Created by Tyler Chambers in May 1994, the Human-Languages Page (H-LP)
was a comprehensive catalog of 1,800 language-related internet
resources in 100 languages in September 1998, with six subject listings
(languages and literature, schools and institutions, linguistics
resources, products and services, organizations, jobs and internships)
and two category listings (dictionaries, language lessons). In spring
2001, the Human-Languages Page merged with the Languages Catalog, a
section of the WWW Virtual Library, to become iLoveLanguages, with an
index of 2,000 linguistic resources in 100 languages in September 2003,
and 2,400 linguistic resources in September 2007.
1994 > Athena, a Swiss multilingual digital library
Athena was founded in 1994 by Pierre Perroud, a Swiss teacher, and
hosted on the website of the University of Geneva, Switzerland. Athena
was a multilingual digital library specializing in philosophy, science,
literature, history, and economics, either by digitizing documents or
by providing links to existing etexts. The Helvetia section provided
documents about Switzerland. Geneva being the main city in French-
speaking Switzerland, Athena also provided a section for French-
language texts. A specific page offered an extensive selection of other
digital libraries worldwide, with relevant links.
1994 > NAP: free digital versions as a marketing tool to sell print
books
NAP (National Academy Press, later renamed National Academies Press)
was the first publisher in 1994 to post the full text of some of its
books on its website, for free, with the authors' consent, and to use
the web as a marketing tool to sell print versions. NAP was created by
the National Academy of Sciences to publish its own reports and the
ones of the National Academy of Engineering, the Institute of Medicine,
and the National Research Council. In 1994, NAP was publishing 200 new
books a year in science, engineering, and health. Oddly enough, there
was no drop in sales for books also available for free on the web. On
the contrary, sales increased. In 1998, the new NAP Reading Room
offered 1,000 free digital versions in various formats ("image", HTML,
PDF).
1995 > The MIT Press followed NAP
In 1995, the MIT Press was publishing 200 new books per year and 40
journals, in science and technology, architecture, social theory,
economics, cognitive science, and computational science. The MIT Press
decided to put a number of books online for free, as "a long-term
commitment to the efficient and creative use of new technologies".
Sales of print books with a free online version increased. This
initiative was praised by other publishers. But they were reluctant to
launch similar experiences because of the cost of publishing online
thousands of pages, problems linked to copyright, and the fear of free
versions "competing" with print sales.
1995 > The Internet Dictionary Project: collaborative dictionaries on
the internet
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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