5,000th Title Collection

On October 8, 2004, the international community of Distributed Proofreaders enriched the online public domain with the largest single contribution in the project’s four year history. Through the organized collective efforts of volunteers throughout the world, Distributed Proofreaders made available 50 diverse and significant written works consisting of over 13,000 pages. Entrusted into the care of the Project Gutenberg Archive, these legacy works are now accessible free of charge to Internet users around the globe.

The inspiration for this coordinated effort was the nearing completion of Distributed Proofreaders’ 5,000th distinct work. Within the span of a mere four years DP–as the project is called by members–succeeded in transforming 5,000 unique published works into formats that can be viewed by a variety of electronic devices. The secret to this prolific output is the innovative production process of DP which employs several thousand volunteers all working towards a single objective, expanding the availability of written works in the public domain. Once completed, these machine readable texts are placed within Project Gutenberg where they remain available without cost.

As a demonstration of the varied strengths of the Distributed Proofreaders production model, the 50 titles of this commemorative collection were selected from amongst its most challenging and complex projects. The accomplishment of this milestone is a source of great pride to the diversified and dedicated membership of DP. The intent of the 5,000 Collection was to produce for the world a gift of immense value that would dramatically exemplify the best of which Distributed Proofreaders is now capable. A mere cursory reading of this wealth of titles stirs up a sense of excitement and wonder at what is possible when enough like-minded people join together in creative endeavor.