Submission + - 1000 to 10000 e-books with help from /.
seeit writes: On November 8, 2002 slashdot mentioned Distributed Proofreaders. A few months later, DP completed its 1000th e-book.
Today, with the help of many volunteers who work on books and software, DP completed its 10,000th title.
Distributed Proofreaders, a wholly volunteer organization, was established for the purpose of producing quality transcriptions of machine-readable texts from public domain sources. Once a unique title has been completed the result is made freely available in widely used text and graphic formats via the Internet. The complete library of "DP texts" accessible from file servers throughout the world under the governance of Project Gutenberg, the founding ancestor of online archives.
True to its international nature, Distributed Proofreaders, while respecting U.S. copyright laws, does not limit itself to preserving solely English language content. Nearly 15% of completed titles, to date, represent over 20 languages beyond English. A look to DPs 10,000th title set reveals the diversity of world cultural content in the public domain. Among this commemorative collection are a French translation of Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice; the chronicle of Portuguese explorer Serpa Pinto's African expeditions; a pair of illustrated children stories from Germany; the first part of 'Species Plantarum', a 17th century Latin botanical reference work and a translation of a 17th century Guatemalan Maya manuscript.
The fifteen titles released today are not a cheer towards the past accomplishments of Distributed Proofreaders, nor are they pat on the back for deeds fulfilled on this day. What these titles so clearly represent, of their own merits, is the future and what awaits within the world's public domain yet to be rescued from obscurity and re-presented to an audience hungry to rediscover the cultural treasures of previous ages.
Today, with the help of many volunteers who work on books and software, DP completed its 10,000th title.
Distributed Proofreaders, a wholly volunteer organization, was established for the purpose of producing quality transcriptions of machine-readable texts from public domain sources. Once a unique title has been completed the result is made freely available in widely used text and graphic formats via the Internet. The complete library of "DP texts" accessible from file servers throughout the world under the governance of Project Gutenberg, the founding ancestor of online archives.
True to its international nature, Distributed Proofreaders, while respecting U.S. copyright laws, does not limit itself to preserving solely English language content. Nearly 15% of completed titles, to date, represent over 20 languages beyond English. A look to DPs 10,000th title set reveals the diversity of world cultural content in the public domain. Among this commemorative collection are a French translation of Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice; the chronicle of Portuguese explorer Serpa Pinto's African expeditions; a pair of illustrated children stories from Germany; the first part of 'Species Plantarum', a 17th century Latin botanical reference work and a translation of a 17th century Guatemalan Maya manuscript.
The fifteen titles released today are not a cheer towards the past accomplishments of Distributed Proofreaders, nor are they pat on the back for deeds fulfilled on this day. What these titles so clearly represent, of their own merits, is the future and what awaits within the world's public domain yet to be rescued from obscurity and re-presented to an audience hungry to rediscover the cultural treasures of previous ages.
