Minutes of the Meeting of the Subcommittee on the
Internet and Intranet (Subcommittee 2)

Saturday, July 10, 1999
Room E-155, State Capitol
Charleston, West Virginia

    On Saturday, July 10, 1999, the Subcommittee on Internet and Intranet Access met. Chief Judge Burnside led the meeting. Members of Subcommittee on Internet and Intranet Access in attendance included: Otis G. Cox, Jr., L. David Duffield, John A. Rogers, and Brian K. Thomas. Supreme Court staff members attending the meeting included: Toni Blessing (representing Lynn Sheehan), Danny Brown, Melissa Crawford, Debbie Farmer, Angie Harless, Fred McDonald, and Rory Perry.

    The meeting began with a review of the responses to the Circuit Clerk Technology Survey followed by a discussion of each item on the tasks list for Subcommittee 2 (attached).

1. Host Court Web Pages

    Currently, WVNET hosts the Supreme Court webpage. The Subcommittee agreed that the Supreme Court should host their own web page, all local court home pages, as well as a judicial employee intranet. The model involves the web master developing three levels of a home page: basic, expanded and deluxe. A local contact would work with the web master to supply information for their customized home page.

    In the very near future, the Court's website will have video streaming capability.

    Issues:

     .     In what format would information need to be supplied in order for timely posting?
     .     How would short-term changes be made (i.e., docket information)?
     .     Should the local contact have access to make certain changes?
     .     Number of staff needed at the Supreme Court to install, train and maintain these web pages?

    Recommendations:

     .     Hire a full-time dedicated web master, at least.
     .     Host their own web page.
     .     Host all local court web pages.
     .     Continue hosting a judicial employee intranet.
     .     Policy decision needs to be made about what sections of the local web pages will be controlled by the Supreme Court and which sections are locally controlled.
     .     Develop policy manual on the usage of the Internet by employees (Court Internet Committee).

2.    Host Court Employee's Email

    Presently, WVNET hosts the Supreme Court employees' email accounts. The savings realized by hosting these accounts could be funneled into other technology advances. Several issues were discussed in conjunction with email, including listservs, threaded discussion groups, digital signature and xml support for electronic filing.

    Issues

     .     Could email messages be subjected to a FOIA request?
     .     How would email policies be communicated to users?

    Recommendations

     .     Draft policies on use deployment and privacy (Court Internet Committee).
     .     Research law on FOIA and privacy issues.

3.    Host Court Internet Access

    The Subcommittee discussed the advantages of the Court hosting Internet access to all court employees. Through Internet access many employees could conduct research, access court- related web sites, etc.

    Issues

     .     Do other agencies have an Internet Usage policy? (Angie Harless)
     .     What about Internet access to the public through the Library?

    Recommendations

     .     Draft policies on use deployment (Court Internet Committee).
     .     Draft policy for public use. (Court Internet Committee).
     .     A disclaimer should be publicized to let employees and/or the public know what the policies, as well as the consequences for misuse.

4.    Manage Remote Server and Client Computers from a Central Location

    Staff updated the Subcommittee on the plan for the Court to purchase multiple servers, or a server farm, to be located in Charleston, with possible back up in Huntington. The server farm will allow the Court to support all court employees statewide with data applications, email and internet access. The Supreme Court has secured federal grant funding that will aid in the purchase of the server farm, as well as terminals for all juvenile probation officers.    

    Issues

     .     Mainframe vs. PC/servers
     .     Should the Court include an AS400 in the server farm?

    Recommendations

5.    Collect and Analyze Data from Circuit and Magistrate Clerks

    A discussion was held about the diversity of programs utilized by circuit clerk offices for data collection. Subcommittee members felt that the Court should move toward unifying all circuit clerks computerization efforts.

    Issues

     .     Need to look at current circuit and magistrate court programs for ways to update and improve.

    Recommendations

     .     Free to view information; fee to use information.
     .     Create a database committee which would develop common fields to use for collection and analysis.
     .     Migrate to common circuit clerk computerization program

6.    Determine and Manage Access by Outside Entities to Court Data and Docket Information

    Issues

     .     Should the Child Advocates Office have access to circuit court data?
     .     Kanawha County has an order prohibiting the Child Advocates Office from having access.
     .     What types of family law master data should be public?

7.    E-Filing

    Rory Perry gave the Subcommittee an overview of how e-filing would work at the Supreme Court level and the local level.

    Issues

     .     Private companies offer solutions to host e-filing at no cost to the Court. Subscription fees by attorneys?
    

    Recommendations

     .     WV needs a professional digital registry (legislative issue).

    After concluding the discussion of their tasks, the subcommittee voted to change the name of the Subcommittee to the Data Access and Distribution Subcommittee in order to better describe the tasks involved. They also voted to cancel the next schedule meeting on July 31. The Data Access and Distribution Subcommittee will meet in the Supreme Court's Conference Room, Room E-155 in the East Wing of the Capitol Building, Charleston on August 28, 1999 from 11:00 a.m. until 3:00 p.m..

    The meeting was then adjourned.

    Prepared by:

                            ________________________________
                            Melissa B. Crawford
                            Staff