Distributed Proofreaders: Preserving History One Page at a Time
Taking the concept of distributed volunteerism one step further, Distributed Proofreaders asks you not just to donate your spare computer cycles, but your spare brainwaves, in service of preserving documents that have gone out of copyright. By proofing just one page at a time, you can help ensure that books ranging from particular volumes of Chaucer, to particular issues of Punch magazine (though books in other languages, and scientific treatises, are also available) are transformed for public access. Digitization is normally an expensive and time-consuming process, but many hands make light work. Participants may do as much or as little as they like, but one page a day is recommended (and it looks like you’re really doing work, so you could probably fit it between your morning meetings). [GT]
