# Any Project Gutenberg Contributors Here? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 9, 2018, 7:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-project-gutenberg-contributors-here/808504 "2018-02-09T07:46:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2018, 7:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-project-gutenberg-contributors-here/808504/1 "2018-02-09T07:46:43Z")
I see _The Diary of George Templeton Strong_ is out of print. Leastwise, it is long out of copyright. I am toying with the idea of getting into Project Gutenberg. Frankly I have never downloaded, let alone uploaded anything there. What are your thoughts? How can I ensure nobody else is working on this book? What would be the best way to tackle such a beast? ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2018, 12:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-project-gutenberg-contributors-here/808504/2 "2018-02-09T12:32:46Z")
I’m also curious how Project Gutenberg works. I regularly download books from there and sometimes I’d like to correct what are obvious optical character recognition (OCR) errors (e.g. “ram” gets interpreted as “rain”). But I don’t have a copy or scan of the actual book, so even if I knew how to make corrections (which I don’t), I’m not sure if it would be “ethical” to correct something without having the original. ---
**Author:** ![GreenWyvern](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/greenwyvern/32/2834_2.png) [@GreenWyvern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreenWyvern)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2018, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-project-gutenberg-contributors-here/808504/3 "2018-02-09T13:40:10Z")
I often download books from Gutenberg, but I’ve never contributed. However, a good place to start may be the FAQs [http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Category:How-To](http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Category:How-To) There’s a Volunteers’ FAQ and a Volunteers’ Voices section. ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2018, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-project-gutenberg-contributors-here/808504/4 "2018-02-09T15:20:03Z")
I find PG not very welcoming. All I really need is an hour with someone on chat, or a good YouTube video. They have not published a newsletter in two years. ---
**Author:** ![eunoia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eunoia/32/97_2.png) [@eunoia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eunoia)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2018, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-project-gutenberg-contributors-here/808504/5 "2018-02-09T22:11:08Z")
SDMB had an unofficial team for Distributed Proofreading at one point, I haven’t been active in a long time. Join: [DP: Login Required](https://www.pgdp.net/c/stats/teams/tdetail.php?tid=57) ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2018, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-project-gutenberg-contributors-here/808504/6 "2018-02-09T22:39:01Z")
> [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](#): > > What would be the best way to tackle such a beast? Best way to contact Project Gutenberg, or best way to convert the book? Because converting a book is simple, just labor-intensive. Take a copy of the book. If you have a scanner amenable to book scans, use that. If not, cut the spine off the book and scan the individual pages. Run them through an OCR program. Spend hours and hours proofreading the OCR job. I don’t know about hoop-jumping for posting it on PG, but you can upload it yourself to [Archive.org](http://Archive.org) with no problem. ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2018, 8:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-project-gutenberg-contributors-here/808504/7 "2018-02-10T08:26:44Z")
I fear someone else has done ‘my’ book, or may be doing it. ---
**Author:** ![tim314](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim314/32/3468_2.png) [@tim314](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tim314)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2018, 7:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-project-gutenberg-contributors-here/808504/8 "2018-02-12T07:42:04Z")
> [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](#): > > I fear someone else has done ‘my’ book, or may be doing it. Have you read the Volunteer’s FAQ here? [http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Gutenberg:Volunteers’\_FAQ](http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Gutenberg:Volunteers%27_FAQ) It includes the following: > [@](#): > > \*\*Double-checking your selection \*\* > > If you’re concerned that the book you have chosen duplicates another that might be in progress, and want to double-check, you can e-mail the Posting Team asking them to check whether any recent clearances have come in for that title. > > Duplication does happen — there’s no way of avoiding them when different people are making independent decisions — but they are rare. > > Duplicates should not be added to the collection. Instead, updates/enhancements/images and other improvements to existing items in the collection may be made. Sometimes there are multiple editions, translations, illustrators, and other significant variations: those are ok to have as different eBooks. But we should not produce unique eBooks which are substantially duplicates of existing items in the collection. To be clear, I haven’t contributed to Project Gutenberg myself. That’s just what I was able to find on their site. Also, discussion lists are here: [http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Gutenberg:Subscribe\_How-To](http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Gutenberg:Subscribe_How-To) And contact info here: [http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Gutenberg:Contact\_Information](http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Gutenberg:Contact_Information) ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2018, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-project-gutenberg-contributors-here/808504/9 "2018-02-12T13:52:33Z")
Thank you, **Tim.**