Using the MR Wiki to keep track of the "prettiest" public domain docs?

Bob Russell · 09-18-2006, 03:31 PM

In the comments for this thread, Branko Collins has this suggested that The Internet Archive could be used to host open source books that have been converted into nice-looking documents for e-book readers, and that the MobileRead wiki could keep track of them and point out the best ones. He also points out that there is a TIA ranking system, and asks whether that is sufficient.

This is an intriguing idea (in the abstract without details, of course), and we would love to see nicely converted public domain (and private author) documents be shared among many readers. The conversion process takes time and effort, and can benefit many in their reading experience. But they have to know where those documents can be found and which ones are best for their own e-book reader.

We've thought about this at times, but not enough to have come up with any good solutions that can keep track of what formats are available, keep the best documents for each popular e-book reader separate, and most importantly be something that will be kept up to date either automatically or by the MobileRead community, e.g. on the wiki.

Because this is a very significant issue, I've created this thread to see what kinds of input and thoughts and ideas and experience people might have along these lines. Feel free to add your thoughts to the discussion!

ath · 09-19-2006, 03:09 AM

Using the TIA ranking would probably mean that someone would have to decide how it should be used. The site does not seem to be clear enough to ensure that any particular text upload automatically ends up in same place where readers will look for it. In particular, it seems to mean that each conversion would have to be made into its own title ...

I see, for instance, that people looking for Palm versions of Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes should be looking for Software, not text.

09-18-2006, 03:31 PM	#1
Bob Russell Recovering Gadget Addict Posts: 5,381 Karma: 676161 Join Date: May 2004 Location: Pittsburgh, PA Device: iPad	Using the MR Wiki to keep track of the "prettiest" public domain docs? In the comments for this thread, Branko Collins has this suggested that The Internet Archive could be used to host open source books that have been converted into nice-looking documents for e-book readers, and that the MobileRead wiki could keep track of them and point out the best ones. He also points out that there is a TIA ranking system, and asks whether that is sufficient. This is an intriguing idea (in the abstract without details, of course), and we would love to see nicely converted public domain (and private author) documents be shared among many readers. The conversion process takes time and effort, and can benefit many in their reading experience. But they have to know where those documents can be found and which ones are best for their own e-book reader. We've thought about this at times, but not enough to have come up with any good solutions that can keep track of what formats are available, keep the best documents for each popular e-book reader separate, and most importantly be something that will be kept up to date either automatically or by the MobileRead community, e.g. on the wiki. Because this is a very significant issue, I've created this thread to see what kinds of input and thoughts and ideas and experience people might have along these lines. Feel free to add your thoughts to the discussion!

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09-19-2006, 03:09 AM	#2
ath Addict Posts: 222 Karma: 110 Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Malmo, Sweden Device: iLiad, Sony PRS-505, Kindle Paperwhite & Oasis	Using the TIA ranking would probably mean that someone would have to decide how it should be used. The site does not seem to be clear enough to ensure that any particular text upload automatically ends up in same place where readers will look for it. In particular, it seems to mean that each conversion would have to be made into its own title ... I see, for instance, that people looking for Palm versions of Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes should be looking for Software, not text.

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