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A vision for the Open Law Project
Paul Jacobson, Johannesburg Gauteng (South Africa) · 23/7/2007 21:41
I thought I should talk a little about a vision for the Open Law Project and share some of my thoughts about the OLP. Much of this post comes from my posts on the OLP blog at http://openlawproject.org which, admittedly, doesn't have all that much content up there just yet.
The idea for the OLP came from my need for a publicly available and accessible legal reference work. Unfortunately the two major legal publishers in South Africa, Juta & Co. and LexisNexis Butterworths have a virtual duopoly on comprehensive legal reference works in South Africa. These resources are often costly and are not accessible to the public at large. I also believe that knowledge of the law is a right all South Africans share and it is in the public's interest to make comprehensive and reliable legal resources available for free and in the public domain (or as close to that as is possible).
Perhaps the most effective way to build a public legal reference work is through a wiki and in developing the model for the OLP I didn't have to go further than Wikipedia. I would like to see the OLP become a Wikipedia of South African law (once fully developed, the project could easily expand to encompass other jurisdictions) which is constantly developed and maintain by members of the legal community (practitioners, academics, students and activists) who work on the project for the benefit of not just the South African public but the legal community itself and themselves. By contributing to the OLP, we are all creating a resource we are free to use ourselves. There is a tremendous amount of insightful legal knowledge in the community and this is an excellent tool which we can use to harness and share that knowledge.
I recently realised that the scope of the OLP is quite a bit bigger than I initially thought - assuming it is going to be all it can be. It occurred to me that the majority of this country do not speak English as a first language. Going further, we have 11 official languages in South Africa and for the OLP to become a worthwhile resource for South Africans, it must be presented in a language the majority of the population understand, at the very least. I am therefore beginning to see that the work I am seeking to fund is really just the tip of the tip of the iceberg here. Down the line not only must a comprehensive body of legal content be written and published on the wiki but that content must be maintained on an ongoing basis and translated into the major languages spoken and written in South Africa, if not all 11 official languages. That is a pretty big project and one which is likely to require substantial funding. The upside is that as the OLP develops, it can create work for legally trained people who are interested in sharing their knowledge and using their writing skills. The end result will be a body of content that is accessible by and intelligible to the vast majority of South Africans.
Going forward it is important to entice as many members of the legal community to participate in the project. We will need to address issues such as the extent to which the OLP may be relied upon by the public and whether there should be some sort of editorial process. My feelings are that the OLP should be presented as an informative and educational resource and not a primary legal resource (at least until it is clear that the number of inaccuracies is below an acceptable threshold) and further that imposing some sort of editorial process may be to the detriment of the project.
As for my role in the OLP is concerned. This is by no means my project. I see myself as a facilitator of the OLP and the work it is going to do. I don't claim ownership over the concept (although I do oppose efforts to exploit the OLP for purposes inconsistent with its goals). This is a shared resource that can be tremendously valuable to the public and the profession as a whole.
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policy-law
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Michelle Thorne · Berlin (Germany) · 15/8/2007 00:37
your call: is this comment useful?
Paul Jacobson · Johannesburg Gauteng (South Africa) · 15/8/2007 01:19
your call: is this comment useful?