Other Content Types
Project Gutenberg is, arguably, the oldest continuously operating online content project in the world. From 1971 until the mid-1990s, there were relatively few online resources for literary content. For this reason, and also due to a general willingness to experiment and reach out to broader audiences, Project Gutenberg has a great variety in the content types offered.
Among the first 100 items, there are mathematical constants and a musical performance. Government publications, notably the 1990 US Census and the CIA World Factbook from 1990 onward, were also included. The next few hundred items include movies, photographs of ancient cave paintings, and the first non-English items (Virgil’s Aeneid, Cicero’s Orations, and Caesar’s Commentaries, all in Latin).
Hundreds of audio eBooks are in the collection. Many were automatically generated via text-to-speech software. There are also a number of readings/performances by human readers, including from Project Gutenberg’s partner, Librivox. Today, automated text-to-speech is accessible by most people with a computer or mobile phone, so there is less emphasis on that format. Human readings/performances continue to be of interest, especially when the performance, as well as the original Project Gutenberg source eBook, is granted to the public domain.