The association OHRKA – Netzwerk Hörmedien für Kinder e.V. (OHRKA for short) produces high-quality audio plays, readings and documentaries for children between the ages of five and twelve and offers them permanently free of charge for streaming and download. From 2011 to 2014, OHRKA was funded by the German Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media, the German Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth, and the German Federal Agency for Civic Education.
One of the founders is Stefan Wessel, managing partner of NetBrothers GmbH. We have supported the association since its inception in the development and programming of its website in TYPO3.
The website ohrka.de went online in late summer 2012. When the website was launched, it offered around 30 hours of audio. Today, the offering comprises almost 200 hours, and this figure is growing every year. There are audio plays performed by Anke Engelke, Stefan Kaminski, Oliver Rohrbeck, Katharina Thalbach and many other great actors! Classics such as ‘Gulliver's Travels’, ‘The Jungle Book’ and ‘Treasure Island’ have been recorded. Children's book author Paul Maar wrote a fairy tale especially for OHRKA. Armin Maiwald has also made a great contribution with six ‘Lach- und Krachgeschichten’ (Laughter and Noise Stories).
On Michael Dworkin's initiative, the Alexa skill Ohrka was created in 2021 for Amazon's Alexa voice assistant. Michael is an electrical engineer by profession and works as a communications electronics technician. He developed the skill, which reads the audio inventory via the interface NetBrothers provided and processes the information for the Alexa voice assistant. There is no further connection between the two systems. This means that all actions within the Ohrka skill remain within the Amazon group. Incidentally, Michael also had families with several children in mind when developing the skill: the programme remembers the last position for two different audiobooks. This bookmark function makes it easy to switch between the two audiobooks.