Aozora Bunko
Encyclopedia
Aozora Bunko is a Japan
ese digital library
. This online collection encompasses several thousands of works of Japanese-language fiction and non-fiction. These include out-of-copyright books or works that the authors wish to make freely available.
Since its inception in 1997, Aozora Bunko has been both the compiler and publisher of an evolving online catalog. In 2006, Aozora Bunko organized to add a role as a public policy advocate to protect its current and anticipated catalog of freely accessible e-books.
Aozora Bunko was created on the Internet in 1997 to provide broadly available, free access to Japanese literary works whose copyrights had expired. The driving force behind the project was one man—Michio Tomita—who was motivated by the simple belief that people with a common interest should cooperate with each other.
In Japan
, Aozora Bunko is considered similar to Project Gutenberg
.
The Aozora Bunko resources are searchable by category, author, or title; and there is a considerable amount of support in how to use the database in the form of detailed explanations. The files can be downloaded in PDF format or simply viewed in HTML format.
Most of the texts provided are Japanese literature
and translations from English literature
. This digital library ultimately plans to include 6,000+ works on the site.
. That opposition has led to encouraging Japanese citizens to submit letters and petitions to the Japanese Cultural Affairs Agency and to members of the Diet
.
Japan and other countries have accepted the terms of the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works
, an 1886 international agreement about common copyright policies. Japan and other countries with laws that do not go beyond the minimum copyright terms of the Berne Convention have copyrights that run for the lifetime of the author plus 50 years. Aozora Bunko has adopted an advocacy role in favor of construing this status quo as preferable to changes proposed by a number of powerful forces.
The evolution of Aozora Bunko from a digital library to a public-policy advocacy organization is an unintended consequence which developed only after the perceived threat to the Aozora Bunko catalog and mission became otherwise unavoidable.
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
ese digital library
Digital library
A digital library is a library in which collections are stored in digital formats and accessible by computers. The digital content may be stored locally, or accessed remotely via computer networks...
. This online collection encompasses several thousands of works of Japanese-language fiction and non-fiction. These include out-of-copyright books or works that the authors wish to make freely available.
Since its inception in 1997, Aozora Bunko has been both the compiler and publisher of an evolving online catalog. In 2006, Aozora Bunko organized to add a role as a public policy advocate to protect its current and anticipated catalog of freely accessible e-books.
Origins
In Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
, Aozora Bunko is considered similar to Project Gutenberg
Project Gutenberg
Project Gutenberg is a volunteer effort to digitize and archive cultural works, to "encourage the creation and distribution of eBooks". Founded in 1971 by Michael S. Hart, it is the oldest digital library. Most of the items in its collection are the full texts of public domain books...
.
The Aozora Bunko resources are searchable by category, author, or title; and there is a considerable amount of support in how to use the database in the form of detailed explanations. The files can be downloaded in PDF format or simply viewed in HTML format.
Most of the texts provided are Japanese literature
Japanese literature
Early works of Japanese literature were heavily influenced by cultural contact with China and Chinese literature, often written in Classical Chinese. Indian literature also had an influence through the diffusion of Buddhism in Japan...
and translations from English literature
English literature
English literature is the literature written in the English language, including literature composed in English by writers not necessarily from England; for example, Robert Burns was Scottish, James Joyce was Irish, Joseph Conrad was Polish, Dylan Thomas was Welsh, Edgar Allan Poe was American, J....
. This digital library ultimately plans to include 6,000+ works on the site.
A digital library and a public-policy advocacy organization
Aozora Bunko has joined with others in organizing to oppose changes in Japanese copyright lawJapanese copyright law
Japanese copyright laws consist of two parts: "Author's Rights", and "Neighboring Rights", and as such, "copyright" is a convenient collective term rather than a single concept in Japan.-Applicability:...
. That opposition has led to encouraging Japanese citizens to submit letters and petitions to the Japanese Cultural Affairs Agency and to members of the Diet
Diet of Japan
The is Japan's bicameral legislature. It is composed of a lower house, called the House of Representatives, and an upper house, called the House of Councillors. Both houses of the Diet are directly elected under a parallel voting system. In addition to passing laws, the Diet is formally...
.
Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works
The Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works, usually known as the Berne Convention, is an international agreement governing copyright, which was first accepted in Berne, Switzerland in 1886.- Content :...
, an 1886 international agreement about common copyright policies. Japan and other countries with laws that do not go beyond the minimum copyright terms of the Berne Convention have copyrights that run for the lifetime of the author plus 50 years. Aozora Bunko has adopted an advocacy role in favor of construing this status quo as preferable to changes proposed by a number of powerful forces.
The evolution of Aozora Bunko from a digital library to a public-policy advocacy organization is an unintended consequence which developed only after the perceived threat to the Aozora Bunko catalog and mission became otherwise unavoidable.
See also
- WikisourceWikisourceWikisource is an online digital library of free content textual sources on a wiki, operated by the Wikimedia Foundation. Its aims are to host all forms of free text, in many languages, and translations. Originally conceived as an archive to store useful or important historical texts, it has...
- List of digital library projects
- Open Content AllianceOpen Content AllianceThe Open Content Alliance is a consortium of organizations contributing to a permanent, publicly accessible archive of digitized texts. Its creation was announced in October 2005 by Yahoo!, the Internet Archive, the University of California, the University of Toronto and others...
- UK:Gowers Review of Intellectual PropertyGowers Review of Intellectual PropertyThe Gowers Review of Intellectual Property was an independent review of UK intellectual property focusing on UK copyright law that was published in December 2006. The then Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown commissioned Andrew Gowers to lead the review in December 2005. The Review was...
- US:Copyright Term Extension ActCopyright Term Extension ActThe Copyright Term Extension Act of 1998 extended copyright terms in the United States by 20 years. Since the Copyright Act of 1976, copyright would last for the life of the author plus 50 years, or 75 years for a work of corporate authorship...
- UK:Gowers Review of Intellectual Property
- Project RunebergProject RunebergProject Runeberg is an initiative patterned after Project Gutenberg that publishes freely available electronic versions of books significant to the culture and history of the Nordic countries...
- Open Rights GroupOpen Rights GroupThe Open Rights Group is a UK-based organisation that works to preserve digital rights and freedoms by campaigning on digital rights issues, acting as a media clearinghouse service putting journalists in touch with experts, and by fostering a community of grassroots activists...
- Philosophy of copyrightPhilosophy of copyrightThe philosophy of copyright might be said to include several philosophical issues which are fundamentally linked to copyright policy, and other jurisprudential problems that arise in legal systems' interpretation and application of copyright law....
- Permission culturePermission culturePermission culture is a term often employed by Lawrence Lessig and other copyright activists to describe a society in which copyright restrictions are pervasive and enforced to the extent that any and all uses of copyrighted works need to be explicitly leased...
- Permission culture
External links
青空文庫 zip and HTML files of Japanese literature in Aozora Bunko. うわづら文庫 Uwazura Bunko of the Aozora Bunko are bigger size PDF files of Japanese literature, not the same as those zip and HTML files in Aozora Bunko.- National Diet LibraryNational Diet LibraryThe is the only national library in Japan. It was established in 1948 for the purpose of assisting members of the in researching matters of public policy. The library is similar in purpose and scope to the U.S...
: NDL Library Digital Archive Portal (PORTA); NDL PORTA analysis - Copyright Research and Information Center