American Bar Association
1998 Silver Gavel Award Winners: New Media

1998 WINNERS | NEWSPAPERS | BOOKS | TELEVISION | RADIO | FILMS & VIDEOS | NEW MEDIA

Oyez.Oyez.Oyez.: A Supreme Court WWW Resource Northwestern University Jerry Goldman, Principal Investigator Joe Germuska, Technology Consultant and Lead Programmer Dennis Glenn, Visual and Curriculum Design Specialist Giel Stein, Research and Project Coordinator

Oyez.Oyez.Oyez. is a very comprehensive and useful World Wide Web resource on the United States Supreme Court. It was created and is maintained by a team of scholars, curriculum specialists and Web designers at Northwestern University, led by Jerry Goldman, a professor of political science. Constructed as a relational database, Oyez.Oyez.Oyez uses a simple navigational scheme to link various media (text, still images, video and audio), convey a sense of the Court as an institution, illuminate the lives of every justice who has served on the Court, and explore the key constitutional decisions the Court has handed down. Browsers can search 225 key Supreme Court cases by title, by citation, or by 18 subject-matter keywords. Each case is briefly summarized (the facts of the case, constitutional questions, and the conclusion) and hypertext links are provided to full-text opinions by the Court. Oyez.Oyez.Oyez provides complete oral arguments in an easy-to-play audio format, accompanied by full text. To date, the site makes about 350 hours of streamed audio available. Pronouncements of the Court's opinions are included whenever possible. Browsers can also take a virtual-reality tour of the U.S. Supreme Court building itself (including access to locations usually off-limits to visitors) and access concise biographies of all 108 justices who have served on the Court, with audio links, when available, to their important speeches.

Availability: Oyez Oyez Oyez

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COMMITTEE COMMENTARY

The Oyez Web site from Northwestern University opens the doors of the United States Supreme Court to countless people who will never attend a court session in Washington, DC in person. It is a very beautiful site, easy to navigate and easy to access. It should have a major educational impact. Because the site is backed by a relational database, it is well positioned to expand and develop even further. Oyez.Oyez.Oyez is a very worthy winner of the ABA's inaugural Silver Gavel Award for New Media.

E X C E R P T S   F R O M   O Y E Z. O Y E Z. O Y E Z:  A  S U P R E M E
C O U R T   W W W   R E S O U R C E

Welcome to Oyez Oyez Oyez, a multimedia database about the United States Supreme Court. In addition to abstracts of key constitutional cases, we provide digital audio (RealAudio) of the Oral Arguments in many important cases, as well as several recordings of the announcement of the Court's opinion. We also link to the written opinions of the court in all cases since 1893, provided by the FindLaw project.

In addition to the case resources, we have brief biographies and portraits of all 108 justices who have served on the Supreme Court. We have recently added digital audio recordings of speeches made by several justices, and will continue to look for more resources which help bring the Court to life. We are currently developing a "virtual tour" of the Supreme Court building, from the exterior, into the great hall, and now inside the Courtroom itself!

What's in a Name?

The OYEZ project takes its name from the phrase by which the Marshal of the Court calls the courtroom to order. OYEZ is pronounced "o-yay" or "o-yez" or "o-yes." It is used three times in succession to introduce the opening of a court of law.

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SEARCH BY TITLE
Case Title contains any/all of these words:
[box]

Only return cases with:
[ ] Real Audio
[ ] Written Opinions

SEARCH BY CITATION

Citation: [ ]U.S. [ ]

SEARCH BY SUBJECTS
Cases relate to any/all of these keywords:

Commerce
Discrimination: Gender
Discrimination: Other
Discrimination: Race
Due Process
Federalism
Freedom of Contract
Freedom of Religion
Freedom of Speech
Freedom of the Press
Judicial Power
Political Participation
Privacy and Personal Autonomy
Rights of the Accused: Counsel
Rights of the Accused: Other
Rights of the Accused: Punishment
Search and Seizure
Separation of Powers

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