A Brief History of the Internet and the E-Book

Abstract

This translated article provides a concise historical overview of the Internet and the e-book by tracing the technological and cultural transformations that moved texts from print into the digital environment. It frames the relationship between the Internet and the e-book as part of an information revolution that changed the circulation of knowledge and access to it. The article discusses the early role of Project Gutenberg in digitizing and disseminating texts, then follows the development of the Web and its impact on digital publishing, online journalism, electronic magazines, and open encyclopedic projects such as Wikipedia. It also addresses major digitization initiatives such as Google Books and the emergence of multi-reading devices and electronic readers that reshaped reading practices. The article connects these developments to questions of copyright, publishing, open access, and the changing relationship between author, publisher, and reader. It concludes that the history of the Internet and the e-book reflects an intertwined process of technological innovation and cultural change that has made knowledge more shareable, retrievable, and widely accessible through cyberspace.