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Index (links to the website): archive.org, ccmixter.org, openclipart.org, slideshare.net, TheMonster Engine, FileHamster, SHERPA, bomomo.com,

SUGGEST A LINK - apps, games, art -- Please don't submit Anything R or X-rated or SPAM for that matter, please.

NOTE: Those Dialog Boxes with a red "*" are required fields.

Archive.org- (Access online content)

Archive.orgis a great site that groups a lot of free content. Text from places like the Gutenberg Project and American Libraries are listed here, but also many other lesser known digital projects as well. Such as Ant Texts and Beat Within. This site also groups Audio, featuring every thing from live music (Grateful Dead) to poetry and audio books. There is an absolute ton of material to sift through here. To help go through the Audio;Archive.org pulled out the Live Music Archive to the front page. Last, but not least, and my favorite part of the site is the Moving images portion. This groups old movies, PSA's (my favorite is the 1950's Living with the Atom), commercials, and other wonderful (sometimes troubling) ephemera.

ccmixter.org- (Access online content)

This is a community music site featuring remixes licensed under Creative Commons, where you can listen to, sample, mash-up, or interact with music in whatever way you want. This is a fun site if you like sampling and really just playing with audio. Mostly, I've used this site to listen to other peoples mixes, but the site really does encourage you to jump in an participate. I found it to be a lot of fun... and I have no skillz. :) The sites About page answers most of the key questions you might have about submitting and sampling. Very cool site.

openclipart.org - (Access online content.)

This is another Creative Commons project that aims to create an archive of user contributed clip art that can be freely used. All graphics submitted to the project should be placed into the Public Domainaccording to the statement by the Creative Commons. This is a great site - seems like I'm always looking for a little image for a presentation or something. There is also a lot of government (USPTO images) and other images that have fallen out of copyright that have been scanned in and made available. The database is search-able, however I found that browsing the TAG cloud was easier. Much like Flickrpeople rate and comment on the contributions.

Slideshare.net- (Share online content)

This is another Flickrtype site, except instead of posting your images, you post your powerpoint presentations. Again, you can comment and have favorites, tagging, groups, etc. For people who do a lot of presentations or have a some images/text to click through for a project or conference this is great because it provides you with the embed code so you can post this on your website or blog. I posted two of my presentations here (googlepages) and my university personal pages. The box where is displays is small on the page, so if you have a lot of text on your slides you can't really read it. However, when you click on the Slidesharebutton on the powerpoint frame, it takes you to the main Slidesharesite where you can hit "Full Screen" (same location as prior link) and it then acts like a regular powerpoint. If you are going to a conference and you reference an old presentation (or someone else's for that matter - that is now online) - it is handy to have this sitting out there. Really easy, straightforward instructions on loading your presentations.

The Monster Engine - (Cool Site.)

http://themonsterengine.com/openingpage.html

The Monster Engineis perhaps one of the most creative things that I've ever discovered on the web. Dave Devrie a wildly talented artist pursued this experiment (?) with one question in mind: What would a child's artwork look like if painted realistically. Inspired and guided by children's artwork... this is a wildly creative collection of images. Not only cool site, but a must explore site!

File Hamster - (Preserve content.)

http://www.filehamster.com

This was aFree program that was advertised on DAZ3D's website that I thought had some real use. Especially since I have been known to overwrite versions of images by accident and wanted to go back to an earlier version of an image. I would imagine that this program would be useful for folks who create web content as well. After I give it a try I'll write more here about it.

Here is the promotional message:

Do you use software programs like DAZ|Studio, Carrara, Bryce, Mimic, Hexagon, Photoshop, Paint Shop Pro, Maya, 3DS Max, XSI, Lightwave, Poser, or virtually any other content creation application? Almost impossible to say no, but if you answered yes to any of these, keep reading!

MOGware is proud to announce FileHamster, a new, free product that is sure to revolutionize the way you work!

As an artist, you know how long it takes to create a finished piece of work. And, anyone that’s used a computer understands how painful it is to lose something you’ve been working on for any length of time. Whether your file becomes corrupt, is accidentally deleted, or you inadvertently saved over a good file, you know the pain. There are methods for dealing with these problems that include special naming conventions, archiving a backup to a zip drive, or moving files to a different folder, but these solutions are archaic compared to what FileHamster offers. Even worse, they all disrupt your workflow.

FileHamster presents a much better way.

It is simple to use. Tell FileHamster which directory or file to watch and get back to work. Every time you save, rest easy knowing you’re not losing any of your precious work. In the background, FileHamster automatically detects that your file has been saved and creates a revision of it. In addition, you have the ability to make notes each time you save to help you later identify a specific file, or use those notes to see a detailed account of the work you've done on a particular project. Go tohttp://www.filehamster.com/ProductTour/ for a demo.

MOGware also provides a powerful plug-in architecture that enhances FileHamster’s functionality. Plug-ins are freely downloadable at http://www.filehamster.com/Downloads/ including a zip plug-in for saving your revisions in a more compact form, a floating notes plug-in to help organize comments, and more.

FileHamster is simple for beginners, but customizable for more advanced user. Put archaic methods where they belong, in the past, and move forward with FileHamster!

Get it FREE athttp://www.filehamster.com

SHERPA - (Access online content)

http://www.sherpa.ac.uk/index.html

SHERPA not only allows you to search various institutional repositories of online content; but also has been an active presence on the developing field of institutional repository use through the development of tools like:

• RoMEO - Publisher's copyright & archiving policies
• JULIET - Research funders archiving mandates and guidelines
• OpenDOAR worldwide Directory of Open Access Repositories

I've actively used RoMEOnot only for work, but for my own writing and copyright questions.

bomomo.com/ - (Create content.)

This is a groovy site for creating random works of art. Select your brushes and click away! There is also the option for saving your work afterwards as a .jpg. Might make a nice background image for a digital image or desktop image. I'm not sure who is responsible for creating this, but they've already successfully hooked me!

Zoho.com - (Create content)

Zoho.com provides a collection of free productivity and online collaboration applications.  In fact, the submission form at the top of this page was created using the Zoho database application.  Many of these applications are similar to Google Apps; however, Zoho has many different tools like the Database Creator and some Project Management software. 

Nature and National Geographic Videos  (Access online content)

Nature:  http://www.nature.com/nature/videoarchive/index.html

National Geographic: http://www.youtube.com/user/NationalGeographic

Both of these have some great content.  The Nature content does gravitate to the more technical and scientific jargon, so if you're concerned about younger viewers being engaged by the video then National Geographic videos are perfect.   

Hulu.com (Access online content)

  Hulu.com was founded in March 2007 by NBC Universal and News Corp and is operated independently by a management team with offices in Los Angeles, New York, and Beijing.  However, the Beijing office has absolutely no idea that they are content website showing television and movies, but instead think that they are selling George Foreman Woks.  

You can access much of the NBC content and quite a few movies from this site.  Because of the massive sinkhole for time that this site can be, it is blocked from the public access library computers at work.  So, this is likely only free if you have your own computer or if you can find a completely clueless public library (eh, doubtful).  There is always a catch isn't there?  Of the television content that you can access, the Firefly series and the Total Recall 2070 series are my personal favorites.  Both were unfortunately canceled (of course), but they were both really great scifi!  I know that you can also watch Futurama and old Lost in Space there as well.  There are some commercials, but they are short and timed, so that makes them okay.  Besides, I understand commercials when you are getting free stuff.  My opinion is much like Morgan Webb's of X-Play, if you are being shown commercials then you should get free stuff... if you are not getting free stuff and being subjected to commercials you are getting <insert uncomfortable metaphor here>. 

Camstudio  (Create content)

Camstudio ( http://camstudio.org/ ) is freeware that does what some rather expensive software packages (like Camtasia) do, but without all the bells and whistles.  Simple and easy to use, this software allows to screen capture whatever tasks you perform on your computer.  This is great for creating tutorials!  I'll try to post one here soon.