Project Gutenberg founder dies aged 64

Michael Stern Hart created the free online ebook library long before the advent of Kindle, Nook or iPhone Long before the Kindle, Nook or iPhone, there was Michael Stern Hart and his Project Gutenberg , a network of volunteers dedicated to providing free online access to as many books as they could. Hart, who is also considered the founder of the ebook, died Tuesday at his Illinois home, said Stephanie Gabel of Renner-Wikoff Chapel and Crematory. He was 64. Gabel did not know the cause of death. Hart was a student at the University of Illinois when he founded Project Gutenberg 40 years ago. He got started in 1971 by typing the text of the US Declaration of Independence into a computer network that he and about 100 others had access to. In an interview last year, he said the project, and partners it works with, had made more than 100,000 books available for free online. His obituary, posted on Project Gutenberg’s website , said Hart worked as an adjunct professor – someone who works without tenure and has to, effectively, be rehired every year. But in interviews over the years, he made clear the project was his life’s work and joy. “I get little notes in the email, saying, ‘Hey! I just [found] Project Gutenberg, and this is great stuff,’” Hart told WILL radio in Urbana in a 2003 interview. “You get people that [it] just tickles their fancy, and they just read and read and read, and they’re so happy about it.” Hart was born in Tacoma, Washington state, in 1947 and grew up in Urbana. He served in the US army before graduating from the university with a liberal arts degree. Books added to Project Gutenberg were initially typed by Hart and others for distribution. The project has sometimes been criticised for errors and typographical mistakes. But Hart said he just wanted to distribute as many books as possible. “This mission is, as much as possible, to encourage all those who are interested in making ebooks and helping to give them away,” Hart wrote on the project’s website. He later noted: “Project Gutenberg is not in the business of establishing standards.” Ebooks E-readers United States Libraries guardian.co.uk

Posted by on September 9, 2011. Filed under News, Politics, World News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.