Ken's (Pro)posterous Posts

I'm getting an award from the #NLG!!! Come out if you're in #SoCal for a good time. #fb #li

Fri, 27 Jan 2012 14:46:59 -0800

HERE’S YOUR INVITATION TO THE LA/NLG’S “2012 WINTER AWARDS PARTY”

Honoring Lawyers Guild Attorneys who Defended Occupy LA!

Saturday, February 25^th, from 7:00-120:00 p.m.

Great food & Drinks!

Dance to the Music of the Popular, “Los Jornaleros Del Norte!”

All for the Low Price of $50.00 person, $25.00 for students!

Location: SEIU Service Workers West, 828 W. Washington Blvd., L.A., CA 90015

HONORING: LA/National Lawyers Guild Attorneys ERIN DARLING, JOHN MICHAEL LEE,KEN MONTENEGRO, SRI PANCHALAM, CAROLYN PARK, MATTHEW STRUGAR & MIKE TORCIVIA, for their outstanding work on behalf of defending Occupy LA!

Use the Form Below to Reserve Your tickets Now!

Name:_____________________________________________Phone#__________________

E-Mail Address:_________________________________________

Number of Tickets: ____________________Send Check, Payable to “NLG” to, National Lawyers Guild, 8124 W. Third St., Ste. 101,

LA, CA 90048; or e-mail ticket order to: jlafferty@nlg-la.org; or phone in order to: 323/653-4510 (Tickets held at door.)

And please consider buying an extra ticket or two for low-income guests!

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You've just been ousted as the mayor of Escandalo Cantina!

Tue, 24 Jan 2012 20:41:09 -0800

Sorry for the bad news, but Juan has just ousted you as mayor of Escandalo Cantina!
https://foursquare.com/v/escandalo-cantina/4e556afaaeb75a7448e083ce

Don't take it too hard - a few more check-ins and you could be back on top...

Good Luck!
- Your friends @ foursquare

foursquare labs, Inc. 568 Broadway, New York, NY 10012

Please remember you can always go to your User Settings page to adjust your account and contact info, privacy controls, email preferences and options linking to Twitter and Facebook.

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For The Sorrow Of A Continent by S. Mehmedinovic

Mon, 05 Sep 2011 11:56:00 -0700

This is from the lovely City Lights Pocket Poets Series. The book is Nine Alexandrias by Semezdin Mehmedinovic. Mehmedinovic is interesting in his own right given his experiences in the attempted genocide of his people in the Balkans.

What struck me about this piece is the universal dislocation that's a recurrent theme in so much of the art that I like. There a sense of knowing you're never going to be home, you're never going to be comfortable. But that's OK. It just is.

Going from one American coast to another,

I saw lonely people, sorrowful and angry,

I saw good people, and even those transmitted the

Only warmth they had to the ring on their finger

And I believe I've preserved a sorrowful expression

Within me for the sorrow of a continent

Just like a train preserves the memory of a galleon

Since every message reaches me across my feet

What I mean is, I'm a political

Emigre every trip I take

Always on ground treading water

I feel like I shouldn't be here

And that I'm standing on the planet Diagonally

Like those kids drawn on greeting cards put out by UNICEF

Always on ground treading water and train preserving the memory of the galleon are my favorite images in this piece.

And now, to the not so beautiful, the features list for a phone system.

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Birthday Cake by Paul Goodman #poetry

Sat, 06 Aug 2011 12:54:10 -0700

This is from the selection of poems in the Paul Goodman Reader:

Birthday Cake

Now isn't it time
when the candles on the icing
are one two too many
too many to blow out
too many to count too many
isnit it time to give up this ritual?

although the fiery crown
fluttering on the chocolate
and through the darkened room advancing
is still the most loveliest sight
among our savage folk
that have few festivals.

But the thicket is too hot and thick
and isn't it time, isn't it time
where the fires are too many
to eat the fire and not the cake
and drip the fires from my teeth
as once I had my hot hot youth.

Amazing and lovely.

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From Robert Kelly's Last Light

Thu, 28 Apr 2011 22:31:06 -0700

I have believed in time
& in time
come
to this meadow
where all the
moments of time are one

I'm reading an old anthology that my friend Anthony turned me on to. It's called, The Voice That Is Great Within Us edited by Hayden Carruth. I want an editor somewhere to use the same logic or criteria as Carruth did on this in 1970. The selections are amazing (by and large).

This selection from Last Light makes me think of Auden or Eliot's Four Quartets.

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Timely Poem by Bill Knott: Testament

Wed, 23 Mar 2011 09:46:11 -0700

TESTAMENT

You know the fable

How a soldier’s bible

Kept in his jacket pocket

Stopped a bullet

But that catechism

Born to foster schism

Also stopped his heart his

Mind from finding peace

He would not have had need

Of such a shield

Nor would his blood have been

Thrilled to kill someone

Of another faith

If in that book he had not first read death

====

As we enter yet another war (because we need a trinity thereof at a time), this poem should resonate strongly.

Bill Knott is part of the twitterverse: you can find him at @notknott

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War Talk (part 1)

Tue, 08 Mar 2011 20:05:34 -0800

I remember borrowing this book years ago and being both moved and amazed at the artistry behind Roy's words and, more importantly (maybe) the incisive analysis coupled with intellectual honesty. Once upon a time, the artistry of her words would have been enough...but that's a different topic.

Now, as the third (or fourth) book post bar-exam, I'm re-reading it with a bit more pause and within the context of the Bush years having come to their superficial end (though the policies remain entrenched and enshrined by the "opposition" party".

There were moments where the observations/realities of the Indian sub-contintent transfer to the realities in the United States of America. One such instance is:

"Why isn't there a peace movement?" Western journalists ask me ingenously. How can there be a peace movement when...peace means a daily battle: for food, for water, for shelter, for dignity.

A statement regarding impunity by politicians resonates here given the impunity of Bush, Rumsfeld, most bank CEOs and CFOs, Timothy Geithner, and, given the status of Bradley Manning and Gitmo torture, President Obama:

Resignation? Have we lost all sense of proportion? Criminals are not meant to resign. They're meant to be charged, tried, and convicted.

Finally, the issue of nationalism and fascism is addressed or examined thusly:

It's disturbing to see how neatly nationalism dovetails into fascism. ....nationalism -in its many avatars: communist, capitalist, and fascist- has been at the root of almost all of the genocide of the 20th century.

Each time you defend the rights of an institution, any institution (including the Surpeme Court), to exercise unfettered, unaccountable powers that must never be challenged, you move toward fascism. Fighting it means fighting to win back the minds and hearts of people. It means keeping an eagle eye on public institutions and demanding accountability. It means putting your ear to the ground and listening to the whispering of the truly powerless.

I wonder if our movements will continue to be decimated by economic comforts of the first world. By sinecure (yes, I'm slightly guilty of liking my comfort), or the proverbial seat at the table.

Or, like the alleged immigrant rights movement in the US, will we always allow organizational power to trump people power? Will we here the voices of those directly impacted or will we continue to listen to learned and "objective" talking heads? How do we take those spaces back and put the voice of the impacted at the center...even if that means that our brand isn't visible...or if the person steps outside our externally imposed messaging frame? More importantly, as someone who has suckled at the teat of the NPIC for almost 20 years, how do we wean ourselves so that these voices can come through?

As Roy says, "Heaven help us make it through the night".

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Thanks for my book back Julie...

Sun, 06 Mar 2011 00:26:42 -0800

About 2 years ago, my friend and co-worker Julie Su asked me if I could think of any suggested readings for a class she was teaching at the nexus of people's lawyers called Northeastern (http://www.northeastern.edu/law/). She was teaching a course (all the while juggling being an amazing mom, mentor to dozens of folks, fighting SLAPP suits, and being litigation director at a civil rights organization) and, naturally, I was glad to suggest some chapters from Rights on Trial by Arthur Kinoy and lend her my copy of this hard to find book.

This last Wednesday, en route to legal observe an action on skid row, I was lucky enough to run into Julie and check in with her for a while. For all I know, it could have been our farewell because she's been appointed to serve as the Labor Commissioner for the state. As we were catching up, she returned my copies of Rights on Trial and biographies of Paul Robeson and Medgar Evers which belonged to my son but I had lent her for her children. As we were talking, I couldn't help but feel that I was in the presence of an Arthur Kinoy...moreover someone who lives some of the words from the chapter she assigned:

"...people's lawyers must never forget their underlying purpose: to utilize their skills in order to assist people already in motion to care forward their own struggles." "..the lawyer's activity is rarely, if ever, the primary means of winning the struggle. Victory has to be achieved by the people themselves, through their own organizational strength and activity, and the legal work of the people's lawyer must be directed primarily toward helping to create an atmosphere in which the people can more readily function, organize, and move forward."

As I reflect on most of my lawyer friends, not acquaintances who happen to be lawyers, I think most of them have been through the Kinoy-Su school of law. One of my best friends, Betty, captured this practice and sentiment in her essay, "Law and Organizing from the Perspective of Organizers: Finding a Shared Theory of Social Change". http://www.lapilj.org/2008-09-hung-article.html

It's funny, Julie was one of the reasons why I decided to work for my employer and, semi-jokingly, I'd always call her the conscience of the organization. Now I'm frightened that that appellation might be true.

It's also timely that she returned that book because, as I've been reading Dancing with Dynamite by Benjamin Dangl, I've come across so many passages where I tell myself, "I'm glad a lawyer didn't get in the way of these movements." I intended to clip some of the more amazing statements from that book, but for now, I think this post should stand alone.

The Kinoy book can be found here:

http://amzn.com/0964188708

Medgar Evers: http://amzn.com/087067594X

Paul Robeson: http://amzn.com/0870675524

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From Rosenmann's La Digna Rabia en America Latina

Sat, 29 Jan 2011 15:11:09 -0800

This is from an older piece which appeared in the Mexican daily La Jornada at least a couple of years ago (ah-duh, 2008)...but, the final paragraph is as timely as ever as we struggle to transform our slacktivism into real expressions of solidarity.

Canonical Text:

Hoy, más que nunca, es obligado escuchar la voz de quienes en su resistencia incorporan nuevas formas de actuar y pensar desde los principios de la dignidad, la justicia, la democracia, sin renuncia a su identidad. Única manera de construir un proyecto donde la soberanía y la independencia se reúnen en la lucha contra la explotación capitalista.

Translation:

Now, more than ever, it is an obligation to listen to the voice of those who in their resistance incorporate new forms of action and thought based on the principles of dignity, justice, democracy, without renouncing their identity. The only manner we can build a project where sovereignty and independence meet in the fight against capitalist exploitation (sic).

Why does this still resonate? Well, we've seen Iran, Honduras, the fight for DREAM act, and, now, the struggle of the Egyptians, become trending topics and, maybe a quick pause is in order for us to reflect if, and how, we are making sure that the voices of those directly impacted are central in the struggles we support...or purport to support. If it's not the voice of the person impacted, whose voice are we listening to? What's the legitimacy of that voice? Does legitimacy come with a credential or experience? Once we hear those voices, maybe we'll remember that a retweet or facebook like might make us feel good and raise awareness for 16 seconds while true struggle against injustice is long-term if not eternal.

Original article, in spanish:

http://www.jornada.unam.mx/2008/12/08/index.php?section=politica&article=017a1pol

Back to bar study....

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What I meant to say...or, more lines from Ritsos

Tue, 18 Jan 2011 08:39:00 -0800

Of course, Ritsos says what I meant to say on Christmas morning:

If only you knew how beautiful your mouth is

you would kiss me on the eyes that I might not see you.

Yannis Ritsos Interchanges 1955 trans by Kimon Friar

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Silence Is The Message By Lic Gus Hickerson

Sat, 01 Jan 2011 10:56:22 -0800

EL SILENCIO ES EL MENSAJE
por Gustavo de la Rosa Hickerson

Mcluhan el afamado teórico de la aldea global acuño la celebre frase
muchas veces incomprendida y otras sobreinterpretada, " El medio es el
mensaje"

La mas gruesa de las interpretaciones nos dice que a veces el mensaje
está encubierto en otros mecanismos diversos al lenguaje explicito.
Lo anterior viene a cuento porque seguimos sin descifras que paso en
el homicidio de Marisela. ¿hay algún mensaje atrás de eso?, o
simplemente es un acto de agresión delictiva por los conflictos
interfamiliares que tenia con el presunto asesino de su hija Rubí.

Hay quienes me han detenido en la calle y me han dicho directa mente,
"¿ya vio lo que le paso a la Señora?, eso les puede pasar a todos los
críticos del gobierno, este gobernador, necesita la unidad y el apoyo
completo de todo Chihuahua, ¡¡pero ya!! , o juntan o derraman" , lo
malo es que no ha sido uno solo, ni tampoco juarenses de a pie, los
que me lo han dicho son gentes del gobierno o vinculados al mismo por
medio de contratos o negocios, y a los que desde luego les molesta que
haya voces en contrapunto con la del Señor Gobernador.

Cuando lo escuche por décima ocasión, mas o menos, me fui a leer a el
teórico canadiense y trate de comprender si habría algún mensaje en
el ataque a la mujer que hoy es homenajeado por miles de veladoras y
de corazones.

Pero ¿cual sería el mensaje?

obviamente que no puedo creer que sea similar al de aquel gobernador
de los últimos 60s y primeros 70s, que se decía mando matar al
periodista mas critico de Chihuahua y luego aplico la ley fuga a los
Estudiantes guerrilleros que asaltaron unos bancos en 1971. ahí el
mensaje era claro, " si te sales totalmente de las reglas del
gobernador te mueres" Los Chihuahuenses lo entendimos y estamos vivos.

No hoy no puede ser tan obvio. sin embargo , tal vez , quizá, a lo
mejor, pudiera estar escondido en el descuido, la falta de protección
a la Señora, y dejar que terceros golpeen a los defensores de
derechos humanos, tal vez el mensaje sea" si eres víctima de la
violencia, aguantate, espera a que las autoridades competentes actúen,
no molestes, porque ya vez como están las cosas, cuando andas por
estas calles de Dios a lo mejor te mandan hacer un daño y no va a
haber quien te proteja, porque con tanta cosa que sucede, es imposible
cuidar a todo mundo, ya vez a doña Marisela la mataron en la puerta de
Palacio y no hubo nadie que lo pudiera evitar,y después le robaron sus
veladoras, y desprestigiaron a su abogada, así que mejor calladito,
porque así te vez mas bonito."

Pienso que esto es muy complicado, pero como debo entregar mi
colaboración, me pongo a escribir mientras llegan mis guarda espaldas,
y aquí termino,....pero.... ¿que pasa? , ¡¡¡ ya tienen 15 minutos de
retraso!!!

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Juli...no, no Nikes

Wed, 29 Dec 2010 21:50:05 -0800

There's someone who I'm really growing to admire from afar. A topic which came up was giving in to sartorial selections which don't jibe with our adult/parental inclinations.

I really thought long and hard about it shortly after moving out of my house and Juli requiring a hoodie/jacket. He had left his favorites at his mom's and I didn't want to go there. I felt he should have a completely different set of clothes at my house. Well, we went to 3 places where hoodies were ~$20-30....but no: the only hoodie he wanted, and what he got, was one by American Apparel. It was partially my fault because I didn't want to shop there so I told him, "get whatever you want regardless of price"....of course, that means I paid close to $50 for a hoodie while giving my money to a corporation which, while "immigrant friendly" in public perception, has horrible gender politics in-house.

I also recall how my mom (qepd) and dad would buy Juli presents at Walmart. I'd always be gracious for Juli and avoid the political elements of that discussion...but then again, I should have that dialog with friends who shop at Trader Joe's or Target. Those gifts were always laden with schdenfreude...even if not volitionally.

OK, that sleeping pill with a Stella chaser is beckoning me into bed...for a change, I might listen....though, at inception, there was a parenting confession or insight that went beyond "we all fuck up" or other cliches and platitudes.

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2010...not over fast enough!

Sun, 26 Dec 2010 13:07:22 -0800

I figured I should make a list of events which transpired this last year so I can move away from a mental punch-list:

January: Decided, with my ex, to end our 13-yr relationship
February: Sat for the CA bar
March: Moved out from the house I hold 1/2 title to
May: Arrested blocking Federal Metropolitan Detention Center
June: Support local actions/instances of civil disobedience; Informed failed 2nd bar attempt
July: Collective stages 2nd civil disobedience
August: Mother falls ill; 2 trips to Denver
September: Mother dies and is buried; stress of subsidizing burial and funeral expenses
October: City Attorney assumes an agressive prosecutorial stance re: May arrest
November: Dates set for trial; Reluctantly re-register for February bar exam
December: Physical exhaustion sets in from doing support for other movement folks; major car trouble/expense

Now seeing it in writing, and skipping mundane details like multitudes of meetings, legal observing like there's no tomorrow, providing technical assistance to other folks resisting/dissenting, a trip to Arizona re: sb1070, partying, and stressful exchanges with my ex, from an event perspective, 2010 was very heavy. I guess I should feel proud that none of these events threw me off in terms of professional or movement commitments (one morning, dry-retching in the shower didn't even make me late). Or, maybe that's a problem which bears further, off-line, exploration (i.e. how most of my reflection is operational and not emotive in nature).

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It's as if I was dressed by white supremacists!

Tue, 21 Dec 2010 14:32:29 -0800

on the day the saab stays at home, i evaluate what i'm dressed and carrying:

Gap jacket
Eddie Bauer wool sweater
Banana Republic polo shirt
Levis 501 jeans
Adidas shoes (black)
Timbuk2 black messenger bag
Lenovo IdeaPad S10
Dec issue of CalBar Criminal Law section journal
2 legal pads
Blackberry Bold 9700
Cole Haan glasses

Sigh and double sigh. I could at least have been wearing a movement t-shirt for oprah winfrey's sake!

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Quick Organizer's Security Discussion

Fri, 03 Dec 2010 15:00:44 -0800

A couple of nights ago, while talking to an organizer, I realized there are so many security elements which aren't covered in the security training for organizers which I had the pleasure of consulting on with Third World Majority.

Among them:

Unpredictability: being unpredictable is a very strong security mechanism
Hushmail: using web-based strongly encrypted email should be standard
Tor: Tor should run on most organizer computers
Storage: Find someone to host, ideally privately, an SSH box for you and connect to it using tools such as MacFUSE/SSHFS
Disk Encryption: Create an encrypted disk image and an encrypted disk image inside the mother image
External Devices: If you have an external device, encrypt it...and if you can, give it to someone you trust such as an attorney or clergy person who is less susceptible to search than your average organizer.

I'm going to revisit some of these in greater depth in q2 2011 and publish the TWM Training.

For more information, the Electronic Frontier Foundation has a great primer here:

https://ssd.eff.org/ --

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The Unjust by Yannis Ritsos

Sat, 06 Nov 2010 12:55:00 -0700

I read this this morning with my son over our breakfast of Farmer John breakfast links (probably made 3 miles down the road in Vernon); eggs with lots of garlic; frozen waffles a la mode (I didn't have syrup so I decided vanilla ice cream would substitute); and Kirin milk tea (from Mitsua market down the road in Little Tokyo). He was telling me how upon closer examination, Robert Frost's poetry has some "dark" aspects (they're doing Frost in the 7th grade). He must have seen me roll my eyes (I'm not a fan of Frost) and he asked, if many poets focus on "dark" subjects and who did it better.

After some Nan Cohen and my homie, Anthony Seidman, I mentioned Ritsos as a master craftsman and read the following to him

Night. Only one look. A noiseless bullet.

The metallic shield of loneliness is pierced.

That roundness shattered.

And pride on its knees.

Beloved night. My beloved wound -- he said.

The road, the sky, the stars -- exist

in order to sink again. Only one look.

Outside of loneliness lurks the great danger

of loneliness -- beloved danger:

to rival that other person and with justice on your side,

while the whole injustice of it is that justice also belongs to that other.

(1955-1956)

We spent about 30 minutes talking about it...he immediately loved the oxymoron of "pride on its knees" and really liked how, in his mind, loneliness exists on both sides of the shield. I had a great time talking about the last line and how, to me, it's important to remember that what we think is unjust, might be seen as justice by the proverbial other and vice-versa. It was a great way to start the day...now, if I can pollute his mind with a Harold and Kumar movie, I'll consider my job as a straight single father of color (ssfoc) done!

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End Of Pro Bono Week Long Live Pro Bono Attorneys

Sat, 30 Oct 2010 06:32:54 -0700

I'm writing this as someone who has yet to pass the California bar after 2 attempts and, in spite of that, and in addition to my "day job", manages to find ways to use my legal education to advance social movements. I'm also writing this as someone who is close to many pro bono lawyers who never cease to inspire and educate me.

Pro bono is hard. I have a friend who recently opened a community law office and given the CA market for attorneys, is really worried about her office's viability. My criminal defense attorney (I was arrested during a political protest) is representing me pro bono because she's a movement attorney who has the experience, leeway, and believes the financial sacrifice is ultimately worth it (it helps that she was also one of my teachers in law school). No one is going to rush to these folks and give them bags of money for the pro bono work they do. Hell, even some of the folks who benefit from pro bono work sometimes forget to say thank you! But that kind of underscores the nature of pro bono work: it's done to fill a need and, given the destruction of the safety net, the complexity of modern society, the absence of civil gideon (right to counsel), more pro bono attorneys are needed.

But who are these people? They don't have to be activists, they just have to have a desire to somehow, often in seemingly insignificant ways, right a wrong or prevent a tragedy from destroying a family and/or community. I'd love it if there were more lawyer activists but I'd settle for lawyers who seek out smaller, maybe non-LSC restriction bound, legal services organizations. I'd love to see tenants going into eviction proceedings come out with smiles on their faces. I'd love to see lawyers attempting to remove the tension and drama from family law matters within poor and asset depleted communities. I'd love to see protesters know that an attorney will follow them from site of their action and be waiting for them...and willing to let the protesters determine what extent of legal support they will need.

But, maybe we don't really need pro bono lawyers per se. Maybe we need lawyers with a higher social consciousness who are willing to make material sacrifices for the greater good, for the sake of fairness. These lawyers will not see pro bono as pro bono: they'll see it as part of their lives.

Finally, maybe pro bono week is an opportunity to celebrate those who have followed the dictates of their conscience and have volunteered in a pro bono framework/program. But maybe it's also an opportunity to re-examine this profession and realize that our training has provided us tools which can change the world...and that maybe, just maybe, real change is not something that can be commodified...it, like pro bono legal services, is like the air we breathe, gratis.

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Notes From Cloke's Essay, Economic Basis of Law and State #probono #law #crit #fb

Wed, 29 Sep 2010 23:38:34 -0700

A kind and brilliant friend wanted me to write some words about pro bono legal work. I could reduce bro bono work to one word or thought, Sisyphean. Those who are doing pro bono are doing a great service which leads them to a professional sacrifice of continuously rolling a boulder up a hill only to watch it tumble back down; but like Sisyphus, they are saintly because they are condemned to this task because they had the desire to help humanity. They are, in many instances, over-worked and under-paid to act as mediators or facilitators between traditionally disenfranchised/targeted communities and the ever hungry machine of private property and state violence.

I want to write more about the inspiring folks I know in LA doing legal aid and pro bono work...people like my brave attorney and friend Mia; people like my sister in struggle Betty; people like Matt from the Wage Justice Center...in short, folks who are living their values and using their professional skills to advance those values. I'm hoping to follow their lead someday. But, for now, I'm offering partial notes from an anthology I'm reading called Law Against The People: Essays to Demystify Law, Order, and the Courts edited by Robert Lefcourt.

That someday is also the day where I hope my work is informed by the following bullet points pulled from Kenneth Cloke's essay, Economic Basis of Law and State (1971):

law = intimidation; order = coercion
the mere existence of a unified system of law for two social classes which are increasingly in fundamental opposition to one another is itself oppressive
to be color-blind in a racist environment is to ignore the problem
there is no legal right to do more than to protest one's slavery, and that, only if a permit has been received and the protest is not violent, does not block traffic, and does not present a clear and present danger to the overthrow of slavery
labor and debt collection laws give the appearance of fairness and justice while masking the substantive inequality which is endemic to the entire wage-labor system
what kind of society is it that claims people exist for law rather than law for people?
once there is real equality there is no need for law

The HuffPo has a short bio of Cloke here:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ken-cloke --

To see the technical aspect of executing pro bono and legal aid/service type work, don't forget to visit the good folks at http://techno.la --.

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Small Legal Office Suggestions (Short Version)

Sun, 05 Sep 2010 12:02:34 -0700

Most small law offices require 3 elements to perform substantive work:

Phone
Internet
Case Management System

Each of these presents a unique challenge because there are a variety of options presented which claim to meet the needs of such small offices. The fact of the matter is that there is no complete and comprehensive solution which will work for all offices.

What follows is how I, as a technologist who has done legal work, would tackle such a challenge...and if not tackle, at least grasp at.

Phone

We know that a phone is essential...I may have not checked my voicemail at the office for 9 months, but we could probably agree a phone is indispensable. Next question is, in a small environment, how do we address this need at a low-cost but high value proposition (value also includes small office staff time).

Google Voice: Google Voice provides immediate PBX-like functions and rules based call routing to help you weed callers out. Additionally, if you have a Gizmo account, you can add your Gizmo configured phone as one of the many phones you have registered with your Google Voice number. Furthermore, you can, for now, make free outgoing calls from your Gizmo configured device (preferably a SIP phone, infra).
SIP Gate: SIP Gate is an outsourced IP PBX which, for the oxymoronically larger-small office can provide extensions and, most importantly, resolves your FAX issues/needs. There is a free starter account which doesn't permit outbound faxes but will get you a traditional phone number so you can test the service. One of the nicer options is the facility of adding extensions from the web-based interface.

To use either of the above services you would need a SIP-compliant VOIP phone or a softphone (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Softphone). As far as SIP-phones go, I'm a big fan of the Cisco/Linksys phones such as this one: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833150069&cm_re=cisco_phone-_-33-150-069-_-Product --

One elemental factor in your phone solution is making sure your facility is cabled adequately.

Internet

Apart from using the internet for email, in this scenario, we're also using the internet as the technology which will provide phone service...apart from cellular service. We will assume the phones in place will be using an external power adapter. If the goal is to have the phones without an external power adaptor, then the solution would be a PoE network switch which is not covered here.

To share your internet connection with your phones and computers, you'll need a router. Here are a couple of router suggestions:

Cisco/Linksys router with wifi and virtual private network: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspxItem=N82E16833124334&cm_re=vpn_router-_-33-124-334-_-Product --for many offices, the ability to have up to 4 wireless networks is going to be overkill as is VPN support. VPN is a virtual private network...what that does is allow you to get into your network and access resources on that network. In many small offices, VPN support is truly gravy because files can be shared using Google Apps for domains and/or Dropbox. This Cisco router costs about $90/$100.
Therefore, a more practical approach to the router/switch issue could be an Asus router. The Asus router is a commodity router which means it's probably not as reliable as the Cisco device but it will get the job done for a fraction of the price. My suggestion would be to flash the Asus router with DD-WRT micro. This device is ~$50 and provides a print-server: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833320032&cm_re=asus_wrt-_-33-320-032-_-Product --

I'm partial to solution number 2 because most small offices won't need the sophistication of solution number 1. Caveat: small office person should bribe a technically inclined friend to flash the Asus router with DD-WRT firmware.

Another option, but not so viable in a small office environment, is to have a router which can take 2 external interfaces for a redundant internet connection...the reality is that even some large offices don't have a good backup connection so this might be gravy.

Case Management System

Personally, I'm a fan of Pika's case management system (CMS). Problem is that Pika is built for legal service/aid and not really for the small practitioner. That leaves the small practitioner with the option of purchasing a system from We$t or Lexi$. A different approach is running a case management system through:

Salesforce.com --great, requires set-up/customization
Civicrm.com --good, requires set-up/customization
Open-source hosted solution of something like: http://www.lcm.ngo-bg.org/en --though depreciated, the small office could probably use this in it's current iteration.

I meant to keep this shorter but figured I'd knock out something I've been meaning to do for quite a while.

PS: make sure to get a duplex printer!

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Images in Email Signatures

Fri, 16 Jul 2010 15:50:25 -0700

At my job they've decided that we should have an image in our email signature to strengthen our brand...problem is, we're a non-profit where brand-loyalty doesn't really have the same financial benefit it does for companies like Apple or Nike.

Fellow techs from the legal services technology community provided these gems...all of which failed to impact our development/communications people:

make them deal with it on a dial up ISP
force them to explain what the program actually gains from this
this branding thing has gotten way out of control...what are we - shoe salesmen?
lack of a consistent look and feel
you email recipient is probably going to experience your email displayed different from what you expected
it's too expensive (network payload wise)

My initial reservations were:

it's cruft (e.g. it doesn't add any value)
it's insensitive to low bandwidth and maybe even mobile devices
it doesn't adhere to 508 usability (508 aims to make websites accessible to the "disabled")
not many people do it

Either way, it seems that none of the above held sway...moreover, when I circulated a post from Web-Worker Daily, there was immediate push-back as to how communications folks...who aren't web savvy, were going to make the call. Made me regret sending that email because at least there was a little ambiguity before I forced their hand.

Anyhow, such is life in the NPIC.

PS: WWD post here: http://webworkerdaily.com/2010/07/15/the-email-signature-from-efficient-to-disgusting-and-everywhere-in-between/

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