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Back to the Book

Information technology is being increasingly used to… make books. And now anyone can print them:

…Espresso Book Machine… can print black-and-white text for a 300-page paperback with a four-color cover, and bind it together in three minutes.

So says Jason Epstein, former Random House editorial director, whose new company, On Demand Books, developed the print-on-demand machine. Apparently considered “affordable,” the press will cost “under $100,000.” As the article in PublishersWeekly.com says, this will mean that stores such as Kinko’s or Wal-Mart can go into the book-selling business. Great. On a more upbeat note, the New York Public Library will acquire . . . [more]

Posted in: Miscellaneous

Wig Out

Seems that the English judiciary will soon be unwigged. The Lord Chief Justice has begun a consultation that is expected to see all English judges except those in criminal courts wearing plain European-style judicial robes and their own “do” by Christmas time. The Times has the story.

[via Lo-Fi Librarian, who links to a fascinating pdf on the history of legal robes and wigs.]

  . . . [more]

Posted in: Miscellaneous

TRUSTe v. BBBonline

Dans la mouvance «on va régler la communauté par la communauté», vers la fin des années 90, la fin du millénaire quoi, on a cru à la solution des certifications de sites Internet par des organisations respectables et respectées. Si quelqu’un en doutait, une récente étude, reprise sur le blogue de Wired, est en train d’officialiser le fait qu’il s’agit bien d’une formule qui a vécue. Précisément, une recherche de Ben Edelman, doctorant à Harvard, semble suggérer le manque de fiabilité de certaines organisations et tout particulièrement TRUSTe.

Selon l’article,

“5.4% of Trust-E sites were untrustworthy, while only 2.5%

. . . [more]
Posted in: Miscellaneous

Thanks, Jordan

Sadly, Jordan Furlong’s week as guest blogger is over. As you can tell by the number of comments to Jordan’s posts, his provocative and thoughtful contributions were a hit with Slawyers. Thanks, Jordan, for giving Slaw your insights and your graceful prose. We’ll be returning to your essays again and again to get inspiration (and to pick quarrels) as this blogging carnival of ours rolls along. And now that you’ve got the posting thing down pat, don’t hesitate to give us a piece of your good mind whenever and as often as you feel like it. . . . [more]

Posted in: Miscellaneous

Teaching Email

Recent postings about legal education have recalled something I used to teach students in legal writing seminars, but gave up because I couldn’t really find any good class readings on the subject – the use of email as a form of legal writing. It seems pretty obvious, as email is undoubtedly the most prevalent form of legal writing, but it seems to be missed out in most law school curricula of which I am aware.

I have touched briefly on this by referring to the Law Society of British Columbia’s “Sample internet and Email Use Policy”

I’ve done some searches . . . [more]

Posted in: Miscellaneous

Impact of Peer-Rev. Research on Web Content

The second sevice described here, WebCites, looks interesting, especially considering SSHRC’s Knowledge Mobilization focus.

From the GreyLit list:

Scopus Enriches Literature Research With PatentCites and WebCites Features PRNewswire, 27 September 2006

Scopus®, the world’s largest abstract and citation database of research information and quality Web sources, today announced the launch of two new features. PatentCites, released to customers on September 22nd, allows users to track how primary research is practically applied in patents. WebCites, which is to be launched shortly, is the first step towards enabling Scopus users to track the influence of peer reviewed research on web literature. Researchers

. . . [more]
Posted in: Legal Information

The Friday Fillip

Etta Baker died this week at the age of 93. Chances are you’ve never heard of her — and, which is more important — have never heard her. She was a mother of nine and a blues guitarist of the Piedmont style, who started recording in 1956 and didn’t stop playing music until her death. Her fingerpicking style influenced a great many guitarists throughout the sixties, including Taj Mahal, who recorded with her. The New York Times article on her gives you a decent overview.

I want you to listen to her, though. And fortunately . . . [more]

Posted in: Miscellaneous

Google Reader Redux

Almost a year ago I did a post about Google’s RSS Reader. A typical Google beta, there were a lot of rough edges pointed out by Steve Matthews. Now it’s been redesigned and is worth another look. It imports your OPML file of subscriptions, and there’s a host of new features that I haven’t had time to explore.

Google Reader opens the first time, by the way, with a video that hopes to explain RSS through an analogy with email. It might — I say, just might — click with some folks who haven’t quite grasped the concept . . . [more]

Posted in: Miscellaneous

Regulating Lawyer Blogs as Advertising

Today’s e-gram from the ABAJ leads with a story about the Bar in Albany considering regulating lawyer blogs:

BLOGOSPHERE ABOIL – N.Y. Proposal Would Designate Lawyer Blogs as Advertising

A few juicy extracts:

“Computer-accessed communications” such as blogs should be included in New York’s definition of legal advertising, and therefore require state scrutiny, according to a proposal from by a committee created by the state’s Administrative Board of Courts.

The state code of professional responsibility should extend court jurisdiction to out-of-state legal advertising that appears in New York.

Do we have any Slaw readers in New York State?

The

. . . [more]
Posted in: Miscellaneous

The Apple Harvest

The Annapolis Valley Apple Harvest is in full swing here in NS but the apple harvest to which I’m referring is an apple of a different variety. In the first few weeks of term, I am noticing an exponential rise in the number of Mac Laptop users amongst our students. In a very unscientific way, I would say that well over half of the students that are coming to our reference desk or working here in the library (especially first year students) are using Mac Laptops.

I would love to hear from Slaw’ers at other institutions to find out if . . . [more]

Posted in: Miscellaneous