12/25/95 chandel2

12/25/95  chandel2


A Re-Visitation to the Chandelier by Michael S. Hart

Every so often I get a note from a scholar with questions and
comments about the Project Gutenberg Edition of this or that.
Most of the time this appears to be either idle speculation--
since there is never any further feedback about passages this
or that edition does better in the eye of particular scholars
or the feedback is of the "holier than thou" variety in which
the scholar claims to have found errors in our edition, which
the scholar then refuses to enumerate.

As for the first, there can certainly be little interest in a
note that appears, even after follow-up queries, of that idle
brand of inquiry.

As to the second, we are always glad to receive a correction,
that is one of the great powers of etext, that corrections be
made easily and quickly when compared to paper editions, with
the corrections being made available to those who already had
the previous editions, at no extra charge.

However, when someone is an expert scholar in a field they do
have a certain responsibility to have their inquiries be some
reasonable variety, with a reasonable input, in order to have
a reasonable output.  To complain that there is a problem w/o
pointing out the problem has a rich and powerful vocabulary I
do not feel is appropriate for this occasion.  We have put an
entirely out-of-proportion cash reward on these errors at one
time or another and still have not received any indications a
scholar has actually ever found them, which would not be more
difficult than finding errors in any other etexts, especially
ones not claiming an beginning accuracy of only 99.9%.

However, if these corrections WERE forthcoming, then the 99.9
would soon approach 99.95, which is the reference error level
referred to several times in the Library of Congress Workshop
on Electronic Text Proceedings.

On the other hand, just as the Project Gutenberg's efficiency
would drop dramatically if we insisted our first edition of a
book were over 99.5% accurate, so too, should efficiency drop
dramatically if we were ever to involve ourselves in any type
of discussion resembling "How many angels can dance on a pin-
head."  The fact is, that our editions are NOT targeted to an
audience specifically interested in whether Shakespeare would
have said:

"To be or not to be"
"To be, or not to be"
"To be; or not to be"
"To be:  or not to be"
"To be--or not to be"

This kind of conversation is and should be limited to the few
dozen to few hundred scholars who are properly interested.  A
book designed for access by hundreds of millions cannot spend
that amount of time on an issue that is of minimal relevance,
at least minimal to 99.9% of the potential readers.  However,
we DO intend to distribute a wide variety of Shakespeare, and
the contributions of such scholars would be much appreciated,
were it ever given, just as we have released several editions
of the Bible, Paradise Lost and even Aesop's Fables.

In the end, when we have 30 different editions of Shakespeare
on line simulatnously, this will probably not even be worthy,
as it hardly is today, of a footnote. . .I only answer out of
respect for the process of creating these editions as soon as
possible, to improve the literacy and education of the masses
as soon as possible.

For those who would prefer to see that literacy and education
continue to wallow in the mire, I can only say that a silence
on your part creates its just reward.  Your expertise dies an
awful death when it is smothered by hiding your light under a
bushel, as someone whom is celebrated today once said:

Matthew 5:15
Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a
candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house.

Mark 4:21
And he said unto them, Is a candle brought to be put under a bushel,
or under a bed? and not to be set on a candlestick?

Luke 8:16
No man, when he hath lighted a candle, covereth it with a vessel,
or putteth it under a bed; but setteth it on a candlestick, that
they which enter in may see the light.

Luke 11:33
No man, when he hath lighted a candle, putteth it in a secret place,
neither under a bushel, but on a candlestick, that they which come
in may see the light.