Project Gutenberg was started by Michael Hart in 1971. Hart, a student at the University of Illinois, obtained access to a Xerox Sigma V mainframe computer in the university's Materials Research Lab. Through friendly operators, he received an account with a virtually unlimited amount of computer time; it has been valued between $100,000 and $100,000,000. Hart has said he wanted to "give back" this gift by doing something that could be considered to be of great value. Hart believed that computers would one day be accessible to the general public and decided to make works of literature available in electronic form for free.
He named the project for Johannes Gutenberg, the fifteenth-century German printer who propelled the movable-type printing press revolution and since he happened to have a copy of the United States Declaration of Independence in his backpack, this became the first Project Gutenberg e-text. The project has grown since and in August 2006 Project Gutenberg claimed to have over 19,000 items in its collection, with an average of over fifty new eBooks being added each week. Project Gutenberg consists primarily of literature from the Western cultural tradition, in addition to literature such as novels, poetry, short stories, and drama. It also has cookbooks, reference works and issues of periodicals. The collection also includes a few non-text items such as audio files and music notation files. In August 2006 the non-English languages most represented were (in order): French, German, Finnish, Dutch, and Spanish.
Michael Hart said in 2004: "The mission of Project Gutenberg is simple: 'To encourage the creation and distribution of eBooks'" and his motivation and slogan for the project was to "break down the bars of ignorance and illiteracy". The Project Gutenberg collection is intended to preserve items for the long term.
Project Gutenberg has been criticized for lack of scholarly rigor in its e-texts: for example, in inadequate detailing of editions used and in the omission of original published prefaces and critical apparatus like the preservation of edition information and prefaces.
http://en.citizendium.org/wiki/Project_Gutenberg
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I would use this document in a synthesis essay as an example of how technology is helping us preserve the tradition of the written word, but in a slightly different format. Technology such as vooks, hypertext, and graphic novels represent how we are evolving away from the classic word-to-reader relationship. However, Project Gutenberg is simply trying to preserve the written word of the past using a method of the future. This seems to me a happy medium between abandoning books completely and not being able to embrace new technologies. This, to me, is an acceptable future of books.
ReplyDeleteThis document is a brilliant example of how to properly use modern technology to advance human knowledge by preserving the past. By uploading and indexing thousands of books, and by placing them in the public domain, Project Gutenberg opens up older works, which may be in rare supply, to the world. I would use this document to show that not all modern manifestations of the book are bad, or have an adverse affect on classical "high culture". In fact, by placing these books into digital format, Project Gutenberg is actually prolonging the world of classical literature, and opening it up to future generations.
ReplyDeleteI would use this document to support the idea that literature is priceless and that it is meant for everyone. This article describes how the Gutenberg Project is trying to preserve books in written form by uploading them into the internet, which in future projections, would be accesible to the wide public. Also, the collection of literay works included in the Gutenberg Project library ranges from a wide variety of subjects which appeal to the public with the different generes of literature.
ReplyDeleteI would use this document to support the idea that books are vital regardless of time period, and how the use of technology can contribute to the preservation of the knowledge found in books. The project will make old literary works available and provide a wide range of genres which will benefit people because they would be a click away from a book. Moreover, this would be very benefitial to society as well because the access to all kinds of books is for everyone.
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