Michael S. Hart (left side of photo), widely noted as the first producer of e-books, passed away this week. During his life, Hart advocated for or spawned far-reaching, disruptive digital initiatives. The most significant of them was Project Gutenberg, which provided somewhat crude digital copies of intellectually significant books and other important cultural documents available in the public domain.His influence was something insiders knew and often, though not always, understood. In reading various obits about Hart, one is struck at the difference between blog entries from those who actually knew Hart and cared about his work, versus the mainstream media's versions (the insincerely written one by The New York Times' annoyingly ambitious William "Biff" Grimes is a prime example). This dichotomy seems entirely in keeping with Hart's perspective on access both to knowledge and to the means of communicating about it. Hart, unlike tech sacred cows such as Steve Jobs, strongly believed in free access to information. Google's founders believe in the buying and selling of data traffic patterns in its "free" search engine. Hart would not have signed on for that concept.
In fact, judging from blog anecdotes about Hart, his notions of radical change probably made Silicon Valley hipsters and libertarian ideologues squirm. In a moment of sublime irony, as Nate Anderson noted in Ars Technica, the agents of libertarian icon Ayn Rand tried to compel Project Gutenberg to cease distributing her work Anthem. He refused, citing the work's availability in the public domain. Hart was also, by all accounts, virtually uninterested in making money from his activities. The vulgar notion of "monetizing" his revolutionary road had absolutely nothing in common with his idea of freeing humanity from the shackles he perceived were binding it.
In fact, Project Gutenberg's mission, according to Hart's biography in Wikipedia, is as follows:
Encourage the Creation and Distribution of eBooks
Help Break Down the Bars of Ignorance and Illiteracy
Give As Many eBooks to As Many People As Possible
In Hart's The History and Philosophy of Project Gutenberg, he insisted that eBook documents be written in ASCII code so that the works could be easily copied and transmitted. That precept has been maintained, with a couple of recent exceptions, throughout the project's life. One wonders what Hart thought about the app phenomenon and its impact on access to what feeds the mind.
The more I read about Hart, the increasingly fascinating his life is for me. A man of action, he believed in tangible accomplishment. He also had the advantage of being something of an outsider (although the insiders were and are keenly aware of him and his impact). In that sense, Hart reminds one of painters, writers, scientists, philosophers, and political thinkers (yes, they really do exist) whose works have opened new doors of perception and expanded our opportunities for intellectual and personal liberty.
It is certainly worth your time to learn more about Hart. In addition to the links already cited, the following posts offer useful insights into Hart's life, personality, and interests:
Reflections from TechCrunch printed in sfgate.com (let's hope TechCrunch gets away as rumored from Arianna Huffington's unwelcome grip as soon as possible)
And last, but certainly not least, Hart's obit by his friend and Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation CEO Dr. Gregory Newby, who is next to Hart in the photo at the top of this post.
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