Blog post of the Day : Donna Papacosta

I first met Donna Papacosta last June, at PAB2007 in Kingston. I was struggling with my Internet connection and she came over to offer her help. I looked up gratefully, thinking I was miraculously about to get back online, but instead received even more valuable advice about podcasting basics.

Today, Donna has posted a great checklist for beginning podcasters in her blog, Trafcom News.

Definitely worthy of a chapter in the ever-growing collection of tips and tricks I'm calling my Podcaster's Bible.

PAB 2007 - Day 3 Topic 5 - Building a Podcast – the inside and outside of iTunes

I bumped into Charles Hodgson on the Saturday evening of PAB2007. I was heading out to explore Kingston and he was sitting looking a little 'peaked' in the lobby. I'd noticed him during the conference over the past couple of days, so took a chance and invited him to dinner. Luckily for me, he accepted my invitation.

Lucky, not only because he was charming company and indulged me in my curiosity about the ghost walking tour of the historic downtown area, but because he shared a long list of tips about getting started as a podcaster.

He was one of the last speakers at PAB2007 last weekend (as opposed to this past weekend, last weekend was almost 2 weeks ago : delay in publication caused by travels and baby distractions). Charles is the author of the soon-to-be-published Carnal Knowledge, an etymological look at body parts.

His presentation at PAB2007 outlined his use of his podcast, Podictionary, as a vehicle to promote his book.

According to Charles, iTunes is king. Out of all the visibility he's received since launching his podcast -- something he did within 18 hours of getting the idea -- iTunes has reaped the greatest rewards.


Etymology's pretty interesting. Something I learned from Charles that weekend:

Thril = hole in old English. Nosthrils = nose holes

Cool hmm?

PAB 2007 - Day 3 Topic 4 - Broken Toasters, William Shatner and Podcast Burnout

Neil Gorman gave one of the more memorable talks of PAB2007, mostly for quoting Julien Smith:

Your podcast is NOT a fucking toaster.

And Smith wants to be sure we never lose sight of that fact. Podcasts are valuable : we invest time and energy in them. And while Gorman agrees that a podcast isn't a throw-away, he wants to make sure we avoid podcaster burnout.

Gorman sees podcasting as a frontier, similar to the one explored by Shatner's most famous character, Cpt. Kirk. For Kirk, as for all humans, exploring frontiers is a secret to happiness. Gorman believes that podcasters today have reached a stage of quiet desperation, aching to recapture the early, frontier days of podcasting. Result? Many of them are on the verge of podcaster burnout.

How to avoid this? According to Gorman, burnout is a state of mind. The solution? Shake things up a little:

• do a new show


• do new things with a current show, like bring in a guest host


• change the show's format

Should you treat your podcast like a toaster? Gorman mainly sides with Smith ... until the danger of burnout begins to loom. Then, according to Gorman, it's time to replace your toaster with a new model.

And here I was waiting for a Microsoft flying toaster metaphor.

Flying toasters, broken toasters. I'm not enough of a geek to realize the difference - just enough of one to mix my metaphors

PAB2007 : the day after

Had a great time at PAB2007 and met tons of fantastic podcasters. What a friendly and helpful community.

I wasn't able to blog each presentation live, as intended, although I did take notes and so will be posting about other presentations heard this past weekend in Kingston over the course of the next few days.

So if you're interested in podcasting, stay tuned. There are some real gems in there.

Many thanks to Bob Goyetche, Mark Blevis, Cathy Bobkowicz , all the presenters, and everyone else who helped make PAB2007 a real success.

PAB2007 - Day 3 Topic 3 - Audio Drama

Jack Ward of The Sonic Society gave us a brief overview of Audio Cinema, as he calls it.

Next time I hear War of the Worlds I'll think of Jack.

PAB 2007 - Day 3 Topic 2 - The 4 Rs of podcasting

Tip of the day : don't blog directly into a web browser if you're unlucky with computers. As I was finishing my blog entry on Andy Bilodeau's presentation, a browser window error message popped up.

eek. Sorry. Guess this time you really did need to be there.

PAB2007 - Day 3 - Treats for your sound

It's Sunday morning and we have Internet access in the conference room, so I'm going to take advantage of it and blog live : I'll post the rest of Day 2 topics later on.

Bruce Murray from Zed Cast is up first and he' s talking about sound : some low cost and no cost solutions for podcasters.

5 key things that can make a difference - Bruce calls them 5 treats:

1. Treat your room
2. Treat your voice
3. Treat your mic
4. Treat your file
5. Treat your listener


Treat your room

According to Bruce, there are 2 things to consider : isolation and reverberation.

For podcasters who work in studio (or at home), the goal is to cut down as much ambient sound as possible. So turn off everything that makes interfering sound (air conditioners, fans, dimmers etc). The mic will pick up sound that you won't necessarily hear when you're recording. The goal is to create a dry sound. You can create 'soft walls' by hanging up packing blankets, drop cloths or screens, for example. Also, it's important to avoid hard and parallel surfaces as well as corners. Setting up corner baffles is a solution. Reflection filters can be very practical, although an investment for podcasters. Bruce built his own out of recycled materials : cardboard tubes and foam.

Ground loop hums are caused by wiring or audio equipment. To avoid this, use the same plug strip for all your equipment. Separate power cords from signal cables to minimize humming caused by magnetic fields. If they must cross, cross them at right angles so they have the least amount of contact possible. Try to keep cables shorter than 2 metres, as coiling causes magnetic fields. Drop them loosely on the floor. To quote Bruce, the neat packing of cables is not your friend. Use balanced (XLR) cables.

Mobile podcasting brings a few solutions. Cars provide podcasters with the ideal soundbooth. Being able to move your podcast to a quiet area, such as a park, is also an advantage (in fact, someone said yesterday that he has podcasted from the local cemetery).

Treat your voice

Bruce recommends brushing your teeth, drinking water with lemon, avoiding dairy. Reading and rehearsing your script is important. Humming, sighs and stretches are important for vocal warmup. Standing up makes you sound more animated.

Treat your mic

Use windscreens. Pop filters. Shock mounts for microphones, to reduce vibration.

Treat your file

Try to get the hottest signal that you can without clipping. If possible, put audio on separate tracks, giving you control over volume. Free filters are available through programs like Audacity and The Levelator (particularly good for panel discussions). SpitFish, FloorFish and BlockFish are free plug-ins that can be very useful. Sound FX are available through ljudo.com, Free Sound Project and SoundoftheDay Podcast. Encode at 44.1 kHz to avoid the chipmunk effect.

Treat your listener

Fill out ID3 tags. Use consistent sound levels.

Other sources:

homerecordingnetwork.com

InsideHomeRecording.com

hro.libsyn.com

Thanks, Bruce, for these tips. A pdf version is available through his site.

PAB2007 - Day 2 Topic 4 - How podcasting will save the world

Listening to podcasts inspired Montreal’s Hugh McGuire to launch LibriVox, an open project which, he claims, is the most prolific audio publisher in the world. LibriVox is part of the podcasting family that seeks to open things up and construct on a non-economic model. McGuire feels that evidence-based thinking and decision-making … or the ability to manage data … is part of what gives humans an evolutionary advantage. Societies are most stable when they are able to solve problems. The basis of democracy is to open data up to many people and allow them to make decisions based on that data. McGuire proposes that opening data to more people means more problems can be solved, which, in turn, creates a stable society.

As an example, he talks about a podcast for OBGYN residents, as a platform to exchange information and share learning.

Conclusion? Podcasting will probably NOT save the world, but it’ll help.

PAB2007 continued

The previous PAB2007 postings were live, or almost live. Then the hotel wi-fi connection died on us, so I continued writing in Word. The following Day 2 excerpts are time delayed. Let's see how much I retained ... or retained correctly anyway.

PAB2007 - Day 2, Topic 3 - Licensing

The unveiling of the Canadian Podcasting Legal Guide happened today at PAB2007. Andy Kaplan-Myrth of Creative Commons explained that copyrighting happens automatically for all creative work, including podcasting and therefore gets default protection. Only the copyright owner can distribute, copy and modify their work. When you write All Rights Reserved in your work, you are being redundant in emphasizing an automatic right. Sampling excerpts of podcasts, or sharing a podcast through a site that is not that of the creator is an infringement of copyright. Especially if money is involved.

Creative Commons licenses works out as ‘some rights reserved’. It is a tool that allows podcasters to distribute their work more broadly. Six different standards of licences exist, with different configurations of what is permissible.

A Canadian version of the license is available, and has been customized for Canadian law. Kaplan-Myrth encourages Canadian podcasters to choose this version in order to benefit from greater protection.

Kathi Simmons takes over to explain that the guide is an educational resource and legal roadmap to help podcasters navigate Canada’s complex legal waters. Copies of the guide are made available to PAB2007 participants. A downloadable version will be online shortly and a wiki is in the works.

PAB2007 - Day 2, Topic 2 - Podcasting as a Community

Today’s second presentation also talks about the space podcasting occupies in the modern landscape.

Ted Riecken of IslandPosting.com compares podcasting communities to medieval cities and frontier culture. According to Canadian anarchist George Woodcock, medieval cities were liberatory zones, attracting people who were excluded and who came together to survive. They joined together to avoid servitude : were independent, free thinkers. Riecken states that Libsyn, LibriVox and CFR are contemporary equivalents to these medieval cities. They are free and accessible – open and libratory spaces. Common interests come together through podcasts and they represent authentic, realistic alternatives for learning and sharing. Riecken is excited by the fact that podcasting exists in a mostly unregulated space.

Riecken also draws a parallel between podcasting and frontier culture: both are emergent, transitory, evolving, accessible. Both use limited and alternative forms of commerce. There is a common emphasis on freedom, opportunity and growth. Like the medieval city, frontier culture operates on the periphery. Again, the same can be said for podcasting, which sits outside the mainstream.

Riecken has attemped to categorize the podcasting community present at today’s PAB2007. Most are in the education and learning category of podcasting. Another large group is what he calls regional culture: podcasters talking about life as it is lived in their part of their world. Storytelling and personal blogs also occupy significant space.

Riecken emphasizes the importance of diversity, critical inquiry and thought.

Marshall McLuhan’s ghost is very present in the room this morning. Both speakers have evoked him and his impact on the media landscape, which now permeates podcasting. I wonder what Canada’s favourite media guru would think of the podcaster revolution.


Contributions from PAB2007 participants:
Zoominfo.com – directory to check out
Facebook – 'a supersaturated solution to crystallize interest around podcasts'

PAB 2007 - Day 2

It's a testament to how interesting the first day of the PAB 2007 conference was that I didn't get a chance to blog about it until this morning.

Yesterday, Tod Maffin regaled us with great radio clips meant to illustrate different storytelling tips. Some great stuff in there. The PAB2007 organisers treated us to a boat cruise, then took us to The Merchant Taps pub for some good times and music. Tod had me play this great little game : Zerts. Heard of it? Pretty cool.

I'm here at PAB2007 for my 'culture générale', as they say, but now also with another mandate : to see how feasible it would be to launch a podcast in the fall for Canada's Telecommunications Hall of Fame. To his credit, my client is open to the idea. This weekend will help me make a final decision about whether or not I want to go forward. I have a feeling I will.

Today's first speaker : Arthur Masters (OttawaLocal.com) speaking on 'Context is King'. He's talking about futurists. He's proposing that we've now moved from radio's Content is King maxim to Context is King. In a 1993 edition of Wired Magazine, Alvin Toffler predicted specialization : podcasting seems to be the manifestation of this vision, with the huge variety of podcasts and niche subjects they encompass. Today's podcasters are in a socialist or communist movement, according to Masters, acting not out of profit but of passion, with the democratisation of the tools and the means of production. This is a Marxist 21st Century's electronic factory. Masters also broaches the topic of online communities taking the power away from hit makers : referrals now come from many sources now that the tools of production are accessible to everyone.

As I listen to Masters, I can’t help imagining him as a 19th century revivalist preacher, espousing hope and a new way of finding salvation through podcasting. During the Q&A session, Julien Smith nostalgically talks about Masters’ idealism, reflects on what podcasting used to be about and yearns for a return to podcasting’s sources. I guess I missed something by jumping on the bandwagon at this stage. But hey. We can’t all be pioneers. It’s certainly nice to be able to absorb the wisdom, now.

PAB2007

I'm here. Tried to keep up during a very-tech intro presentation and now Tod Maffin's up.

He says I'll get more out of his conference if I don't blog at the same time, so I'm going to follow his recommendation.

Catch ya later.

Michelle-at-Podcasters-Across-Borders-2007