Directmedia Publishing
Encyclopedia
Directmedia Publishing is a German
publishing house
created in January 1995 by Ralf Szymanski and Erwin Jurschitza as a publisher of digital media
. The emphasis of the publishing house's content lies within the field of digital libraries
, particularly scientific collections of texts, and encyclopaedias
.
In co-operation with the Reclam
publishing house in Stuttgart
, Directmedia Publishing published the series Reclam Klassiker auf CD-ROM (Reclam classical authors on CD-ROM), which presents individual works of the German language
literary canon. The first German language Wikipedia
CD was published
by Directmedia Publishing in October 2004, and was followed by a DVD-ROM (and CD-ROM
) in April 2005. In the first ten days the second edition was presold, 10,000 copies were purchased, 8,000 on Amazon.de
.
Directmedia's sister enterprise, The Yorck Project (based in Yorck road, Berlin
), specialises in the publication of CDs or DVDs with extensive picture collections including art, photography and historical illustrations. The software used to display content runs under Microsoft Windows
and Mac OS X
, with a beta version for Linux
also available. In April 2005, Directmedia contributed scans of 10,000 public domain paintings to the Wikimedia Commons
project. In 2007 The Yorck Project was renamed to Zenodot Verlagsgesellschaft mbH and started the online digital library Zeno.org
in October 2007.
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
publishing house
Publishing
Publishing is the process of production and dissemination of literature or information—the activity of making information available to the general public...
created in January 1995 by Ralf Szymanski and Erwin Jurschitza as a publisher of digital media
Digital media
Digital media is a form of electronic media where data is stored in digital form. It can refer to the technical aspect of storage and transmission Digital media is a form of electronic media where data is stored in digital (as opposed to analog) form. It can refer to the technical aspect of...
. The emphasis of the publishing house's content lies within the field of digital libraries
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...
, particularly scientific collections of texts, and encyclopaedias
Encyclopedia
An encyclopedia is a type of reference work, a compendium holding a summary of information from either all branches of knowledge or a particular branch of knowledge....
.
In co-operation with the Reclam
Reclam
thumb|A 1902 catalogReclam Verlag or just Reclam is a German publishing house, established in Leipzig in 1828 by Anton Philipp Reclam. It is known for its "little yellow books", in particular those of its "universal library" ....
publishing house in Stuttgart
Stuttgart
Stuttgart is the capital of the state of Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. The sixth-largest city in Germany, Stuttgart has a population of 600,038 while the metropolitan area has a population of 5.3 million ....
, Directmedia Publishing published the series Reclam Klassiker auf CD-ROM (Reclam classical authors on CD-ROM), which presents individual works of the German language
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
literary canon. The first German language Wikipedia
Wikipedia
Wikipedia is a free, web-based, collaborative, multilingual encyclopedia project supported by the non-profit Wikimedia Foundation. Its 20 million articles have been written collaboratively by volunteers around the world. Almost all of its articles can be edited by anyone with access to the site,...
CD was published
Electronic publishing
Electronic publishing or ePublishing includes the digital publication of e-books and electronic articles, and the development of digital libraries and catalogues. Electronic publishing has become common in scientific publishing where it has been argued that peer-reviewed scientific journals are in...
by Directmedia Publishing in October 2004, and was followed by a DVD-ROM (and CD-ROM
CD-ROM
A CD-ROM is a pre-pressed compact disc that contains data accessible to, but not writable by, a computer for data storage and music playback. The 1985 “Yellow Book” standard developed by Sony and Philips adapted the format to hold any form of binary data....
) in April 2005. In the first ten days the second edition was presold, 10,000 copies were purchased, 8,000 on Amazon.de
Amazon.com
Amazon.com, Inc. is a multinational electronic commerce company headquartered in Seattle, Washington, United States. It is the world's largest online retailer. Amazon has separate websites for the following countries: United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Japan, and...
.
Directmedia's sister enterprise, The Yorck Project (based in Yorck road, Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
), specialises in the publication of CDs or DVDs with extensive picture collections including art, photography and historical illustrations. The software used to display content runs under Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...
and Mac OS X
Mac OS X
Mac OS X is a series of Unix-based operating systems and graphical user interfaces developed, marketed, and sold by Apple Inc. Since 2002, has been included with all new Macintosh computer systems...
, with a beta version for Linux
Linux
Linux is a Unix-like computer operating system assembled under the model of free and open source software development and distribution. The defining component of any Linux system is the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released October 5, 1991 by Linus Torvalds...
also available. In April 2005, Directmedia contributed scans of 10,000 public domain paintings to the Wikimedia Commons
Wikimedia Commons
Wikimedia Commons is an online repository of free-use images, sound and other media files. It is a project of the Wikimedia Foundation....
project. In 2007 The Yorck Project was renamed to Zenodot Verlagsgesellschaft mbH and started the online digital library Zeno.org
Zeno.org
Zeno.org is a digital library with German texts and other content such as pictures, facsimile, etc., which has been started by the Zenodot Verlagsgesellschaft mbH, a German publishing house and sister enterprise of Directmedia Publishing GmbH. The content is based on the digital libraries from the...
in October 2007.
External links
- Directmedia Publishing home page
- Home page of the Yorck-Project
- Wikimedia Commons "Yorck Project" category (all images listed alphabetically by artist)
- Wikinews article about the publication of the Wikipedia DVD, April 2005.
- Information about the state of the integration of the 10,000 scans