I’VE SPENT THE past year with strange voices in my head. Soothing, rich-voiced, strangers intermittently whispering, crying, yelling, and practicing terrible accents in my ear. This is because I discovered the weird world of LibriVox, a charmingly scrappy DIY community site dedicated to creating free audiobooks for public domain texts. LibriVox is like Audible, the audiobook service owned by Amazon, except that every book is made for free by volunteers, and every book was published before 1923. A legion of volunteer readers—from professional stage actors to people practicing reading English as a second language—patiently, and sometimes not so patiently, inch through thousands of texts, posting the end results for free. READ MORE: The Weird, Obsessive World of Free DIY Audiobooks | WIRED
Tag Archives: free
No Library For You: French Authorities Threatening To Close An #App That Lets People Share Physical #Books | Techdirt #libraries
[O]ver in France, they really are taking the idea of attacking new forms of libraries to incredible new heights. There’s a French startup called Booxup that is taking the above personal lending library concept and making it digital. You get an account, scan your books, upload a list of those you’re willing to lend to others, and the service connects willing lenders with willing borrowers, putting books that would otherwise be collecting dust on shelves to good use actually being read and educating and entertaining the public. Neat. Except… not so neat, according to French authorities who are claiming the whole thing could be illegal: READ MORE: No Library For You: French Authorities Threatening To Close An App That Lets People Share Physical Books | Techdirt
Indianapolis’s own ‘Big Free Libraries’ | TeleRead #LFL #littlefreelibraries #libraries #free #art #community
I stumbled onto a brilliant new art installation program in downtown Indianapolis called The Public Collection, designed to make books freely available to the general pubic, modeled after the “Little Free Library” project but on a much larger scale. READ MORE: The Public Collection: Indianapolis’s own ‘Big Free Libraries’ | TeleRead
Making Sense of #Data Course | Google #courses #free
Do you work with surveys, demographic information, evaluation data, test scores or observation data? What questions are you looking to answer, and what story are you trying to tell with your data?
This self-paced, online course is intended for anyone who wants to learn more about how to structure, visualize, and manipulate data. This includes students, educators, researchers, journalists, and small business owners.
Prerequisites: Course completion requires an internet-enabled desktop or laptop computer. Course participation requires a Google account. Knowledge of statistics is not required. Basic familiarity with spreadsheets and comfort using a web browser is recommended. Knowledge of statistics and experience with programming are not required. THE COURSE: Making Sense of Data | Google
#Stream 58 Hours of #Free #Classical #Music Selected to Help You Study, Work, or Simply Relax | Open Culture #streaming #spotify
Lovers of classical music have a third online option, thanks to an enterprising digital curator who goes by the name of Ulyssestone and who compiled the Spotify playlist above of 58 hours of classical music — from Sibelius to Satie, Bach to Debussy. It’s designed for anyone who wants to study, work, or simply relax. READ MORE: Stream 58 Hours of Free Classical Music Selected to Help You Study, Work, or Simply Relax | Open Culture.
The #Software Stephen Hawking Uses to Talk to the World is now #Free | Engadget #communication #disabilities #tech
For almost 20 years, Intel has been building technology to help Stephen Hawking communicate with the world — and now the company is making the same software the world renowned physicist uses to write books, give speeches and talk available to everybody. For free. READ MORE: The software Stephen Hawking uses to talk to the world is now free | Engadget.
Master List and Index of #Free #Programming #Books | GitHub #coding
A Master List of 1,150 #Free #Courses From Top #Universities: 35,000 Hours of Audio/Video #Lectures | Open Culture #MOOCs #education
During these summer months, we’ve been busy rummaging around the internet and adding new courses to our big list of Free Online Courses, which now features 1,150 courses from top universities. Let’s give you the quick overview: The list lets you download audio & video lectures from schools like Stanford, Yale, MIT, Oxford and Harvard. Generally, the courses can be accessed via YouTube, iTunes or university web sites, and you can listen to the lectures anytime, anywhere, on your computer or smart phone. We didn’t do a precise calculation, but there’s probably about 35,000 hours of free audio & video lectures here. Enough to keep you busy for a very long time. READ MORE: A Master List of 1,150 Free Courses From Top Universities: 35,000 Hours of Audio/Video Lectures | Open Culture.
43 #Free Career-Advancing #Courses You Can Take (And Actually Finish) This Summer | Mashable #skills #education #MOOCs
Yes, summer is the perfect time to relax and recharge. But, it’s also the perfect time to pick up a few new skills. Put that relaxed brain (and work schedule) to good use! How accomplished would you feel if, when September rolls around, you could open up your resume and add another skill to it? Very, we’re guessing.
Before you start stressing, know that we’re not asking you to sacrifice your summer nights to a droning professor. Instead, we’re suggesting devoting a few hours every week to advancing your career with an online class. (Online equals your couch and your sweats and an optional glass of wine.)
To make the process easier for you, we did two things. One, we only chose classes you can complete in less than 10 weeks (with some that can be completed in an hour). Two, we hand-curated this list to ensure it’s only courses that are valuable and interesting. The best part? All of them are free. So, without further ado, here are 43 classes you can sign up for today.
READ MORE: 43 free career-advancing courses you can take (and actually finish) this summer | Mashable
10+ Free #Workshops to Keep #Kids Busy This Summer | LifeHacker
List of workshops relates mainly to residents living in the USA. Broken out into the following categories: technology, crafts and building, and lastly outdoor and indoor sports. At least provides parents and caregivers living in other countries workshop/project/camp ideas. I suggest looking at summer programming at your local community library!
School’s out, but that doesn’t mean kids have to stop learning or being creative. The free workshops and activities below will keep kids from getting bored and parents from wondering what to do with them every day or weekend. MORE: 10+ Free Workshops to Keep Kids Busy This Summer | LifeHacker
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