Given that the last post reviewed Wikipedia’s increasing reliability, I
thought we’d draw on their services for the following definition of podcast:
A podcast is an episodic series of digital media files which a user can set
up so that new episodes are automatically downloaded via web syndication to the
user's own local computer or portable
media player.
The
word arose as a portmanteau
of "iPod" (a brand of
media player) and "broadcast".
Thus, the files distributed are typically in audio or video formats, but may
sometimes include other file formats such as PDF
or ePub.
In
other words, it’s like serialised radio.
Content is saved in ‘episodes’ and distributed (usually) freely via a
website. The content can be
fiction – like the radio serials of old, or it can be factual. A commonly recognisable podcast in
Sydney would be Richard Fidler’s “Conversations”. The series of hour long pre-recorded interviews is broadcast on ABC 702 Radio at 11am daily, and each episode is then placed on the 702
website for downloading as a podcast.
The range of topics is broad as it is a collection of interviews with
interesting people, and stories from around the world. Here is the link to these Richard
Fidler’s podcasts: Conversations
The podcast from an Australian library I have decided to link to is part
of the Blacktown City Libraries
Podcasts. These podcasts are recordings of
author talks and discussions hosted by the Library. The link is http://www.libraries.blacktown.nsw.gov.au/Digital_Library/Digital_Library/Podcasts
The
podcast I listened to was entitled “Dianne
Bestwick (March, 2015)”. Diane lived in the Blacktown area
with her family for two years whilst she finished writing and researching her
book And a Bird Sang (published by
Createspace, 2014). The book is a fictionalized
account of a woman pregnant with her second child. It explores the problems she faces with
the difficult choice of continuing her pregnancy or having a forced abortion as
required by Chinese law.
The podcast provides the background to the novel, as
Diane speaks of her life experiences and her interest in writing. She also tells the story of how she
comes to be in China, and how her interest in the lives of the students she
teaches (all from one-child families) leads her to develop trust and
relationships with the local families.
Diane feels strongly the inequality and the anxieties of the women’s
lives where the state controls the very nature of their families. She became active in areas of social
justice seeking to help the abandoned babies of the one-child system – mainly girls
and disabled children – by volunteering in local orphanages. Indeed sales from the book are being donated
to some of these orphanages so that children have the medical assistance they
require.
