bzs@world.std.com (Barry Shein) (11/01/89)
ANNOUNCEMENT
THE OPEN BOOK INITIATIVE
The Open Book Initiative is being formed to make available freely
redistributable collections of information. There exists huge
collections of books, conference proceedings, reference material,
catalogues, etc. which can be freely shared. Some of it is in
machine-readable form, much of it isn't.
The purpose of the Open Book Initiative is to create a publicly
accessible repository for this information, a net-worker's library.
Information in the Open Book Repository will be available for free
redistribution. On-line access, magnetic media and other methods of
distribution will involve reasonable charges for the services
provided, not the information.
WHAT WE WISH TO ARCHIVE
All on-line materials (other than software collections)
such as books, journals, catalogues, conference proceedings,
magazines, manuals, maps, images, technical documentation,
reference works, etc. The only software we are interested in
is software specific to the viewing, manipulation, searching
and maintenance of information in the repository.
Materials must be free of copyrights limiting redistribution
by us or any individual or organization who receives them. A
copyright ensuring their continued freedom will be assigned
to all materials distributed.
We also need pointers to collections of materials which may
be available. For example, there are government collections
of interesting data which are available at reasonable costs
and do not limit further redistribution of copies obtained.
WHAT WE NEED FROM YOU
Beyond machine-readable material there are huge collections
of printed material which could be redistributed if put
on-line. We need people willing to organize informal projects
to scan, type or otherwise get this material on-line for
inclusion in the Open Book Repository.
We need to get in touch with Library and Information Scientists
interested in helping us create formats and structures for organizing
the repository.
We need international participation to help ensure our efforts
are useful to people everywhere.
We need people willing to participate in a Technical Advisory
Board to help us guide our efforts.
We need involvement from academia, industry and governments to
help us enrich this effort without bounds and make available
a first-rate, freely available information utility.
We need involvement from publishers who have materials which
can be included in the Open Book Repository. Many books and
reference works become unprofitable to publish by ordinary
paper means. It's time to make these materials available!
We need involvement from the technical community to choose
and implement multi-media software standards such as hypertext,
mark-up languages, index and catalogue software, text retrieval,
network access methods and more. Standards are critical to our
efforts.
WHAT WE ARE OFFERING
WORLD.STD.COM is a public access UNIX system which will
serve as the initial repository. It is a Sun4/280 system
and will be expanded as needed.
Anyone can dial into the system and set up an account if
they wish direct access (617-739-WRLD.) Accounts are
charged and proceeds will be used to build the Open Book
Repository.
UUCP and other links will be available for the redistribution
of collections. We will also make collections available on
magnetic media for reasonable copying charges.
HOW TO GET INVOLVED
If you think you can help or want more information send
electronic mail to:
obi@world.std.com
Or call us at Software Tool & Die, 617-739-0202.
Or drop by our office and chat if you're in the
area: 1330 Beacon Street, Brookline, MA 02146.
POSTSCRIPT
This started as an informal discussion group which called
themselves "The KiloMonkeys Project" (``Strong Typing For
Weak Minds'') who wanted to figure out how to get useful
materials on-line and generally available. I have decided
to make Software Tool & Die a home for this activity and
formalize the project under the new name "The Open Book
Initiative."
--
-Barry Shein
Software Tool & Die, Purveyors to the Trade | bzs@world.std.com
1330 Beacon St, Brookline, MA 02146, (617) 739-0202 | {xylogics,uunet}world!bzs