The internet and social software: the double-edged sword
Everyone who is working in a modern office environment is expected to make use of the internet. In the legal profession, the move towards internet exploitation has even reached the point where former High Court Judge, Sir Hugh Laddie has called for courts in England an Wales to be opened to the public using the web (LSG 8th March 2007, p.4) However, the extent to which the internet transcends everyday working life has increased greatly due to the rise of “social software”. How the use of this software becomes a tool to enable greater access and a better working environment for GSD members can very often depend on two factors, which can regularly conflict with each other, these being:
1) The capacity of internet software and training in the workplace
2) The attitude of employers to the use of such software in their workplaces
In the LSG, (31st May 2007, p.13), there is a section covering “Law Blogs”. Essentially a “Blog” is an online journal which updated daily by an author and which allows other readers to post comments. Blogs are part of the new internet “social software” that allows people to share knowledge in a new way. Rather than taking instruction from a manual, Blogs provide essential “tips and tricks” which grow as readers add their own comments to complement those of the author(s) It’s a bit like that really useful networking session you went to where all sorts of interesting titbits of knowledge were picked up, but in electronic form so you can refer to it at any time.
Another form of internet technology similar to this is the Wiki (from the Hawaiian “wiki-wiki” meaning quick). In the case of the Wiki, an author creates a document where other people can be invited to provide amendments. This is a great idea if you want to make sure that something important like an equal opportunities policy makes complete sense and covers every eventuality and priority group.
Essentially, this kind of internet software is known as “social software” because it enables users to make the most of social networking in a work related environment. For all you budding computer geeks out there, this is a form of internet software known as Web 2.0 (Web 1.0 being the standard internet websites we’re used to with their comparatively limited capacity for interactivity) For GSD members, the use of social software can be particularly useful in terms of accessing knowledge from people on a “virtual” networking basis without the potential geographical and access issues intrinsic within “real” networking opportunities. However, as a result, some employers are less than accommodating when it comes to members of staff accessing and inputting into Blogs and Wikis, seeing them as a form of “socialising” rather than “work”.
Some commentators have made the point that Video conferencing, although of exceptional benefit in terms of business efficiency, is also a form of “social software” in terms of the inherent “socialisation” which takes place during meetings and so permitting one form of IT networking opportunity whilst prohibiting another seems to be a case of double standards (LSG, 5th April 2007, p.13)
Beyond this work-related social software, Disability Now (May 2007, p28) reviews a “virtual world” (or “Avatar” in geek-speak) known as Second life, in which disabled people can form their own communities. Disabled entrepreneur Simon Stevens has set up “Wheelies” the first disability nightclub and which has remained a central point for disability issues within this “virtual world”. Essentially Second life provides the real social side of networking where physical access isn’t a problem.
Second life may represent the acme in current social software, but law firms have not been backward in exploiting its inherent commercial applications. LSG (17th May, pp. 24-25) reported that at the end of April 2007, City-based Field Fisher Waterhouse became the first UK law firm to open a virtual office in Second Life. Currently the site is relatively simple, but the establishment of commercial presence within such social software may blur the line between “socialising” and “work” still further. It seems likely therefore that some discrepancy will occur between law firms, and indeed many other commercial organisations, who will take very different views on the use of such software in the workplace.
At this current period of time, although it seems certain that your employer would be unlikely to permit you access to Second life during working hours, the use of such virtual communities may positively contribute to the Quality of Life survey issues outlined by the Law Society for GSD members with more severe physical disabilities, particularly in terms of providing accessible social space.
An area where employees in the legal profession are starting to take real advantage of social software is in the move towards virtual learning. Intrinsically employers are somewhat suspicious of electronic training which is not delivered on a CD-ROM which they can control, but by their nature, CD-ROMs become out of date and their technology is beginning to be eclipsed via the internet due to the prevalence of broadband connections in offices and homes. The LSG (March 2007, p.11) interviewed Julie Brannan, Director of the Oxford Institute of Legal Practice, who emphasised the importance of interactivity in terms of virtual learning,
“…enabling feedback from tutors, something which is obviously not possible with a CD-ROM”
The use of virtual learning with feedback from tutors taking place via home or work computer may be far more effective for GSD members in terms of not requiring access to a training provider’s facilities which may be inaccessible in terms of physical access or other access issues such as hearing loops or machine readable software.
Beyond all of this, there is always the very real possibility of using social software to go “virtual” in terms of running your own business. An article from YSD (December 2006, pp10-11) interviews Andrew Woolley, the founder of a his own “virtual” law firm employing 10 lawyers located from Derby to Bath, all working from home offices. Although good quality IT systems and support are crucial, Woolley emphasises the many benefits that this kind of working brings to the quality of life of the “virtual” lawyers, surely an issue dear to all members of the legal profession and of even greater importance to GSD members, where working from home may be particularly attractive.
Of course, there are downsides to this new technology. A recent newspaper article by Jessica Shepherd in the Times Higher Educational Supplement highlights research that Blogs and other web-based discussion forums severely disadvantage dyslexic students in terms of their learning outcomes. The ability to type quickly and accurately, ensuring appropriate sentence structure, instant reading, time management and organisation is not always available for people using machine reading software on their computers, which take time to process and produce information. Current discussions on the legal rights of employees to discuss and perhaps even criticise their employers in Blogs takes the potential pitfalls of using internet social software to a whole new level. Currently a Solicitors Regulatory Adjudication (SRA) has indicated that writing derogatory comments may not necessarily count as bringing the profession into disrepute (LSG 22nd March 2007, p.5) but that does not necessarily mean that employers will not bring disciplinary action against such Blogs on a personal basis.
Evidently the importance of social and training software to GSD members will change over time as such social software advances, but one thing appears certain, younger legal staff are increasingly favouring firms in which the internet is an integral part of their business, and where such employers are even sourcing financial services, such as estate agents and insurance brokers, to ensure that their employees can make efficient use of their time outside the workplace (LSG, 10th May 2007, p.3) Younger GSD members may well see that the revolution in social software that is taking place all around them will benefit them in terms of access, training and even self-employment, in ways never dreamt of only a few years ago.
Daniel Park