Stephen Fry starts podcasting. What a voice. What a mind.
Tag: Podcampuk
Bungling brum makes podcast
The stories of Birmingham City Council’s failure to establish a relaible system for paying it’s bills has made number one on computer weekly.com. The site makes a podcast each week from it’s 5 most popular stories. Our blessed financial frippery made number one slot. Link to the site is a touch irritating because you have to tolerate an advert before you see what you want. The podcast is a bit stilted.
Podcasts worth $165 million in the USA
Techcrunch has some guestimates from eMarketeer that reckon the number of active podcast consumers in America was 6.5 million last year (who yielded advertising worth $165 million) and will grow to 25 milion in 2012. Now the bold use of future numbers (licked finger in air) is why I’ve always struggled with a business plan (what are your predictions of tunrover/profit in 3 years and 5 years – how the b***ocks should I know!?).
I’m interested that last year 18.5 million Americans listened to a podcast and a more importantly one third of those remained active listeners. One of the reasons for this is the ease with which podcast can be found and consumed. I’ve already speculated on this and know there is a real appetite for the right niche content, so based on these numbers perhaps I should refine the planning. But I wont be paying eMarketeer $695 for the full report. Now if they bothered to present it in audio or video….
Blog rules for schools and young people – to txt speak or not?
I thoroughly enjoyed PodcampUK at the beginning of this month, but the session which I found most helpful was from Joe Dale. Joe teaches French at a Middle School on the Isle of Wight and what caught my interest were his blog rules.
They help manage the tricky problem of comments, which really motivate pupils involved in blogging or podcasting. If you take a look at the comments on this post from the Frankley Talk podcast project in South Birmingham you’ll see how those who took part wanted to share their pride and got a real kick from the praise coming from elsewhere.
Rule 7 and 10 strike a chord with me because I loathe txt speak. However different types of work may need different rules. As an outsider working in schools sometimes we can make more progress by being more relaxed. A teacher like Joe needs to remain firmly in control and is aiming to integrate web 2.0 in all they do.
- I will only use my first name
- I will never give out my email address
- I will never give out my home address
- I will never give out my telephone number
- I will respect others
- I will not use rude or threatening words
- I will not use text talk or chat language
- I will not copy other people’s work
- I will be responsible for everything I write
- I will check my spelling before posting
Below is a conversation I recorded with Joe in a short pause during podcampuk.
Whilst I’m here (and I’ll write some more on Podcampuk soon) thanks to everyone who organised the unconference and mentions for brum based Digital Central for sponsoring such a brilliant gathering, the NTI for hosting it and Aston Business School for a great venue for a party. It would be great to see you all back in Brum next year.