Editing Project Runeberg

{{Short description|Nordic digital cultural archive}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2021}}
{{more citations needed|date=April 2015}}
{{Infobox website
| name             = Project Runeberg
| logo             = [[File:Project Runeberg.gif|100px]]
| url              = {{URL|https://runeberg.org/}}
| commercial       = No
| type             = [[Digital library]]
| language         = Swedish, English
| registration     = Optional
| launch_date      = {{Start date and age|1992|12}}
| current_status   = Online
}}
'''Project Runeberg''' ({{langx|sv|Projekt Runeberg}}) is a digital cultural archive initiative that publishes free electronic versions of books significant to the culture and history of the [[Nordic countries]]. Patterned after [[Project Gutenberg]], it was founded by [[Lars Aronsson]] and colleagues at [[Linköping University]] and began archiving Nordic-language literature in December 1992. As of 2015 it had accomplished digitization to provide graphical facsimiles of old works such as the ''[[Nordisk familjebok]]'', and had accomplished, in whole or in part, the text extractions and copyediting of these as well as esteemed Latin works and English translations from Nordic authors, and sheet music and other texts of cultural interest.

== Nature and history ==
Project Runeberg is a digital cultural archive initiative patterned after the English-language cultural initiative, [[Project Gutenberg]]; it was founded by [[Lars Aronsson]] and colleagues at [[Linköping University]], especially within the university group [[Lysator]] (see below), with the aim of publishing free electronic versions of books significant to the culture and history of the [[Nordic countries]].<ref name=ne>Ingemar Breithel, Ed., 2015, "Posten: Projekt Runeberg" [''in Swedish''; Engl., "Entry: Project Runeberg"], at ''[[Nationalencyklopedin]]'' (online encyclopedia), see [http://www.ne.se/uppslagsverk/encyklopedi/lång/projekt-runeberg], retrieved 22 April 2015. {{subscription required}}</ref><ref name=Boldemann03>Marcus Boldemann, 2003, ""Kultur: Ugglan" hoar gratis på nätet" [''in Swedish''; Engl., Culture: "'The owl' hoots for free online"], ''[[Dagens Nyheter]]'' (online), 23 April 2003, see [https://www.dn.se/kultur-noje/ugglan-hoar-gratis-pa-natet/]. Retrieved 22 April 2015.</ref> The Project began archiving its first Nordic-language literature pieces (parts of the ''[[The Tales of Ensign Stål|Fänrik Ståls Sägner]]'', of Nordic dictionaries and of a Bible from 1917) in December 1992.<ref name="comp_Visi">{{Cite web | title = Visionär med oviss framtid | trans-title = Visionary with an uncertain future | first = Pär | last = Rittsel | work = Computer Sweden | date = 11 April 2003 | access-date = 2016-10-03 | url = http://computersweden.idg.se/2.2683/1.33386 | language = sv | quote = De första texterna, en del av Fänrik Ståls Sägner, nordiska ordlistor och Bibeln från 1917, lades ut till Lucia 1992.}}</ref>

== Name ==
In its naming, a moniker similar to "Gutenberg" was desired. The Project was thereby given the name of [[Finland]]'s national poet [[Johan Ludvig Runeberg]], and so contained a further allusion based on the meanings of its component parts — ''[[Runic script|Rune]]'' (letter in Runic script) and ''[[wikt:berg|berg]]'' (mountain) — so that in most Nordic languages it can be translated loosely as "mountain of letters".{{citation needed|date=April 2015}}

== Achievements ==
{{expand section|1=further key examples of items published, and status of various projects, '''''esp. as discussed in non-paywalled sources we can cite''''', and not self-published sources only|small=no|date=April 2015}}
The Project began archiving Nordic-language literature in December 1992.<ref name="comp_Visi" /> As of 2015 it had accomplished digitization to provide graphical facsimiles of old works such as the ''[[Nordisk familjebok]]'',<ref name=Boldemann03 />{{better source needed|date=April 2015}} and had accomplished, in whole or in part, the text extractions and copyediting of these as well as esteemed Latin works{{citation needed|date=April 2015}} and English translations from Nordic authors – e.g., [[Carl August Hagberg]]'s interpretations of Shakespeare's plays<ref name=Boldemann03 /> – and sheet music and other texts of cultural interest.{{citation needed|date=April 2015}}

== Technology ==
By 2001, technology – [[image scanning]] and [[optical character recognition]] techniques – had improved enough to allow full digitization and text extraction of important target texts, e.g., of both print editions of the ''[[Nordisk familjebok]]'' (45,000 pages).<ref name=Boldemann03 /> Project Runeberg is hosted by an academic computer group, [[Lysator]], at [[Linköping University]], in [[Linköping]] in southern [[Sweden]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://runeberg.org/admin/|title=About Project Runeberg|website=runeberg.org|language=en|access-date=2017-10-13}}</ref>

== See also ==
* [[Open content]]
* [[Project Gutenberg]]
* [[List of Danish online encyclopedic resources]]

== References ==
{{reflist}}

== External links ==
{{Commons category}}
* {{Official website|https://runeberg.org/}}

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Nordic literature]]
[[Category:Swedish digital libraries]]