Open Access News

News from the open access movement


Tuesday, December 09, 2008

Open Milton

The Open Knowledge Foundation has launched Open Milton.  From the site:

The 9th of December 2008 is John Milton's 400th birthday. To celebrate this life-long advocate of liberty we've officially launched 'Open Milton' – an open set of Milton's works, together with ancillary information and tools, in a form designed for reuse.

Here you can find the Open Milton web interface. This site provides access to many, but by no means all, of the facilities of the Open Milton package. For example you can:

More information about the Open Milton project can be found on the about page.

Why Open Milton

If you type 'Milton' into Google you find thousands of websites why do we need another? First off, unlike most other sites, everything you find here is open – that is you're free to use, reuse, and redistribute it without any need to seek permission.

However, more importantly, this website is only a small part of what we're about. It serves to demonstrate what you can do with the Open Milton package – a set of material and tools for exploring Milton's life and work. The website demonstrates a few of the ways in which the Open Milton package can be used. We actively encourage you to take and modify it to do things we haven't yet done – or even thought of! ...

Comments

  • "Though all the winds of doctrine were let loose to play upon the earth, so Truth be in the field, we do ingloriously, by licensing and prohibiting, to misdoubt her strength. Let her and Falsehood grapple: who ever knew Truth put to the worse in a free and open encounter?"  Milton, Areopagitica, lines 1418-1422.
  • Also see the OKF's Open Shakespeare project.