Idea Lab

OpenCourt Reboots With Changes to Live-Streaming, Staff

by Val Wang
2010 Knight News Challenge Winner

Loyal OpenCourt viewers, you've by this time noticed we haven't been live-streaming as often. We're sorry to disappoint you -- but very glad for your interest, as always. OpenCourt is entering a phase of transition, and our efforts have pulled us away from court more frequently than usual. Firstly (get your Kleenexes ready), I will be leaving OpenCourt soon to work on a new project for which I won a Localore public radio grant. While I'm excited about my new direction, it is with sadness that I leave the court and this important project which still has so much space...

• February 21, 2012
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OpenCourt Goes Back to High School

by Val Wang
2010 Knight News Challenge Winner

While the live-stream of Quincy District Court is the cornerstone of our project to open the court through digital technology, OpenCourt is in the process of expanding. One of our hopes is that the project will be used as a resource for high school civics classes. I asked one high school social studies teacher we got in touch with, Jack Buckley at nearby Cohasset High School in Cohasset, Mass., how he would use OpenCourt in his classes. He teaches an elective called "Intro to Law" that he says is like a traditional civics class -- save for the fact that...

• November 9, 2011
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Highs and Lows of OpenCourt: Live-Streaming, Tweeting from Court

by Val Wang
2010 Knight News Challenge Winner

Launches are by definition difficult. To get from zero to full speed ahead is always a bumpy process. The launch of OpenCourt was no different. Little did we know that in our first fortnight, we would be dealing with a D.A. that wanted to shut down our archive, sore backs from working out of a tiny witness box, and a week of multiple escape attempts that even veteran court staff told us was rare. The lesson for us is that when launching a pilot project, expect the unexpected and be sure to have a foundation in place to help...

• June 3, 2011
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Why We Won't Live-Stream Restraining Order Hearings

by Val Wang
2010 Knight News Challenge Winner

One of the first questions people ask when I tell them about our project, Order in the Court 2.0, to live-stream court proceedings is, "Is there a way to turn the camera off?" They must imagine a camera bolted to the wall, gobbling up images of domestic violence victims and child sex offenders with no regard to how it affects justice being served. But I have the opposite fear too -- that the judges in those courtrooms will become so skittish that they'll keep turning the camera off and we'll lose the ideal of openness that is the purpose of...

• March 10, 2011
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Lawyers Voice Concerns About Live-Streaming Court Cases

by Val Wang
2010 Knight News Challenge Winner

One of the first things First Justice Mark Coven told us when we went down to the Quincy District Court to start talking about our project, Order in the Court 2.0, was that we had to hold an all-court meeting to introduce the project to everyone to get their input. This seemed like an excellent thing to do before waltzing into the complex world of the court with our video camera and high-speed Internet in hand. On the day of the meeting in December, the First Session of the courthouse was standing room only, and included the entire court staff,...

• February 4, 2011
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