Teach42

David Warlick is currentely writing a book about classroom blogging, and plans to have a chapter in it devoted to podcasting. He asked me to write a quick response to the question, “Why do you produce a podcast when you already have a weblog?” Unfortunately, I truly don’t know the meaning of the words “quick response”. As I began to plan out my answer to his question, I realized that by all rights it should be a blog entry.

Podcasting and blogging are eternally going to be tied together even though they are quite different. They both make publishing accessible to the common man or woman. They provide a powerful, reachable voice to people that would previously be inaccessible. Perhaps most importantly, they are both subscribable and have the ability to be aggregated. Instead of seeking out the content, it’s always just waiting for you whenever you have the time to consume it. However, despite their similarities, they chave some very different qualities that distinguish the two mediums.

Besides the obvious difference, one is spoken while the other is written, there are dimmensions to podcasting that you simply cannot ever experience through blogging. There is a commercial for Comcast internet service that has a teacher in front of a class of adults asking what “LOL” means. He points out that three little letters simply cannot capture laughter. The written word is wonderful for so many reasons, but it is so restrictive in many ways. Where the written word tends to be deliberate and semi-formal, the spoken word can be casual and natural. There is a sense of connection when you hear someone’s voice. You can feel their emotion, something that is very difficult through reading someone’s writing. Although there are tools in blogs to help convey emotion (such as using bold or italics to imply strength or emphasis) you are still forced to artficially emulate that emotion within your own thoughts. When you hear someone speak, you can immediately sense how they feel about their subject matter.

There’s another reason that I podcast which may sound a little strange at first; I podcast because I love listening to podcasts. When I began listening to podcasts, the only education related material being produced on a regular basis was IT Conversations. While I do enjoy listening to them, they are often quite lengthy and many of the broadcasts had nothing to do with education. I wanted to hear educators talking about their experiences. I wanted to hear peoples’ ideas about technology and the school environment, their concerns as well as their successes. Since nobody else seemed to be picking up the reigns, I decided that I would try to lead by example. I began podcasting my own rambling opinions and found that there were other like minded people out there who cared what I had to say. Since I began podcasting, many other people have given it a try. Some people produce a few podcasts and then taper off, while others are still going strong. Personally, I’ve always said (a little tongue in cheek) that I’m going to continue doing it at least until I have enough education related podcasts to listen to every day during my communte home from work!

Seriously though, there are times when people are unable to read yet they still want to be exposed to new information. It’s awfully hard to read while jogging, and downright dangerous to read while driving. Personally, I’d rather listen to someone speaking to a subject that I care passionately about than some yahoo on talk radio who has the airtime simply because millions of other people seem to think that they are witty.

Now that I’ve had my opportunity to ramble on a bit, let me answer the question directly. “Why do I podcast when I already have a blog?” I podcast because the spoken word is much more effective for conveying emotion. There are people who share common interests with me that are seeking audio content that appeals directly to them; my podcast provides people with an alternative to the limited choices available on traditional radio. Most importantly though, podcasting is a literal voice that complements the virtual voice of my blog.

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