Forwarded from Kate Wittenberg, Columbia University, who
managed
this project throughout its life:
____
Ann: I hope you don't mind if I share some personal
thoughts
about the Gutenberg-e project, as I am concerned that some
important issues may have gotten lost in the flurry of press
surrounding the recent decisions regarding distribution of
the
digital books. As you know, I have been involved in this
project
from the start, and I wanted to share some of my thoughts
looking
back at the project from this point near its completion. You
may
share some, all, or none of this with your colleagues and
readers
as you think best.
Gutenberg-e was created as a bold experiment to explore
whether
peer-reviewed, born-digital monographs by young academics
would
alter the way in which historical scholarship is presented,
whether the scholars would received the same professional
credit
for these publications that they would receive from work
published in print, and whether the project would permit
publication of monographs that would otherwise be turned
down for
financial reasons by university presses. The long-term
business
model for this enterprise was not the main focus of the
project,
although we did always hope that there would be a way to
receive
sufficient revenue to allow for the maintenance, and
possibly the
continued development of the series.
This project has a long and complicated history that
includes
many exciting breakthroughs as well as a number of
significant
challenges. The authors involved are courageous and
innovative
scholars, and in my view represent the best of the next
generation of historians. A number of them have created
completely new models of author/publisher collaboration in
the
scholarly communication process, as well as new models of
historical scholarship and narrative. The authors who have
come
up for tenure have received it, with their Gutenberg-e book
being
their major publication. Most of the e-books have been
reviewed
positively in distinguished history journals.
In complex research projects that are managed by multiple
organizations, agendas and missions sometimes get confused.
The
fact that a decision was made to have the e-books
distributed
through the ACLS E-Humanities publishing project, while
maintaining them in their original form on the
Gutenberg-e.org
website hosted by the Columbia University Libraries, is not
a
condemnation of the project as an economic failure. Rather,
it is
a creative solution to stabilizing and ensuring the
availability
and preservation of these works over time. If, in the
future,
the Press, the Libraries, or some new organization that does
not
yet exist takes on the mission of publication of digital
scholarship in history, the Gutenberg-e series will be made
available, as appropriate, through this project as well. The
point is that we have broken new ground, learned a
tremendous
amount, provided a group of scholars with beautifully
designed
and produced publications, and offered a new model of
university
press/library/information technology collaboration in
scholarly
communication. These are findings that few would consider a
failed experiment and that instead offer valuable models and
knowledge for others.
Kate Wittenberg
Manager, E-Publishing Programs
Center for Digital Research and Scholarship
Columbia University
330 Fifth Avenue, 12th Floor
New York, NY 10001
212 851-2923
kw49 columbia.edu
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