ScotusWiki:About
From ScotusWiki
“Wiki” is derived from the Hawaiian word for quick, and in that spirit we’ve launched the ScotusWiki project; we hope the site enables you to find a plethora of information about Supreme Court cases incredibly quickly. While this site is still in its early stages, we’ve created a page for each case set for argument in the October sitting, and at each case’s page, you’ll find detailed previews, recaps, and analyses, as well as links to briefs and other articles of interest. Each page will be regularly updated as the case progresses, but all the information will be available in one easy-to-find place (you can also view each page in a printable view). Organizing information by case is something that we can’t do given the scrolling format of a blog, and we’re excited for the possibilities. Over the coming weeks, we’ll be expanding the case section to include all cases granted in OT07.
The word “wiki” has also come to be used by the online community to mean a number of different things. Many people associate it with the popular online encyclopedia called “Wikipedia,” and indeed our site is built using the same open-source software which powers that remarkable enterprise (the software is called “MediaWiki”). This means that the look and feel of the site should be familiar to many of our visitors, and for those updating the site, it’s incredibly robust, secure, and feature-rich.
Wikis have been associated with online collaboration, and in naming the site ScotusWiki, we have that sense of the word in mind as well. Right off the bat, the site will feature pages maintained by many regular SCOTUSblog contributors, top law students, and leading experts in various legal fields. Right now, however, it will be unlike Wikipedia in that it will not be open to editing by anyone at any time, though we are looking at ways to tweak the user privileges to allow as much input as possible. We’ll keep you up-to-date on any new policies.
The wiki is also a great way to track updates on a case-by-case basis. For more on using the "Watchlist" to be notified of case-specific updates, see the page entitled Using the Watchlist.
If you’ve got suggestions or feedback about the wiki, we really would love to hear from you – this is an extremely powerful tool, and we’ve only begun to explore how we can provide the most useful information. Just email scotusblog.feedback@gmail.com anytime with your thoughts.
