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Technology Director Reports
No report. 1. Budget Request for 2004-2005 Budget will be required for 2004-2005 of approximately $1,000 for listserv costs. 2. Use of Budgeted Funds Not applicable. 3. Next Scheduled Meeting of the Committee Regular meetings are not scheduled. 4. Council Approval None required. 5. Accomplishments Toward Committee Objectives The Section web page has been monitored and updated on a regular basis by Terri Shoop. The Section Council appears to be satisfied with the web page remaining an informational source, without substantial substantive content. A major weakness continues to be the lack of information on Section events, but efforts are underway to address that problem. 6. Meetings and Programs Not applicable. 7. Publications While not directly related to my role as the Technology Director, the regular “Technology Corner” column in the Business Law Journal continues to be well-received. 8. Miscellaneous The State Bar began charging sections for maintenance of the lists effective October 1, 2004. The Section uses the listserv tool for section announcements, communication within the leadership, and has used the listserv tool for committee activities. Because of the pricing structure, I recommend that the Section use the Section-wide announcement list and the Council list, but that other lists are managed offline.
The State Bar will be charging sections for maintenance of the lists effective October 1, 2004. The Section uses the listserv tool for section announcements, communication within the leadership, and has used the listserv tool for committee activities. Because of the pricing structure, I have recommended that the Section use the Section-wide announcement list and the Council list, but that other lists are managed offline. The pricing for sections is below: 2004-2005 Chard.Net Pricing Normal discussion mailing list: $25-$60/month Section Discussion E-Mail Lists: 0-75 Members - $25/list/month Section Announcement/Distribution E-Mail lists: 0-10,000 members: $25/list/month 0-50 Members: $10/month (when bundled with section discussion or announcement list) Michael S. Khoury1. Budget Request for 2003-2004 None. 2. Use of Budgeted Funds in 2003-2004 Not applicable. 3. Next Scheduled Meeting of the Committee Regular meetings are not scheduled. Most meetings are held with the Section's Administrator. 4. Council Approval None required. 5. Accomplishments Toward Committee Objectives The Section web page has been monitored and updated on a regular basis by Terri Shoop. The Section Council appears to be satisfied with the web page remaining an informational source, without substantial substantive content. A major weakness continues to be the lack of information on Section events, such as committee meetings. The discussion on the listserv, below, will require the Section to address some other communication issues. 6. Meetings and Programs Not applicable. 7. Publications While not directly related to my role as the Technology Director, the regular "Technology Corner" column in the Business Law Journal continues to be well-received. 8. Miscellaneous The State Bar of Michigan notified the Sections that the costs for the maintenance and usage fees for the Section listservs would no longer be borne by the State Bar of Michigan after July 1, 2004. That date has apparently been extended. SBM's Membership Services group has interviewed and is in the process of selecting a vendor, as well as putting together a transition plan for moving the listservs to the new provider. This means that all listservs will be rolled over to the new provider within the next month. During the transition period, the Section will not be charged for the service, but the Bar expects to institute a fee of approximately $40 per month depending on the section size. The fees will begin October 1, 2004, such that any expenditure will be in the next fiscal year. A notice to the sections is expected shortly with more detailed information, and the Bar plans to schedule a training session for sections sometime in July at the Bar building. Michael S. Khoury
None. Expenses for services are included in Administrative Services. 2. Use of Budgeted Funds in 2003-2004. N/A. 3. Next Scheduled Meeting of the Committee Regular meetings are not scheduled. Most meetings are held with the Section's Administrator. 4. Council Approval None required. 5. Accomplishments Toward Committee Objectives The web page continues to be updated by Terri Shoop. There remains a dearth of substantive content on the site that would be helpful to improve the Section's presence on the web, but that remains a low priority for the Section. 6. Meetings and Programs N/A 7. Publications While not directly related to the directorship, the regular "Technology Corner" column in the Business Law Journal has been well received. Any comments are appreciated. Michael S. Khoury
None. Expenses for services are included in Administrative Services. 2. Use of Budgeted Funds in 2002-2003. $315 for Section Webmaster, plus web services performed by Section Administrator included in Administrative Service. 3. Next Scheduled Meeting of the Committee Regular meetings are not scheduled. Most meetings are held with the Section's Administrator. 4. Council Approval None required. 3. Accomplishments Toward Committee Objectives There has been substantial progress in the last year. Terri Shoop, our Section Administrator, has worked with the State Bar to keep the web page up to date. There remains a dearth of substantive content on the site that would be helpful to improve the Section's presence on the web, but Section information is available. 5. Meetings and Programs N/A 6. Publications While not directly related to the directorship, the regular "Technology Corner" column in the Business Law Journal has been well received. Any comments are appreciated. Michael S. Khoury
Regular meetings are not scheduled. Most meetings are held with the Section's Administrator. The next such meeting is expected to be held in the next week. 2. Council Approval None required. 3. Accomplishments Toward Committee Objectives There has been substantial progress in the last several months. Terri Shoop, our Section Administrator, has taken over the duties previously done by Margery Siegel Klausner, our Webmaster. Margery's help was necessary during the period when our prior Section Administrators were unable to undertake this task, and her efforts have been very much appreciated. Margery facilitated the transition to Terri over the summer. The site now has an extensive amount of section information, but there remains a dearth of substantive content on the site that would be helpful to improve the Section's presence on the web. 4. Meetings and Programs N/A 5. Publications While not directly related to the directorship, the regular "Technology Corner" column in the Business Law Journal has been well received. Any comments are appreciated. Michael S. Khoury
Regular meetings are not scheduled. Most meetings are held with the Section's Administrator and Webmaster. 2. Council Approval None. 3. Accomplishments Toward Committee Objectives The last several months have been difficult because of the inability of the Bar to provide the necessary resources to update the web site. However, the persistence of Terri Shoop, our Section Administrator, and Margery Siegel Klausner, our Webmaster, has resulted in the site being pretty well up to date. There remains a dearth of content on the site that would be helpful to improve the Section's presence on the web. 4. Meetings and Programs N/A 5. Publications While not directly related to the directorship, the regular "Technology Corner" column in the Business Law Journal has been well received. Any comments are appreciated. Michael S. Khoury
Regular meetings are not scheduled. Most meetings are held with the Section's Administrator and Webmaster. 2. Council Approval None. 3. Accomplishments Toward Committee Objectives There is ongoing work toward improving the Section's presence on the web and the content of the web page. I met with Terri Shoop, our Section Administrator, and Margery Siegel Klausner, our Webmaster, on February 26, 2003 to review our next steps. It was a very productive meeting, and I look forward to continuous improvement. 4. Meetings and Programs N/A 5. Publications While not directly related to the directorship, the regular "Technology Corner" column in the Business Law Journal has been well received. Any comments are appreciated. Michael S. Khoury
Meetings scheduled with the Section Administrator and Webmaster on an as-needed basis. 2. Council Approval None. Budget Request for 2002-2003 is $2,000. (This includes budgeted amounts that were accrued but unbilled during 2001-2002.) 3. Membership Directorship now limited to Director, Laura Jones, the Section Administrator and Margery Klausner, the Section Webmaster. 4. Accomplishments Toward Committee Objectives Section Web Page and lists have been updated and re-formatted for easier use. Ongoing efforts will continue to work with Section committees and leadership to add information, content and news to site. 5. Meetings and Programs A meeting took place on November 11, 2002 with Laura Jones and Margery Klausner to review the current status of the web page and the lists, and to work on improving the site. There were problems with getting timely updating to the web site, but these have been worked through with the State Bar. As a result of the meeting, better communication and coordination is taking place. 6. Publications A regular Technology Corner column is done for the Business Law Journal, but no other publications are planned at this time. The Michigan Business Law Journal is regularly posted to the web site. The first two issues were posted in one large file. Starting with the next issue, individual articles and features will be individually posted to make access and downloading easier. 7. Legislative/Judicial/Administrative Developments None applicable, although numerous developments in the field of technology law have taken place. 8. Miscellaneous The following are being included for informational purposes. They are a restatement of the current guidelines and previously distributed information. Section officers are the only persons authorized to send out communications. If you have something you want to send out to the section membership, please send it to Section administrator or any section officer. The list should be used for matters of interest to the section as a whole. Specific and topical messages are better directed to smaller groups. Tailor your message to the issue being addressed or up for discussion, since that will tend to produce the most focused and valuable responses from your colleagues. Brevity is important. Please keep your messages as short and to the point as is consistent with conveying the substance of your thoughts. Please sign your message with your full name and other pertinent information. Among other things, this gives your colleagues the opportunity to consult directly with you on questions or issues that may have come up in discussion. Avoid attachments. Attachments can be very useful, but frequently they are incompatible with your audience's software. Therefore, when at all possible, avoid using them. Messages intended for a specific person on the list should be sent to that person through direct Email. Due to differences in Email software, the reply function may not always address a message to the original sender, but sometimes to the whole list. For this reason, always include your name and Email address in the body of your message so that others may reply to you directly. The responsibility of the posting content lies entirely with the poster. Michael S. Khoury
The Section membership listserv is operational and available for use. We will be updating the list with the new membership information soon. This will also require manually deleting the people that have requested that they be removed from the list. Once that is accomplished, the Section Chair can then transmit to the membership the annual agenda along with an updated set of guidelines. The initial guidelines are attached. The use of the listserv for transmittals is currently limited to Section leadership. Names have to be manually enabled to authorize use, so please let me know if you need to use the list. To send a message to the list, e-mail your message to: businesslaw@lists.inherent.com Section Leadership Listserv This remains a closed list and probably should be used more frequently for communications among people in the section leadership. In addition, please send your updates to the list me, or to Laura Jones. To send a message to the section leadership, simply e-mail your message to: businesslaw-council@lists.inherent.com Section Web Site The Section Web site has been completely reorganized to be more user friendly and accessible. However, much of the content has become stale. To be more useful, committees should take advantage of this resource to publicize committee activities. Specifically, I would like to include the following: An updated Memo from the Chair Materials from the Annual Meeting An Upcoming events list that describes the entire year's activities The last update removed some of the content that needs to go back on, which will be done with the upcoming update. Committee Listservs Few committees have taken advantage of the ability to create listservs for individual committees. If this tool would help you committee, it can be set up and administered relatively easily. Michael S. Khoury
The Section membership listserv is now operational and available for use. Approximately 2,700 of the section members have e-mail addresses in the State Bar database. While this represents a significant portion of the membership, please remember that it is not the entire membership. For the present, the use of the listserv for transmittals will be limited to Section leadership. Names have to be manually enabled to authorize use, so please let me know if you need to use the list. To send a message to the list, e-mail your message to: businesslaw@lists.inherent.com Further discussion about the use of the list will take place during the council meeting. Initial guidelines have been published to the list and are attached. Section Leadership Listserv This remains a closed list and probably should be used more frequently for communications among people in the section leadership. In addition, please send your updates to the list me, or to Laura Jones. To send a message to the section leadership, simply e-mail your message to: businesslaw-council@lists.inherent.com Section Web Site The Section Web site has been completely reorganized to be more user friendly and accessible. Margery Klausner has done a tremendous job, especially with regular updates of the Future Events page. To be more useful, committees should take advantage of this resource to publicize committee activities. Committee Listservs Few committees have taken advantage of the ability to create listservs for individual committees. If this tool would help you committee, it can be set up and administered relatively easily. Section Survey With the exception of the few people who gave comments to Laura Jones and me at the last council meeting, there have been no further comments forthcoming. If the section is to pursue this, we need to have you take 10 or 15 minutes to give us your comments. Michael S. Khoury
Web site With the authorization of the Section officers, the Technology Committee engaged of Margery Siegel Klausner (a Section member and a graduate of the of Michigan Law School) to assist in the re-architecture of the section. 'While some further changes are contemplated, the results of the work to be seen at the State Bar of Michigan web site: http://www.michbar.org/sections/ [Then select Business Law.] Section Leadership Listserv The Section Leadership listserv continues to be maintained, although its use remains sporadic. The Council should consider greater use of the listserv for electronic distribution similar to the manner that committee reports were distributed prior to this council meeting. The section may also want to consider establishing electronic communication as the primary means of communication instead of the mailings that now take place. Membership Listserv The State Bar of Michigan is currently experimenting with section membership lists. This would allow easy and free communication with the entire section membership. Currently, the State Bar has e-mail addresses for only a third of the membership, and there is no way to automatically update and synchronize a list for membership changes (requiring a manual process for each change). Because of this, no recommendation is being made to initiate a list for the Business Law Section. However, as soon as automatic updates and synchronization are available, the Section should explore establishing this additional means of communication with Section members. Electronic Michigan Business Laws Project At the last Council meeting, we discussed alternative means to deliver up to date Michigan business laws to the Section membership as a customer service benefit. We discussed delivery of the information in hard copy, on CD or through the Web, possibly in partnership with ICLE. The Council requested further investigation into the project. As a result of several discussions with ICLE (Mary Hiniker, Sheldon Stark and Lynn Chard), ICLE has offered a proposal to the Section for consideration. A copy of the proposal will be distributed at the Council meeting. This proposal involves several points: |
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