Links

Nathan Shedroff: Guru of Experience Design. His site is an excellent resource, lots of good links. In his words: I am one of the pioneers in Experience Design, an approach to design that encompasses multiple senses and requirements and explores common characteristics in all media that make experiences successful, as well as related fields, Interaction Design and Information Design.
Don Norman: Guru of how things work (or don't). Has written several excellent and entertaining books. Popularized the term "affordance"—the qualities of an object or environment that suggest how you interact with it.
John Maeda: Guru of interactivity + technology. A brilliant guy, part programmer, part designer. Just named head of RISD (Rhode Island School of Design).

VoiceThread: Build online conversations around images and sounds. Visitors can comment with text or audio from computer or phone. New Orleans sample.
Audacity: A free, cross-platform sound editor. Can be used to capture, edit and exports sounds in mp3, AIFF or WAV format.