Date: Fri, 12 Nov 1993 01:31:21 -0500 From: bzs@world.std.com (Barry Shein) Here's an article I wrote a while back which is still reasonably current: -Barry Shein Software Tool & Die | bzs@world.std.com | uunet!world!bzs Purveyors to the Trade | Voice: 617-739-0202 | Login: 617-739-WRLD THE ONLINE BOOK INITIATIVE* Barry Shein Software Tool & Die bzs@world.std.com The Online Book Initiative has been formed to make available freely redistributable collections of information. There exists huge collections of books, conference proceedings, reference material, catalogues, etc. which can be freely shared. Some of it is in machine-readable form, much of it isn't. The purpose of the Online Book Initiative is to create a publicly accessible repository for this information, a net-worker's library. Information in the Online Book Repository will be available for free redistribution. On-line access, magnetic media and other methods of distribution will involve reasonable charges for the services provided, not the information. There are other organizations with similar overall goals (e.g. Project Gutenberg, Common Knowledge), in some cases the details of their goals or approaches are quite different. We are in contact with most of them and in general our conversations are very positive. Anyone putting textual information on-line soon develops an attitude of "the more, the merrier", it's a massive area of endeavor. WHAT WE WISH TO ARCHIVE All on-line materials (other than software collections) such as books, journals, catalogues, conference proceedings, magazines, manuals, maps, images, technical documentation, reference works, etc. The only software we are interested in is software specific to the viewing, manipulation, searching and maintenance of information in the repository. Materials must be free of copyrights limiting redistribution by us or any individual or organization who receives them. This is primarily because we have no idea how to achieve our goals using copyrightable materials. We also need pointers to collections of materials which may be available. For example, there are government collections of interesting data which are available at reasonable costs and do not limit further redistribution of copies obtained. WHAT WE NEED FROM YOU Beyond machine-readable material there are huge collections of printed material which could be redistributed if put on-line. We need people willing to organize informal projects to scan, type or otherwise get this material on-line for inclusion in the Online Book Repository. We need to get in touch with Library and Information Scientists interested in helping us create formats and structures for organizing the repository. We need international participation to help ensure our efforts are useful to people everywhere. We need people willing to participate in a Technical Advisory Board to help us guide our efforts. We need involvement from academia, industry and governments to help us enrich this effort without bounds and make available a first-rate, freely available information utility. We need involvement from publishers who have materials which can be included in the Online Book Repository. Many books and reference works become unprofitable to publish by ordinary paper means. It's time to make these materials available! We need involvement from the technical community to choose and implement multi-media software standards such as hypertext, mark-up languages, index and catalogue software, text retrieval, network access methods and more. Standards are critical to our efforts. WHAT WE ARE OFFERING WORLD.STD.COM is a public access UNIX system which will serve as the initial repository. It is a Sun4/280 system and will be expanded as needed. Anyone can dial into the system and set up an account if they wish direct access (617-739-WRLD.) Accounts are charged and proceeds will be used to build the Online Book Repository. UUCP and other links will be available for the redistribution of collections. We will also make collections available on magnetic media for reasonable copying charges. HOW TO GET INVOLVED If you think you can help or want more information send electronic mail to: obi@world.std.com There are two mailing lists, one for general discussion about OBI issues and another which receives announcements only (the general discussion list will see all announcements so you only need to be on one.) To subscribe to either, mail a request to: obi-request@world.std.com Or call us at Software Tool & Die, 617-739-0202. Or drop by our office and chat if you're in the area: 1330 Beacon Street, Brookline, MA 02146. POSTSCRIPT This started as an informal discussion group which called themselves "The KiloMonkeys Project" (``Strong Typing For Weak Minds'') who wanted to figure out how to get useful materials on-line and generally available. I have decided to make Software Tool & Die a home for this activity and formalize the project under the new name "The Online Book Initiative." My thanks to that original group from Monkey Shein. * "The Online Book Initiative" is a trademark of Software Tool & Die, Inc.