The Project Gutenberg Weekly Newsletter 9th July 2003
eBooks Readable By Both Humans and Computers For Since 1971
Part 2
We have now completed 8628 ebooks!!!
In this part of the Project Gutenberg Weekly newsletter:
1) Editorial
2) News
Radio Gutenberg Update
3) Notes and Queries
4) Mailing list information
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1) Editorial
Hello,
So what present do you get for a 32 year old that you don't really
know that well and goes rambling off around the world all the time?
Books would seem to be an appropriate, if slightly repetitive theme.
Well, we have a surprise here, for some time we have been plotting (that's Greg
and me - but mainly me in this case. Greg plots big projects, I just
do the newsletter) and we present for the first time today:
The Project Gutenberg Newsletter Website!!!! (Cue fanfare)
See the news section for more details. We also have a new email addy to go
with it, watch out though, hitting reply to this message still causes
things to disappear into nowhere.
Happy reading and happy anniversary,
Alice
(news at pglaf dot org - 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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============= [ SUBMIT A NEW EBOOK FOR COPYRIGHT CLEARANCE ]==============
If you have a book you would like to confirm is in the public domain in
the US, and therefore suitable for Project Gutenberg, please do the
following:
1. Check whether we have the eBook already. Look in
http://ibiblio.org/gutenberg/GUTINDEX.ALL
which is updated weekly. (The searchable catalog at
http://www.gutenberg.net lags behind by several months)
2. Check the "in progress" list to see whether someone is already
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years - if so, email David Price (his address is on the list) to ask
for contact information for the person working on the book. The "in
progress" list:
http://www.dprice48.freeserve.co.uk/GutIP.html
3. If the book seems to be a good candidate (pre-1923 publication
date, or 1923-1988 published in the US without a copyright notice),
submit scans of the title page and verso page (even if the verso is
blank) to:
http://beryl.ils.unc.edu/copy.html
You'll hear back within a few days.
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2) News
Innovations for PG Newsletter
So you missed last weeks newsletter, it is holiday season after
all. Your inbox is full to overflowing and due to it's huge size your
ISP drops the PG newsletter straight in the trashcan. Whaaa!!!
Help is at hand, with the all new Project Gutenberg Newsletter
Website. Yes finally! Check out that review you missed three weeks
ago, find out what's on at RG and get last months booklist along with
the latest news from PG. All available at
http://ibiblio.org/gutenberg/newsletter/newsletter.html
Snappy eh?
Also, (and this is nothing to do with me, but it really looks
interesting), if you have a PDA you may be interested in
http://www.xecu.net/bcollins/PGEZINE.HTM
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On the effects of Slashdotting - A view from DP
On Monday once the excitement had lessened from tornado to howling gale,
I posted a message asking for quotes about the effects of July
4th. Jon Ingram was kind enough to say "Monkey tastes better grilled
than roasted", we assume he speaks from personal experience, glad to
see his sense of humour wasn't diminished by the experience. Below is
a personal view by Bill who was there to see it all.
A ripple of concerned excitement ran through the DP website in the
early hours of July 4th. Word had come in that the site was to be
mentioned in a front page article at slashdot. The only other time
this had happened, in early November last year, the user base
quintupled (!) in size within the first 24 hours. The (then manually
constructed) pages/day graphs had to be drawn and redrawn again as
previous site page count records were obliterated. No one knew what
would happen this time, and last-minute preparations for a possible
flood of new users were hurriedly made. We'd been planning on going
back to slashdot ourselves, but hadn't been expecting it so
soon. Waiting for the article to be published, some of us felt like
kids on the night before Christmas...
As it turns out, the combination of the summer holiday period, and the
July 4 weekend, had reduced the number of new arrivals. They still
helped us clock up our highest daily page total this year (over
6,000), though. Having experienced a slashdotting before, the site was
much better prepared this time around: plenty of material suitable to
beginners on hand to be proofed, plenty of old hands primed and ready
to answer questions and provide feedback, plenty (compared to last
time) of warning.
The dust is settling now. There is a great big bulge of
beginners'-level material making its way through the system, a great
big jump in our pages/day graph, and a big bunch of new proofers doing
great proofing work, alongside the heroically hard-working experienced
proofers, project managers, etc who are going above and beyond the
call of duty to help the new arrivals learn the ropes and feel
welcome. It seems the DP site has come through with flying colo(u)rs,
and is looking odds on to beat its target this month by tens of
thousands of pages, with the continuing help of proofers new and old,
in building what will be the greatest library the world has ever seen:
Project Gutenberg!
Bill
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Tabloid Scanning Now Available.
Project Gutenberg has purchased a tabloid-sized flatbed scanner,
capable of scanning pages up to 12" by 17" (30cm x 42.5cm). Do you
have a book, magazine, sheet music, or broadside that requires an
oversized scanner?
E-mail Suzanne Shell at shells at pglaf dot org to discuss the
details.
It would be helpful to include the following in your message:
Title/author, Copyright clearance, Time constraints, Format and/or
image resolution needed (and any other special requirements). The
scanner (and Suzanne) are located in North Carolina; get in
touch--we'll figure out how best to handle your project.
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Request for sponsorship
From Ted Garvin
There are some books of historical/literary significance that I would
like to get through ILL (Inter Library Loans). Only one problem (aside
from finding time to scan them, but I seem to manage in that area),
and that is lack of funds.
So this is a plea for sponsorship. Email Ted at garvint at yahoo.com
- Ted
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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 normally contained in part 3 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]
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Radio Gutenberg Update
http://www.etc-edu.com
The runoffs for DJs have been completed and it looks like "The Fishburne
Files" and "Bugsy" are here to stay. The Fishburne Files will continue to
explore the treasures of the Gutenberg Collection, and to expand Dr. Kula's
ability to give satisfying readings of the broadest possible diversity of
material.
In line with that objective, "The Files" is opening the late June - early July
broadcast series with a new reading of Shakespear's "A Midsummer's Night
Dream". This reading features 22 unique computer voices, continuing
improvement of inflection, a revised Shakespeare Pronounciation guide, and
stereo staging (left-center-right only).
"The Real Dope" will continue to unfold as a live reading, and Bugsy, Radio
Gutenberg's Programmer, is working on a means to provide daily shows of new
books that add 30 minutes or so of material every 3 to 7 days, and provide
multiple means to listen to missed episodes.
A new reading of Robert Sheckley's science fiction short "Bad Medicine" is
coming online soon. Give it a listen, you'll be suprised how far we've come
in the last 6 months! The follow up "replay" to "Bad Medicine" is "The Fall
of the House of Usher.". That's in the way of fixing a mistake ....
Brett was concerned that Shakespeare might not give us programmers enough new
ground to cover, so he's got Plato's Republic scheduled. And "The Iceberg
Express" "Diary of a U-Boat Captain" "When the Earth Shook" and Captain
Cook's Diary's are coming soon.
mike eschman for radio gutenberg ...
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3) Notes and Queries
As they are rapidly approaching 250 at PGOz, we thought we'd explain
Just exactly who is...
Col Choat--Web Master*, Project Gutenberg of Australia.
Col became interested in creating PGofOz when he realised that there wasn't
a lot of Australian content at PG. At the same time he saw an opportunity to
make available to Australians and readers in other "plus fifty" countries
works which are in the public domain in Australia, but may not be public
domain in the US. Col has a background in computing and accounting and has
always been an avid reader.
*Is that the term?
--------
Sue Asscher loves Charles Darwin and the naturalists
and explorers and makes etext for Project Gutenberg and:
The writings of Charles Darwin on the web
by John van Wyhe, Ph.D.
http://pages.britishlibrary.net/charles.darwin/
Jean-Henri Fabre, his life, his work
by Annie and Patrick Oudet
http://www.e-fabre.net/
-------------------
Another introduction from Brett Fishburne, to tie in with his DJ spot
on RG.
A Midsummer Night's Dream, by William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare. The Bard. A fanciful play, mostly pure fun,
without the dramatic and ringing tones of his other works. The trip
into the woods brings two couples together under the auspices of a
fairy king and queen. This monarchy doesn't show particular care for
their standard charges or their environment, but offer aid (of a sort)
to the couples who enter their domain.
Consider, for a moment, what might have brought Shakespeare to have
written this play. First and foremost, he may have been tired of
writing weightier plays. Second, he may have been "testing the
waters" for a relatively unused technique of talking directly to the
audience. Finally, he may have been trying to tap into the burgeoning
science fiction audience...
This story retells an ancient Greek story of a father's will and his
daughter's successful efforts to subvert it. Ahhhh...a classical
story line. Still, however, this idea is rarely undertaken by science
fiction authors (although it may be the bread and butter of the
romance heroine) and is grist for the sexist mill.
Brett Fishburne
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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 for the beer,
Greg for keeping quiet, Michael, and Larry Wall. Entertainment for the
workers provided by BBC 6music as always.
pgweekly_2003_07_09_part_2.txt
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