The iPhone: A Research Tool for Law Professors and Students?

by Rich McCue - June 2009

for the 2009 CALI Conference, Boulder Colorado


Can iPhones and iPod Touches be more than just a distraction, but actually help in Legal Research?  This session will look at different strategies and applications that can help turn your iPhone or iPod Touch into a serious research tool.


We'll start off looking at serious research tools, and if we have time we can look at a couple of less serious tools that I personally have found enjoyable.


Serious Tools

 

Fun & Useful Tools

 


Serious Tools


Evernote

Cost: Free

Website: http://evernote.com


Evernote allows you to clip web pages, images, PDF file, word documents, etc, on your computer, and then access them on your iPhone!  Evernote makes all of the files full text search-able on your desktop and your iPhone.


 


On the iPhone itself, Evernote can be a wonderful tool for capturing thoughts and images while you're away from your office, or accessing things on your cell phone that you've captured on your desktop computer.  In my office, the easiest way for me to record things it by typing, or better yet, copying and pasting.  Away from my office, typing anything of length on the iPhone can be painful.  Thankfully Evernote gives you options.  First, you can type in, or edit notes already in Evernote.  So if my itinerary that I've put in Evernote changes, I can go in and edit the text to reflect the change, just like I can in the desktop version of Evernote.   

Accessing Clipped Articles in the Library:  You're in the library and need find the reference in an online article that you clipped so you can do further research in the musty stacks.  Take our your iPhone, launch Evernote, do a key word search for the note you're looking for, and in seconds you have the full article in front of you.

I also have the option of making a audio note.  The note is recorded on the iPhone, and then synced with my Evernote account so that it will be downloaded to my computer(s) next time I log on.  I can then do what ever I need to with the information in the audio note.  An interesting feature that I have not needed, but could be useful, is that the iPhone tags each audio or text note with the GPS coordinates where the note was taken.


Lastly you can take pictures of things you want to remember in store them in Evernote. An example of how you could use this is that you can take a picture of a sign, and Evernote will make the text in the picture full text search-able for you.  One way that I use this feature personally is to put all of my favourite Dilbert and Calvin & Hobbes cartoons into Evernote so that I can search the cartoons' text for key words.  It is not perfect (as it depends on the clarity of the words), but it's pretty good.

Searching for Text in Photos and Drawings: You're looking for the Calvin & Hobbes cartoon that you clipped last year, as it fits in perfectly to the lecture on "Risk Analysis" you're about to give. Simply open Evernote on your iPhone or desktop computer and do a key word search for text in the cartoon.  If the text is relatively clear, you'll have the cartoon in front of you in seconds. 

One specific application that I love is using Evernote for traveling.  I add my itinerary, my car rental, hotel and conference information into Evernote so that I can access it anywhere. 


For the non iPhone users, Evernote has BlackBerry and Windows Mobile versions of their software, as well as Windows and Mac client software.1  If Evernote is not installed on a computer you are using, or if you are using a public computer, you can always use the web based version of Evernote, which is quite capable.

 


ReQall

Cost: Free or $25 per year

URL: http://reqall.com


For only $25 per year (about $2 per month) you can record 30 second messages that are then transcribed and then sent to your e-mail or other application of your choice.2  The most simple way to use ReQall is to record messages that are sent to your email address.  If you want to get a bit more sophisticated in your use of ReQall, you can setup a link to Outlook, then you can send transcribed messages to Evernote, Google Calendar, Outlook Appointments, or Outlook Tasks.  All you need to do is install a small ReQall application on your computer to interface with ReQall.


The quality of the transcription is quite good, and in my experience is typically only inaccurate when I do not speak clearly, or if the word is not commonly used (like some legal vocabulary may be).  The service uses real people to transcribe the notes, so that you have a better chance of getting the message transcribed correctly than most computer based voice to text programs are.

Need to remember a list of things to do back at the office: You're having lunch on campus and as you're eating you remember a number of things that you should do before the end of the day.  You don't want to forget them, you you launch ReQall on your iPhone and tell it what you need to remember.  Within one minute your to do list is sitting in your email inbox ready for you to return to your desk.

One other feature that ReQall touts, which I have not used extensively, is it's ability to be locationally aware.  So if you are your local grocery store, it will use the iPhone's GPS capabilities, to recognize where you are, and remind you that you need to pick up milk and bread.  This is a very cool feature indeed.  I'll do some testing to see if it works as advertised.


ReQall will actually work on any Cell phone (not just an iPhone), but it does have an iPhone application that makes it easy to look at the transcribed messages. To use ReQall on a regular cell phone, all you do is call ReQall's 1-800 number and you can give jot your message to transcribe, and tell it where you want it to go.  Very cool indeed!



Zotero & EndNote Support

Cost: Free for Zotero & $229 for Endnote

URL: http://zotero.org & http://endnote.com


Just in case you're not familiar with Zotero or Endnote, here a description that I lifted from the Zotero website that describes both products: "Zotero [zoh-TAIR-oh] is a software tool to help you collect, manage, and cite your research sources."3  They are also very helpful in building bibliographies, because when your cite books via online journals, or your library's website, Zotero and Endnote capture all the bibliographic data available on the page (unlike Evernote which captures just basic meta data).  Both of these products started out as desktop products, but both have web interfaces that can be used by the iPhone web browser.4  At this point the Zotero Web interface is view only, and is not specially formatted for small form factor devices, but on the iPhone at least you can go in and browser your library of citations.

Access Citation information away from your computer: You are talking to a colleague at a conference, and while your discussing the importance of Vannevar Bush's concept of the "Memex" machine, you remember a book that you recently cited in a paper you wrote. You pull out your iPhone, click on your short cut to your Zotero library on line, and quickly browse to the citation. 

Endnote offers a web interface, that can also be accessed by the iPhone web browser.  Hopefully both products will offer more a more smart phone accessible in the near future.   



Stanza eBook Reader

Cost: Free

Website: http://lexcycle.com


Stanza was just purchased by Amazon, so it will be interesting to see what new directions the product takes in the near future, but currently it is the best way to read text on the iPhone. Not only can you buy books from online book stores like Amazon.com, but more importantly for academics, you can easily convert Word and PDF documents to eBook format, and transfer them to your iPhone in two easy steps. 

Reading Documents or Books on the Road: You know that you're going to be away from your office for a while and would like to catch up on some reading without having to schlep a folder of documents or heavy books around with you (think about a trip to a conference, or even a trip to your doctor's office where you're not sure if you'll be waiting for 30 seconds or 30 minutes)?  Quickly convert your PDF and Word documents by opening them in Stanza's desktop client, and the launch Stanza on your iPhone and import the documents.  Quick, easy and a much lighter backpack!

As you read documents or books in the Stanza reader, you "turn" pages much like you would do with a physical book.  By touching the right side of the screen you page forward, and when you touch the left side you page backwards.  A touch in the middle of the screen brings up the menu navigation menu where you can quickly see how far in to the book you are as well as allow you to navigate back to the table of contents for the book.  You may also navigate back to your "Library" page to read other documents, or change settings such as font size and orientation of the screen.


One drawback to  Stanza is its current inability to highlight and annotate text.  It sounds like those features are being worked on, and with Amazon's resources behind them I guess that it should not take them too long implement.   For just reading, Stanza is an excellent product, and the price is right. 



Read It Later

Cost: Free

Website: http://readeritlaterlist.com


Read It Later lets you save pages to read later, even without an internet connection.  In FireFox, simply install the "Read It Later" plugin, and magically a little button appears on the top right of your web browser.  When ever you come across an article that you want to read later, simply press the button, and it is saved in your online account.  Later from your iPhone (or your computer at home) you can read the article that has been reformatted nicely for your iPhone or iPod Touch.  If it is something that you really like at that point, you can send it to Evernote for indexing and storage.


The Professional version of Read It Later costs $2.99, and allows you to easily post links to the article you're reading to Facebook, Twitter, Delicious, and even plain old email.

Reading Documents on the Road: You are looking through a bunch of news in the morning and see a number of excellent articles that you don't have time to read at that moment.  So you click on the "Read It Later" button, then later in the day while you're waiting at the dentist's office you read one or two of the articles before having the calculus removed from your teeth.

If you don't use Firefox, don't worry, there is an easy way to add a "Read It Later" button to all the major modern web browers (like Internet Explorer, Google Chrome, Opera, etc.).



Google Reader

Cost: Free

URL: http://google.com/reader


Tired of having to navigate to two, three or more websites every morning to get your news?  Do you want to keep up to date with some research and or news on a particular subject?  If so, Google Reader may be a helpful tool to solve these problems for you.  


Google reader is a web based application, so you can access from any computer or smart phone, including the iPhone.  Once you've read and article on your iPhone, it will show up as read on your desktop computer.  


Read It Later also integrates nicely with Google Reader on the iPhone, so that you can easily add items to your to your "Read It Later" list to read on your iPhone or Desktop computer.  If a website is not formatted for the iPhone, often it is easer to read the web page in "Read It Later" than in the iPhone web browser.







Mind Maps

Cost: Free or $7

URL: http://simpleapps.eu/simplemind


SimpleMind is a Mind Mapping tool that turns your iPhone or iPod touch into a brainstorming, idea collection and thought structuring device. As you can see in the image to the right, you start out with a central idea or concept, and then branch out from there to other sub ideas. Those branches can themselves branch out as far as you need.  For those who like to use mind mapping tools, this is a must have iPhone application.  If you don't use them, this might be a good introduction to see if they could be useful for your research or project work.

SimpleMind's Mind Map comes in two editions.  The free Express edition allows you to create and edit mind maps on your iPhone and export them out of the application via jpg pictures.  The Paid Edition, which costs $7 has all the same features as the free edition, and additional ability to send your mind maps to other users via email, or export your mind maps to Freemind format (Freemind is an open source desktop mind mapping application for Windows, Mac and Linux computers) and OPML5 format.

You have a great idea for a research project with a colleague over lunch: In order to rough out the project so that you can get a better grasp for it's scope, you map out all the ideas related to the project with your colleague, and then email the mind map to him and yourself in FreeMind format so that you can fill in holes and collaborate further from your desktop computers.



Podcasts via iTunes

Cost: Free (typically)

URL: http://itunes.com


Think of iTunes Podcasts as continuing education from a variety of sources, usually for free!  To the right you can see four of the podcasts that I subscribe to, including the CALIopolis podcast.6  From and technology perspective, one that I regularly listen to is the "Security Now" podcast, not only because it keeps me up to date with the latest computer security news, but also because they cover security topics in depth in a way that is very analogous to a continuing education course.


Some other interesting podcasts that I have found very useful, besides the CALIopolis podcast of course, are:

 


Fun & Useful Tools


Snap Tell

Price: Free

URL: http://snaptell.com


This is probably one of the simplest applications to use, and is potentially a useful academic tool.  All you do is launch the application, and then take a picture of the cover of any book, DVD or CD (among other things) and the application will automatically identify the product and then look up ratings and pricing information on line.  Any book or DVD currently for sale on Amazon.com or a local retail store will be found with out any problem (Snap tell does not currently work well on legal texts).  While you have the option of buying online, the most helpful feature for me has been the ability to easily access online reviews of the book or DVD in question.

You see a book you'd like to buy in a colleagues office: Just launch Snap Tell, then take a picture of the book and see if you can find pricing or a review of the product... no guarantees, but it will definitely work when you need to find a movie review quickly during your next trip to Block Buster Video.

The new iPhone has an upgraded camera that should make it possible to take good quality pictures of UPC codes (or bar codes) that are used at check-out counters.  This will make it much easier for applications like Snap Tell to know for sure what product you are looking at, so that you can more easily find prices and reviews.


Urban Spoon
Cost: Free
URL: http://urbanspoon.com

One of the funnest ways to restaurants in your home town or on the road. It's like a cross between a restaurant search engine and a slot machine, complete with restaurant reviews and pricing information. 

If you need to find a place to eat near by you, simply press the "Near Me" button on the bottom right of the screen and up will pop all the restaurants close by you so you can choose something that looks interesting and is within your budget.  This is a very helpful feature that I use a lot when travelling.
You are at a conference and are starting to get hungry: Launch UrbanSpoon on your iPhone, click on the "Near Me" button; find a restaurant that looks interesting; click on the restaurant and see if it has good reviews; click on the "View Map" button so that you can easily walk or drive there.

RunKeeper
Cost: Free or $10
URL: http://runkeeper.com

A great tool that maps your runs for you via the GPS device in your iPhone.  You can look at your iPhone during your run to see what your pace is and how you are doing time wise (see the image to the right for an example of what you would see during a run). The other option you have during your work out is to have RunKeeper tell you through your head phones what your pace is and how long you've been running.  

After you've finished your run, you can see the route you've run on Google Maps on your iPhone, or go to your computer and log on to RunKeeper.com and see a more detail map of the route you've run. The map on the website is excellent, complete with a graph showing your speed during your run, as well as the height you were at.  For me this clearly shows me show how I slow down when going down hills, and my speed up at the end of the run as I push to the finish line. Click here for a view of a run I did at the beginning of the month.


notes



1 Sorry no Linux client software yet unless you want to use WINE and run the Windows application on Linux. http://abbysays.wordpress.com/2008/05/24/how-to-install-evernote-30-on-ubuntu/

2 The free version email reminders to you, but will not directly add them to Outlook or Google Calendar.

3 http://www.zotero.org/

4 http://www.zotero.org/blog/browse-your-zotero-library-online/

5 OPML format is supported by most desktop mind map tools.

6 Available via the CALI blog web page, but more easily subscribed to via the iTunes blog page; just search for "caliopolis".