Though Canada.com won’t archive the article, I still feel pretty good about JD Gravenor’s article, Podcasts: Letting parents hear what teens have trouble saying. It focuses on Listen To Your Kids, a project started this year to connect kids with parents. Go give it a read while it’s still online.
Filed by Julien at 12:33 pm under projects, podcasting
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So I’m in San Francisco right now, chilling in a house we rented with Patrick and a certain girl. The next few days involve recording a podcast and general vacationing, getting together with some Podshow peeps and listeners to the show. Yesterday was Flickr’s 3rd anniversary party, which was super fun.
The Podcamp Toronto thing thatweall organized was seriously awesome. Here’s a few things I learned:
1) Mitch said one thing that I suspect will ring true for us a number of years from now– that social networks and dating sites will soon cause a drastic drop in the divorce rate.
2) Twitter is all over the place! Chris Brogan had it on his slides; Chris Penn did too. Scoble just added his 700+ fans to his friends list, as a radical listening experiment. This may be the coolest thing I’ve seen someone do in 2007.
3) Podcasting may finally be ready to move beyond the simple monetization methods that have long held the medium hostage. Through ourTrust Economies session I feel that some momentum is pushing the idea of networks-as-ROI forward. Take a look at the video here (it requires Quicktime), and please leave your comments if you’re so inclined– I’d love to hear them.
Filed by Julien at 9:23 pm under projects, travel, community, podcamp toronto, trends, podcasting
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This may actually work! Mark Yoshimoto Nemcoff launched this meme the other day, Bum Rush the Charts, that’s attempting to send an indie artist to the top of the iTunes charts through a same-day purchase of one track. Here’s the blog in case you wanna follow what’s happening with it.
The way I see it, it can get even better than that: If we not only purchase the track, but I have a feeling this idea would catch on in social networking spheres (think Digg, etc.) - if we get enough attention, that would propel the purchases of this one track ever upward– who knows how far it could go.
Filed by Julien at 12:13 pm under music, podcasting, random
6 Comments
Going out to run some errands, but I just wanted to thank everyone for the load of honest, genuine emails I’ve received because of my epilepsy podcast episode.
Also, something occurred to me yesterday that I think would be really awesome to do. Considering how huge my collection of podsafe hip hop is, I thought I would make a massively long DJ set (like 3-5 hours long) that would be downloadable and people could use at parties and bars and so on. I asked my three non hip-hop listening friends about this last night and they were all over it, so I think it could work. What do you guys think?
Filed by Julien at 12:49 pm under hip hop, podcasting
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Yesterday, I had lunch with Justin Evans of Stress Limit Design– otherwise known as the social media company that doesn’t really have a website. For some reason, the restaurant we were eating at, a self-described “atypical French restaurant,” used socks instead of napkins. The food was incredible though– it’s one of those secret out of the way spots that’s sure to become a staple location once yuppies take over the neighbourhood. :)
Filed by Julien at 10:00 am under podcasting, random
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Listen To Your Kids is a project that I’ve been thinking about it since the Podcast Expo in September of 2006. Today, I am happy to say that I am launching the site.
What does it do? Listen To Your Kids connects kids that want to share with parents that want to listen, all through very simple, existing technologies.
I’ve always felt that the most effective innovations are created through connecting already powerful elements (think podcasting). Here, there is a telephone number, and a podcast feed. Anything (relevant) that gets said by kids in one end will come out the other, to be heard by parents all around the world. I hope we can make this a valuable learning tool for people everywhere.
So that’s it. If you’re a parent, you’ll hear kids talking about what’s going on in their lives. If you’re a kid (of any age), you can call and talk about whatever’s going on in your head– questions, problems, whatever you need to discuss. It will not be censored.
Please subscribe to the feed in iTunes and spread it to your friends. I think that, as this project evolves, we’ll be very enlightened by what we hear.
Filed by Julien at 9:08 pm under projects, podcasting
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So I’ve been podcasting two years, and I’ve heard a hell of a lot of shows, and been to a pretty decent number of conferences. I’ve met Dawn and Drew, been raped by Madge Weinstein, met and hung out with a fair amount A-listers. But this post isn’t about them. This is about the 10 most under-appreciated people in podcasting– people whose shows deserve a lot more love, or who deserve a lot more attention, themselves, for the amazing stuff that they’ve done.
Neil Gorman called Matt and his show, Digital Detroit Radio, the best-kept secret in podcasting for a reason. He’s a pleasure to meet in person and chill with, and his show is consistent, and his stories are hilarious. Plus, he’s been at it for longer than you have. Go give a listen to his show.
Mark Blevis and Bob Goyetche run the Canadian Podcast Buffet, which is less of a podcast and more of a full service community website. They provide an amazing thing to Canadian podcasters of all types. In fact, I have never seen two people basically take over a country’s podcasting scene since Mark… uh, oh wait
During the first Podcast Expo, the big thing between us Podshow music types was that Mark basically had Scotland by the balls. We had never, nor will we ever, see a country’s music so well represented as by the Tartanpodcast, and a podcaster so effectively take charge of a country’s podcasting movement, as Mark.
Three weeks ago, Matthew Ebel got laid off from his job. On his blog, he said: “I’ve got 83 days to turn my entertainment business into something that pays the bills.” The guy is working harder than anyone to make a living from podsafe music. That deserves a hell of a lot of support. Listen to his podcast, and grab his CD, which has been on top of the podsafe charts, like, forever.
Ever since I met Mitch, his ability to deliver relevant information about branding and new media have been amazing, both in person and on the blog for his company, Twist Image. The title of his show, Six Pixels of Separation (iTunes), reveals an ability to translate complex subjects in a clearly understandable way. He’s the Canadian Joseph Jaffe, which is just as well for Joseph, since that means they aren’t competing. :)
I’ve been in love with Tim’s Unkempt series ever since I heard him talk on the fifth episode of the series, Four Months Bitch! He delivered such an amazing story, so honest and revelatory, that it puts me to shame. Start with that episode and go forward.
Ken is the awesome old guy you always see at the bar, and his podcast delivers just that kind of quality. He has all these crazy stories, and he delivers them with zero pretension. The show happens whenever, but that’s because they’ve got this timeless thing– you could listen to the same one a year from now and get the same effect, just chilling out with this awesome old dude.
Dan is the hardest working dude in podcasting. Every time we’re talking on IM, he tells me about these awesome things he’s working on for his show, The Creepy Sleepy Show, and his life. I’m inevitably like “wtf” because I don’t work hard at all. Dan is ready for his comeuppance like nobody I’ve ever known.
Chris Brogan isn’t exactly “in podcasting” as much as “in new media,” but he’s still a heavyweight in terms of what he delivers to the podcasting community. He produced Podcamp Boston, the first of the now popular unconferences that are happening all over the US and Canada now. He also works with Jeff Pulver, who’s doing awesome things like creating Video on the Net conferences (for those that understand what’s happening in online video). He’s a community guy first, totally about people, and his blog is top-notch.
Mike is at the bottom of the list for a reason: he’s the final word. Mike founded blip.tv, which is basically unlimited hosting for podcasters and videobloggers, no strings attached. Yet, no one I know ever talks about him or his service. But do you need anything else? I didn’t think so.
Filed by Julien at 11:38 am under podcasting
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My friend Ray just gave me the best Xmas present EVAR, as is demonstrated elegantly on Chris Penn’s Mac OS X Dashboard:
You know you want one. And yes, it’ll always have the newest episode. :)
Filed by Julien at 10:51 pm under podcasting
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Dave Slusher reports that “[a]t least one podcaster has received email from BMI telling him that he owed them money by ‘airing’ music they collect money for.” Wow, and I really thought I was safe.
Dave puts up some really interesting points here - mainly, how likely it is that these people really have no clue whether they are owed or not and, if so, for what songs, or how many.
I’ve always been what Slusher categorizes as a ‘boy scout,’ asking explicit permission for everything I’ve ever done, so who knows whether this will turn into anything for me or not. But with the startling news items of late (read: AllofMP3 being sued, ruling on MP3 linking), I am feeling a little anxious. We’ll see how it pans out.
Filed by Julien at 2:40 pm under podcasting
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Homeless Nation is a non-profit organization that focuses on giving a voice to homeless people across the country. As of last Monday, I work for them. Here’s why.
First, from the site:
There are tens of thousands of homeless people in Canada, with no address, no vote, nameless and faceless, and yet there is almost no documentation (statistical or personal) made by them or about them as a community or as individuals. If we continue to accept this status-quo of invisibility, an entire generation of homeless people will pass away without a trace.
People are speaking a lot these days about media democratization. In a previous podcast, I talk about democratization of power, as well as how to get there. Still, these goals are far off, despite the fact that everyone’s convinced how close we are. The power of media creation is still in the hands of the rich - those with expensive computers, broadband connections, and the necessary knowledge. And let’s not forget how difficult it is to create stuff when you’re working hard trying to support yourself (and your family, in certain cases).
When I look at Homeless Nation, I see people actively working to topple that structure. They give homeless people what is necessary to reach people, just like podcasters and videobloggers are trying to reach people. They aren’t deciding what’s worthy - instead, they’re placing that in the hands of their users. For that reason, I want to be a part of what they’re doing.
Next week, I’ll be working with them at ATSA (roughly translated, Socially Acceptable Terrorist Action) for a week in the park at Berri-UQAM, doing all sorts of audio and video recordings, interviews, etc. Come by if you’d like, we’d love to see you there.
Anyway, I’ll probably end up blogging more about what I’m going through with these guys as time goes on. Thanks to everyone that’s shown support for what I’m doing. You can subscribe to the Homeless Nation RSS feed here.
Filed by Julien at 5:28 pm under projects, political, podcasting
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