Michael S. Hart invented the e-book. That might sound like
an exaggeration because you can't really "invent" something that has already been written. To be more specific, Hart was the first person to provide books and works of
literature on the Internet. It began back in 1971 when he was a student at the
University of Illinois. The University owned a computer system which was
connected to a network (a predecessor of the Internet), which Hart decided to
use to share information. His first project was to type up the United States
Declaration of Independence onto the network. Hart wanted to transmit the document to
everyone on the network via email, but the network warned him that such an
action would overload the system and cause the network to crash. Hart rectified
this problem by storing the document on the network, and leaving it available
for anyone with network access (around 100 people) to download.
 |
| Michael S. Hart, inventor of the e-book |
Project Gutenberg: making e-books available to everyone
This was the start of Project Gutenberg, a project begun by Hart to add more pieces of literature to the Internet. After uploading the Declaration of Independence, he began uploading other works that were available in the public domain, such as the Bible, and works of Homer and Shakespeare. Hart was allowed to upload these works because their copyright in the U.S. had expired, and this made it possible for people to share these books for free. This has become a problem in other countries that hold different laws governing copyright, but the U.S. has allowed Project Gutenberg to remain live. As the project gained popularity, he began working with the University of Illinois PC User Group to secure mirror sites and mailing lists. The site has gained much more popularity as of the last decade. More and more people are turning to the internet for resources, and Project Gutenberg offers free books that are available in the public domain. Project Gutenberg continues to update their library every day, now containing over 42,000 free books available for download. Project Gutenberg also makes sure that these e-books are available in several different formats, in order to increase user accessibility.
This was the start of Project Gutenberg, a project begun by Hart to add more pieces of literature to the Internet. After uploading the Declaration of Independence, he began uploading other works that were available in the public domain, such as the Bible, and works of Homer and Shakespeare. Hart was allowed to upload these works because their copyright in the U.S. had expired, and this made it possible for people to share these books for free. This has become a problem in other countries that hold different laws governing copyright, but the U.S. has allowed Project Gutenberg to remain live. As the project gained popularity, he began working with the University of Illinois PC User Group to secure mirror sites and mailing lists. The site has gained much more popularity as of the last decade. More and more people are turning to the internet for resources, and Project Gutenberg offers free books that are available in the public domain. Project Gutenberg continues to update their library every day, now containing over 42,000 free books available for download. Project Gutenberg also makes sure that these e-books are available in several different formats, in order to increase user accessibility.
Michael Hart's life and how he survived offering books for free
Hart supported himself in strange ways. He earned money
by completing odd jobs around his area in Urbana, Illinois, and he even at one
point survived as a street musician. He had an unpaid appointment at the
Illinois Benedictine College that he used to solicit money for Project
Gutenberg. Overall, Project Gutenberg is supported through donations and
volunteer work. Hart, on the other hand, lived his life on the edge of poverty.
He ate mostly cans of rice and beans, and he kept his house and belongings in
check with his own repairman skills. His house was also well-known as a
real-life Gutenberg Project of sorts, filled with ceiling-high stacks of books
that he had transcribed. He typically kept his car and house functioning with
discarded parts that he acquired. Hart was found dead on September 6, 2011 as a
result of a heart attack. Even though Hart has passed, Project Gutenberg and
the use of the e-book still live on.
Being such a huge fan of my kindle and always searching for places to download free e-books, I was shocked I had never heard of Project Gutenberg before this article. This post was extremely informative because it answered every question I thought of as I read. First I was baffled how this project could be legal, wondering how Hart got away with posting books for free. I also wondered how Hart made a profit or even a living off of this project. By exploring the first hyperlink I was able to see the project first hand and examine how it has carried on after Hart's death. While exploring the second hyperlink I learned even more about Hart and his revolution in the digital world. When discussing how book sales and distribution are decreasing due to the e-books everyone considers how websites such as Amazon.com and bn.com hurt print book sales because everyone is buying digital books. I feel that Project Gutenberg is probably hurting both print book and e-book sales because they provide e-books for free. I am interested too see where Project Gutenberg goes with the continuing increase in e-books.
ReplyDelete