Frankfurt Boookfair and digitization. A surprising connex

I have been visiting the Frankfurt Book Fair for 35 years. For reasons of cost (hotel prices at fair times are astronomical there), we usually sought out accommodations that were located outside. I have fond memories of a hotel in Hanau, for example. Hanau is a neighboring city of Frankfurt, and the public connections to the Main metropolis were good even then. But ...

But the trade show program also included attending evening events, which had to end with a cab ride back to the hotel. And here the horror began, not out of fear, but because the cab drivers regularly didn't have the slightest knowledge of the area as soon as they passed the Frankfurt city limits. Erroneous journeys, unsuccessful inquiries with colleagues - the journey home was always an odyssey.

Why do I remember this? Because these days the CEO of Uber Austria demanded that the test of local knowledge for obtaining the driving authorization should be dropped without replacement; it was obsolete in times of digitization (note: for rental car drivers like those of Uber, this obligation was only recently introduced in Austria). Is it?

I wrestled with myself for a while, but I think the man is right. Surely it's not a mistake for cab drivers to have some local knowledge. After all, systems can break down once in a while. But we live in the age of digitization, and it's more important to me that the driver drives properly and perhaps also speaks the local language. In truth, I don't care whether he follows his knowledge or a digital helper on the way to Hanau.

Perhaps the following will get around to the representatives of the cab industry: If you're late, life punishes you.

The Oxymoron in Legaltech

In the context of the anniversary event of the German EDV-Gerichtstag - I reported - a judge had raised the postulate of scalability, but at the same time human control, in connection with the machine anonymization of court decisions. An exceptionally educated, highly esteemed colleague spoke privately of an "oxymoron" in connection with this. Is he right and are oxymora perhaps even generic characteristics of legaltech?

If one follows the various dictionaries of terms, oxymora are combinations of contradictory words or terms to or within a statement. This probably applies to the example cited at the beginning, because automation and human control run counter to each other. But are there other examples?

In a recently published survey by a major professional information provider, there were quite a some clues: For example, the respondents rated collaboration with clients highly, but at the same time considered communication by phone and e-mail to be indispensable. Or the cost-effective automation of office processes is desired, while at the same time the continued use of the law firm's own forms and formats is postulated.

I don't know if these are oxymora in the strictest sense of the word. Most importantly, I wonder if those who express these contrary desires are even aware of this fact. If the answer was no, it shouldn't be surprising. The buzzword bingo in legaltech in its monthly variations of terms is not to be outdone. What non-specialist is supposed to keep track of it all? And the feeble query "What importance do you attach to AI. in the future?" is already confusing in its generality. The appeal to legaltech providers can therefore only be to present clearly defined products in equally clear language and not to keep changing the vocabulary.

Otherwise, the legaltech providers themselves are the oxymoron.