[Summary]
The first ebook was available in July 1971, as eText #1 of Project
Gutenberg, a visionary project launched by Michael Hart to create free
electronic versions of literary works and disseminate them worldwide.
In the 16th century, Gutenberg allowed anyone to have print books for a
small cost. In the 21st century, Project Gutenberg would allow anyone
to have a digital library at no cost. First considered as totally
unrealistic, the project got its first boost with the invention of the
web in 1990, which made it easier to distribute ebooks and recruit
volunteers, and its second boost with the creation of Distributed
Proofreaders in 2000, to share the proofreading of ebooks between
thousands of volunteers. In 2011, for its 40th anniversary, Project
Gutenberg offered 36,000 ebooks being downloaded by the tens of
thousands every day, with websites in the United States, in Australia,
in Europe, and in Canada, and 40 mirror websites worldwide.
***
The first ebook was available in July 1971, as eText #1 of Project
Gutenberg, a visionary project launched by Michael Hart to create free
electronic versions of literary works and disseminate them worldwide.
In the 16th century, Gutenberg allowed anyone to have print books for a
small cost. In the 21st century, Project Gutenberg would allow anyone
to have a digital library at no cost.
# Beginning
As recalled by Michael Hart in January 2009 in an email interview: "On
July 4, 1971, while still a freshman at the University of Illinois
(UI), I decided to spend the night at the Xerox Sigma V mainframe at
the UI Materials Research Lab, rather than walk miles home in the
summer heat, only to come back hours later to start another day of
school. I stopped on the way to do a little grocery shopping to get
through the night, and day, and along with the groceries they put in
the faux parchment copy of 'The U.S. Declaration of Independence' that
became quite literally the cornerstone of Project Gutenberg. That
night, as it turned out, I received my first computer account -- I had
been hitchhiking on my brother's best friend's name, who ran the
computer on the night shift. When I got a first look at the huge
amount of computer money I was given, I decided I had to do something
extremely worthwhile to do justice to what I had been given. (…) As I
emptied out groceries, the faux parchment ‘Declaration of Independence’
fell out, and the light literally went on over my head like in the
cartoons and comics... I knew what the future of computing, and the
internet, was going to be... 'The Information Age.' The rest, as they
say, is history."
Michael typed in the “U.S. Declaration of Independence” in upper case,
because there was no lower case yet. He mentioned where the 5 K file
was stored to the 100 users of the embryonic internet of the time,
though without a hypertext link, because the web was still 20 years
ahead. It was downloaded by six users.
Michael decided to search the books from public domain available in
libraries, digitize these books and store their electronic versions.
Project Gutenberg's mission would be the following: to put at
everyone's disposal, in electronic versions, as many literary works
from public domain as possible for free.
First considered as totally unrealistic, the project got its first
boost with the invention of the web in 1990, which made it easier to
distribute ebooks and recruit volunteers.
Years later, in August 1998, Michael wrote in an email interview: "We
consider etext to be a new medium, with no real relationship to paper,
other than presenting the same material, but I don't see how paper can
possibly compete once people each find their own comfortable way to
etexts, especially in schools."
A book became a continuous text file instead of a set of pages, using
the low set of ASCII, called Plain Vanilla ASCII, with caps for the
terms in italic, bold or underlined of the print version, for it to be
read on any hardware and software. As a text file, a book would be
easily copied, indexed, searched, analyzed and compared with other
books.
# Distributed Proofreaders
The project got its second boost with the creation of Distributed
Proofreaders in 2000, to share the proofreading of ebooks between
thousands of volunteers.
Distributed Proofreaders was launched in October 2000 by Charles Franks
to support the digitization of public domain books and assist Project
Gutenberg in its efforts to offer free electronic versions of literary
works. The books are scanned from a print version and converted into a
text version by using OCR, 99% reliable at the best, which leaves a few
errors per page. Volunteers choose one of the books available on the
site and proofread a given page. It is recommended they do a page per
day if possible.
Distributed Proofreaders became the main source of Project Gutenberg's
ebooks, and an official Project Gutenberg site in 2002. Distributed
Proofreaders became a separate legal entity in May 2006 and continues
to maintain a strong relationship with Project Gutenberg. 10,000 books
were digitized, proofread, and "preserved for the world" in December
2006, and 20,000 ebooks in April 2011, as “unique titles [sent] to the
bookshelves of Project Gutenberg, free to enjoy for everybody. (…)
Distributed Proofreaders is a truly international community. People
from over the world contribute.” Distributed Proofreaders Europe (DP
Europe) began production in early 2004. Distributed Proofreaders Canada
(DP Canada) began production in December 2007.
# “Less is more”
Project Gutenberg keeps its administrative and financial structure to
the bare minimum. Its motto fits into three words: "Less is more." The
minimal rules give much space to volunteers and to new ideas. The goal
is to ensure its independence from loans and other funding and from
ephemeral cultural priorities, to avoid pressure from politicians and
others. The aim is also to ensure respect for the volunteers, who can
be confident their work will be used not just for a few years but for
generations. Volunteers can network through mailing lists, weekly or
monthly newsletters, discussion lists, forums, wikis and blogs.
In July 2011, for its 40th anniversary, Project Gutenberg offered
36,000 ebooks being downloaded by the tens of thousands every day, with
websites in the United States, in Australia, in Europe, and in Canada,
and 40 mirror websites worldwide.
40 years after the beginning of Project Gutenberg, Michael Hart
describes himself as a workaholic who has devoted his entire life to
his project. He considers himself a pragmatic and farsighted altruist.
For years he was regarded as a nut but now he is respected.
Michael has often stated in his writings that, after Gutenberg allowing
anyone to have its own print books for a small cost, Project Gutenberg
would allow anyone to have a library at no cost stored in a pocket
device. The collection of Project Gutenberg has the size of a local
public library, but this time available on the web to be downloaded for
free. The project’s goal is to change the world through freely
available ebooks that can be used and copied endlessly, and reading and
culture for everyone at minimal cost.