Humanist Discussion Group, Vol. 17, No. 444.
Centre for Computing in the Humanities, King's College London
www.kcl.ac.uk/humanities/cch/humanist/
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Submit to: humanist@princeton.edu
[1] From: Maurizio Lana <m.lana@lett.unipmn.it> (41)
Subject: Re: 17.436 digital preservation
[2] From: Michael Hart <hart@beryl.ils.unc.edu> (107)
Subject: Re: 17.439 digital preservation
[3] From: "Olivia C. Williamson" <olivia@stanford.edu> (13)
Subject: Re: 17.439 digital preservation
--[1]------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Mon, 08 Dec 2003 07:56:43 +0000
From: Maurizio Lana <m.lana@lett.unipmn.it>
Subject: Re: 17.436 digital preservation
I must confess that i quite disagree with the assumptions underlaying the
article of S. Garfinkel.
I can make a clear example.
He states: "Take, for example, the electrical standard (sometimes called
IDE, now called ATA) that’s used by the disk drives in most PCs. Developed
in the 1980s, the ATA interface has been significantly enhanced over the
past 20 years. Yet with rare exceptions, you can take a hard disk drive
from the late 1980s or early 1990s, plug it into a modern desktop computer,
and read the files that the disk contains"
"The Internet “Request For Comment” (RFC) series, started back in the
1970s, is readable on practically every computer on the planet today
because the RFCs were stored in plain ASCII text."
"Music CDs and CD-ROMs created in the 1980s are still readable on today’s
DVD drives. When the next generation of optical storage comes out, it’s
likely to be backwards compatible as well. A disk drive unable to read old
CDs would not be commercially viable."
on the large time scale of historical preservation the "past 20 years" are
no more than an instant.
we need (would need) 'something' allowing us to 'read' the digital data not
after 20 years, but after 200, or 500 years.
what will a future scholar need in 2345 a.d. to read an HD of today? he
will need a mix of hardware and software which is simply likely to be not
available at all. i think that it is clear for everyone that the advantage
and usefulness of the ascii format for the data is of very small importance
compared to the problem of having in 2345 a.d. a machine able to read an HD
of today.
on the contrary, to read today an engraved stone on 500 years ago we need
only some 'hardware independent software': we need to know the language
used by the inscriptions and the graphical conventions used with the 'stone
medium' (ligatures, abbreviations, ...)
it's possible that the paper is unfortunately still the best medium to
preserve our cultural heritage and to transmit it to the people of the near
or far future.
or we could envision a future of digital scriptoria with people endlessly
copying data from one outdated source into many up to date copies. how much
will be lost in this endless process is clear for everyone, i think.
maurizio
Maurizio Lana - ricercatore
Dipartimento di Studi Umanistici - Università del Piemonte Orientale a Vercelli
via Manzoni 8, I-13100 Vercelli
+39 347 7370925
--[2]------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Wed, 10 Dec 2003 10:13:05 +0000
From: Michael Hart <hart@beryl.ils.unc.edu>
Subject: Re: 17.439 digital preservation
I've been putting eBook on the Internet since 1971,
and 99.9% of them can still be downloaded from
hundreds or even thousands of sites in easy to
read formats from gutenberg.net, even after 30
years of the Computer Revolution.
For example, a recent Google search for Taming
of the Shrew, by Shakespeare, received ~12,500 hits.
It's not likely that these files are going to be
hard to use in the near future, as virtually every
desktop and laptop has multiple programs that read
them just fine, and also allow you to pick your own
fonts, etc.
These eBooks have always been available for Unlimited
Distribution free of charge.
There should be ~11,000 of them by then end of the
2003 production year.
***
For immediate release
INVENTOR OF THE EBOOK SPEAKS IN BAY AREA DEC 10-11
In 1971, Michael S. Hart invented the eBook by typing the United
States Declaration of Independence on a mainframe computer. This was
the start of Project Gutenberg, an ambitious effort to create a free
public library of 10,000 electronic books or eBooks.
In October 2003, Project Gutenberg added the 10,000th eBook to it's
collection, The Magna Carta. Not content to rest, Hart announced a
new goal: "We want to grow the collection to one million free eBooks,
and distribute them to one billion people, for a total of one
quadrillion eBooks to be given away by the end of the year 2015."
Prof. Hart will give two presentations in the San Francisco area this
week, outlining his plans for the future, as well as reflecting on the
past and present state of eBooks. Both will feature CDs and DVDs with
thousands of eBooks, free for duplication or redistribution.
- Wednesday December 10 7:00 pm at the Golden Gate Club in the
Presidio of San Francisco.
- Thursday December 11 7:00 pm at the Berkeley Public Library.
Both talks are free, and open to the public and members of the press.
Prof. Hart will also be taping television appearances, and
participating in a Project Gutenberg capacity building conference
hosted at the Internet Archive over the weekend.
Prof. Hart will discuss his invention of the eBook, and explain why he
does not believe that simple scans or raw OCR (optical character
recognition) output are true eBooks. He will explain advantages of
eBooks over paper books, and show how a rich and vibrant public domain
is the best possible path to creating greater opportunities for
literacy.
ABOUT PROJECT GUTENBERG
Project Gutenberg's mission is to break down the bars of ignorance and
illiteracy, by creating and distributing free eBooks. During 2003,
an average of over 80 new eBooks per week have been created, with
the help of thousands of volunteers from around the world.
The collection includes dozens of file formats, and 21 different
languages, with over 46,000 files in 110 gigabytes. Project Gutenberg
seeks to include all of the world's great literature, in all
languages. Volunteers choose books that interest them, and work to
turn books into eBooks by scanning or typing, then proofreading and
preparing the final eBook. Nearly all Project Gutenberg eBooks are
available in plain text format, in addition to any others, to insure
their usability for future generations.
ABOUT THE PROJECT GUTENBERG LITERARY ARCHIVE FOUNDATION
The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation (PGLAF) was formed
in 2000 to operate as the legal entity supporting Project Gutenberg.
PGLAF receives donations, employs Prof. Hart and part-time office
staff, and maintains organizational records. Dr. Gregory Newby
volunteers as PGLAF's CEO.
"We are pleased to host our first capacity building conference, and
excited about Michael Hart's presentations in the San Francisco area.
As Project Gutenberg embarks on the next phase in its creation of free
eBooks, we will work to support a growing volunteer base, more
partnerships, and a broader range of literary works," said Dr. Newby.
PGLAF is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit corporation.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION:
Email inquiries to "press@pglaf.org". Prof. Hart will be available
for telephone interviews and personal appearances while in San
Francisco. From there, he will be visiting Hawaii, then Europe in
February for scheduled presentations to UNESCO and other EU bodies, to
encourage placing national literatures online and resisting copyright
extension.
Reach the PGLAF business office at (801) 596 1887.
Project Gutenberg is on the Internet at:
http://gutenberg.net
The Project Gutenberg collection is hosted by iBiblio, the Public's
Library at http://ibiblio.org, and mirrored (copied) around the world.
The easiest way to help contribute to a Project Gutenberg eBook is
to help proofread raw OCR output, a page at a time, at Project
Gutenberg's Distributed Proofreaders:
http://www.pgdp.net
For information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation,
and how to donate, see:
http://gutenberg.net/fundraising
Thanks!!!
I'm changing ISPs now,
so my replies may not
be as quick as usual.
If you don't get a reply
in two weeks, please resend.
Michael
Happy Holidays!!!
Give eBooks!!!
As of December 07,
~10,660 FreeBooks at:
http://gutenberg.net
~9,330 to go to 20,000
Michael S. Hart
<hart@pobox.com>
Project Gutenberg
Executive Coordinator
"*Internet User ~#100*"
--[3]------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Wed, 10 Dec 2003 10:14:15 +0000
From: "Olivia C. Williamson" <olivia@stanford.edu>
Subject: Re: 17.439 digital preservation
> From: dgants@rogers.com
> >
>Lest one dismiss this and other example as phenomena that occur only in
>past centuries, try to find a Seattle telephone book from the Reagan
>years.....
Well, my parents probably have one....but is depending on packrats an
adequate preservation strategy?
-----------------------------------------
Olivia C. Williamson
Stanford Graduate Fellow
Management Science and Engineering
Terman 429A, Stanford CA 94305
olivia@stanford.edu
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