Monday, January 3, 2011

Kicking Off Site O'Day (Sorta): Internet Archive!!!

Here goes my first short Site O'Day entry, which is in fulfillment of my 2011 New Year Resolution to blog "almost" every day. As I mentioned in a previous entry, I have a ton of unruly and disorganized bookmarks at my Delicious site:

One of my tags is SHARE and another is REVISIT. I use these when I come across a site I want to share with students or return to for a closer look. Alas, I seldom if ever have been revisiting, and my sharing is not much better though I do recommend to my MLS students. So I thought it would be fun to go back and visit my very first site to be tagged with SHARE. I wondered if it would be something that still had value, or for that matter if it would still be up and going. Well, I am patting myself on the back. My first site to share is Internet Archive (http://www.archive.org/)!

I could not have picked a better choice! Here is the self description offered at the site, which explains it better than I am able:

"The Internet Archive is a 501(c)(3) non-profit that was founded to build an Internet library. Its purposes include offering permanent access for researchers, historians, scholars, people with disabilities, and the general public to historical collections that exist in digital format. Founded in 1996 and located in San Francisco, the Archive has been receiving data donations from Alexa Internet and others. In late 1999, the organization started to grow to include more well-rounded collections. Now the Internet Archive includes texts, audio, moving images, and software as well as archived web pages in our collections, and provides specialized services for adaptive reading and information access for the blind and other persons with disabilities."

How would I describe it? As a huge repository of....wonderful stuff! I gave it a whirl but trying several searches:
  • I searched the Music Archives for "Luckenbach" since I have been having a great time hanging out there recently. Yep, there were performances, including one by Corb Lund. I am a fan so this was a nice treat. There were 15 songs recorded on my last birthday! I am presently enjoying "Big Butch Bass Bull Fiddle." I cannot wait to hear "Devil's Best Dress" and others.
  • Next I went over to Video Archives and was struck by the title "The Days of Sexy Cigarettes." Since I am old enough to remember the TV commercials for cigarettes, I went to the link and viewed a funny/sad ad featuring Luci and Desi plugging Philip Morris.
  • Next I was drawn to a link called which led me to The Beat Within which features creations by youngsters in the system who are or have been behind bars. Compelling stuff that could well be shared with other teens. 
  •  Below you will see listings of all the links at this large and important collection. Click on any one to go to that section!
  • Animation & Cartoons | Arts & Music | Community Video | Computers & Technology | Cultural & Academic Films | Ephemeral Films | Movies | News & Public Affairs | Prelinger Archives | Spirituality & Religion | Sports Videos | Videogame Videos | Vlogs | Youth Media
I could go on but I promised to keep entries short. Don't miss this site! Here is the link again: http://www.archive.org/ I cannot think of a better way to start my ambitious project for the coming year!

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