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www.readme.cc – The Virtual Library ...read more
Short Info
Readme.cc is a literary network project. It provides weekly book-tips.
Date: 2004-2007
Client: Author Projekt Supported by EU CULTURE 2000

A networking project
Intended as a networking project, the "Virtual Library" involves participants from several European countries in order to establish a public discourse in different languages among various cultures.
By installing the "Virtual Library" in various European countries, a multitude of voices will be heard, which as a whole convey information about a great variety of books and reading experiences. The „Virtual Library" renews the classic idea of the "Buchklub" (book club) and provides a new interactive forum for a virtual book community.

What activities are planned?
The „Virtual Library" is a result of the synthesis of two different approaches:

a. top down: Recommendations by Experts
A collection of brief and to-the-point reviews and comments on new books by a group of selected literary experts (authors, critics) will be compiled into a logging list. The experts will choose books based on the question: „What book helps us understand the future?"

b. bottom up: the Fotobot Reading Gallery
A publicly accessible fotobot installation will collect pictures of readers. The visitors are invited to take self-portraits and present a book which, in their opinion, other people should read to understand the future. On the website they can fill in a standard questionnaire and add a brief comment (analogous to the recommendations).

c. „Virtual Library" - the Synthesis
The Experts Recommendations and the Reading Gallery will make up the „Virtual Library", which will be accessible on the Internet. Visitors can participate by commenting on already existing book reviews. They can also draw attention to a book that has gone unnoticed by uploading its picture from their home computer.

Project development
In August of 2006 the EU Commission funded a three-year development programme fro readme.cc. within the framework of the Programme Culture 2000. With the goal of becoming "The European Forum for Readers" the virtual library had been expanding through Europe. New centres have been established (Hamburg, London, Prague, Florence, Maribor/SLO, Copenhagen), new languages have been added (Slovene, Czech, Italian, Danish) and new literature expands the set of book tips across Europe.