As mentioned in another thread - I've got and idea rolling around about having all 128 volumes of "The war of the rebellion: a compilation of the official records of the Union and Confederate armies." informally called the OR, read.
I'm thinking that the pool of potential readers could be substantial. * The results could also be substantial. The project may well be beyond my means to accomplish, but the question that I have is: would the results of such a project be beyond the means of LibriVox to support?
* The current population of LibriVox might be lacking the necessary numbers of bearded, slightly overweight, middle-aged men to build up enough American Civil War enthusiast’s to see this to completion, but there are other places more ‘target rich’ in which to brow beat volunteers.
Not sure who or where to ask.
DonJasper, I've answered mainly in your other thread ... but just to add here that there's nothing to stop you setting up a "LibriVox-esque" site to organise and action your idea.
Although we now have some very nifty database support to make things organisationally simpler, the first incarnation of LibriVox ran almost entirely through this forum, with posts containing lists of work to do, which were edited as need be. I think one can still easily see how that worked, by looking at our workflow.
All our files are saved to archive.org, which will accept any legal recording, especially of this sort ... and it might be easier to rally your American Civil War enthusiasts in a dedicated location rather than mixing them up here where your project will be one among many historys (of the US, Holland, Great Britain and others) ... not to mention all the literature.
Although we now have some very nifty database support to make things organisationally simpler, the first incarnation of LibriVox ran almost entirely through this forum, with posts containing lists of work to do, which were edited as need be. I think one can still easily see how that worked, by looking at our workflow.
All our files are saved to archive.org, which will accept any legal recording, especially of this sort ... and it might be easier to rally your American Civil War enthusiasts in a dedicated location rather than mixing them up here where your project will be one among many historys (of the US, Holland, Great Britain and others) ... not to mention all the literature.
There's honestly no such thing as a stupid question -- but I'm afraid I can't rule out giving a stupid answer : : To Posterity and Beyond!
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earthcalling
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I'm curious. Where's the other thread?
There's honestly no such thing as a stupid question -- but I'm afraid I can't rule out giving a stupid answer : : To Posterity and Beyond!
DonJasper,
This sounds like the sort of idea that would attract a lot of followers, because there are so many people passionate about Civil War History. If you decide that you're actually going to do this, then I would suggest that you advertise, advertise, advertise. Not so much on the Librivox site as on other sites. If you're a Civil War buff yourself, I'm sure you know where all the really good forums are. Post your intentions in several different forums, making sure to mention that it's easy to do and the time commitment could be very miniscule - as small as a few minutes recording. Also make sure to mention that it would not be a high-pressure commitment. As long as the speaker is clearly understandable, nobody is going to criticize their work. It doesn't matter if you're a nasal computer geek, because many of us (like myself) are. If you were willing, you could even undertake some of the technical aspects (like editing ID3 tags, or adding a pre-recorded disclaimer), so that those people who are not confident with technology would be more willing to record.
Those two things are the main obstacles people have to volunteering, I believe, and if you advertise your plans to plenty of Civil War buffs, and answer those objections, you'll likely get quite a few new volunteers. Besides that, there are likely quite a few volunteers already on here who are interested in the Civil War enough to contribute. I'm not even that interested in it, but I would likely contribute something, just because it's such a lofty project.
However, I would suggest that you learn the ropes a little bit. It looks like you're a new member, and you should probably record some shorter works before diving head first into a project that's many times bigger than the biggest project undertaken by the most experienced volunteer here. If you want to stick with the Civil War period, there's a huge amount of literature you could choose from, as I'm sure you well know. Try something only a few pages long, like a speech, or a short essay. Like Lincoln's "House Divided" speech, or Frederick Douglass's "What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?" Try getting your feet wet first, and then you can move on to bigger, more ambitious projects.
This sounds like the sort of idea that would attract a lot of followers, because there are so many people passionate about Civil War History. If you decide that you're actually going to do this, then I would suggest that you advertise, advertise, advertise. Not so much on the Librivox site as on other sites. If you're a Civil War buff yourself, I'm sure you know where all the really good forums are. Post your intentions in several different forums, making sure to mention that it's easy to do and the time commitment could be very miniscule - as small as a few minutes recording. Also make sure to mention that it would not be a high-pressure commitment. As long as the speaker is clearly understandable, nobody is going to criticize their work. It doesn't matter if you're a nasal computer geek, because many of us (like myself) are. If you were willing, you could even undertake some of the technical aspects (like editing ID3 tags, or adding a pre-recorded disclaimer), so that those people who are not confident with technology would be more willing to record.
Those two things are the main obstacles people have to volunteering, I believe, and if you advertise your plans to plenty of Civil War buffs, and answer those objections, you'll likely get quite a few new volunteers. Besides that, there are likely quite a few volunteers already on here who are interested in the Civil War enough to contribute. I'm not even that interested in it, but I would likely contribute something, just because it's such a lofty project.
However, I would suggest that you learn the ropes a little bit. It looks like you're a new member, and you should probably record some shorter works before diving head first into a project that's many times bigger than the biggest project undertaken by the most experienced volunteer here. If you want to stick with the Civil War period, there's a huge amount of literature you could choose from, as I'm sure you well know. Try something only a few pages long, like a speech, or a short essay. Like Lincoln's "House Divided" speech, or Frederick Douglass's "What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?" Try getting your feet wet first, and then you can move on to bigger, more ambitious projects.
I remember how, in college, I got that part-time job as a circus clown, and how the children would laugh and laugh at me. I vowed, then and there, that I would get revenge.
-[url=http://www.deepthoughtsbyjackhandey.com/][u]Jack Handey[/u][/url]
-[url=http://www.deepthoughtsbyjackhandey.com/][u]Jack Handey[/u][/url]
Thanks for all the responses. Things are now clearer.
The original question I posed to myself: “The project may well be beyond my means to accomplish” however is still quite murky, and the only one who can answer that is 'me'. And I'm not sure that 'me' knows what he's talking about half the time.
A great service is being provided here. I only wish I knew about it sooner. FWIW - I came here via Archive.org. I'm always in need of audiobooks, and after plundering Archive.org of the American Civil War stuff, I lookef for audiobooks etc. MY only gripe is a shocking lack of Stephen King. He's one of the better storytellers I've come across - and find he's way way under-represented here!
(Not to give anyone the wrong impression Stephen King's work is not (yet?) in the public domain, and I'm only kidding to suggest that any of it could be found here. Instead one must content oneself with authors that are, by and large, dead.)
The original question I posed to myself: “The project may well be beyond my means to accomplish” however is still quite murky, and the only one who can answer that is 'me'. And I'm not sure that 'me' knows what he's talking about half the time.
A great service is being provided here. I only wish I knew about it sooner. FWIW - I came here via Archive.org. I'm always in need of audiobooks, and after plundering Archive.org of the American Civil War stuff, I lookef for audiobooks etc. MY only gripe is a shocking lack of Stephen King. He's one of the better storytellers I've come across - and find he's way way under-represented here!
(Not to give anyone the wrong impression Stephen King's work is not (yet?) in the public domain, and I'm only kidding to suggest that any of it could be found here. Instead one must content oneself with authors that are, by and large, dead.)