monero.press

Digitization

Every surviving work in the library which is not yet published here has a page with: 1) an estimate of its length; 2) the price of digitizing it; 3) a Monero address which receives contributions for it. When the contributions to a work reach its price, the work is digitized from a public domain edition, in its original language, and published in a variety of formats (.pdf, .tex, .txt), as Plato's Crito already is.

What the price covers

Digitizing a work means: 1) recognizing the pages of the edition, with OCR models and LLMs, and making a first correction; 2) proofreading the text against the edition; 3) setting it in TeX, with its notes and the numbering of the edition; 4) making the .pdf and .txt versions from that source. The price also covers keeping the work: correcting the errors found by readers and making the files again when needed.

How the price is calculated

The price, in XMR, is the sum of: 1) a fixed part of 0.02 XMR per work; 2) for every thousand words of the text, the rate of its level: 0.005 XMR if easy, 0.008 if medium, 0.012 if hard; from 100,000 words on, 75% of the rate, and from 1,000,000 words on, 50%. To that, 20% more is added for upkeep.

For example, Plato's Republic, with about 90,000 words of Greek, costs (0.02 + 90 × 0.012) × 1.2 = 1.32 XMR. Each page shows its own calculation.

The levels

The lengths

The lengths are estimates, taken from the standard editions (Stephanus for Plato, Bekker for Aristotle) or from translations, with about 300 words per page, or 200 for verse. They are counted again when a work is digitized, and its price is corrected. Works which survive only in fragments have a page for their fragments.

Contributions

Each work has its own address, a subaddress of the same wallet, so what is sent to a work counts only for it. To contribute, scan the QR code on the work's page with a Monero wallet, or copy the address. The page shows how much has been received. Works without an address do not receive contributions yet.