My Podcasting life … or the reverse Obama effect

Paul Ayres

Intute: Social Sciences

http://www.intute.ac.uk/socialsciences/podcast/

My hopes for Audacity

Podcast idealism from autumn 2005

Chance for independent voices to shine

Hobbyist beginnings

Opportunity to make a name for yourself

Yes we can, pretend to be radio DJs

My podcast standpoint

Experience - using podcasts to promote services / research, rather than teaching and learning

A podcast is …• Audio – videos are more likely to be learning objects

and vlogging does not need RSS• Regular – one audio file does not constitute a

podcast, must have a sense of regularity• Syndicated via RSS – otherwise it’s an online audio

file that has been possible for years

… a bit of a fundamentalist viewpoint I know!

Social Science Voices

• One-off proof of concept show• Designed to tie-in with ESRC Social Science

week in March 2006• Podcasting conceit as a 20 minute

programme released in parts• Made available using WordPress blog, takes

care of RSS feed, enables show notes• Generated a lot in interest – over 1000

downloads during the week

Social Science Voices

• Introduction to online audio and some of the sound based resources already out there

• Look at research, teaching and learning, marketing uses of online audio

• Makes me squirm to listen to it now, but got lots of good feedback at the time

http://www.intute.ac.uk/socialsciences/archive/esrc_socsciweek/2006/voices.html

Intute: Social Sciences Podcast• Pilot series of 12 shows from October 2006 to

March 2007• Mini-project with equipment budget and

evaluation report at the end• Featured news, new resources on Intute and

interviews• 15 minute show produced fortnightly made

available on existing bloghttp://www.intute.ac.uk/socialsciences/blog

/category/podcast/page/4/

Intute: Social Sciences Podcast• Went from zero to a few hundred listeners per

episode by the end of the run• Took at least half a day per episode to

produce - script, record, edit, source guests• Twin track online publicity campaign / getting

into iTunes, as promoting the Intute: Social Sciences blog at the same time

Intute: Social Sciences PodcastGood points

• Regarded as professionally produced

• Interview segments seen as most interesting aspect of the show

• Seen as innovative, led to further opportunities, writing articles etc.

Intute: Social Sciences PodcastOther feedback• Fortnightly not often enough to remember that

is exists• Non-interview content criticised as being

easily available in text format• Little evidence that it reached an audience

that hadn’t already heard of Intute• Most popular shows coincide with traditional

publicity mentions – article in a journal and a guest with an extensive email contact list

Intute: Social Sciences PodcastConclusions• Not sustainable to carry on with podcasts due

to time taken to produce them versus potential / actual audience

• Carry on with occasional audio downloads of interviews with people encountered in normal pattern of work

• Podcasting seen as a mystery to many and still need to explain terminology and processes

Economics interviews

• Existing contact had videos of interviews with economics researchers

• Stripped out audio and made these available as podcasts

• Professional journalist interviewing a researcher who has just completed a 1 day media training course

• Jargon free but not dumbed down, usually about 10 minutes long

• Several series of interviews surfaced on the Why Study Economics and Intute: Social Sciences blogs

http://whystudyeconomics.ac.uk/blog/category/audio/

Economics interviews

• Collaboration between Intute: Social Sciences, Economics Network and Royal Economic Society

• Most success when themed around events such as the Royal Economic Society annual conference

• Nearly 5000 downloads in month of release and ongoing downloads of most popular interviews of few hundred a month

• Accompanied by press release, links to Internet sites / relevant research and Intute searches

Economics interviews

• Did approach some publishers for funding to make it an ongoing series

• Some interest from them but not enough to pay for time at FEC rates

• Passed on podcast knowledge and led to further series elsewhere, which are continuing

• Centre for Market and Public Organisation http://www.bristol.ac.uk/cmpo/audio

• Vox Talks – Centre for Economic Policy Researchhttp://www.voxeu.org/index.php?q=node/1260

Lessons learnt

• Sustainability – time (can’t just plug-in and rant), clear aims, measure impact

• Length – keep it brief, you are competing with the 3 minute pop song

• Format – monologues are monotonous, conversation is king (preferably queen)

• Equipment – try before you buy or risk wasting the budget

Lessons learnt - Equipment

Podcasting in context

• Language confuses users – What is a podcast? Do I need an iPod?

• Process confuses users – subscribe concept implies payment even in iTunes

• 80% of podcasts listened to on a PC (Rajar, Jan 2008) not on an mp3 player

• Still a niche activity – 19% have downloaded a podcast, only 3% on typical day (Pew, Aug 2008)

Podcasting in context

• Independent voices soon drowned out once mainstream media started using iTunes

• Akin to what is happening with online video, user generated content versus need of service providers to raise revenue

• Are there any academics who have made their name through audio podcasting?

• Compare and contrast with blogging or even YouTube videos

Podcasting in education

Not news to us, but off-putting to potential users?

Given limited resources, where should effort go?

Is correct response to queries from academics Yes we can or Yes you can?

Source: CMU, June 2007

Podcasting in education

Questions to considerWhat are the quick-wins for using audio in Higher

Education?Are research / marketing uses of audio easier than

teaching and learning uses?Does audio = radio and therefore = communication

rather than an enduring asset?Are there lessons to be learnt from audio podcasting

when creating more complex learning objects?Does low level of uptake create a training need or

indicate lack of real usefulness?

Further reading / links

Intute search for podcast resourceshttp://www.intute.ac.uk/cgi-bin/search.pl?

term1=podcast*Intute search for sound resources http://www.intute.ac.uk/cgi-bin/advancedsearch.pl?

restype=SoundIntute: Social Sciences podcastshttp://www.intute.ac.uk/socialsciences/podcast/Delicious links about podcastinghttp://delicious.com/cfbloke/podcasts

Thanks for listening

Paul Ayres

paul.ayres@bristol.ac.uk

Website

http://www.intute.ac.uk/socialsciences/