Volunteers can also work independently, after contacting Project Gutenberg
directly, by keying in a book they particularly like using any text editor or
word processor. They can also scan it and convert it into text using OCR
software, and then make corrections by comparing it with the original. In each
case, someone else will proofread it. 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! We hope you will join us in
our mission of 'preserving the literary history of the world in a freely
available form for everyone to use'."
6. EBOOKS IN MORE AND MORE LANGUAGES
What about languages?
Initially, the eBooks were mostly in English. As Project Gutenberg is based in
the United States, it first focused on the English-speaking community in the
country and worldwide.
In October 1997, Michael Hart expressed his intention to expand the publishing
of eBooks in other languages. At the beginning of 1998, the catalog had a few
titles in French (10 titles), German, Italian, Spanish and Latin. In July 1999,
Michael wrote: "I am publishing in one new language per month right now, and
will continue as long as possible."
In early 2004, there were works in 25 languages. In July 2005, there were works
in 42 languages, including Iroquoian, Sanskrit and the Mayan languages. The
seven "main" languages were: English (with 14,548 books on July 27, 2005),
French (577 books), German (349 books), Finnish (218 books), Dutch (130 books),
Spanish (103 books) and Chinese (69 books).
Let us take French as an example. On February 13, 2004, there were 181 eBooks in
French (out of a total of 11,340 eBooks). On May 16, 2005, there were 547 eBooks
in French (out of 15,505 Books). The number tripled in 15 months. This number
should rise significantly during the next few years, notably with Project
Gutenberg Europe (launched in June 2005).
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account