I came across...[an] enthusiastic review of a new book on the law of Bail [in Victoria, Australia]....Well what’s unusual about that, you might ask.
Legal publishing in jurisdictions like Victoria...relies on legal academics or practising lawyers who work hard to write a book, which their publishers will know have very limited sales potential....
What’s unique about Faris on Bail is that the author, Australian blogger Peter Faris...decided...that he could reach the audience for his book via the web and that a legal publisher was an intermediary he was prepared to forego.
Friday’s Business Section of The Australian has the story [Chris Merritt, Legal Affairs Editor, December 12, 2008]:
...Peter Faris QC is one of those delightful lawyers who loves stirring. Just when you think he might be about to slow down, he does something or says something that is guaranteed to make trouble for someone who needs it.
[H]is latest target is the legal publishing industry that makes a very nice living by flogging overpriced law books to a captive market.
The publishers will have kittens when they become aware what Faris has done: he has written and published a legal text on Victoria’s bail laws — and he is giving it away online as a free PDF download.
It’s a deal the publishing industry can’t hope to match, particularly as he plans to issue updates about once a month — also for free....
Posted by
Peter Suber at 12/16/2008 11:07:00 AM.
The open access movement:
Putting peer-reviewed scientific and scholarly literature
on the internet. Making it available free of charge and
free of most copyright and licensing restrictions.
Removing the barriers to serious research.
I recommend the OA tracking project (OATP) as the best way to stay on top of new OA developments. You can read the OATP feed on a blog-like web page or subscribe to it by RSS, email, or Twitter. You can also help build the feed by tagging new developments you encounter.
