Projects like Standard Ebooks in other languages?

[Alan Orth]

Dear list,

I'm in awe of the quality of the books produced by the community of Standard Ebooks volunteers. This is a magnificent and truly inspiring project. Not only are you making literary heritage available in splendid technicolor, you're preserving it in an open and accessible format, with a source-based build system to ensure that future generations will be able to enjoy them in epub20 on their iPhone 59 devices in 2050. :P

Having said that, I'm aware that the English language is extremely lucky to have such a large and interested—not to mention capable—user base. Are you aware of any projects like this for other languages? I'd like to be involved in such projects. Maybe I'll do a proof of concept for some public domain Bulgarian books, for example, using your standards and build system.

Regards,

--

Alan Orth
alan...@gmail.com
https://picturingjordan.com
https://englishbulgaria.net
https://mjanja.ch
"In heaven all the interesting people are missing." ―Friedrich Nietzsche

[Alex Cabal]

Thanks for the kind words! I'm not aware of such a project in different
languages. Every now and then someone stops by to mention they're going
to start something similar in a different language, but I haven't heard
back from anyone yet. If you'd like to start your own thing, good luck!

On 7/21/19 12:58 PM, Alan Orth wrote:
> Dear list,
>
> I'm in awe of the quality of the books produced by the community of
> Standard Ebooks volunteers. This is a magnificent and truly inspiring
> project. Not only are you making literary heritage available in splendid
> technicolor, you're preserving it in an open and accessible format, with
> a source-based build system to ensure that future generations will be
> able to enjoy them in epub20 on their iPhone 59 devices in 2050. :P
>
> Having said that, I'm aware that the English language is extremely lucky
> to have such a large and interested—not to mention capable—user base.
> Are you aware of any projects like this for other languages? I'd like to
> be involved in such projects. Maybe I'll do a proof of concept for some
> public domain Bulgarian books, for example, using your standards and
> build system.
>
> Regards,
>
> --
> Alan Orth

> alan...@gmail.com <mailto:alan...@gmail.com>

> https://picturingjordan.com
> https://englishbulgaria.net
> https://mjanja.ch
> "In heaven all the interesting people are missing." ―Friedrich Nietzsche
>

> --
> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google
> Groups "Standard Ebooks" group.
> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send
> an email to standardebook...@googlegroups.com
> <mailto:standardebook...@googlegroups.com>.
> To view this discussion on the web visit
> https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/standardebooks/CAKKdN4XG%3D83ix_e0aiDLxyJeznV5MbXjK-080nCmLtxR0Jy65g%40mail.gmail.com
> <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/standardebooks/CAKKdN4XG%3D83ix_e0aiDLxyJeznV5MbXjK-080nCmLtxR0Jy65g%40mail.gmail.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer>.

[federi...@tiscali.it]

Il giorno domenica 21 luglio 2019 20:58:39 UTC+3, Alan Orth ha scritto: 

Are you aware of any projects like this for other languages? I'd like to be involved in such projects. Maybe I'll do a proof of concept for some public domain Bulgarian books, for example, using your standards and build system.

Wikisource is active in dozens of languages, including Bulgarian:

https://wikisource.org/

https://bg.wikisource.org/

The communities of a few languages of Wikisouce, such as Italian and French, work with partners to distribute suitable EPUB versions through third-party channels. A library network in Italy hosts several thousands, for instance.

(Disclosure: I'm an active Wikisource user.)

Federico

[Scott Carey]

Sorry for the belated chime-in, but at least in Portuguese, there is something shaped up like SE (reviewed work et al) for Portuguese and Brazilian literature works in its entirety.

https://projectoadamastor.org/catalogo/

[Szymon Szott]

Since this thread has reawakened, I'd like to note that there's a similar project in Poland called Wolne Lektury (roughly translated as Free Reading):

https://wolnelektury.pl/info/o-projekcie/

From my observations (which can be wrong, I'm not affiliated with them): it's similar to SE in that they release well-produced ebooks (mostly in Polish) which can be downloaded for free. The difference is that this project is run by a non-profit, they hire the production staff, securing funds from governmental programs and through crowdfunding. Since one target audience is children reading compulsory classics for school, they add annotations (footnotes) explaining outdated terms. They also release audiobooks, organize events, etc.

Here are some works released in English:

https://wolnelektury.pl/katalog/lektury/literatura-polska-w-tlumaczeniu-na-jezyki-obce/

I believe these are all poems (each as a separate item i.e. ebook).

Best,
Szymon