LM_NET: Library Media Networking
INTERNET-ON-A-DISK #2, March 1994
Newsletter of public domain and freely available electronic texts
This newsletter is free for the asking. To be added to the distribution
list, please send requests to The B&R Samizdat Express
(samizdat@world.std.com).
Permission is granted to freely distribute this newsletter in electronic form.
We plan to produce new issues about once a month. We welcome
submissions of articles and information relating to availability of
electronic texts on the Internet and their use in education.
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WHAT'S NEW
(texts recently made available by ftp, gopher and LISTSERV)
from the Gutenberg Project --
ftp mrcnext.cso.uiuc.edu /Gutenberg/etext94/
Persuasion by Jane Austen (persu10.txt)
Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen (nabby10.txt)
The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett (gardn10.txt)
Return of the Native by Thomas Hardy (nativ10.txt)
Renascence and Other Poems by Edna St. Vincent Millay (ednam10.txt)
Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson (treas10.txt)
A Tramp Abroad by Mark Twain (tramp10.txt)
historical tables of U.S. population statistics (uscen10b.txt)
from wiretap
ftp 130.43.43.43 /Library/Classic/
The Joys of Being a Woman by Winifred Kirkland (joywoman.txt)
Steps to Christ by Ellen G. White (christ.egw)
The 39 Steps by John Buchan (steps39.txt)
The Pit, a Story of Chicago by Frank Norris (pit.txt)
The Forge in the Forest by Charles G.D. Roberts (forge.txt)
from the Oxford Archive
ftp ota.ox.ac.uk /ota/english/
Bartholomew Fair by Ben Jonson (bfair.2033)
Volpone by Ben Jonson (volpone.2032)
The Last of the Mohicans by James Fenimore Cooper (mohicans.1976)
Sir Gawayne and the Grene Knyght (gawain.1680)
from the Libellus Project
ftp ftp.u.washington.edu /pub/user-supported/libellus/texts
Caesar's Gallic Wars in Latin (added book 4) (dbg4.tex)
Ovid's Heroides in Latin (books 1-15) (heroides1-15.tex)
from Electronic Frontier Foundation
ftp ftp.eff.org /pub/Publications/
gopher gopher.eff.org /Publications/
articles, speeches, interviews, etc. from Bruce Sterling, Jerry Berman, John
Perry Barlow, Mitch Kapor, and others
from the U.S. Dept. of Education
ftp ftp.ed.gov
gopher gopher.ed.gov
http://www.ed.gov
Researcher's Guide to the U.S. Dept. of Education
Publications for Parents
Education Research Consumer Guides
Education Research Reports
Background Papers for GOALS 2000 Satellite Town Meeting
coming soon -- 200 more ERIC Digests (from 1993)
from the University of Maryland
gopher info.umd.edu in /educational resources/United States/
Supreme Court decisions 1989-94.
This material is also available from Case Western Reserve University
ftp ftp.cwru.eedu /U.S. Supreme.Court/ascii
and also by the Worldwide Web at the Legal Information Institute,
Cornell Law School --
URL http://www.law.cornell.edu/lii.table.html)
from NATO
LISTSERV@CC1.KULEUVEN.AC.BE
Current documents, press releases, etc. from NATO and related
organizations (Western European Union and North Atlantic Assembly).
Now includes many documents in French (in addition to English)
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SUGGESTION -- PLEASE SPREAD THE WORD
While very few K-12 schools have good Internet connections, nearly all
have PCs or Macintoshes. And one of the best ways to introduce them
to the treasures of the Internet is by providing them with electronic texts
on disks. (That's a lot easier and cheaper than giving them printouts.)
For those who do not have the capability or the time to retrieve the
above mentioned texts, most of them are available at a nominal price from
PLEASE COPY THIS DISK, a project of The B&R Samizdat Express.
(For further information, send email to samizdat@world.std.com)
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OPEN TEXTS --
A RALLYING CRY FOR SCHOOLS AND LIBRARIES
by Richard Seltzer, The B&R Samizdat Express
The time has come for a consumer-led revolution in book publishing.
Over the last decade, consumers turned the computer industry upside-down,
insisting on an "open" computing environment. They would not allow
artificial barriers to prevent them from taking advantage of public domain,
freely available, and inexpensive software.
Now we can and must do the same to the book publishing industry.
Schools and libraries must band together and insist on "open texts."
For decades we've had the ability to photocopy and to put words into
electronic form. Yet we still use the same kind of copyright-protected,
expensive textbooks as we did a hundred years ago.
Textbook publishers have been able to perpetuate their traditional business
by claiming copyright on compilations and edited versions of public domain
information. And in so doing, they have undermined the educational
potential of photocopying and electronic texts.
As it is, an English teacher feels guilty about photocopying an Andrew
Marvell poem from an anthology. And a history teacher dare not put together
a tailored collection of public documents drawn from a variety of
"copyrighted" sources.
The technology exists to radically change book publishing. But, as a rule,
technology alone does not lead to an economic revolution that can
benefit all. Two other conditions are necessary.
First, a set of dedicated individuals must work creatively to apply the new
technology and must refrain from laying claim to ownership of their work.
Second, consumers must band together and use that "free" alternative as
competitive leverage to force radical change in the industry.
Public domain software funded by universities and government research
projects and developed by individuals motivated by a sense of community
formed the basis for the consumer revolution in the computing industry.
That revolution resulted in the global, free-flowing, open computing
environment we enjoy on the Internet today.
Now, the public domain etexts being made widely available over the
Internet by dedicated individuals in such projects as Gutenberg, the Oxford
Archive, wiretap, and Libellus, and by the U.S. government, form the basis
for a consumer revolution in publishing.
The Internet, which is the means for rapid dissemination of public domain
etexts, is also the means for us to band together, share experiences, and
support one another in our joint effort.
Now is the time to act.
There is no need to lobby and politic for changes in copyright law. We can
simply use our combined purchasing power to force change in the
book publishing industry.
In free enterprise, the consumer reigns when the consumer speaks with one
voice.
Let's lay claim to our own territory. Let's say that beginning with the 1995-
96 school year (allowing time for the industry to readjust its plans), we will
no longer buy copyright-protected editions of public domain works.
If we need Huckleberry Finn or Virgil in Latin or documents of history --
whether in electronic form or on paper -- we will only accept public domain
editions. We will only buy editions that allow us to make copies without
restriction.
If publishers wish to sell classic works and public information to our schools
and libraries, let them clearly mark their books, disks and CD ROMs "open
text -- copy freely."
What do we stand to gain?
o First, the choice of inexpensive, plain-vanilla editions -- like low-cost
generic medicines that are just as effective as their brand-name
equivalents.
o Second, the freedom to, (without guilt), make copies of particular items for
an entire class or school or school district.
o Third, the opportunity for creative teachers, librarians, and students to
combine elements from various "open texts" and make and distribute
their own anthologies, in either paper or electronic form.
Who wishes to step forward, take up this banner, and wave it at faculty,
PTA, and school board meetings?
We would like to use this newsletter as a forum to share the experiences of
those who push ahead in this direction.
We'd like to keep here a roll of those schools and libraries which actually take
the pledge to only buy open texts. By so doing we can provide mutual
support and serve notice to book publishers -- the revolution has begun.
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Back issues are available from us on request, and are also found in the
archives of the Electronic Frontier Foundation:
ftp ftp.eff.org/pub/Publications/CuD/Internet_on_a_Disk
gopher gopher.eff.org/00/Publications/CuD/Internet_on_a_Disk
http://www.eff.org/pub/Publications/CuD/Internet_on_a_Disk
You are welcome to include this publication on your ftp or gopher or
webserver. Please let us know the address and we'll compile a list.
Published by PLEASE COPY THIS DISK, The B&R Samizdat Express,
PO Box 161, West Roxbury, MA 02132. samizdat@world.std.com
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