Author: wlerik

www.scribd.com (free on-line books & document sharing)

Scribd Redefining Online Documents

from Awakened Voice Blog by Rob Safuto

Scribd Platform

Scribd (pronounced skribbed) has developed a new iPaper platform you can use free, to share, store, and/or read documents.  Previously the only way to share a document was by email, sending a direct link to the document or attaching the whole document. With Scribd you can email a document without having to actually open an email program… Scribd also provides you with an embed code that allows you to share a doc by embedding it in another website. Using a flash format, it avoids file incompatibility problems that commonly arise when you send someone a document in a program (or version) that the recipient does not have. As an example, here is a 354 page book from internet law guru, Lawrence Lessig that you can read free.

Link to Document:

Title: “Lawrence Lessig – Freeculture“

Protagonize, a community-driven, collaborative fiction writing service

From http://technosailor.com/2008/02/23/afrika/

For quite some time, I’ve dreamed of starting an historical fiction blog. I’ve toyed with this idea as I think it would be a fantastic experiment in social media. In my eyes, the blog would be written by a World War II Army soldier, and would be dated and conveyed as such.

This morning, I discovered Protagonize, a community-driven, collaborative fiction writing service that just recently launched. I’m late to the game, however, but better late than never.

Protagonize is one of those ideas that slaps you in the face and asks, Why didn’t I think of that?

The concept is community-driven, collaboration on works of fiction. As a social media kind of guy, anything having to do with “community-driven” or “collaboration” is going to end up on my radar (again, late, but it appeared). It’s just the way I roll.

In this case, Protagonize resounds with me because now I can write my story, but I can let you add to it, provide your own missing pieces, and, well, collaborate. I’ve begun a new story, Afrika, which begins by introducing Johan “Joey” Friedrichson, a German-American U.S. Army officer in World War II who is in deep cover in Rommel’s Afrika Corps trying to collect intelligence on Rommel’s plans. We are briefly told about his wife, Michelle, who has yet to have a picture painted. Why don’t you add that part? Or help us figure out what Joey’s plans are next? The story is wide open.

Eyewitness: American Originals from the National Archives

Eyewitness: American Originals from the National Archives
Drawing on rarely displayed documents, audio recordings, and film footage culled from the extensive holdings of the National Archives and its Presidential libraries, “Eyewitness” features first-person accounts of watershed moments in history.
Online exhibit

StoryCorps

StoryCorps is an independent nonprofit project whose mission is to honor and celebrate one another’s lives through listening. By recording the stories of our lives with the people we care about, we experience our history, hopes, and humanity. Since 2003, thousands have taken part in the StoryCorps oral history project, describing their lives and history. Listen to a few and then decide whether to subscribe and/or record your own:

IN THIS SERIES

A Transformative Moment Sparks Change of Life

February 22, 2008 · After leaving the Marines, George Hill became addicted to drugs and alcohol, and found himself on the streets of Los Angeles. But a handful of change from a fellow homeless man sent Hill on the path to recovery and joy.

A Valentine’s Romance That’s Lasted 40 Years

February 15, 2008 · Peter Vincelli and Mary Beinert were high school sweethearts in Brooklyn in the 1960s. They fell in love when they met 40 years ago this week — on Valentine’s Day. He says it was love at first sight. She says it was love at first kiss.

Father Finds Peace in Forgiveness

February 8, 2008 · After Hector Black’s daughter was murdered seven years ago, all he could think about was revenge. But after learning about the killer’s troubled background, Black asked authorities to spare his life.

A Sisterhood Evolves from Hate to Love

February 1, 2008 · During their childhood, Melissa Wilbur and Janaki Symon’s relationship was marked by bitterness and jealousy. But an unexpected sign of affection finally brought the sisters closer.

Collecting More Than an Obsession for New Yorker

January 25, 2008 · Harley Spiller has about a million objects crammed into his small apartment, including a world-record 10,000 Chinese takeout menus. He also collects bottle caps, packs of gum, and other odds and ends. He thinks he’s got his hobby under control.

A Long Life of Love and Wonder

January 18, 2008 · Anna and Joseph Wise, childhood sweethearts, were married for nearly six decades. Now 96, she has outlived him for 16 years and wonders how “you get through almost anything.”

After Disaster, a Survivor Sheds Her Regrets

January 11, 2008 · Martha Conant was one of a handful of people to walk away unscathed from the crash-landing of a United Airlines flight near Sioux City, Iowa, in 1989. The experience left her with feelings of great responsibility, and immense gratitude.

Discovering a Mother’s Hidden Talent

January 4, 2008 · One day when she was in kindergarten, Cynthia Rahn realized she had forgotten to do an assignment. All hope seemed lost — until she made an unbelievable discovery on the kitchen table the next morning. What she found there revealed her mother’s secret talent.

A Once-in-a-Lifetime Love Story, Interrupted

December 28, 2007 · Cindy White met Dan Driggers, the love of her life, in August 1990. Six weeks later, she learned that she was HIV positive. “I don’t believe I’m here because of anything less than his love for me,” Cindy says.

Mother’s Magic: Stretching a Christmas Dollar

December 21, 2007 · When Carrie Conley’s husband left in the early 1960s, she started raising six children on her own. Even after getting a job at a hospital, Conley often asked herself a question: “Lord, what am I going to do with all these kids, by myself?”

What is the Story of Stuff?

From its extraction through sale, use and disposal, all the stuff in our lives affects communities at home and abroad, yet most of this is hidden from view. The Story of Stuff is a 20-minute, fast-paced, fact-filled look at the underside of our production and consumption patterns. The Story of Stuff exposes the connections between a huge number of environmental and social issues, and calls us together to create a more sustainable and just world. It’ll teach you something, it’ll make you laugh, and it just may change the way you look at all the stuff in your life forever.

From Free Range Studios, the creators of, among other things:

 http://www.themeatrix.com/

Grocery Store Wars

Sam Suds 

 

Games for Social Change: How games and video are playing well together

That was the title of a panel I attended tonight at A.U. It questioned how online games are mobilizing audiences around social issues? The panel explored how video games can double as tools for conflict resolution, and maybe even save the environment!

Here are a few examples:

PeaceMaker

challenges you to succeed as a leader where others have failed. Experience the joy of bringing peace to the Middle East or the agony of plunging the region into disaster. PeaceMaker will test your skills, assumptions and prior knowledge. Play it and you will never read the news the same way again.

http://www.peacemakergame.com/

In February they are launching a closed beta of its new online product: “Play the News”, imagine if you will Fantasy Sports meets the Evening News. As a player you can choose your role and participate in a variety of real events: domestic, global, serious news as well as softer issues and entertainment. You can gain a deeper understanding of the day’s headlines while voicing your opinion. You will be measured vs. reality as well as against the performance of other community members.

FOOD FORCE

This PDF provides a summary of the Food Force project and outlines the game’s six missions.
Download food-force-flier-front.pdf (96k)
Download food-force-flier-back.pdf (75k)

ICED
Breakthrough’s video game, (COMING SOON) puts you in the shoes of an immigrant to illustrate how unfair immigration laws deny due process and violate human rights. These laws affect all immigrants: legal residents, those fleeing persecution, students and undocumented people. Learn about the issue here.

Columbine

http://www.columbinegame.com/
A new documentary about opposition to Columbine Game:
http://www.playingcolumbine.com/
http://www.playingcolumbine.com/promo/PC30sec.mp4

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Project Vote Smart (get the facts!!!)

At Project Vote Smart, Americans young and old volunteer their time, take no money from special interest groups, and have committed themselves to an extraordinary effort to provide their fellow citizens with comprehensive and accurate information about candidates and politicians.

Every candidate and elected official from President to local government can be easily and instantly accessed through the:

•  Vote Smart’s Website: www.vote-smart.org

or

  Voter’s Research Hotline: 1-888-VOTE-SMART (1-888-868-3762)

Voting Records — Compare what your representatives said during the campaign with how they actually voted on the record.

Biographical & Contact Information — From their previous professions, education, families, organizational membership to their latest e-mail address, we gather it all.

Issue Positions (Political Courage Test) — We test thousands of candidates for President, Congress, Governor and State Legislature with our Political Courage Test. The test accurately measures a candidate’s willingness to provide voters with their positions on the issues they will most likely face if elected to represent you.

Interest Group Ratings — Over 150 competing special interest groups, from conservative to liberal, evaluate your representatives. Look at what they say.

Public Statements — The Project constantly collects speeches and public comments of the president, governors, and congressional representatives. Just type in a word, say; ‘immigration’ and all public utterances containing the word ‘immigration’ will appear. Compare what they said while campaigning in California a few years ago to what they are saying now in New Hampshire.

Campaign Finances — How much money did your representatives raise and from whom? Just follow the money and then follow the votes.