Innovating with AI: Project Gutenberg's Approach to Free eBooks and Literary Management
Project Gutenberg, the first provider of free eBooks, is keeping up with technology by experimenting with and using AI. This presentation explores several AI initiatives PG has implemented, highlighting successes and challenges.
Speaker: Ilana Kingsley, Pacific Northwest Library Association via @gbnewby
Distributed Proofreaders goes to sea with Billy Budd https://blog.pgdp.net/2025/09/01/billy-budd/ #ebooks #HermanMelville #BillyBudd
Today, we just completed one year at #fediverse !
Thanks for all your support @gbnewby, @gluejar , @gutenberg_new, @lhamilton1515
Opening The Immutable Library
Why Dara’s Project Gutenberg Archive is a Big Deal
https://theimmutable.medium.com/opening-the-immutable-library-7c40a704fcbd
via @dara_proj
Project Dara has made a copy of the Project Gutenberg collection in the interplanetary filesystem.
You can browse the collection here: https://gutenberg.dara.global/
As a storyteller, process has the following principles:
- Be kind
- Respect the reader by telling stories with integrity and authenticity
- Create dual-control universes where my readers’ imagination can play as much as mine does
To help introduce myself, I'm giving away free short scifi stories. Click below, pick one out for you:
https://inkican.com/free-smashwords-short-stories-hot-scifi-summer/ #sciencefiction #freebooks #ebooks #Smashwords #summer #summerreading #scifi #cyberpunk #introduction #introductions
Caricature of Michael Hart by Denis Renard.
Featured in the History of eBooks comic,
https://archive.org/details/history-ebooks-drawings
In: A short history of ebooks in 20 drawings
by Marie Lebert via @internetarchive
I can't believe that Project Gutenberg has 74k+ FREE ebooks that I can just download if I want 😃
Pretty amazing 😁
Meet Sophia Tung, the Creative Force Behind Internet Archive’s Microfiche Scanning Livestream
Setting up a livestream is more complicated than just turning on a camera.
by Caralee Adams
7 Legal Ways To Get Free eBooks
https://www.howtogeek.com/legal-ways-to-get-free-ebooks/
(just skip Amazon for obvious reasons)
The Smashwords Read-an-Ebook sale has started — which is very convenient timing for anyone maybe looking around for alternatives to Amazon right now.
There’s heaps of DRM-free indie books on sale or even free for the next week:
https://www.smashwords.com/shelves/promos
Mine are here, all 50% off (making them the massive investment of US$2 to try out) for escapist queer romantic fantasy fun:
https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/wendylpalmer
All proceeds to Ukraine 🇺🇦
Content warnings on my website: https://wendypalmer.au/content-warnings/
There’ll be plenty of other #MastoAuthors on sale there too (feel free to tag yourselves).
Give it a browse, you might discover your next favourite writer
@bookstodon @indieauthors #BookSale #Smashwords #fiction #ebooks #fantasy #QueerRomance #IndieAuthors #IndieBooks
Distributed Proofreaders goes to Egypt - via London - with E.A. Wallis Budge's 1909 Guide to the Egyptian Collections at the British Museum https://blog.pgdp.net/2025/06/01/egypt-in-london/ #ebooks #AncientEgypt #BritishMuseum
If you're not following @gutenberg_org you are missing out.
A wonderful source of everything from #cryptography through #art, #feminism to the #philosophy of #physics and a whole lot more I can't make vaguely alliterate.
#ProjectGutenberg - free #ebooks
A Brief History of Project Gutenberg
The history of Project Gutenberg is connected to both the beginnings of the printing press as well as that of ebooks.
By Katie Moench (from the archives)
https://bookriot.com/a-brief-history-of-project-gutenberg/
Our website:
https://www.gutenberg.org/
Why philosophy of physics?
Some physicists reject philosophy as a distraction from ‘real’ science but it is in fact both useful and beautiful
By James Read
Philosophy of physics at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/subject/7005
You own more than 75,000 books. Yes, they are yours! Come get them!
TIL: Whatever #ebooks or documents you put on a #Kindle, they're being indexed & uploaded automatically to the #Amazon server if the device has an internet connection. Just found out with an unpublished #manuscript that someone wanted to read on their Kindle and it ended up on the Amazon server, although it was put onto the Kindle manually via cable. Whatever you do with Amazon devices, you're adding everything to Amazon's data collection. #Enshittification #AuthorRights #IntellectualProperty
The Return of the Leading Ladies Bundle is out now from Humble Bundle!
These 36 DRM-free digital comics from Image Comics are a powerhouse collection of femme-led stories celebrating the full spectrum of the femme experience without drowning it in pink. 💜
https://www.humblebundle.com/books/return-leading-ladies-image-comics-books
This robot scans rare library books at 2,500 pages per hour
Digitizing rare manuscripts is getting increasingly hands-off.
By Andrew Paul
https://www.popsci.com/technology/book-scanning-robot/
Book scanning at Wiki:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_scanning
Distributed Proofreaders learns its lesson from Aesop one syllable at a time https://blog.pgdp.net/2025/07/01/aesop-in-words-of-one-syllable/ #ebooks #aesops_fables #childrensbooks
Project Gutenberg turns 54!
On July 4, 1971, Michael Hart had the idea of using a computer to read and enjoy literature. This innovation led to the creation of Project Gutenberg, which continues to thrive today.
via @gbnewby
You can read more about the history of Project Gutenberg in our 50th anniversary writeup:
