The Project Gutenberg Weekly Newsletter 4th June 2003
eBooks Readable By Both Humans and Computers For Since 1971
Part 2
We have now completed 8148 ebooks!!!
In this part of the Project Gutenberg Weekly newsletter:
1) Editorial
2) News
3) Notes and Queries
4) Mailing list information
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1) Editorial
Hello,
Working in Project Gutenberg sometimes feels like waiting for
something really special, you wait for what seems like forever and
then suddenly it appears right in front of you. Sometimes that 10,000
we are working towards feels like it's never going to get here, and
then here we are today discussing what to put out for 8500! To quote
an old song 'Watch those digit counters fall!'
Happy reading,
Alice
(newsletter at schiffwood dot co dot uk - If you hit reply, the mail you
send does not reach me and disappears into the ether.)
We welcome feedback and awkward questions at the address above. Please feel free to send our general ramblings to a friend.
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2) News
Radio Gutenberg
www.etc-edu.com
This month, we inaugurate our DJ book showings. Each evening at 6 PM, US/CST,
a different DJ will introduce you to a work in the Gutenberg Collection. Each
week, a new book is offered, and the books belonging to a given month share
some common basis in the mind and heart of that DJ.
All week on Channel 2, Balzac "The Succubus".
Channel One by Day, first week in June, 2003 :
M Da Cook brings you "Treasure Island".
T Mozart helps Sammy find Coral Land.
W Bugsy treats us all to a live reading of Ring Lardner's "The Real Dope",
with music written then, and some performances from those days.
T Trout looks into H. G. Wells's "The Invisible Man".
F The Fishburn Files features "Through Space to Mars".
S Bugsy returns for more of "The Real Dope".
S The Fishburne Files returns for adventures on Mars.
Check back next week for new listings.
You can see their reasoning and emotion in the monologues offered up by Bugsy,
the Fishburne agency, Mozart, Da Cook and your humble writer here, a trout by
Kilgore, or any other name.
This first week, we offer you adventure by way of the classic "Treasure
Island" and "Through Space to Mars", pathos in "The Succubus" and
entertainment and instruction in "The Jungle Book".
The synth voice processing used to create these books now understands the
shape of a sentence, clearly separates the characters in dialog, and in some
small way imparts the sense of the speaker's heart, by the character of the
voice used.
In difficult stories, stories with a sensibility of cultures neither American
nor British, the readings demonstrate a precision in pronuncation few living
readers could aspire to. Balzac's "The Succubus" demonstrates this
in considerable degree.
Over the coming weeks, these virtual actors on an audible stage will grope
toward a more refined shaping of a work's meaning, its social intent, with an
intent of perfecting clarity in the search for a natural presentation. Our
first step is to make the engine aware of the material being read to the
extent that at any point, it comprehends the word at it is spoken, in the
context of the word it follows, as well as the import of the word that
follows.
We are taking this step in the tradition of great human actors of stage and
screen, who, regardless what they say, focus effort on the words, just as
they begin to travel about a theater, or your living room. Success in this
attempt ensures a long-lived tool, that will proper from the efforts of its
users, rewarding with improved results from every effort, because success
will circumscribe the growth of any supporting database, and ensure every
task is completed with the bulk of the effort being poured into the end
product, and not the procedures and customs that tend to grow about support
functions.
And at the same time, with a single throw, we hope to be ensuring the
permanent existence of a library at Gutenberg that can lift new citizens, and
those in difficulty, to an easy and care-free indulgence in the works of our
history, minds and hearts.
Enjoy, download, copy and hand them to everyone you meet.
Look live books, both on the page and in the ear, as in our hearts.
mike eschman, etc ...
http://www.etc-edu.com
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Post Production People Wanted
Well, technically this is a request for help and not news, but I'm in
charge and this is very important so there! Anyway, as you may have
read in part 1, PG needs an average of one more book per day to be
assembled and posted so we really need another PPP (Post production
person - pay attention at the back!). (Cue James Brown) Please,
please, please if this is something you think you can help with get in
touch and we will help you get started.
We thank you.
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New and Improved service
In a bid to make the newsletter more helpful to readers who may be
blind or visually impaired and using screen reading software, we are
now able to offer the booklisting in a different format to make your
life a little easier. An example of the new style listing is given
below. If you would like either a daily or weekly version of this list
please email me at newsletter at schiffwood dot co dot uk, and state
which version you require.
Note to the unwary: this is an example the real booklist is in part 3.
34 NEW ETEXTS FROM PROJECT GUTENBERG US
A Complete Grammar of Esperanto, by Ivy Kellerman Mar 2005[esperxxx.xxx]7787
The Female Gamester, by Gorges Edmond Howard Apr 2005[fmgstxxx.xxx]7840
[Subtitle: A Tragedy]
A Primary Reader, by E. Louise Smythe Apr 2005[preadxxx.xxx]7841
[Also posted: illustrated HTML, zipped only - pread10h.zip]
The Rise of Iskander, by Benjamin Disraeli Apr 2005[?riskxxx.xxx]7842
[7-bit version with non-accented characters in 7risk10.txt and 7risk10.zip]
[8-bit version with accented characters in 8risk10.txt and 8risk10.zip]
[rtf version with accented characters in 8risk10r.rtf and 8risk10r.zip]
[rtf version has numbered paragraphs; txt version has no paragraph numbers]
The Happy End, by Joseph Hergesheimer Apr 2005[?hpndxxx.xxx]7843
[7-bit version with non-accented characters in 7hpnd10.txt and 7hpnd10.zip]
[8-bit version with accented characters in 8hpnd10.txt and 8hpnd10.zip]
Three Dramas, by Bjornstjerne M. Bjornson [ Apr 2005?3dramxxx.xxx]7844
[Subtitle: The Editor; The Bankrupt; The King]
[7-bit version with non-accented characters in 73dram10.txt and 73dram10.zip]
[8-bit version with accented characters in 83dram10.txt and 83dram10.zip]
Toward the Gulf, by Edgar Lee Masters [#2] Apr 2005[?gulfxxx.xxx]7845
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3) Notes and Queries
Gutenberg Gazette
If you would like to be involved with the second edition of the
Gutenberg Gazette, send an email to
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If you would like to try out a copy of the first edition, email me
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you. If you would like a copy in a language other than English, please
let me know.
-------------------
Wanted: Newsletter Volunteer to help put together features and articles.
Requirements: Sense of humour and sense of humor(that is not a
misprint).
Also helpful: Ability to string together words derived from the
English language into a coherent sentence. Understanding of British
sense of irony. Must have heard of Spike Milligan.
Please apply to newsletter at schiffwood dot co dot uk, email must
make me laugh.
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Credits
Thanks this time go to Brett and George for the numbers and
the booklists. Mike Eschman for the RG updates, Mark, Greg, Michael, and
Larry Wall. Entertainment for the workers provided by Andrew
Collins. Chocolate chip cookies courtesy Mrs Beeton and thoroughly recommended.
pgweekly_2003_06_04_part_2.txt
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