Although this report involved a minimal amount of scouting, the archive I discovered this past year is and has been revolutionizing internet users’ access to literature on the web. After thoroughly exploring the site and personally utilizing it for the study of literature, I can easily conclude it to be a beneficial tool to be used in a literature or composition class. The online archive I am introducing is Project Gutenberg or gutenberg.org.

Project Gutenberg was founded by Michael Hart upon the mission to “encourage the creation and distribution of eBooks” (Hart, 2004). An eBook is an electronic book that is the equivalent digital text of a printed book. In 1971, while at the University of Illinois, Michael was given $100,000,000 worth of computer time on a Xerox Sigma V computer. Honored with this privileged opportunity, Hart resolved to create a value to the computer world worth $100,000,000. After nearly two hours of contemplation, Hart concluded that “the greatest value created by computers would not be computing, but would be the storage, retrieval, and searching of what was stored in our libraries” (Hart, 1992). Therefore, Hart began top type the Deceleration of Independence and it became the first posting of a text in electronic format, and in this sense Project Gutenberg was born.

The philosophy fueling Project Gutenberg was the reproduction value of eBooks. Essentially, when a text is written on and stored in a computer, “then any number of copies can and will be available. Everyone in the world, or even not in this world (given satellite transmission) can have a copy of a book that has been entered into a computer” (Hart, 1992). With this in mind, Project Gutenberg began developing a digital library featuring three forms of literature: Light, Heavy, and References. The category of Light Literature was implemented to draw people to the computer and includes texts such as Peter Pan and Alice in Wonderland. Heavy Literature was introduced for the more dedicated, experienced reader incorporating texts such as Moby-Dick or Paradise Lost. The final class, References, is composed of thesauruses, encyclopedias, etc.

The best feature of Project Gutenberg, particularly from the perspective of a thin-pocketed college student, is nearly all of the eBooks on the site are free and easily downloaded. The texts are free as a result of the expired copyright on most of the books in the United States. Therefore, “anybody may make verbatim or non-verbatim copies of those works” (Project Gutenberg, 2007). Furthermore, Project Gutenberg accepts donations and receives volunteer assistance in maintaining its progress as an eBook archive. The site is simple to use and an altogether valuable source for teachers, students, or anyone with internet connection and the desire to read.

To further demonstrate its usefulness for a literature classroom, I have created a website on webs.com (kmontero.webs.com). This mock site was designed for an American Literature class and features links to Project Gutenberg eBooks that the “students” are assigned to read. The students simply view the home page, scroll down to each assigned reading, and click the link. In an instant they are face-to-face with the full texts of Melville’s Moby-Dick or Chopin’s The Awakening. Although I love opening a novel, feeling the pages between my fingers, and smelling decades of use in between these pages, these on-line texts eliminate the cost of books and gutenberg.org provides access to a number of individuals who may have never been exposed to Huck and Jim’s journey up river in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn or the cruel judgments cast upon Hester Prynne in The Scarlet Letter.

Literacy is complicated. At its most basic form, it refers to one’s ability to read and write. This ability allows an individual to function within and contribute to a society. However, the term literacy is in a constant state of evolution paralleling the advancing technological world attempting to claim literacy and define what is constituted as literacy. Consequently , a “literate” individual twenty-five years ago, may be an “illiterate” person today. Furthermore, as technology develops at a constant rate, it may be impossible to be completely “literate.” Therefore, rather than assign literacy a static definition, we must view it as a dynamic force, in constant flux with its ever-changing environment. In our best attempts, literacy relates to an individual’s knowledge of a certain subject area. Therefore, one may be computer literate but not political literate. In the context of our course, English 5010, I would like to refer to computer literacy and the evolving presence of New Media Literacy.

For an individual to function and contribute to the dominant aspects of society, it is necessary to be computer literate (having the ability to use a computer). As a result of the advancing media environment in which we reside, New Media Literacies are quickly developing. A research enterprise within MIT’s Comparative Media Studies known as Project New Media Literacies “explores how we might best equip young people with the social skills and cultural competencies required to become full participants in an emergent media landscape and raise public understanding about what it means to be literate in a globally interconnected, multicultural world”(Comparative Media Studies at MIT, 2007). Essentially, their goal is to counteract the ever-evolving definition of what it means to be literate, by maintaining a speed of instruction similar to this evolution. This is the developing goal of teachers in the classroom as well. To train their students in the New Media Literacies that are at the forefront of progress. It is my opinion that Project Gutenberg, with their easily assessable full texts, is one way to maintain the literacy of individuals in a world where to be literate is becoming more difficult each day.