Slingshot

2008.01.04

I listened to some old podcasts while reorganizing my home office, yesterday. When I say old, I mean episodes that were published so long ago, podcasters were still encouraging their listeners to register monthly votes at Podcast Alley and pin Frappr Maps. Yeah! That long ago. The amazing thing is that those services still exist. I was amazed to discover that my Frappr Map is intact. Wow!

One of the shows I listened to, Zee and Zed, stepped down in its prime with a show that included some interesting commentary about the podcast movement. Ross and Karen’s follow-up podcast, Dry Shave, made a much quieter exit this past summer.

Another show that took a pragmatic view of podcasting is the Ottawa Local Podcast. This evening I noticed that the feed for that show is gone so I called Arthur Masters to find out why he pulled the plug.

Notwithstanding work and life demands that led to the evaporation of his podcast production time, Arthur made some interesting comments about where podcasting is now. I’ll paraphrase. He suggested that podcasting is pervasive now. Back when the veterans got their start, radio was well into a creative and identity void, CBC wasn’t podcasting and the corporate world hadn’t figured this thing out. The podcasters were changing the way media was being used and perceived. Many people who like to be different find themselves being part of the ‘same’ now.

To clarify… Arthur never suggested that he’s out because his show is now part of the mainstream. I’m just latching on to some specific comments he made.

During our drive from Boston to Ottawa in October, Bob Goyetche suggested that one reason why people have generally become complacent about podcasts is because there has been very little technological innovation in the space since iTunes v4.9 was launched in June 2005.

To me, podcasting is now in a state of maturity. The production tools have plateaued for the time being allowing, perhaps forcing, producers to focus on developing their content and delivery styles. Likewise, the tools for promotion and community development are fundamentally the same; they just exist in different places and have different names.

Some people have suggested that podcasting is dead. I disagree.

Like a rocket on course to use the gravity of a moon to slingshot it to a distant planet, podcasting is prime for its next explosive development cycle.

This is our opportunity to refine, and perhaps shake up, our shows and figure out what we want next. We can set the course for what the podcast channel will look and feel like.

What do you want?

Photo: jurvetson

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Tags:

Arthur-Masters, Bob-Goyetche, Dry-Shave, Ottawa-Local-Podcast, Podcasting, Zee-and-Zed

Filed Under:

Adoption,Community,Distribution,Podcasting,Social media,Technology,Tools

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http://www.purldiving.com katherine

I’ll be honest — I was a little taken aback by all the “podcasting is dead” posts I’ve been seeing lately.

That said, I’ve also been surprised at all the folks who are prepared to pack it all up, move on, or just go silent for a bit. That’s not a judgement, just an observation, and one that makes me curious as to why — and one that I think is leading to the “podcasting is dead” conclusion for some. I much prefer the idea that we’re on the verge of some kind of course correction.

And although I really loved Neil Gorman’s presentation at PAB last year, there’s a part of me that truly believes that sometimes it’s good to buy a new toaster, and that we should look at podcasts as having a life span. When that life span is over, it’s time to move in a new direction. I’m already feeling that with Purl Diving — I’ve learned a lot doing it, but frankly, there’s only so much I can say about knitting without re-inventing the wheel, and I’m not terribly comfortable with the idea that who I am boils down to “knitter”, when in reality, it’s a small part of how I see myself.

One of the things I’ve been working on is finding ways to integrate different types of media — blog, audio, podcast, and some of the new tools that I know precious little about at this point, like Twitter and Udderz. I want to pull myself out of the radio-inspired podcast format, and really play with all these tools, and see what comes of it in the end. I doubt I’m setting anything new in motion here, as I’m the least likely candidate to be “cutting-edge”, but I do think it’s a format that takes the pressure off of producing a single podcast once a week with all the work that entails.

One of the marbles that’s been rolling around in my brain lately is the idea of community and creativity — that if we try to create in a vacuum, we end up burnt out, but if we reach out to others, work with others, *play* with others, even in small ways, we end up moving in directions we might never have thought of before.

Todd Tyrtle is playing with this idea, with his “talking stick” podcast idea, where a bunch of us just riff off each other on a topic. I’d like to see more of this happening, and I think it just might re-energize things.
Ross

I wouldn’t say podcasting is dead, certainly not. It’s just not as exciting as it was in it’s first two years.

Everyone is putting them out, from NPR/BBC/CBC/etc. to Kevin Smith/Tom Green/Dave Foley/Radiohead/Thomas Dolby to ESPN/TSN to NBC/The Onion/National Geographic/HBO/CNN to New Yorker/Time and even XM radio. It’s no longer the voice of the people, it’s tool for the entertainment world.

The diversity is exciting for a listener but at the same time overwhelming. There is so much media available on demand now and if one isn’t held to ideals of “indie cred” they can afford to be more picky about which podcasts they listen to and yield much higher quality programming.

It’s now less appealing to start for the person in the basement and less appealing to hear the unestablished person in the basement when you’ve got pros out there giving you well produced content out of the gate. It can be daunting to “compete” with the “professionals”.

I’d rather play on the Wii or read a book or magazine these days when I have free time.
http://www.podcastbandito.com daryl cognito

What do I want?

I do agree with Ross. I still listen to some people who are in their basement but I have picked up more “pro” shows like CBC’s vast offerings. Podcasting is and I think always will be a great place for “geeks” and amateurs to hang out in the fishbowl and talk about their interests. But I expect more now then I did 2 years ago, both from the shows I listen to and from my own show.

What I think is the “next explosive development cycle” for podcasting is to put the portable back into it. Its great that a person can subscribe on their computer and then it syncs to you music player but I want the computer out of the equation. We are close with the iphone/touch having itunes and wifi but no podcast support. We are close with the Zune having wifi sync capabilities but it needs a computer to live. Give me a computer free way to subscribe, download and update podcasts and I will give you my mother as a listener.
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http://www.podcastbandito.com/ daryl cognito

What do I want?

I do agree with Ross. I still listen to some people who are in their basement but I have picked up more “pro” shows like CBC's vast offerings. Podcasting is and I think always will be a great place for “geeks” and amateurs to hang out in the fishbowl and talk about their interests. But I expect more now then I did 2 years ago, both from the shows I listen to and from my own show.

What I think is the “next explosive development cycle” for podcasting is to put the portable back into it. Its great that a person can subscribe on their computer and then it syncs to you music player but I want the computer out of the equation. We are close with the iphone/touch having itunes and wifi but no podcast support. We are close with the Zune having wifi sync capabilities but it needs a computer to live. Give me a computer free way to subscribe, download and update podcasts and I will give you my mother as a listener.