Gutenberg ebooks can also help bridge the "digital divide". They can be read on an outdated computer or a second- hand PDA costing just a few dollars. Solar-powered PDAs offer a good solution in remote regions.

It is hoped machine translation software will be able to convert the books from one to another of 100 languages. In ten years from now (August 2009), machine translation may be judged 99% satisfactory - research is active on that front - allowing for the reading of literary classics in a choice of many languages. Project Gutenberg is also interested in combining translation software and human translators, somewhat as OCR software is now combined with the work of proofreaders.

38 years after the beginning of Project Gutenberg, Michael Hart describes himself as a workaholic who has devoted his entire life to his project. He considers himself a pragmatic and farsighted altruist. For years he was regarded as a nut but now he is respected. He wants to change the world through freely- available ebooks that can be used and copied endlessly, and reading and culture for everyone at minimal cost.

Project Gutenberg's mission can be stated in eight words: "To encourage the creation and distribution of ebooks," by everybody, and by every possible means, while implementing new ideas, new methods and new software.

1990: THE WEB BOOSTS THE INTERNET

= [Overview]

The internet was born in 1974 with the creation of TCP/IP (Transmission Control Protocol / Internet Protocol) by Vinton Cerf and Bob Kahn. It began spreading in 1983. The internet got its first boost with the invention of the web by Tim Berners- Lee at CERN (European Center for Nuclear Research) in 1989-90, and its second boost with the release of the first browser Mosaic in 1993. The internet could now be used by anyone, and not only by computer literate users. There were 100 million internet users in December 1997, with one million new users per month, and 300 million internet users in December 2000. In summer 2000, the number of non-English-speaking users reached 50%, and went on to increase then. According to Netcraft, the number of websites went from one million (April 1997) to 10 million (February 2000), 20 million (September 2000), 30 million (July 2001), 40 million (April 2003), 50 million (May 2004), 60 million (March 2005), 70 million (August 2005), 80 million (April 2006), 90 million (August 2006) and 100 million (November 2006).

= The internet and the web

When Project Gutenberg began in July 1971, the internet was just a glimmer. The pre-internet was created in the U.S. in 1969, as a network set up by the Pentagon. The internet took off in 1974 with the creation of TCP/IP by Vinton Cerf and Bob Kahn. It expanded as a network linking U.S. governmental agencies, universities and research centers.

After the invention of the web in 1989-90 by Tim Berners-Lee at CERN (European Center for Nuclear Research), Geneva, Switzerland, and the release of the first browser, Mosaic (the ancestor of Netscape), in November 1993, the internet began spreading, first in the U.S. because of investments made by the government, then in North America, and then worldwide. Because the web was easy to use, linking documents and pages with hyperlinks, the internet could now be used by anyone, and not only by computer literate users. There were 100 million internet users in December 1997, with one million new users per month, and 300 million internet users in December 2000.

Why did the internet spread in North America first? The U.S. and Canada were leading the way in computer science and communication technology, and a connection to the internet – mainly through a phone line - was much cheaper than in most countries. In Europe, avid internet users needed to navigate the web at night - when phone rates by the minute were cheaper - to cut their expenses. In 1998, some users in France, Italy and Germany launched a movement to boycott the internet one day per week, for internet providers and phone companies to set up a special monthly rate. This action paid off, and providers began to offer "internet rates".

Christiane Jadelot, a French engineer at INaLF-Nancy (INaLF: National Institute for the French Language), wrote in July 1998: "I began to really use the internet in 1994, with a browser called Mosaic. I found it a very useful way of improving my knowledge of computers, linguistics, literature… everything. I was finding the best and the worst, but as a discerning user, I had to sort it all out, and make choices. I particularly liked the software for email, file transfers and dial-up connections. At that time I had problems with a program called Paradox and character sets that I couldn't use. I tried my luck and threw out a question in a specialist news group. I got answers from all over the world. Everyone seemed to want to solve my problem!"

The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) was founded in October 1994 to develop interoperable technologies (specifications, guidelines, software, and tools) for the web, for example specifications for markup languages (HTML, XML, and others), and to act as a forum for information, commerce, communication and collective understanding.

The "Technorealism" movement started on the web in March 1998. Technorealism was "an attempt to assess the social and political implications of technologies so that we might all have more control over the shape of our future. The heart of the technorealist approach involves a continuous critical examination of how technologies - whether cutting-edge or mundane - might help or hinder us in the struggle to improve the quality of our personal lives, our communities, and our economic, social, and political structures" (excerpt from the website). The document Technorealism Overview was approved by hundreds of people signing their names. It stated that, "regardless of how advanced our computers become, we should never use them as a substitute for our own basic cognitive skills of awareness, perception, reasoning, and judgment."

= The internet and other media

In 1998, people were also wondering whether the print media and the internet would be antagonistic or complementary. Would the internet swallow up the print media? Would the internet get the top place in the hearts of people buying books or subscribing to magazines? The internet was about to change books and other media in a sweeping way, like the printing presses in the past. Authors, booksellers, librarians, printers, publishers and translators were watching the storm, or participating in it in heated debates on copyright issues and distribution control.

In some African countries, the internet meant more information. The number of newspapers was very low compared to the population figures. Each copy was read by at least twenty people. In January 1997, during the Symposium on Multimedia Convergence organized by the International Labor Organization (ILO), Wilfred Kiboro, managing director of Nation Printers and Publishers, in Kenya, expressed the idea of a printing system through a satellite internet connection, instead of carrying newspapers every day by truck all over the country. This printing system would mean cheaper distribution costs, and a drop in the price of newspapers.

Did the internet compete with television and reading? In Quebec, 30.7% of the population was connected to the internet in March 1998. A poll showed that 28.8% of internet users were watching television less than before, but only 12.1% were reading less. As stated by the online magazine Multimédium in April 1998, this was "rather encouraging for the department of Culture and Communications which has the double task of furthering the development of information