I reconnected with a good friend, Stephen Hardiman, today. It’s fun to talk to Stephen because I always get juiced about something new and he has a way of taking my ideas and putting a new spin to them. Today was no exception. He summarized my description of the relationship between Podcast producers and Podcast [...]
About a month ago, Anders Holte Nielsen announced that he has discontinued development of his popular Counterize WordPress plugin, a plugin that summarizes and presents statistical information about a WordPress blog. Fortunately, he offered a solid alternative, the relatively young FireStats plugin by Omry Yadan. I installed FireStats on two of my WordPress sites today. [...]
This week, Bob Goyetche and I will be unveiling a new monthly segment on the Canadian Podcast Buffet – a round table discussion (tip of the hat to Ajay from All Axis Radio for the idea). Our first round table is on pacing oneself and avoiding “Podcast Burnout”. Our guests will be Scarborough Dude (DicksnJanes) [...]
Yesterday I blogged about a key difference of Podcasting and traditional media; the accessibility of the personalities (Podcasting as a channel for two-way communication). That is, Podcasters are far more accessible, and engaged, than their counterparts in print and broadcast media. This is both good and bad. While this offers endless possibilities to engage an [...]
According to many people in the Podcast community, one of the greatest strengths of the medium is the two-way communication that it facilitates. This is often presented as a unique feature of new media; one that is not enjoyed by traditional print and broadcast media. I have a slightly different take on this. There is [...]
I will be interviewed on CBC Radio’s Ottawa Morning before 7:00am on Tuesday, November 28, about Just One More Book, a podcast about children’s books. In this week’s episode of the Canadian Podcast Buffet, I reported that the interview would be Monday (November 27) which was true at the time we recorded the Buffet. The [...]
A little off topic, and yet something of interest… The New Music Strategies site is reporting that the major music labels are planning to abandon DRM. While the demise of DRM may sound like a rosey idea, you can bet that the industry is working on another model – the Son of DRM – as [...]
Bill Deys (DeysCast, Country Music Cast) has launched a free forum service for Canadian Podcasters. The site, known as Podcast Forum (www.PodcastForum.ca), allows registered Podcasts to independently administer their own forum. In addition to show-specific forums, Bill has set up forums for topics including general discussion, gear/studio, software/editing, and meetups. Perhaps the greatest feature of [...]
Thomas Dolby (She Blinded Me With Science) is producing video Podcasts which include live performance footage and brief discussions about his experiences in the studio. Here’s hoping he talks about how he has written, crafted and recorded his music over the years!
The problem with virtual worlds is that they offer yet another venue for conflict. In case you haven’t heard, Second Life has been hit with two problems in the last week, both of which threaten the economy and stability of this popular online world (‘Second Life’ faces threat to its virtual economy and ‘Second Life’ [...]
Tod Maffin released a new Todbits this week. It’s great to have his voice on my playlist, again. It took the sting out of losing Broca’s Area.
I just re-read part 4 (Editing Decisions) and realized that I left out a very important point about the use of breath in an interview – a breath can save you. What I mean is that a breath is a great tool to hide an edit. Suppose a speaker says ten sentences in response to [...]
In the latest episode of Managing the Gray, C.C. Chapman talked about “being an expert”. This is something that comes up often on marketing and public relations Podcasts, and at Podcast conferences. It took listening to C.C. talk about this – again – to inspire me to share my thoughts. Most of us are uncomfortable [...]
The cleanup of the Canadian Podcast directory at www.canadapodcasts.ca is underway. We’ll be removing entries that: are completely obsolete (without a website and feed) have been stagnant for 90-days, or more have inaccurate website, RSS or iTunes information If you have an entry on the directory, please take the time to tweak your Podcast description [...]
I see regular examples of Podcasting being treated as downloadable content, not a media delivery mechanism. Oddly, a lot of the confusion appears to be within the web industry. Add Mesh, which dubs bills itself as “Canada’s web conference”, to this list. The organizing team has a lot of work to do if it’s to [...]
With the polls just hours away from opening, and my hackals up over phone spam, I decided that it’s time to blog about the municipal election. Phone SPAM Several candidates for city councillor and mayor have been using pre-recorded phone spam as a way to reach voters. Voices that have called to talk at me [...]
James Whittingham has immortalized Bob Goyetche, Bruce Murray and me in his Podcasting Hall of Fame. Ahhh, the magic of greenscreens. James used to produce JamesPod as an audio Podcast (with the exception of a short video in which he humanely released a mouse he had trapped in his house). Recently, he launched Regina Radio [...]
Earlier this week I quietly installed the new look for MarkBlevis.com. Consider this the official unveiling post. I’m extremely happy with the new theme and the features built into it — a culmination of a lot of research and experience from both myself and the theme’s creator, the incredible and creative Nico of Snowy Day [...]
Two silos of Ottawa Podcasters united last night. Thanks to the organizers of the Ottawa Podcasting Meetup Group for making that happen. There was a great turnout (John Wiseman, Jill Pyle, Jeff Parks, Jeff Garland, Danny Lee, Dan Imbrogno, Arthur Masters, Leif Olson, Vinney White and Jay West). It was great to meet new people [...]
A brand new group, The Ottawa Podcasting Meetup Group, is hosting a Podcast meetup at the Clock Tower Brew Pub in Ottawa, tomorrow night – November 8 – beginning at 7:00pm. I’ll be there.
PodCamp Pittsburgh kicks off in a few days with a solid lineup of sessions truly designed to build necessary production, promotion and voice skills. This is a community effort that is demonstrating that, at its core, Podcasting is a medium that depends on basic skills to be successful and engaging. I’m intrigued by the slant [...]
First it was Jim Dupree; then Zee and Zed; now you can add Broca’s Area to the list. That’s right. Bob ruined my evening by emailing me urgently to let me know that Dave and Isabelle have pulled the plug on their show. I’m guessing it’s because Isabelle is busy with school. Thanks for producing [...]
The Web has become a place where people can claim to be pioneers. In fact, many of us are so keen on having title to events and ideas that we occassionally push things out the door before we have socialized the text of our claims with others who are involved (I’ve been guilty of this). [...]
I ended Blevis-ian editing, part 3 – Blended Edits with the announcement that the next part of the series would explore editing decisions for an interview. That was August 22nd. Better late than never, I suppose. Editing doesn’t have to be overwhelmingly, or even moderately stressful. It should be an integral part of the creative [...]
I couldn’t help laughing at the Tod Maffin poster overlooking James Whittingham during his YouTube simulcast – perfectly in the video frame no less.
