posted on DennisKennedy.Blog (http://www.denniskennedy.com/blog/)]

Posted by dmk at 08:32 PM | Comments (0)

October 11, 2005

The Best Blog Post Title Ever. Really.

Thanks, Cindy. That made my day. The fact is that law librarians are way too underappreciated.

[Originally posted on DennisKennedy.Blog (http://www.denniskennedy.com/blog/)]

Posted by dmk at 10:19 PM | Comments (0)

October 06, 2005

NY Gala for Sclerodema

A few weeks ago I spoke at a conference and got to meet one of my fellow speakers, Tony Colleluori, a renowned criminal defense lawyer, a terrific speaker and a multiple blogger (see his criminal defense law blog and That Lawyer Dude). In a short time, I knew that Tony has a heart of gold, cares about the profession of law and his clients in a way that you seldom see these days, and that he absolutely loves his wife. I also had the sense that Tony would be a formidable adversary if you ran up against him in court. In short, he became my favorite criminal defense lawyer.

I mention Tony's wife because she is suffering from scleroderma, a connective tissue disease that greatly limits what she can do.

With hurricanes and other disasters taking center stage in 2005, the Scleroderma Foundation, like many other lesser-known charities, is struggling to raise funds. Its big fund-raiser is its National Gala in New York City.

If you are in NYC and have the chance to attend the Gala, please consider doing so. You'll get your money's worth just hearing Tony tell a few of his stories. If you can put the Scleroderma Foundation on your list of charities for this year, that would be a nice thing, too. If you know people with extra dollars to help a small charity, please mention this to them. I'm sure that Tony would be happy to provide you with more details.

And while you are thinking about this, please consider the Spina Bifida Association, currently chaired by one of my best friends in the blawgosphere, the amazing (but easily-embarrassed by me making this kind of fuss) Doug Sorocco. See Doug's testimony before Congress on quality of life issues for those with spina bifida here.

I've added both charities to my WhatGoesAround GiveList if you'd like an easy way to contribute to them. If you like my blog, one thing that you can consider doing is making a contribution to one of my favorite charities through WhatGoesAround.org - a cool idea and something I prefer rather than having a "tip jar" on this blog.

[Originally posted on DennisKennedy.Blog (http://www,denniskennedy.com/blog/)]

Posted by dmk at 10:56 AM | Comments (0)

October 03, 2005

Practice Makes Perfect

This one might be the most important post I read today or any other day.

Ankesh Kothari on the Marketing Eye blog has a post called "Practice Makes You Perfect," which focuses on the following quote from Pablo Casals on the subject of practice.

From the post:

"Reporter: Mr. Casals, you're 95 and the greatest cellist that ever lived. Why do you still practice six hours a day?

Pablo Casals: Because I think I'm making progress."

I find that inspiring. How about you?

[Originally posted on DennisKennedy.Blog (http://www.denniskennedy.com/blog/)]

This post brought to you by Dennis Kennedy's consulting services, featuring RSS and advanced blogging consulting and technology committee coaching packages for law firms, corporate legal departments and other professional services providers.

Posted by dmk at 08:58 PM | Comments (0)

September 28, 2005

Announcing a "Do Not Disturb" Sign for November 15

From the press release:

"Columbia Records will release the 'Born To Run 30th Anniversary Edition' box set on November 15. Personally supervised by Bruce Springsteen and Jon Landau, the box set includes "Hammersmith Odeon, London '75," an astonishing film of Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band's legendary 1975 concert at the Hammersmith Odeon in London; the new film "Wings For Wheels: The Making of Born To Run;" the classic album in remastered CD form; and finally, a 48 page booklet of previously unpublished photographs. With its two DVDs, the package offers approximately four hours of previously unseen footage."

Courtesy of my friend Jim McKelly, who monitors these things for me when he's not winning bushel baskets of teaching awards. Perhaps it will be a good day to try a first listening/watching party via Skype chat?

[Originally posted on DennisKennedy.Blog (http://www.denniskennedy.com/blog/)]

Like what you are reading? Check out the other blogs where I post - Between Lawyers (feed) and the LexThink Blog (feed).

Posted by dmk at 09:02 AM | Comments (1)

September 27, 2005

"By Request" - What are Your Favorite Blawgs?

There are so many good ones that I hate to make a list because I'll later be kicking myself for leaving a great one out. My 2004 Blawggies award list is still a good starting point.

Your question, however, raises a subject I've been thinking about lately. And that is that there are some extremely good writers among the legal bloggers.

Lawyers are usually thought of as writers of, well, legalese. Lawyer bloggers have done a lot to overcome that stereotype. In some cases, some blawg writers have become such good writers than I enjoy them and recommend them for both the writing and the content.

I just want to highlight a few people and do not intend for this to be a comprehensive list.

I want to point first to my colleagues at the Between Lawyers blog. I've become very familiar with their writing both in their blogs and the amazing back-channel email list we have going.

Consider the following:

Ernest "Ernie the Attorney" Svenson - Ernie's posts have long been a pleasure to read, but if you have any question about Ernie's greatt talent as a writer, you need only take a look at a few of his post-Katrina posts. His post on his first return to New Orleans is a gem - touching and determined. Here's some free advice to book publishers: get Ernie signed up to write a book about his Katrina experiences!

Tom "Inter-Alia" Mighell - Tom has become my favorite person to write with and we're now writing two columns together. Tom has a gift for writting short, direct posts that you might take for granted unless you try to write in that way on a regular basis. I often say that I write long posts because it is so hard to write the types of short posts that Tom does so well.

Marty "The Trademark Blog" Schwimmer - Marty is the master of the short, concise, clever and witty post, with a clear and cogent point. Concise, that is, except when he gets going on "political" issues. Read a selection of his trademark posts and I guarantee that you will be impressed.

Denise "Bag and Baggage" Howell - First of all, Denise is known as the absolute master of writing great titles for posts. Another legal blogger told me the other day that Denise's titles are so great that he gets hooked into reading posts where he's not even interested in the topic. Denise has such a great, comfortable writing style. The other day, though, she wrote a post called "NorCal" that I really, really liked, in a great new voice that reminded me of William Gibson, the cyberpunk novelist, who is one of my favorite authors. I've been bugging Denise to write a novel called "NorCal" in that same style.

If you took a vote among long-time legal bloggers on who the best writers among legal bloggers are, there's no question that Sherry "Stay of Execution" Fowler and Evan "Legal Underground" Schaeffer would be at the top of the list.

Evan is such a strong, accomplished writer. He can write in a number of styles and, amazingly for a lawyer, has even made me laugh out loud (intentionally). His blog is a daily must-read and, as I've said before, he is the legal blogger most likely to be paid for writing movie and TV scripts in the near future.

You need only read a few of Sherry's post before you realize that you are in the presence of a gifted writer. I've long enjoyed Sherry's blog for both her insights and her talent as a writer. Of all the legal bloggers, Sherry has had the most influence on me as a writer (Marty's efforts to get me to be more concise have not had his desired impact), and on other legal bloggers as well. Several years ago, we started calling Sherry the bravest legal blogger because of her willingness to write in a direct and personal manner in ways that others of us were very reluctant to do. I admired that greatly and it gradually inspired me to be willing to experiment with some more personal topics and styles. With Sherry, I always come back to how much I enjoy reading her writing and appreciating her talent. I'm so pleased that she's going to devote herself to her writing and encourage publishers looking for a new star to take a good look at what Sherry is writing.

Ah, another long post, but that will give you some of my thoughts on the subject of legal bloggers who are excellent writers.

[Originally posted on DennisKennedy.Blog (http://www.denniskennedy.com/blog/)]

Posted by dmk at 09:25 PM | Comments (0)

"By Request" - How Do I Get an Invitation to BlawgThink?

Some people do not understand the invitation-only approach that we are taking for the LexThink!(tm) BlawgThink event. In part it's due to space constraints, but it it also has to do with our "unconference" approach for this conference and our desire to create the best experience for our attendees that we can.

The first set of invitations have been sent out. With the exception of one rather grumpy law professor, the invitations seem to have been well-received. Just kidding. We invited some of the nicest law professors we know.

We've held some invitations back for sponsors and for a second round of invitations.

All you have to do is get in touch with Matt or me, tell us about your interest and get us your contact info and we'll get you on the list. At this point, we are especially interested in finding non-bloggers who are interested in becoming bloggers (or learning more about blogging) and established bloggers who can provide different perspectives to legal bloggers.

Updates and information on BlawgThink will be provided at the LexThink website, which now contains the agenda for the event. We'll be announcing speakers over the next few weeks.

Also, if you are interested in speaking at or sponsoring BlawgThink, please let us know and we will talk with you about the details.

I hope to see you there, but you will need to request an invitation in order to attend.

[Originally posted on DennisKennedy.Blog (http://www.denniskennedy.com/blog/)]

This post brought to you by LexThink!(TM) - The Conference, Re-imagined. LexThink! - Think big thoughts, do cool things, change the world. Coming soon - LexThink BlawgThink - the legal blogger unconference.

Posted by dmk at 09:09 PM | Comments (0)

"By Request" - Why Did You Take Most of Your Articles Off Your Website?

Frankly, I made a mistake doing