Comments on: Podcasting Ideas

By: paulbradshaw

paulbradshaw — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 12:58:51 +0000

The best podcasts for me work on discussion and – yep – conversation again. If you can get a few people together who know what they’re talking about and are relaxed then brilliant. Listen to this for a good example: http://enviroamerica.wordpress.com/2008/03/13/second-eno-podcast/

By: Doug Taylor

Doug Taylor — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 16:02:31 +0000

Hi Joanna,

Glad to hear you’re thinking of entering the world of podcasting.

We’ve got an easy-to-use product that will get your podcast online in under 5 minutes. The site even has a built-in audio/video flash recorder so you won’t need any special equipment to record audio or video episodes. It’s free, fast and fun!

Please call our support line if you experience any difficulty getting your show set up. +1 (610) 388-9911

Hope to see your show soon,

Doug Taylor
Founder/CEO
PodcastPeople.com

By: Ewan Spence

Ewan Spence — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 04:19:57 +0000

Podcasting (both video and audio, although the layman has podcasting being audio only), is a good place to start, and you hit the main issues here. The biggest is searching inside the content; that’s not there yet at all. If it was, contextual ads might be possible.

Delivery is the second – it’s not coincidence my easiest to grow podcast is one for the Sony Playstation Portable, which has it’s own podcast application in it to download the show over the built in Wi-Fi. Over time I think we’ll see more connected devices (iPhones, N95′s etc) that will podcast over the air and help this point. Discovery is another matter

And yes, podcasting, which is just blogging with something other than words, is a good way to start stretching out your wings. Imagine a living history of Birmingham podcast, interviewing people who have contributed over the last however many years? Grab a local sponsor, and you have budget, delivery, new content, and a great project for the paper!

By: Pete Ashton

Pete Ashton — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 17:19:07 +0000

Stef and I sat down at SXSW with his recording device thingy with the intention of just getting a few ideas down and ended up with a couple of half hour conversations which, though I haven’t listened back to them yet, got me thinking we should do a weekly show. No script – just the two of us bouncing ideas off each other and seeing where they go, only with a slightly more formal voice. I’d also like to bring “guests” in occasionally broadening out the discussion. I’m guessing the model would be something like Thinking Allowed, only less structured.

So it’s good to see you’re thinking along similar lines. We could have a distributed Birmingham radio station in the makings!

(actually, that recording the three of us did at the airport would be the sort of thing too: http://www.steflewandowski.com/?p=368 )

By: joannageary

joannageary — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 14:12:14 +0000

@tomscotney You have a lot good stuff to say! And more and more so, I think. I like the fact you’re picking up on the transparency/trust issue. That’s one of my hobby horses. I will interview you.

@efbq Thanks for the advice.

By: tomfromthepost

tomfromthepost — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 14:07:51 +0000

Think I’ve been a bit misrepresented on this one. Anyway, for me there has to be some kind of point for it to be worth recording something as a podcast, either in the content or the delivery

Obviously if there’s some sort of audio value to the content that text can’t put across, then a podcast is the best thing to do – see the success of the Gervais/Merchant/Pilkington podcasts.

But I think the key thing is about convenience. At the moment, the technology isn’t generally in place for podcasting to be convenient for the majority of users, even among the more tech-savvy, as you an I have found. I think it’s telling that you were inspired by people who are presumably on the cutting edge of technology use in SXSW. So maybe not as a journalism tool, but usefuk for specific users.

But that’s all changing, as was said in JEECamp the other day, and when the technology changes enough, it changes what’s the most convenient way to publish. So there’s no harm in getting in ahead of the curve.

And the best thing about podcasting/video recording, when it becomes useful as a mass journalism tool, it’s yet another way for people to connect with a journalist, to hear their voice. Transparency–>trust blah blah blah.

I’ll be very interested to see what you do. How about next time you do a big interview, post the annotated audio in full, compare it to the copy that eventually comes out, would be interesting to see/hear. You can interview me if you want, although I don’t think I’ll have a lot to add due to lack of experience.

Well… that was a lot more than I was planning to write. I’ll record it in my dreary monotone and post it for your listening pleasure if you’d prefer…

By: efbq

efbq — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 13:52:38 +0000

Have you played with the Olympus? The built in mic might actually be enough.

I have no idea what you’re talking about with Viddler, is there even a section for audio files? Most podcast feeds give you a way to present show notes for listeners to look over if they want to preview. Many podcasters don’t bother, but we always do at ours.

In any case, good luck to you.