Marie Lebert

“ The goal is for every country to have its own digital library (according to the country copyright limitations) , within a continental network (for France, the European network) and a global network (for the whole planet) .
A few lines now on Project Rastko, which had the boldness to launch such a difficult and exciting project for Europe, and catalysed volunteers' energy in both Eastern and Western Europe (and anywhere else: as the internet has no boundaries, there is no need to live in Europe to register) . ”

“ Some readers have asked about how volunteer proofreaders work. You go to the Distributed Proofreaders Europe website that has just been put up (and is still being tested) by Project Rastko (Belgrade) to handle the shared proofreading done by Project Gutenberg Europe. Sign up and you’ll then see detailed instructions (which are still being translated in several languages) . For example, passages in bold, italic or underlined, like footnotes, are always treated the same way, to standardize presentation of all the e-books. A discussion forum allows you to ask questions or seek help at any time. ”

“ Project Gutenberg's goal is to be "universal" both for the literary works that are chosen and the audience who reads them. The goal is to put literature at everyone's disposal. With a focus on books that many people would use frequently, and not only students and teachers. ”

“ You don’t have any quota to fulfill, but it’s recommended you do a page a day if possible. It doesn’t seem much but with hundreds of volunteers it really adds up. In 2003, on the original site of Distributed Proofreaders, about 250-300 people were working each day, producing a daily total of 2,500-3,000 pages, the equivalent of two pages a minute.
Volunteers can also work independently, by digitizing a whole book in any word-processing programme or else scan it in and convert it into text using OCR software and then make corrections by comparing it with the original. ”

“ In July 1971, Michael Hart created Project Gutenberg with the goal of making available for free, and electronically, literary works belonging to the public domain. A project that has long been considered by its critics as impossible on a large scale. A pioneer site in a number of ways, Project Gutenberg was the first information provider on the internet and is the oldest digital library. Michael himself keyed in the first hundred books. ”

“ Project Gutenberg is convinced that proofreading by human beings is a very important step, and that this step makes all the difference. The use of scanned books as is —converted to text format by OCR software with no proofreading— gives a much lower quality result. ”

“ Any individual or organization is free to convert them to different formats, without any restriction except respect for copyright laws in the country involved.
In January 2004, Project Gutenberg had spread across the Atlantic with the creation of Project Gutenberg Europe. On top of its original mission, it also became a bridge between languages and cultures, with a goal of one million eBooks in 2015, and a number of national and linguistic sections. While adhering to the same principle: books for all and for free, through electronic versions that can be used and reproduced indefinitely. ”

“ They can use ASCII and any other format. Everybody is welcome, whatever the method and whatever the format.
New volunteers are most welcome too at Distributed Proofreaders (DP-INT) and Distributed Proofreaders Europe (DP Europe) . Any volunteer anywhere is welcome, for any language. There is a lot to do. As stated on both websites, "Remember that there is no commitment expected on this site. Proofread as often or as seldom as you like, and as many or as few pages as you like. We encourage people to do 'a page a day', but it's entirely up to you! ”

“ Blank CDs and DVDs cost next to nothing, as does their burning on a CD or DVD writer. Project Gutenberg sends a free CD or DVD to anyone who asks for it, and people are encouraged to make copies for a friend, a library or a school. ”

“ Reading and culture for everyone at minimal cost. Project Gutenberg's mission can be stated in eight words: "To encourage the creation and distribution of eBooks," by everybody, and by every possible means. While implementing new ideas, new methods and new software.
Let us give the last word to Michael, whom I asked in August 1998: "What is your best experience with the internet?" His answer was: "The notes I get that tell me people appreciate that I have spent my life putting books, etc., on the internet. Some are quite touching, and can make my whole day." ”

“ 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 or economic interests. The aim is also to ensure respect for the volunteers, who can be confident their work will be used not just for decades but for centuries. Volunteers can network through mailing lists and weekly or monthly newsletters. ”

“ As of 2005, there are 391 computer-generated audio books and a few human-read audio books. The number of human-read eBooks should greatly increase over the next few years. As for computer-generated eBooks, it seems they won't be stored in a specific section any more, but "converted" when requested from the existing electronic files in the main collections. Voice-activated requests will be possible, as a useful tool for visually impaired readers. ”

“ He wants to change the world through freely-available e-books that can be used and copied endlessly. Reading and culture for everyone at minimal cost, on a computer or a secondhand PDA costing just a few dollars, or even on a solar-powered PDA, which are starting to appear. ”

“ Project Gutenberg had 5,000 books online in April 2002 and topped 10,000 in October 2003, when it had a team of 1,000 volunteers around the world making 350 new books available every month. These 10,000 books are also available on DVD for US$1 each. Michael hopes to have a million available by 2015.
The books are digitized in "text" format, with caps for terms in italic, bold or underlined, so they can be read easily by any machine, operating system or software. Digitization is done by scanning. The book is then proofread twice by two different people, who make any corrections necessary. ”

“ Available in April 2002, the 5000th eText was The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci, which he wrote at the beginning of the 16th century. A text that is still in the Top 100 of downloaded texts in 2005.
In 1988, Michael Hart chose to digitize Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Peter Pan because they each fitted on one 360 K disk, the standard of the time. Fifteen years later, in 2002, 1.44 M is the standard disk and ZIP is the standard compression. The practical file size is about 3 million characters, more than long enough for the average book. ”

“ De la terre à la lune and Le tour du monde en quatre-vingts jours. In early 1997, whereas Project Gutenberg offered no English version of any of Stendhal's writings (yet) , three of Jules Verne's novels were available in English: 20,000 Leagues Under the Seas (original title: Vingt mille lieues sous les mers) , posted in September 1994; Around the World in 80 Days (original title: Le tour du monde en quatre-vingts jours) , posted in January 1994 and From the Earth to the Moon (original title: De la terre à la lune) , posted in September 1993. ”