Ex. 1 Read the text. If you look at a book by Leo Tolstoy published in his lifetime, you will see a disclaimer in Russian and French encouraging its dissemination

If you look at a book by Leo Tolstoy published in his lifetime, you will see a disclaimer in Russian and French encouraging its dissemination. The author wanted his book to be read by as many people as possible, and so do his descendants.

All of Tolstoy in One Click was launched earlier this year by the State Tolstoy Museum and ABBYY, a software company specializing in text recognition. Its aim is to scan, proofread and make readily available online all 90 volumes of Tolstoy’s life’s work, including various editions of his books, letters and commentary.

Several thousand volunteers joined up to help with proofreading through the crowd sourcing website www.readingtolstoy.ru. Once the project is completed, all 90 volumes will be available in various electronic formats, compatible with most e-readers. The most active volunteers will get various awards, including books and trips to Tolstoy’s estate in YasnayaPolyana.

Starting in spring, volunteers proofread texts. The first round was completed way ahead of schedule.

Tolstaya took part in the proof-reading too. “It was exciting to read one of the earlier versions of the first chapter from Anna Karenina, without the famous line, ‘All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.’ It was like peeking inside the writer’s laboratory.”

Her mother, Svetlana Tolstaya, took part in the first round. Her sister Marfa Tolstaya, who works at the Academy of Sciences, agreed to supervise the third and final round, which will be completed by professionals. The first volumes are expected to go online in September.

Originally it was planned to use experts for the second round of proofreading, but the volunteers did so well in the first round that it was decided to use them again. For the first round of proofreading anyone who filled out the online form could take part. For the second round, you first must complete a difficult test.

Igor Kuzmin, 25, a volunteer proofreader, said that so far the second round has been more interesting. “In the first round I was mostly spotting similar mistakes caused by scanning, while in the second round I was correcting texts.”

The author would approve of what they are doing, said Tolstaya. “I am certain that if Tolstoy lived in our time he would have published his work online for free.”

Date: 2016-02-19; view: 305; Нарушение авторских прав