Innovator in Residence Brian Foo is spearheading an amazing initiative at the Library of Congress that you’re going to want to know more about.
An artist and computer scientist who combines music, data and algorithms as “The Data-Driven DJ,” Foo has launched a preview of an open-source sample tool that taps into the Library of Congress’ incredible archive of public domain sounds.
With possibly the dopest title of any government program ever, “Citizen DJ” will launch in the summer of 2020 but a preview is up and they’re looking for feedback on it. The collection will feature “old sounds, newer sounds, music, spoken word, government film, speeches, radio broadcasts — a very broad range of different types of sounds,” Foo says in an introductory video.
The sound collections on Citizen DJ will be free to use without restriction and you can do anything you want with what you make from them.
You can experiment with the first collections of sounds curated by Library of Congress staff in a preview of the project on an Amazon node here.