Law school profs ponder printed books (Amazon.com no show)

Law professors from around the country gathered in Seattle on Saturday to put the printed textbook on trial.

And because those professors and their universities influence the buying decisions of thousand of law students each year, traditional book publishers as well as representatives from Adobe, Sony and Microsoft participated. A representative from Amazon.com did not attend as expected.

The daylong discussion educed topics ranging from cerebral musings – could information proliferation make lawyers obsolete? – to technical nuance – what’s the difference between open source and open access?

At least one conclusion became clear – the fact that about 40 people gathered at Sullivan Hall at Seattle University Law School on a sunny Saturday to ponder life beyond print shows that times are changing in publishing.

Blog entry at seattlepi.com