All Tolstoy in One Click – the Russian project, similar to the international humanitarian Project Guttenberg, begins digitizing the 90-volume collection of works by the great Russian writer.
The project was announced by the Leo Tolstoy State Museum and ABBYY. The multi-volume collection of works by the world-renowned author includes not only fiction, but also diaries, letters and articles, as well as religious and philosophical texts – all currently being digitized. All of the texts will be legally available for free on the website tolstoy.ru, both for online reading and for mobile download.
The texts have been scanned, and volunteers are engaged with proofreading the electronic versions and correcting mistakes. Anyone can become a volunteer – they just need to visit the project’s website, sign in and receive a 20-page abstract. The texts processed by the volunteers will be further proofread by professional editors.
The idea to make the works by the great writer available to the public for free on the Internet was put forward by the writer’s great-granddaughter, Fyokla Tolstaya, who heads the development department at the Leo Tolstoy State Museum.
“When I discussed the project with my friends, many of them said: ‘That’s a good idea, you should make sure that no one steals it from you.’ But my main objective is different: You can take whatever you like and reprint it. I guess Leo Nikolayevich would approve of what we are doing and support the free distribution of his works. His publishing activity and refusal to accept fees prove this,” Tolstaya told Vedomosti.
The steering committee of All Tolstoy in One Click told RBTH that the Internet audience responded to the initiative enthusiastically. Within five hours of its launch, which was announced by media partners, more than 100 volunteers had signed in, and more than five volumes were downloaded for proofreading. Twenty-four hours later, more than 500 volunteers were working on the project.
According to ABBYY estimates, the project will require about 2,500 volunteers. In about two weeks, after the first results have been reported, it will be clear how much more time will be needed to proofread all of the 90 volumes. The company hopes to have a number of volumes ready for Sept. 9 – the anniversary of Tolstoy’s birth.
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