Project:WikiProject Cyberlaw 2011 Berkeley

Students in the University of California Berkeley's Spring 2011 Cyberlaw course seek to improve Wikipedia pages related to Cyberlaw topics. (It's also an assignment.) This effort is also now part of the Wikimedia Foundation's pilot project on United States Public Policy.

They've identified the following pages that they may work on:

• I found the following page to be a good starting point for figuring out wikipedia law articles: Wikipedia:WikiProject Law
• I also found this page where featured (highest quality) law articles are listed: Wikipedia:Featured Article#Law
• Something else that I am using is changedetection.com, which lets you watch web pages so that you know when they change.
• A good way to monitor Wikipedia articles for changes is `starring' an article. Any changes to the article will then appear in your watchlist.
• You can get a more full-featured editor by installing a Greasemonkey script called wikEd.
• Every user has a sandbox where they can play with things (like draft versions of their page). It's here.

Here is a list of helpful, experienced Wikipedia editors who can answer questions about the wiki software and formatting in general, how to insert citations and media, advice on how to form a WP:Consensus with other editors on Wikipedia, or any general and/or technical advice on how to use Wikipedia.

General Overview

• Wikipedia:Five pillars
• Wikipedia:List of guidelines
• Wikipedia:Manual of Style (legal)
• If you are summarizing a case, the outline used by the Wikiproject on Supreme Court cases is a good overall structure to start from for summarizing any case, whether it was decided by the Supreme Court or not.

Wikipedia's Three Core Content Policies:

• Wikipedia:Neutral point of view
• Wikipedia:Verifiability
• Wikipedia:No original research

Brian's 14 Point Wikipedia Project Checklist

• [http://people.ischool.berkeley.edu/~bcarver/mediawiki/index.php/Wikipedia_Project_Checklist Wikipedia Project Checklist] - Make sure your article conforms to each of these points and you should have a great article.

• [http://people.ischool.berkeley.edu/~bcarver/mediawiki/index.php/Wikipedia_Project_Checklist Wikipedia Project Checklist] - When reviewing an article, make sure it conforms to each of these points.
• Did you know

References Generally: Learn how to do references

For example, here is a good citation to Baker v. Selden, 101 U.S. 99 (1879).Baker v. Selden, [http://bulk.resource.org/courts.gov/c/US/101/101.US.99.html 101 U.S. 99] (1879).

I made that reference with the following text:

Baker v. Selden, [http://bulk.resource.org/courts.gov/c/US/101/101.US.99.html 101 U.S. 99] (1879).

If I cite to that same reference again later, then I just need: .

See: WP:CITE.

For relatively painless citing of law cases consider using Wikipedia's template for court citations: Template:Cite_court.

Cases: To the extent possible, provide links to publicly-available versions of all court opinions mentioned. A good source of Federal opinions is http://bulk.resource.org/courts.gov/c/

Statutes: How to cite to the United States Code (U.S.C.)

Wikilinks: In general, provide links to other articles of relevance within Wikipedia.

Choose a Category/Categories for the page you edit

One of the following categories might fit the page you edit:

:Category:United States Internet case law

:Category:United States copyright case law

:Category:United States federal intellectual property legislation

:Category:United States Supreme Court cases

:Category:United States courts of appeals cases

:Category:United States district court cases

:Category:California state case law

or look for a better category in the Category tree.

Don't let the page you edit be an orphan

Click the "What links here" link in the toolbox on the left-hand margin of the page you edit and make sure it has at least three incoming links (from pages other than this one) and think about what other pages in Wikipedia ought to link to the page you edit and then add such links.

Infobox Templates

Some articles, particularly case summaries, have an Infobox on the right-hand side, providing key details of the case. If you would like to use such an Infobox, here are some that may be of use:

• Template:Infobox SCOTUS case Infobox for Supreme Court of the United States cases.
  
• Template:Infobox Court Case Infobox for U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals cases and international cases. This template should automatically choose the correct image of the Court's seal from Template:Infobox Court Case/images. You can also use this template for state court cases but you won't get an image unless you add it.
• Template:Infobox United States District Court Case Template to create an Infobox for U.S. District court cases. This template should automatically choose the correct image of the Court's seal from Template:Infobox United States District Court Case/images.
• Template:Infobox High Court Template to create an Infobox for state Supreme Court cases.
  
• Template:Infobox California Supreme Court case Infobox for California Supreme Court cases.
  

Other Infoboxes are topical rather than court-specific. You can see a list of some of these at the Wikipedia:WikiProject Law page.

• Wikipedia:WikiProject Intellectual Property law 2009 Berkeley
• Wikipedia:WikiProject Cyberlaw 2010 Berkeley
• Wikipedia:WikiProject Cyberlaw 2009 Berkeley
• Wikipedia:Wikiproject Cyberlaw 2006 Harvard

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Cyberlaw 2011