Where are the academic podcasts?
This blog is also a podcast. Few people notice. I have not posted any audio in months. (If you have never listened to me: I am better at writing English than at speaking it.)
Where are the good academic/research podcasts? What I found so far fitted in these categories:
- Promotional material for schools or research centers.
- Capture of audio/video events (such as lectures).
I have never liked lectures. I was the kind of student to never pay any attention in class. Some live talks are good, but most are not.
Podcasting is different however because it can be edited afterhand. You can cut the parts where you are rambling. You can redo part of the podcast if the first take was not good.
But where are the researchers producing good podcasts?
Montreal, Canada 
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But where are the researchers producing good podcasts?
I would imagine the researchers are doing research. If good podcasts take as much work as good lectures (and these take a whole lot of work), I’m not sure how much time there would be left for doing research.
Comment by Carlos — 31/12/2008 @ 11:56
It’s never occurred to me to look for podcasts. I have listened to a few lectures online, usually on the recommendation of peers.
It strikes me that creating a good podcast is a lot of work. It is no work to let someone record a lecture, and it seems significantly easier to edit text or even slide presentations than to edit audio.
Is there any evidence that this work would be rewarded? I don’t mean financially. Rather, is there an audience hungering for podcasts in general, let alone academic podcasts?
Comment by Daniel Tunkelang — 31/12/2008 @ 12:01
I suspect that many academics never liked lectures, just like you (and me). And not only because of rambling, but because of (recorded) spoken word is a fundamentally inferior form of delivery compared to written word. The main reason is that it is less interactive: you can’t control the pacing, and it is much harder to jump to where you want. But it is also harder to understand: you don’t have to deal with dialects and other idiosyncrasies in written text.
Non-recorded spoken word, i.e. a conversation, is on the other hand a good complement to written word.
Comment by Julian Togelius — 31/12/2008 @ 12:04
I’m hoping to relaunch a personal podcast this month, although I can’t say for sure how much content would be considered ‘academic’. I do plan on including excerpts from my lectures, but beyond that, no firm plans. I agree that more examples would be useful!
Comment by Ed Bilodeau — 2/1/2009 @ 18:10
You can find good academic podcasts here, at http://backdoorbroadcasting.net
with podcasts from Judith Butler, David Harvey, Andrew Bowie and many others.
Comment by René Wolf — 27/2/2009 @ 18:16