University of Michigan Law School University of Michigan Law School Scholarship Repository Res Gestae Law School History and Publications 1995 Vol. 45, No. 4, February 2, 1995 University of Michigan Law School Follow this and additional works at: http://repository.law.umich.edu/res_gestae Part of the Legal Education Commons Recommended Citation University of Michigan Law School, "Vol. 45, No. 4, February 2, 1995" (1995). Res Gestae. Paper 27. http://repository.law.umich.edu/res_gestae/27 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Law School History and Publications at University of Michigan Law School Scholarship Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Res Gestae by an authorized administrator of University of Michigan Law School Scholarship Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. The RG returns, and now, every two weeks! Law School Gets Webbed By Jason Gull RG Writer charge through the University (see sidebar). The LawSchool's getting wired, and it is But only a fractionhave signed up, and even not because of the rancid snack-bar coffee fewer use their accounts on a regular basis. we seem to consume by the gallon. No, One groupof studentsis hoping to change we're getting our own on-ramp to the infor­ that Andrew Boer (2L), David Paulson mation superhighway. (lL), and Jason Gull (lL-yes, that's me'/; . The Law School already has extensive along with Frank Potterof the Development connections to electronic information re­ and Alumni Office, are currently assem­ OF w THE UNIVERSl'IY MICHIGAN L\ ScHOOL sources through the commercial services bling a World Wide Web site for the Law Vol. 45 No.4 WestLaw and LEXIS/NEXIS. Law stu­ School. They hope to get students, faculty February 2, 1995 dents can obtain Internet accounts at no and administrators online. The group, hastily christened UMLaw UM 's Jerlcy Boy Strikes Web at a meeting last Thursday, hopes to have the site up and running by the time you By Adam Parsons cries of heroism and martyrdom to calls for read this. Special to the RG blood. TI-E NETAND T1E WWW The snow fell on Friday night, January "I'm glad to see that people are still The World Wide Web ("WWW") is the 20th, turning the Law Quad into an idyllic pranking. Since they invented caller ID and catchphrase for a vast collection of hypertext setting of tranquility. The sounds of various *69, it has been in decline." This para­ documents and information services scat­ parties floated through the peaceful air as phrasedsentiment can be ascribed to a group tered on Internet sites around the world. law students released the pressures of the of 2Ls at Mitch's on Wednesday night. "Hypertext" refers to a way of dynami­ week. Matt Wilk's keg steadily provided On the more hawkish side, torts profes­ cally linking documents together. For ex� libation for the weary. But all was not sor Croley said, "I think the person should be ample, if this article were a hypertext articl«i peaceful in the quad. One student in particu­ sentenced to twelve months of cite-check- on a WWW "page," words and phrases like lar was letting off steam in another way. ing "WWW" and "Jason Gull" might be high­ On that night, fingers were busy dialing � �L y/mi� lighted. "Clicking" on a highlighted word the phone numbers of various law professors on penology, the g�..Jilli),.,...l'llil!•ttmtt..... (using a Windows or Macintosh PC and the and adminstrators. This lone caller, secure � sthe �juiceand ru s appropriate WWW "browser" software) in the anonymity which normally accompa­ · Qul<Pdinlhg1CN) csaid. "Hey, would connect to another page that dis­ nies the use of the telephone, left obscene or "E m e s tupl{fJ ngs when I played a list of WWW resources,or that dis­ harassing messages on certain instructors' tM was druilk. Giv o!Jbfp rvice played a form for sending an e-mail message answering machines. Unbeknownst to our ee JIIJJffl� 0 to me. See WEB, p. 2 law school'sJerky Boy, the electronicwheels of justice turned quickly against him. Hav­ ing been tagged by caller ID and contacted The Deal with DICTA by the University's Department of Public Safety, the caller reportedly told officers By Rick Biersbacb of Miles Yanick. Some time last year, Miles that he had gotten drunk that evening and RG Writer was sitting in torts when he was overcome "was venting some frustration." The staff of DICTA, the law school's with a vision of a brighter, better law school, The identity of this pseudo-vigilante gestatingliterary journal, found last semes­ one where law-review Note proposals and remains unknownto us here at the law school. ter's submissions very encouraging. epic poems could co-exist peacefully. It was beyond the investigative prowess of "I was really surprised by the amount of He grabbed 2L MattMorris, and the two this roving RG reporter to uncover a name, material we got," said Andrew Boer, a 2L went to LSSS with a funding proposal for a but I'm sure thosein the know will let the in­ saddled with the onerous task of producing new "literary" journal. While neither Matt formation flow through our hallowedhalls. the first issue, which will be about 60pages norMilesremembers exactlywhathappened It was reported in The Ann Arbor News of poetryand short fiction and will hopefully on that fateful day, LSSS was apparently re­ that Dean Lehman and his secretary were be out before spring break. ceptive. They gave the now-official journal recipients of some of these legendary calls. Miles Yanick, currently a 2L and the enough funding for its ftrst two issues, and a But, not to knock the journalistic integrity journal's esteemed editor-in-chief, voiced new era was born at the law school. and investigative skills of the Pulitzer Prize his agreement, noting that, with responses "I just wanted to starta foruJTIfor creative winners downtown, I discovered the Deanin from over 30 authors, totalling 150 pages, · expression," said Miles. "Any kind of artis­ denial. "I didn't get a call," he said. 'The this was "more material than we had ever tic work is acceptable. It doesn't have to be Ann Arbor News misreported" hoped for." related to law at all." Be this as it may, student and faculty DICTA: The UniversityofMichiganLaw I was fortunate enough to observe the School Journal of the Arts reaction to the sordid affair has rangedfrom is the brainchild See DICTA, p. 2 The Re• Geltae o February 2, 1995 o page 2 Web-Slinging (() � http:/ /www-leland.stanford.edu/group/ p.l law/ lawschool.html WEB,from t. If you don't have an Internet account, get 3. If you have a computer and modem of and In addition to text, many WWW pages one. Go to Angell Hall or NUBS, ask to get a your own, you can get a copy of NetScape or Uniqname and Password. Bring your student 10. Mosaicfree online. Speak to the computer con­ contain images, and even audio and video 2. While you're there, try out the new WWW sultants at Angell or NUBS about modemaccess ftles, though keep in mind that it ain't Star site on a Mac or PC. Point your browser software via "PPP" (I know, yet another bizarreabbrevia­ Trek yet-the time it takes to download (preferably NetScape, or NCSA Mosaic, both tion-sorry). to the audio and video clips from a WWWpage to available online at the computer centers) 4. UsetheNet,sendemail,browset he WWW. following address (also know as a "URL"): 5. Loseall your friends because your phone your computer is a lot longer that the length http://www.umich.edu/-umlaw/ is always busy. Skip class because you're too of the clips themselves. (Even so, at least Other law school sites can be accessed with busy reading interesting articleson USENET. one WWW site, The Internet Underground these URL's: 6. Graduate. http:/ /www.law.cornell.edu/ Music Archive, makes available full-length 7. Practice law. http:/ /w\\w.kentlaw.edu/ 8. Attain fulfillment. • CO-quality tracks by independent artists.) BIG PLANS As theRG went topress, the Law School tive students, there will be the standard information by keywords, though unfortu­ WWWsite was still under construction, and admission information, but UMLawWeb is nately there aren't many actual documents will probably remain that way for the next also lookingfor students interested in writ­ on the site yet. couple months. So far, it contains an online ing on their own experiences at the Law Stanford LawSchool's site offers a bland directory of Law School faculty and stu­ School. The WWW site could also serve as list of topics and is more internal, concen­ dents, access to Lexcalibur (the law library's a clearinghouse for information on courses trating on events on the campus and admis­ online card catalog) and Mirlyn (the online and prospective employers. sions procedures, as well an unsubtle plug card catalog for many other University of More than thirty law schools already for "Stanford"-emblazoned merchandise. Michigan libraries), plus some links to some have WWWsites up and running, though the The UMLaw Web group would like the legal information resources on the Internet quality and quantity of information avail­ University of Michigan's site to combine the "It's pretty rudimentary right now, but able on each varies widely. more useful aspects of those at other law we're working on it, we're working," said The Legal Information Institute at Cor­ schools.