While most of us are carving another hole to expand our belts after a sumptuous Thanksgiving, let us ponder how the future of technology in our courts is determined. The clue can be found on Wednesday, December 2, where the Joint Technology Committee of NACM and COSCA meets in St Augustine, FL.

Most people think technology just happens. In practical terms, technology requires strong oversight, visionary planning, keen strategy and perseverance. Most industries have oversight and planning groups that attempt to address a myriad of tech-related questions such as what standards to apply, where to focus research & development efforts, what is needed to address market conditions and how to resolve conflicts. In the courts arena, that group is the Joint Technology Committee.

The committee is staffed by the National Center for State Courts and comprised (among others) of representatives from NACM, COSCA, NCSC, CITOC and FACT.

Here are some of the many projects on the Joint Tech plate:

Court Technology Framework - a conceptual framework that attempts to portray the complex role that technology plays in court operations.

Court IT Standards - common guidelines to describe how data exchanges, e-filing and case management systems are developed and deployed.

Data exchanges – the courts are being asked to adopt varying sets of standards so that data exchanged with external agencies comply with uniform formats. Some of these dynamics include the Global Justice XML Data Model, National Information Exchange Model and Information Exchange Package Documentations.

I am privileged to serve on this committee as an advisory member on behalf of the Forum on the Advancement of Court Technology representing the courts’ private sector partners in IT. While there are many challenges ahead with courts facing budget shortfalls amid calls for more services and demands for more data, it is groups like the Joint Tech Committee that somehow grease the wheels to get it done.

Photo credit = Microsoft clip art

ADDENDUM: For a PDF of the minutes from this meeting, CLICK HERE

This entry was posted on Friday, November 27th, 2009 at 5:58 pm and is filed under Court Management, Forum on the Advancement of Court Technology, Technology, The Future.You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.