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WORKING WITH SOUND

Here are some places where you can download free sound effects and music that is in the public domain. Make sure to thoroughly read the terms of use of each site.

Sound effects

Partners in Rhyme
AudioMicro
PacDV
Sound Jay

Music

Smithsonian Folkways is a non-profit record label that offers free audio recordings and educational materials

Fun Fun Fun Media posts mp3s for free download.

Musopen provides recordings, sheet music, and textbooks to the public for free, without copyright restrictions.

Wikipedia lists musical works that are in the public domain.

Jamendo - royalty free music

Editing

Audacity® is free, open source software for recording and editing sounds. Here is a basic guide to using the program by How-To Geek.

You can post and share music, sounds, and other audio files that you have created on Soundcloud.

VIDEO

The Prelinger Archives has thousands of stock videos including old commercials, instructional videos and home movies.

Mohawk College offers a great resource for videos made by newcomer youth about adjusting to a new country can be found here.

INTERVIEWS

Witness has resources online in 17 languages about how to conduct a video interview.


The Smithsonian Folklife and Oral History Interviewing Guide is a good place to get basic concepts of interviewing and oral history.

The Apathy Is Boring site and the Hoodstock festival presents interviews with of artists who are getting involved in issues and trying to make a difference.

David Lynch's Interview Project presents interviews with Americans from every walk of life compiled during a road trip of the USA.

Similarly, This Wild Idea is a road tripper telling the stories of everyday people that he meets over the course of one year with audio and photos.

The NY Times 1 in 8 million pairs photos and audio interviews to tell the stories of some of New York's most colourful characters.

7 Billion Others presents 6500 interviews with people in 75 different countries, who all answered the same few questions about their fears, dreams, ordeals, and hopes.

PHOTOVOICE

Visit
Photovoice
Center for Digital Storytelling

Young mothers with experience living on the street told their own stories through photography in "I Was Here."

Dear Photograph has the public send in photos of photos, taken in the same location, and write a caption. A great way to link the past to the present!

WALKS


JANE'S WALK

Find out everything you need to know to organize your own community walk.

MEMORYSCAPE
This web site designed by geographer Toby Butler showcases two audio tours along the Thames River in London, England. Butler has written extensively on these and other tours. See also his Ports of Call project.

LINKED was a project by sound artist Graeme Miller

NEW YORK SOUNDWALKS

Here “characters” use direct address to take you on a tour, you might
otherwise miss. The voice is playful, performed and they make use of films
and other formats to tell the story. Video and Audio come into “play” in
this project. Toby Butler spoke very highly of these walking tours during his visit to Montreal in November.

LONDON'S VOICES
The Museum of London organized an ambitious project focusing on stories of 
immigration.

MURMURE

A public artwork designed to engage pedestrians as they move along the seawall walkways in Vancouver, Canada and Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Uses cutting edge wireless networking and video streaming technology to create real-time links between urban mega-developments in Canada and the United Arab Emirates. When people gather at two or more locations simultaneously, the portal senses their presence and come to life, streaming live video feeds that allow those Dubai to see and interact with their counterparts in Vancouver, and vice versa.

THE MISS GUIDES
 
was a visual journey of sites overlooked in Vancouver.

WALKING VOICES PROJECT
This site showcases the place stories of 11 interviewees.

SOUNDING GRIFFINTOWN


In this audio walking tour, former residents of a Montreal neighbourhood that no longer exists reflect on their memories of Griffintown and the changes that have occurred. What is the connection between home and memory?

WARREN OREE walks Northern Liberties & Ortleib’s Jazzhaus

One of a collection of city walks – this video follows Warren Oree as he explains significant places past and present.

MAPPING

The Tactical Technology Collective
offers a free booklet that serves as an introduction to geographical mapping techniques and a guide to using mapping in advocacy work.

The Centre for Digital Storytelling suggests tools to use in mapping your space.

Notes For a People’s Atlas provides tips on how to make a map about things that are important to you and examples of other people’s maps.

In the NFB documentary Our Nationhood, an aboriginal group struggles to define themselves as a nation and to assert their belonging to their traditional land.

Some places were once a home for people but are changing. Check out ‘The Making of The Corner’ and discuss whether remembering a sense of home that doesn’t exist anymore can result in change.

PSAS (Public Service Announcements)

The Apple Learning Exchange has curriculum ideas and samples for intermediate students developing PSAs.


This curriculum from the Saskatchewan Ministry of Education for high school students focuses on a critical understanding of the function of PSAs.


MUSIC AND CULTURE - RELATED PROJECTS

Nomadic Massive

Folk Songs for the Five Points is a celebration of cultural diversity and change, using “folk songs” as a metaphor to explore immigration and the formation of identity in New York’s Lower East Side.

Visit the IMP lab - Interactive media and performance


Find out more about Hip Hop No Pop, an innovative project that uses hip-hop as a means to address identity, race, class and power in the school system - look for Nantali in our video and blog sections.

REFUGEE RIGHTS

The Canadian Council for Refugees has developed a wealth of resources that can be used in the classroom. One of their most popular is an immigration history timeline as well as a helpful timeline on refugee rights.


On their public education page find a glossary, myths and facts sheets as well as many other resources.

HOMESICK:
http://vimeo.com/24862112