Court taps RSS feeds; online documents next
Dispatch reporter Bruce Cadwallader contributes this report:
The Franklin County Common Pleas Court clerk has taken one more step toward going paperless.
Users of Maryellen O'Shaughnessy's Case Information Online system now can receive electronic alerts by clicking on criminal or civil cases and requesting e-mails or immediate RSS feeds. The system informs users when anything -- a document, a motion, a court date -- has been filed in the case.
Users must enter and verify an e-mail address to receive notice of new filings, which are posted 24 hours later.
An RSS feed is a real-time transaction that will show any activity in a criminal or civil case in the previous five days, O'Shaughnessy said.
RSS feeds are usually kept in a separate folder with most e-mail providers and have been referred to as "live bookmarking" of a Web page. That link will turn bold when a new item has been posted.
"This is the beginning of several bigger online steps we are taking, all aimed at better public service," O'Shaughnessy said.
Full images of documents dating to 2007 probably will go online this year, meaning even greater electronic access to information that used to require a trip to the courthouse and a search through microfiche.
In the first month of the RSS rollout, more than 2,800 users have signed up for the alert system.
Rosa Barker, director of technology for the clerk's office, said the users include lawyers, researchers, title companies, journalists, mortgage brokers, private investigators, detectives and human-resource investigators conducting background checks.
Electronic filing of cases by attorneys will follow online imaging.
For those in search of records not online, the clerk's office is open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays at the Hall of Justice, 369 S. High St. Downtown.
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