InSITE ISSN 1521-9046
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InSITE highlights
selected law-related World Wide Web sites in two ways: as an annotated
publication issued electronically and in print; and as a keyword-searchable
database.
The law librarians at Cornell evaluate potentially useful Web sites, select the most valuable ones, and provide commentary and subject access to them. These information can be accessed as following:
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17th-19th Century British Religious, Political, and Legal Tracts
- URL: http://digital.library.umsystem.edu/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=pam;sid=4
ca2cd7fd0a0d416a9e6e9484d0c2db1;tpl=home.tpl;cc=pam&g=umspecgroup
The University of Missouri’s 17th-19th Century British Religious, Political, and Legal Tracts are a digital library collection gathering over 20,000 pieces of English pamphlet literature. The purpose of the collection is to store and provide free access to these brief writings as a historical window into a popular medium for social expression at the time. The scope of the information covers all topics of British society in the 17th-19th centuries, from taxation to Catholicism to agriculture. The English language site, last updated in 2004, consists of only the pamphlets, which are presented in their original format. The site has a search engine that allows for simple searches, proximity searches, Boolean searches, and citation searches. Users can also browse through an alphabetical listing of the site’s contents. The site has a valuable bookbag feature allowing a user to select pamphlets from a list to be placed in a “bookbag” and accessed later. The user can then email, download, or instantly view the selected contents. When accessing a pamphlet, the user can open individual pages or the whole text. Because it focuses on a narrow topic, the site’s organization and presentation is clear and logical: it only contains the pamphlets. While it is easy to navigate, users who are inexperienced with conducting searches may have difficulty maximizing the benefits of the function. This site will be useful for historians, English literature enthusiasts, and legal researchers interested in the era.
[Author: R. Cruz]
- URL: http://www.mfasia.org/
Migrant Forum in Asia (MFA) “acts as a facilitator, a regional communication and coordination point between member-organizations and advocates, forging concerted action to address discriminatory laws and policies, violence against women migrants, unjust living conditions, unemployment in the homeland and other issues affecting migrant workers.” MFA is loaded with articles narrowly tailored to revealing the plight of migrant workers in the Asian region. The site will be useful to anyone interested in human rights generally and migrant rights specifically. The home page displays articles, notices for upcoming events, and also has links to updates by specific country. Articles are original MFA content and can be downloaded as a PDF, printed, or emailed. Users can also report a migrant rights violation on the site. Tabs across the home page offer information about MFA’s program involvement, such as its networking with other organizations and its information exchanges via its newsletters. The English language site also has a search engine, a newsflash box displaying breaking news, and a discussion board where users can read and post comments. Tabs detail MFA’s events and activities as well as its resources, such as the MFA newsletter. The information appears to be updated regularly, but some of the links were under construction.
[Author: R. Cruz]
- URL: http://www.trial-ch.org/
TRIAL: Track Impunity Always is an international war crime victims' rights organization based in Geneva, Switzerland that vows to “track impunity always . . . everywhere.” Created in 2002, TRIAL is comprised of lawyers, leaders of non-governmental organizations associated with the United Nations, and victims dedicated to bringing justice to victims of international crimes. TRIAL conducts projects and activities in litigation, public awareness, lobbying, and research. The site is a comprehensive and universal database of legal resources, news and updates, and organizational activities about international war crimes. Users can browse through current and past trial outcomes of suspected war criminals, read archived newsletters and journals, and research international criminal law. The comprehensive nature of TRIAL is reflected in its vast coverage of the issue: in addition to all of the international war crimes resources is a report on the violation of international humanitarian law in virtual wartime video games. With the exception of the news stories plucked from outside agencies, most of the material on TRIAL is original content. The site is updated often, well organized into clear headings and subheadings, and is available in English, French, German, and Spanish. Despite the clarity of the TRIAL’s headings, it is massive, so the presence of a search engine and sitemap are helpful. Some features were problematic. For example, the site initially loads in French, and if the user clicks on the site logo instead of clicking the back arrow to return to the home page, the site reloads again in French. A section listing criminal court actions brought by TRIAL was under construction, and another section was available only in German and French.
[Author: R. Cruz]
InSITE contributors: R. Cruz, J. Pajerek (editor)
© 2010 Cornell Law Library
The contents of this publication and any recommendations therein are the opinions of the authors and do not reflect the views of Cornell University.
The contents of this publication and any recommendations therein are the opinions of the authors and do not reflect the views of Cornell University.