Wired for Books was an online educational project of the
WOUB Center for Public Media at
Ohio University
Ohio University is a public research university in Athens, Ohio. The first university chartered by an Act of Congress and the first to be chartered in Ohio, the university was chartered in 1787 by the Congress of the Confederation and subseq ...
in
Athens, Ohio. Created and produced by David Kurz, and launched on May 25, 1997, the website featured author interviews, dramatic audio productions of classic literature, poetry readings, short stories, lectures, essays, and children's literature.
Nearly 700 uncut audio author interviews conducted by Don Swaim for his ''Book Beat'' show on
CBS Radio were available at Wired for Books in their entirety. Original unabridged audio productions of
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland',
',
Macbeth', and
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz' could be found at Wired for Books in
RealAudio streaming media as well as some downloadable
MP3
MP3 (formally MPEG-1 Audio Layer III or MPEG-2 Audio Layer III) is a coding format for digital audio developed largely by the Fraunhofer Society in Germany, with support from other digital scientists in the United States and elsewhere. Origin ...
files. Essayists, fiction writers, and poets read their works, often with commentary
Kids' Corner the children's section of Wired for Books, featured the stories of
Beatrix Potter
Helen Beatrix Potter (, 28 July 186622 December 1943) was an English writer, illustrator, natural scientist, and conservationist. She is best known for her children's books featuring animals, such as '' The Tale of Peter Rabbit'', which was ...
and other classic stories for children.
Reception
In 1999, the website was awarded the Streamers WebSage Award from RealNetworks for the best educational use of streaming media.
In 2004, Education World rated Wired for Books an A+.
In 2006, Wired for Books was chosen by the
National Endowment for the Humanities
The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) is an independent federal agency of the U.S. government, established by thNational Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act of 1965(), dedicated to supporting research, education, preserv ...
as one of the best online sites for education in the humanities, and eTech Ohio presented the 2006 Program of the Year Award to Wired for Books as part of the Ohio Public Broadcasting Awards for Radio.
On November 20, 2007, Wired for Books was featured in ''
PC Magazine''s "Best of the Internet" column.
In June 2016, due to changes in staffing and resources for the management of wiredforbooks.org, the Don Swaim files were provided to Alden Library at Ohio University (where the original master tapes are held) - and the website went dark. The URL was sold to an unrelated organization.
At about that time, many of these interviews have been posted on the Ohio University digital collection website for free downloading from the public and are listed as the "Don Swaim Collection."
References
{{reflist
External links
Wired for Books MP3 PageRetrieved 2016-05-07, via archive.org's Wayback Machine
Wired for BooksRetrieved 2016-06-25, via archive.org's Wayback Machine
Don Swaim's uncut author interviewsat ''Wired for Books'', Retrieved 2015-03-21, via archive.org's Wayback Machine
Original unabridged audio productions
*
Ohio University searchable library of Wired for Books audio'. Within the digital archives, it is called the "Don Swaim Collection."
*
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'
*
'
*
Macbeth'
*
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz'
American book websites
Ohio University
Education in Athens County, Ohio