An Evaluation of the Clicklaw Wikibook JP Boyd on Family Law: Final Report

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dc.contributor.authorBertrand, L.D.en
dc.contributor.authorPaetsch, J.J.en
dc.date.accessioned2018-07-24T18:28:10Z
dc.date.available2018-07-24T18:28:10Z
dc.date.issued2016
dc.description.abstractIn 2013, Clicklaw, a public legal education website operated by Courthouse Libraries BC, added JP Boyd on Family Law to its collection of on- and off-line wikibooks. Wikibooks are websites built on the MediaWiki platform, an open-source application that powers websites such as Wikipedia and Scholarpedia. Wikibooks are agile, highly adaptable websites typically used to present large amounts of information from multiple authors in a digestible, easily accessible and easily editable manner. Unlike most MediaWiki websites that allow any user to emend content, Clicklaw wikibooks use a unique content development model in which potential contributors are screened by the Clicklaw Wikibooks team before being given editorial privileges. The wikibook JP Boyd on Family Law contains more than 120 webpages of substantive legal information, about 500 definitions of common legal words and phrases, links to hundreds of key government and non-government resources, and more than 100 downloadable forms for the British Columbia Supreme and Provincial Courts. In print format, the wikibook exceeds 650 pages. Anecdotal information suggests that the wikibook has been very well received by the bar, the judiciary and the general public. In November 2014 the Canadian Research Institute for Law and the Family received a grant from the Law Foundation of British Columbia to conduct the first phase of an evaluation of the JP Boyd on Family Law wikibook. Courthouse Libraries BC, which operates the wikibook, agreed to match this funding to allow an examination of the longitudinal impact of the legal information obtained by users. The grant from Courthouse Libraries BC helped to defray the expenses in the first phase of the project and funded the second phase of the study. The first phase of this project evaluated the outputs and the outcomes of the wikibook by collecting and analyzing usage data from Google Analytics and user feedback provided through a pop-up survey accessed through the website and a followup survey administered one week later in order to gauge the efficacy of the wikibook as a collaborative public legal education model. The second phase of the evaluation examined the longitudinal effect of legal information obtained from the wikibook through a follow-up electronic survey, conducted with the original sample group six months after completion of their first phase surveys. Data from Google Analytics were also updated during the second phase for a one-year period from 1 February 2015 through 31 January 2016.en
dc.description.sponsorshipBC Law FoundatioN.en
dc.description.sponsorshipCourthouse Libraries BCen
dc.identifier.citationBertrand, L.D., Paetsch, J.J. (2016). An Evaluation of the Clicklaw Wikibook JP Boyd on Family Law: Final Report (Phases 1 and 2). Calgary, AB: Canadian Research Institute for Law and the Family.en
dc.identifier.doihttp://dx.doi.org/10.11575/PRISM/32682
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/1880/107501
dc.language.isoen
dc.publisherCanadian Research Institute for Law and the Family.en
dc.titleAn Evaluation of the Clicklaw Wikibook JP Boyd on Family Law: Final Reporten
dc.typereporten
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