Massachusetts brings social networking to the courtroom

May 2, 2011 By Molly McHugh

OpenCourt wants the American court system to be more accessible to citizens and will update the public on cases via Twitter and a live video stream.

A Massachusetts courtroom is putting reporting into the hands of citizens by experimenting with social networking. OpenCourt is an experiment out of Quincy District Court run by Boston’s NPR station, and will allow journalists, bloggers, and anyone with an iPhone to use Wi-Fi to create real time updates and live stream cases as they unfold.

Up until now, courts have tried to bar electronic communication from the courtroom. Use of sites like Twitter and Facebook has resulted in mistrials, and the OpenCourt project is not without controversy. The full multimedia access to various court cases is supposed to “foster the openness of the American courts with the idea that more transparent court make for a stronger democracy,” but many are calling foul, saying their privacy is being infringed upon. Brian Dodge, charged with disorderly conduct and in court today, told the AP, “People at home being able to watch this and know my business – I don’t like that. Why does everybody need to see my case [online]? It’s nobody else’s business.” Alleged offenders aren’t the only concerned parties: Local defense attorney Richard Sweeney revealed he’s “not overly fond of the idea. I think there are a lot of pitfalls. I understand and respect the concept – they want an open court. In this era of everyone having cellphones and videos, I can understand that, but it’s fraught with perils for attorneys with conversations that can be picked up.”

Visiting the court’s site reveals real time updates on the day’s events via its Twitter stream. “Man caught drinking Mike’s hard lemonade + beer in park gets 10 days community service but would rather pay $100 fine,” one post reads. Certain things are off limits, however. The presiding judge can determine whether or not the video steam goes live and is able to limit multimedia coverage of cases altogether. Restraining order hearings and juvenile sessions will be kept private, and no information that could harm witnesses or victims will be broadcast.

It’s an ambitious project, and one that could easily go two ways: Citizens may indeed increase their knowledge and awareness of the American legal system, but it also wildly multiplies the chances that confidential information could go public, or find itself in the wrong hands.

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Elias Shams at 9:23am 3rd May 2011 It’s no brainer to see that social media is here to stay for good. Given vast variety of the existing channels to choose and stick with, it’s time for such a hot space to enter into a new category. There is a need for a portal to provide a quick and intelligent decision for both the consumer and the enterprise about their online connections. A Platform to Help us to Distinguish Our Quality vs. Quantity Friends, Fans, Followers, and Companies Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Youtube, Flickr and others have been doing a decent job of providing additional marketing exposure and even in some cases, additional revenue. However, as more and more social networking sites pop up, how do you manage your brand across all these channels? Maybe more importantly, which one of these sites should you select as the one that will help you best reach your target audience? The proliferation of the social media avenues is becoming overwhelming. This glut of information reminds me of the early 90’s when WWW was adopted broadly by the general public. Every company rushed to have a presence, to the point it became literally impossible to find the right information on the Web. That’s when a better generation of search engines – at first the Yahoo! and then Google – entered the market and helped us find the most relevant information by just typing simple keywords in their search box. If you had asked before Google launched, if there was a need for another search engine – most would have said no, we already have those…. Then came Web 1.0 & 2.0 – Youtube, Flickr, myspace, Facebook, Twitter and countless others have turned everyday people into content producers, influencers and experts. We basically tripled down on the information overload How do you know which channels to select for deploying your social media strategy? How do you know which one is the right channel to let your fans and followers to find you, your products, and services? Most importantly, who is Joe Smith that is recommending that person, that company, that product? I hope my awesomize.me can accomplish such a mission. The site is not another social networking platform. Yet the portal to all your existing social media channels. The platform helps you, your fans, your potential clients to make an intelligent decision as to which company to connect to or follow via which social media channels and why? It’s free! Elias CEO & Founder http://awesomize.me