|
weirdnet weirdnet.org Home Letters of Hart Directory Links |
Why Supporting Project Gutenberg eBooks Does So Much MoreWhy Supporting Project Gutenberg eBooks Does So Much More
Project Gutenberg eBooks are:
1. Free to the Entire World
2. Permanent
3. Classics
4. Promoting World Literacy
5. Promoting World Education
6. Powerful Research Tools
Many of you are undoubtedly aware of the huge pledge drives we hear
and see for public radio and television, virtually all those we see
and hear there make salaries well above the median, but I wonder if
you are aware of the fact that investing in eBooks would make major
changes in civilization long after the radio or television show has
been broadcast for the last time.
Every year the average public television or radio station may spend
a million dollars in time and money but Project Gutenberg has never
spent a million dollars in its entire 35 years of existence, yet we
have given away trillions of eBooks even if the average eBook makes
it to only 1% of the world population.
Project Gutenberg eBooks are:
1. Free to the Entire World
No charge is ever made by Project Gutenberg for any of the ~100,000
eBooks we provide to the world at large.
2. Permanent
These eBooks are permanent, both in the sense that we encourage you
to keep them forever, and that we keep them online forever; not one
Project Gutenberg eBook has ever been lost other than Martin Luther
King's "I Have A Dream" speech, which was ruled for and against the
copyrighted status request by the King Estate several times, and we
deleted it without any request from the King Estate.
3. Classics
The Project Gutenberg collection includes classics writers from all
over the world, and we are in the process of seeking to complete an
assortment of collected works. According to various authorities in
the library worlds, Project Gutenberg already has the most complete
collections of several authors.
4. Promoting World Literacy
Project Gutenberg eBooks in made in such a way as to promote use of
various "read aloud" programs that allow people to read in the book
while the computer reads the text aloud.
"Giving a person a fish
Feeds them for one day;
Teaching Them To Fish--
Feeds them for life--."
We subscribe to the same philosophy about teaching people to read.
5. Promoting World Education
Once a person has learned to read, all you have to do is provide an
ever expanding number of books to provide ever expanding education.
We solicit books from all over the world, in all languages from all
walks of life to provide an open doorway from any part of the world
to any other part of the world.
6. Powerful Research Tools
Project Gutenberg eBooks are not just for reading, we receive large
numbers of requests, and thanks, for the use of eBooks in research.
You might be surprised at the number of universities worldwide from
whom come research based on Project Gutenberg eBooks, not to say in
the case of the best selling novel of the past four years.
Your contributions to Project Gutenberg will help make trillions of
eBooks journey from our sites to the world at large.
Where else can you sponsor a book that can reach a billion readers,
just a day after it is completed?
Where else can you sponsor books that never wear out?
Where else can you sponsor books that are never lost?
Every Project Gutenberg eBook that was ever listed in our catalogue
is still available, in more and more formats with better and better
proofreading, on more and more sites. Except of course, for King's
"I Have A Dream" speech, as mentioned above.
*
You can make more difference to the future of the world investing a
contribution to Project Gutenberg than any other possible way.
Please support Project Gutenberg at http://www.gutenberg.org/donate
Help break down the bars of ignorance and illiteracy.
Thank you!
Michael S. Hart
Founder
Project Gutenberg
Dr. Gregory B. Newby
CEO
Project Gutenberg
Footnote: in just the time I have been composing this, deletion of
several books from The Project Gutenberg Consortia Center have been
made at the request of Conde Nast, while we research copyrights.
|