Much has been written about the pros and cons of working in “the cloud”. Even in this Newsletter, if you search under “cloud computing” you will find 26 articles, written over several years! Just to re-cap, the essential concept is that data is stored in an online location which is accessible from an internet-connected device, as opposed to being kept on a local hard drive or portable storage medium. In theory, cloud computing enhances data security as logins are generally required for access, and it’s less susceptible to hard drive failures because of backup procedures. It also improves collaboration opportunities and makes data easier to access from multiple locations and devices.

Target audiences have moved online, expanding the reach of word of mouth to the multitude of web channels. The challenge this presents firms is that they need to do more than just have an online presence. They need to be active, contributing content to the right online space, at the right time, to be consumed by the right people.

Launched in 2003, Skype was one of the first mass market freely available forms of internet video conferencing. It took advantage of early developments in Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) technology to allow users to communicate with each other using their microphones and webcams. Previously video conferencing had been prohibitively expensive for the general public and was largely only used by companies. The burgeoning popularity of broadband over the last few years has led to an increase in the use of a constantly improving VoIP and a surge in the popularity of Skype.

(with Chloe Dennis)

How many types of device might you view a website on during the course of your week?

We are becoming used to accessing the internet anytime and anywhere on whatever device we have to hand. Our choice of device at any time depends on personal preferences, availability and the ability to use the device in various situations.

Now, even the smallest law firm uses computers and it is possible to run a business from a PC, unlike the dedicated IT requirement of 30 years ago. Lawyers, however, still like keeping things whether it be paper files or electronically stored materials and our nature means that we are reluctant ever to destroy anything … just in case! Whilst my litigation colleagues will advise that indefinite storage is both a blessing and a curse – e-discovery may not turn up exactly what a party might have wished – ready and instant access to whatever is needed, from any location, is a fact of the modern legal world. No longer does one need to arrive at a meeting or at a distant court to find that the all-important document is languishing on one’s desk or, my particular hang-up, waiting to be printed from the remote printer that I have omitted to visit before rushing off.

(By Delia Venables)

LawSauce is written by Ruth Bird (University of Oxford, Bodleian Law Librarian) and Natalie Wieland (Legal Research Skills Adviser, Melbourne Law School). It is an e-resource locator developed to quickly locate the right legal web resource for legal tasks, which can otherwise be a very complex task. LawSauce includes nearly 8,000 records covering case law and legislative sources for many jurisdictions. It is organised by broad geographical region, such as North America or Asia. The sources are then arranged by their jurisdictional location. For the UK and Europe, links are to the EU as well as to each individual country in greater Europe, extending to Russia in the east and Ireland in the west. The app can be downloaded from the Android Store and the iTunes store.

A clear winner in the participants’ preferences was Panopticon, from the 11KBW Information Law Practice Group, led by Timothy Pitt-Payne QC, Anya Proops and Robin Hopkins. As it says on the site "Information law is about the right to know, and the right to keep private – and the ever-shifting boundary between those rights. It encompasses areas such as data protection, freedom of information, the protection of private information under article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights, breach of confidence, and the regulation of surveillance."