The head of the Arctic Region Supercomputing Center is carrying on the legacy of the man who created the electronic book. ARSC Director Greg Newby is volunteer head of Project Guttenberg, a non-profit organization begun by e-book creator Michael Hart. Hart, who digitized the first book back in 1971, died earlier this month. Newby, has been involved with Project Guttenberg since meeting Hart in New York in the 1980’s. Newby says his friend was a visionary.
Volunteers with Project Guttenburg digitize books in the public domain, for which copy wrights have run out. The project offers access to over 30,000 books on line. While other groups and business distribute e-books today, Newby says Project Guttenburg remains unique.
Newby, who handles legal, fiscal and technology issues as Project Guttenberg’s unpaid director, says it’s estimated there’s about a million books in the public domain, providing no shortage of work for project volunteers to digitize and post for free on line.
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Dan Bross is a reporter at KUAC in Fairbanks.
