Odeo podcasts for tag: communication

"ALIVEWIREDU"-Talk Radio Show!

Thu, 25 Oct 2007 03:09:55 GMT

On November 7th, Join Brad & his guest, Shaunti Feldhahn, co-author of the book, “For Parents Only”! Shaunti & her partner, Lisa A. Rice have written the perfect “Parents Guide”, for dealing with your teenager! Visit their website for further details @: http://www.forparentsonlybook.com – Call In your questions for Shaunti at: 646-595-3665, Join Us LIVE!

"ALIVEWIREDU"-Talk Radio Show!

Thu, 16 Aug 2007 19:09:52 GMT

Join me & my guest, Dennis Adams, author of “Honest-Direct-Respectful”! Three words that could change your life & how you communicate with others. Are YOU Passive OR Reactive? Find out HERE!

Your Host,

Brad Richard

"ALIVEWIREDU"-Talk Radio Show!

Mon, 13 Aug 2007 18:39:13 GMT

Join me & Dennis Adams, author of the book, “Honest-Direct-Respectful”! A book about communication styles & a powerful tool to help you communicate better & understand others!

Your Host,

Brad Richard

Corporate misconceptions and ideosyncrasies

Sun, 10 Jun 2007 15:05:06 GMT

This podcast is about corporate misconceptions about media and communication.

"ALIVEWIREDU"-Talk Radio Show!

Wed, 30 May 2007 17:32:25 GMT

Please join me and my guests, Tammy D. Thompson & Nekay Smith, authors of “Dear Men”!

Men, this Book’s For YOU! Great interview about how men & women don’t speak the same language, but how they can learn to! Enjoy this show and get the help you need to communicate better!

Your Host,

Brad Richard

Yarmouth Vanguard Wins Big In Newspaper Competition

Tue, 20 Mar 2007 15:44:37 GMT

We want to be among the first to congratulate the staff of the Yarmouth Vanguard for their part in helping to win four prestigious awards in the National Competition of the Canadian Community Newspapers Association.

The Canadian Community Newspapers Association is the …

Duality of Communication - 20061105

Sun, 05 Nov 2006 14:40:21 GMT

tzolkin, ik, communication, 20061105, mayan calendar, torure, fifth day, bliss, materialistic mindset, poverty, ritual sacrifice, macrobes, tsarion, uinal, fifth night, money, dollar, world bank, david icke, european union, fascism, socialism, democracy, disconnect, spirit, birth tzolkin, daysign, personal purpose

http://www.mayanmajix.com/TZOLKIN/index.php

Justice of Communication - 20061016

Mon, 16 Oct 2006 15:22:09 GMT

wind, communication, tzolkin, 20061016, iran, depleted uranium, globalization, poverty, terrorism, alpha-particles, uranium, ammunition, war on terror, iraq war, tanks, soldiers, us, cancer, kinetic energy, mass, bullets, cruelty, international government, war veterans, neo poverty, neopoverty

making contact...

Sat, 30 Sep 2006 18:54:42 GMT

communicatio interdigitalis

Christopher Allen - The Dunbar Number

Mon, 28 Aug 2006 05:00:00 GMT

The Dunbar number is a measure of the cognitive limit to the number of individuals with whom a person can maintain stable relationships. The concept has intrigued sociologists and anthropologists since it was first recognized as the correlation between brain capacity and group size in primates. In this talk, social software observer Christopher Allen discusses the interesting implications the Dunbar number theory has for the gathering of humans on line in the digital age. f/gigavox/channel/itconversations?a=ZVMuCrpT”> f/gigavox/channel/itconversations?a=BAuwdM0n”>

Ascension of Communication - 20060817

Thu, 17 Aug 2006 17:18:36 GMT

mayan calendar, tzolkin, 20060817, ik, wind, ascension, 13, communication, ra, faraos, egypt, jordan maxwell, israel, terrorism, war on terror, galactic cycle, chaos, fear, mind control, cia, mkultra, 911, false flag operations, military exercises

Flow of Communication

Fri, 28 Jul 2006 11:42:22 GMT

flow, ik, communication, 20060728, tzolkin, mayan calendar, galactic cycle, consciousness, wind, intuition, mind, brain, emotions, feelings, psychic abilities, national cycle, illuminati, north american union, mexico

Understanding of Communication.

Sat, 08 Jul 2006 17:52:46 GMT

tzolkin, planning, creative, now, galactic cycle, mayan calendar, ik, communication, understanding, 20060708, uinal, harmonization, trecena, aspects, creation, consciousness, evolution, acceleration

Empowerment of communication, Alex jones and David Icke

Sun, 18 Jun 2006 09:22:51 GMT

alexjones, alex, jones, davidicke, david, icke, “david icke”, “alex jones”, empowerment, communication, 5, Ik, wind, 20060618, information, media

Formal Education: Prepared for Success?

Wed, 22 Mar 2006 06:53:52 GMT

Learn to acquire those skillsets required for success that they forgot to teach you in school.

Selling Professional Services; Overcoming Human Error

Wed, 22 Mar 2006 06:27:12 GMT

Attorneys, Engineers, Accountants, and Consultants: In your firm, people are your product, and they will inevitably make mistakes. Learn how to overcome those issues and solidify client relationships.

My latest podcast: Ego, emotion and email -- and much more

Sun, 19 Feb 2006 10:48:51 GMT

In this 13-minute podcast, you’ll hear how email and emotion can be a risky combination. Plus, we welcome the debut of PodcastUser magazine and Ron Shewchuk’s employee-communications blog, and talk about the phenomenon of podfading. Last but not least, you’ll…

The Importance of Effective Communication with Patients, Colleagues, and Staff with Dr. Michael S. Woods

Fri, 04 Nov 2005 13:25:34 GMT

Dr. Michael S. Woods of www.doctorsintouch.com, practicing surgeon, former researcher, leadership coach, and author of Healing Words and Applying Personal Leadership Principles to Healthcare discusses the importance of effective communication with patients, colleagues, and staff with Kent Bottles, MD.

MOTOFWD CHALLENGES TOMORROW'S LEADERS TO VISUALIZE HOW LIFE MIGHT BE AFFECTED BY TECHNOLOGICAL ADVANCEMENTS TO COME

Fri, 07 Oct 2005 16:26:41 GMT

As technology continues to advance beyond our imaginations, generations of youth have become more tech savvy. It has impacted the way they work, play and interact with others. It is their vision that is moving us towards seamless mobility – a set of solutions that will provide easy, uninterrupted access to information, entertainment, communication and more.

BSafe Online - Oct 4th

Tue, 04 Oct 2005 00:00:00 GMT

Today the information we have for you will be both eye opening and critical to the safety of your families, your businesses, and your organizations. We’re talking about maintaining security on your computers, and monitoring the sites and messages you are exposed to while using this incredible information and communication tool.

Developing a Culture of Giving in Light of Hurricane Katrina

Sun, 25 Sep 2005 00:48:41 GMT

In typical American fashion, the nation is responding with generosity to Hurricane Katrina. Many companies are stepping up to help through corporate contributions, or through facilitating contributions by their employees. One early example is Chevron, who announced a $3 million contribution to the Red Cross and a $2 million commitment to local charities and relief efforts near Chevron facilities in affected states. This two-fold approach seems a wise one, for it attempts to address the larger needs while also allowing the company to make a local impact that its neighbors and employees can relate to. Such thoughtful corporate giving is not only good public relations – it is also the first step in developing a corporate culture that encourages philanthropy and volunteerism – two traits that can make any company a great one. Other approaches to “thoughtful giving” can focus on encouraging people to become donors, or on extending the involvement of the individual giver. For example, many companies are matching employee donations to The American Red Cross. The simple offer of matching, combined the convenience of making a donation at the workplace, can inspire individuals that might otherwise stay on the sidelines. In addition, at least two other large organizations involved in relief efforts can provide unique opportunities for extended involvement from companies and their employees:

The Salvation Army has a history of providing relief services and working with the poor. In addition, it often has volunteer opportunities in local communities. Since Katrina needs are going to last for months or years, companies could make a longer-term impact by not only encouraging contributions today, but also working with local Salvation Army representatives to provide bell ringers or other volunteers for the upcoming holiday season. This type of linkage helps move individuals from crisis giving to lifestyle giving.
Samaritan’s Purse is a worldwide relief organization headed by Franklin Graham, son of evangelist Billy Graham. They dispatched two semi tractor trailer disaster relief units as Katrina hit. They are now mobilizing volunteers to help with home reconstruction. Because they work with local churches, there is the potential opportunity for more connection, involvement and communication with donors. In addition, Sam’s Purse sponsors “Operation Christmas Child,” a Christmas project providing gift-filled shoeboxes to war-torn and impoverished children worldwide. Again, this provides an opportunity for companies to use the current crisis to provide longer-term opportunities for giving and volunteerism to their employees.

Another approach that has merit for companies is connecting through similar or like-minded organizations in the disaster region. For example, some hospitals are looking for opportunities to help New Orleans hospitals and their employees – or those more outlying hospitals that are suddenly faced with dealing with refugees and their wide-ranging needs. Funneling contributions in this way provides a special sense of unity with workers in the same industry in affected areas—and can allow employees the opportunity to include cards and letters of support or encouragement with their cash donations. Again, this has the potential to develop a “sister city” relationship that could further develop in the future – and Katrina-related needs are certain to last many years into the future. Meanwhile, the American Hospital Association has established a special web site (http://www.hospitalreliefefforts.org/) to help coordinate volunteer health care workers that are expected to be needed at the Federal Emergency Medical Shelters now being established. This is a nice example of how trade associations can help facilitate thoughtful responses by their members. Further information on how others can help through contribution of personnel, supplies or funds can be found on the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s site at http://www.fema.gov/ . The combination of a donation of time, effort and money is one of the most powerful ways to develop a long-term culture of giving in an organization. And in turn, this type of culture not only supports an organization’s own needs (if it is a non-profit), but can also produce the type of “other-centered” people that make a company successful regardless of industry.

For Immediate Release: 09/08/05

Thu, 08 Sep 2005 12:00:00 GMT

More on Katrina, reports on media sites and employee blogging, a report from Dan York, following up on CEO ’s role in change communication and on the value of audio vs. text

For Immediate Release: 08/29/05

Mon, 29 Aug 2005 11:00:00 GMT

Pitching journalists, IABC recognition, great iRiver recording, how email spies work, blog etiquette: Steve Rubel and Jeremy Pepper trackback stand-off, Max Hansen’s second report from Blog Business Summit, the latest on Dell hell, Lee Hopkins reports from Australia, communication channels in organizations in times of change, and more.

In my opinion

Fri, 26 Aug 2005 04:07:00 GMT

I’ve reviewed a few books in the past few years, all related to education and/or art and design (a term I hate as it implies the two are one and the same). In every case I’ve enjoyed the books I’ve read – even the one I really hated: Class War by Chris Woodhead, a bitter polemic that makes more bizarre claims than you’ll hear from any religious extremist, and making the author a prime candidate for deportation as a proponent of hatred towards educationalists. But this week my latest review appeared in The Times Higher Educational Supplement (26 August 2005) of Graphic Design School by David Dabner. Reviewing it had been a tricky business for several reasons. Firstly, this is a small world and as I’m currently facing the end of my contract and looking, increasingly desperately, for a new job, I knew that if I didn’t like what I read and told the truth I might find a few doors closing. Dabner works at a university where I have links, largely through my work teaching on their postgraduate certificate in education – a qualification all lecturers are having to gain (quite rightly) but which many deem beneath them though not, I hasten to add, Dabner, so far as I know. If worst came to worst and I couldn’t find a full-time teaching post I knew it was a fairly safe-ish bet that I could get some part-time teaching hours at this place to tide me over (although to be honest it would still not be enough to pay the rent). So the pressure was on because the likelihood of getting a job, or more likely keeping it, if I wrote a bad review would be remote. Academics, I know from bitter personal experience, don’t like each other but they don’t like people who criticise their colleagues even more. And it isn’t just that particular institution I’m talking about – the fact is that everyone knows everybody else and I could be criticising the Devil himslef but if someone once worked with him (something I don’t doubt in some cases) I’d find myself sent to Coventry (except even there I bet I’d be ignored. If you’re already in Coventry, where do they send you?) The second difficulty arises from the fact that I have a book coming out myself in November. In fact I’ve got two coming out – a book on branding I’ve provided some sections for, and one on Visual Communication I’ve co-written with a well-respected designer. At the time of doing the review I’d just submitted the final manuscript to the publisher and, although relieved, I have to say I was going through the ‘oh my God it’s crap’ phase. I used to think it was just me, that I can never like what I’ve done until a year or so down the line, but I think most people suffer from this. At school I would never let people see my work, and as a designer I would hold off until the deadline (or after) before saying ‘here, what do you think?’ So I was thinking to myself ‘what goes around comes around’ and that if I submitted a negative review I’d find myself being reviewed by someone who felt I was going to get what I deserved. The third reason, and the biggest, was simply politeness. Somebody has written a book and had it published. That in itself is an achievement, something I can relate to. Just flicking through the pages I was overcome by respect for the mind-boggling complexity of chapters, headings, box-outs, picture captions and footnotes. Would a negative review send the guy into a depression? I know that’s what will happen to me if I stumble upon less than positive feedback of my efforts. There’s a common phrase in education of the ‘shit sandwich’, a model for providing students with feedback. Start off with the praise, then give them the criticisms, then no matter what the grade they got, end with more praise even if it’s just ‘well-formatted’ or ‘some interesting points of view’. It’s quite a good model actually, less formulaic and more constructive than it sounds and so, I thought, maybe I should use it here. I have a bit of a process when I write reviews: I skim through the book first to get the general gist and write an immediate response to what I think the arguments are. If you read a lot of book reviews you’ll notice that many talk more about the subject than the actual book, and this is my preparation for that bit. Book reviewing is less about the book than placing it in a context and commenting on its contribution or failings in that context. Then I read the book more closely and make a mental note of sections that stand out, for good or bad. Finally I put it away for a bit. I might ‘free write’ my immediate thoughts but either way, I put it away for some time partly out of procrastination and partly because I want my thoughts to mellow. Something that makes you angry one minute might later, after much thought, turn out to be a good point that you simply weren’t willing to accept. I see a lot of this in student essays, incidentally. There’ll always be a body of students who think an idea you introduced them to is stupid and misses the point. In fact this sometimes comes out in the end of year feedback they provide on the course – among the positive comments there’ll be a few that are quite scathing about something and although it’s easy to get upset about them I know from experience that it’s often those students who, when it comes to their third year dissertation, will come up with the goods because they’ve engaged with the arguments and mellowed over time. Well, not always. Sometimes they just don’t like me. So after the cogitation comes the writing process and again there’s a formula: general comment about the subject, how the book fits in to it, specific points and maybe a quotation or two, show off about your own knowledge, find something to praise or criticise (whichever provides a balance to what’s gone before) and then mention who you’d recommend it to (if at all). ‘Job’s a good ‘un’, as we say in Yorkshire. Then if time allows leave it again and come back to it. Often I rewrite large sections, move bits around and generally mollify my language. In the case of this book it needed a lot of mollification. It wasn’t the author’s fault – the problem with this book was that it reflected what I see as a bad state of affairs in graphic design education: the focus on the visual and the idea that all you need to do to be a graphic designer is learn how to use InDesign or QuarkXpress, Dreamweaver and Flash, and learn how to use a digital camera. The book is so broad in its coverage that it says not very much about lots of stuff. In that, it’s a perfect textbook for so many graphic design courses but that doesn’t excuse it. Remember, when someone is asked to review a book they are asked because of their assumed knowledge of the subject or their known views. Newspapers want a review that engages with the book and asks questions of it, that spark a debate. The idea isn’t that the reviewer knows more about the subject than the reviewee, or that their word is sacrosanct. In this case I was asked, I presume, because I’m known to the paper as someone with strong views on graphic design education and as a member of the UK’s higher education academy subject centre for art, design and media. Given that, I told myself, it’s appropriate to say what you think. There were three main criticisms of the book: its scope, its contradictions and its mistakes. Scope I’ve already mentioned but to elaborate: animation is not, I believe, graphic design. Nor is photography. There are so many ‘best bits’ of other subjects that graphic design has pilfered in recent years that we no longer seem to know what graphic design itself is. At my last college there were three year degrees in photography, packaging and animation and yet the course I inherited seemed to think you could do each of those in five weeks. If the other courses had run five week modules in graphic design there’d have been uproar. I don’t deny having a knowledge of those areas helps, as designers often work with or commission photographers, animators and packaging experts. But to suggest that you can be as good as them in, as in this case, two double page spreads, made me a little cross. As for contradictions, one stood out in particular. On one page about ideas generation (and I take my hat off to the author for claiming, as I do, that creativity can be generated rather than being inate in just a few people) the book warns students to ‘avoid clichés’. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: why are clichés seen as bad? It’s another word for ‘easily understood sign’. The ultimate irony here is that just above this particular instruction is a rough for an advertising campaign for the London Underground. It’s a picture of the open doors of a tube train and the words (I’m paraphrasing here) ‘Opening doors to London’ or something. Whatever, it actually works quite well and is exactly the sort of thing you see. It’s a student effort, as so many of the examples in the book are and it’s rather good. But it’s a cliché. Is it there to illustrate the point that you should avoid clichés or is it a contradiction? Either way, in telling students to ‘avoid clichés’ in precisely the easy way that so many lecturers do without providing reasons or examples, he misses the point that humans communicate through clichés. As for mistakes, there are several. In the section on advertising the text says something along the lines of ‘few people get to work in an agency without an art school background’. Right. Well ignoring the accountants and marketing people, the copywriters and project managers, oh and the ‘creatives’ who tend to come from politics, English, history and psychology degrees (to name a few) you’re left with the art school people. So yes, I suppose if you ignore 90% of the non-art school backgrounds the assertion is true. What really got my goat though was the section on colours and what they mean. Green apparently means nature and youth. Doesn’t it also mean sickness and envy? Or ‘go’? Or ‘nothing to declare’? The answer, of course, is that it means nothing unless it has a context. Basically the author ignores and even contradicts basic visual theory – something a lot of studio tutors do. The peach is the claim that green causes less eye strain than other colours which is why we find the countryside so relaxing! Oh stop, my sides are splitting! Nothing to do with fresh air, exercise, silence, sun at all, then. And if green is so relaxing how come the first company I worked in spent a small fortune getting filters for the green monitors all the secretaries were using at the time? Oh dear oh dear. You see, it’s things like that that clinched it for me. If a student had written these things in an essay it would have taken a great deal to pass them, so as I said in the review, for a book the publishers are selling as an essential textbook it is unforgivable. So that’s the shit in the sandwich – what about the praise? Well my knowledge of how publishers and editors work means I was quite charitable in my review as I know from my own experience that when you’re writing a book you end up putting down complete and utter rubbish. It’s fatigue more than anything else. In my book for example I got the basics of semiotics completely wrong at one point and inadvertently misrepresented the ideas of some well-known authors. Not because I’m crap, but because we all make mistakes. It’s the editor’s job to spot these but it doesn’t always happen if you’ve got an editor who is either not knowledgeable about the topic or, as is usually the case, also working on umpteen other books at the same time. But I suspect that a lot of the problems in the book are to do with bad editing than anything else. Sadly this point was left out of the published review. Another good point is that, despite the silly errors, the author knows his stuff and writes well. It is actually an interesting book to dip into. After writing the review I gave my copy to a student I bumped into and she told me she found it useful for a specific problem – but the implication there is that apart from the one section she found useful the rest of it was not. A symptom of the breadth of the book certainly, but evidence that the author and publisher would have been better off producing either a series of books on different aspects of graphic design, or getting rid of the other subjects and expanding the core elements. So as I said, the review was published today. It’s odd seeing your work in the finished format – it stops being your own and you can be objective when you read it, unlike when you look at the original Word document. The same thing happened this week when I received the proofs of my book and I read it almost as though someone else had written it (and I’m a lot happier with it than I was). The review is rather negative and although I stand by my criticisms I can’t help wishing some of my positive points, no matter how trivial, had made it through the editing stage (my own and the publication’s). I know if I received a similar review of my own work I’d be angry and depressed and for that I’m very sorry. Ultimately though I was asked for my opinion and I gave it. I have no doubt that others would offer a different opinion and, although I ended the review by saying I couldn’t recommend it, I’d say here that if for no other reason than seeing if you agree with me, you should get your hands on a copy. There are certainly bits that could be useful – the section on mood boards for example is actually one I might photocopy and give out to students who’ve never been shown one. But as a whole it’s a let down – not because it’s bad (it isn’t) or because it contains basic errors (which it does) but because at the end of the day graphic design doesn’t know what it is, only that it wants to be the best bits of everything else. Graphic Design School: The Principles and Practices of Graphic Design By David Dabner Thames & Hudson, 192pp, £14.95 ISBN 0 500 28526 8 Buy from Amazon.com (USA) Podcast of this post

Autismvoice Radio Podcast - Teaching Conversation

Sun, 21 Aug 2005 06:00:00 GMT

This radio show is all about teaching conversation to children with autism by using a declarative communication style. To hear the show, click on the paper clip below then on the mp3 link. Sandra Sinclair, Autismvoice.com This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.5 License .

Negotiation Tip: Silence 8/17/05

Thu, 18 Aug 2005 01:31:00 GMT

Silence is a natural part of any communication process. When used as a tactic in a negotiation, silence can keep the you or the other party off-balance. Dr. Weiss discusses some strategies for managing silence during the process of a negotiation. MP3 File (00:04:17) - Creative Commons License -> This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License. - /Creative Commons License ->- -> - /Creative Commons License ->- ->

First the Arrows, then the Boxes!

Wed, 17 Aug 2005 21:30:39 GMT

Systems are a collection of processes – but the quality of communication between these processes is often more important than the processes themselves

02 l'explication de l'explication - Pourquoi cette communication depuis le futur.

Tue, 16 Aug 2005 12:30:00 GMT

le soi et le concept, la déthéorie des concepts, le futur, le présent, le passé

Noshir Contractor: Co-Evolution of Knowledge Networks

Wed, 10 Aug 2005 05:00:00 GMT

Recent technological advances in hardware and software, broadband connectivity, and the decreasing cost of computers, cell phones, and other such devices have created an environment where we can connect with anyone, anytime, anywhere almost effortlessly. However, how do we determine with whom we want to connect? The answers to this question can be found by studying the underlying socio-technological motivations for the creation, maintenance, destruction, and reconstitution of knowledge and social networks. Dr. Noshir Contractor discusses some of his research in communication theory of dynamically linked knowledge networks over the past ten years at MeshForum 2005 through the examination of real-world examples. [MeshForum audio from IT Conversations]

Noshir Contractor: Co-Evolution of Knowledge Networks

Tue, 09 Aug 2005 22:00:00 GMT

53 NEWS-Neuer Podcast ABENTEUER LEBEN

Tue, 09 Aug 2005 03:30:37 GMT

Nach Abenteuer Kommunikation gibt es ab heute einen 2. Podcast von mir: DAS ABENTEUER LEBEN! RSS-Feed: http://abenteuerleben.podspot.de/rss Viel Spaß damit! Euer Hans-Jürgen

Every Communication Tells a Story

Sun, 07 Aug 2005 20:50:38 GMT

Every Communication tells a story – it’s either a great story, or one that turns people away. In this session we talk about why you need to be in control of the story being told by your business, which is reflected in everything that it does. What is the story being told by your business?

52 NLP-Talk 10 Lust- statts Frustfragen

Sat, 06 Aug 2005 12:38:49 GMT

Die Qualität unseres inneren Dialogs hat wesentlichen Einfluss darauf, wie wir uns fühlen. Heute: Vier pragmatische Tipps aus dem NLP, wie man Fragen an sich selbst konstruktiver stellen kann und damit schneller auch mal aus einem emotionalen Loch – oder erst gar nicht hinein.

51 Intermezzo 04-08-05

Thu, 04 Aug 2005 05:21:46 GMT

Neue Technik on Board: Großmembran-Mikrophon plus Röhrenvorverstärker
Ueberraschende Ergebnisse meiner Internet-Umfrage
Wie geht es weiter mit Abenteuer Kommunikation: Forum – E-Books – Audio-Seminare und Workshops

BCR #15 - how to present and WOW your audience

Wed, 03 Aug 2005 05:41:35 GMT

Effective communication activities: 5 Presentation Secrets That Will Change Your Life

The Future of RSS, is Not Blogs

Mon, 01 Aug 2005 14:00:00 GMT

Blogs vaulted RSS into the limelight but are unlikely to be the force that sustains RSS as a communication medium. The biggest opportunities for RSS are not in the blogosphere but as a corporate communication channel.

Even now, businesses that were initially reluctantly evaluating RSS are beginning to realize the power and benefit of the RSS information avenue. The inherent capacity for consumers to select the content they wish to receive will be the driving mechanism for keeping advertisements to a minimum and content quality consistent.

Touche pas à mon podcast

Mon, 01 Aug 2005 03:24:58 GMT

Ma simple traduction d’un manifeste de l’audioblogging a généré quelques réactions, une à laquelle je ne m’attendais pas du tout (me voilà inspirateur involontaire et jury désigné d’un concours de podcasting esthétique francophone), et une que j’attendais comme le loup blanc (sans savoir de qui elle viendrait en particulier) : le cri outragé du podcasteur blessé, ici en la personne de Julien van Caneghem de France Podcast. Je dit outragé parce que non content de me laisser un long commentaire, il l’a doublé par un e-mail pour être bien sûr que je le lise. Dont acte, je vais donc y répondre ici-même. Ironiquement, en reprenant le manifeste de Maciej Ceglowski, j’avais commencé par traduire “audioblogging” par “podcasting”. Maciej m’a justement fait remarquer que ce n’était pas la même chose, en tout cas pas la même chose dans son esprit et au moment où il a publié son texte (31 août 2004). Selon ses propres termes :

Le podcasting fait référence à du contenu audio syndiqué dans des fils RSS, et comprend des choses utiles comme de vrais émissions radio par des producteurs professionnels. Le phénomène n’existait pas à cette échelle à l’époque où ce manifeste a été publié, et mon argument n’est pas tant contre la syndication qu’il était contre les enregistrements vocaux amateurs. Donc je pense qu’audioblogging est un meilleur terme [que podcasting].

Donc, puisque mon but était de faire une traduction de l’original, et que je partage complètement le point de vue de Maciej, j’ai conservé le terme audioblogging (j’ai même conservé les références religieuses, c’est vous dire si ma traduction est fidèle). Cependant la frontière est relativement faible avec les podcasts vocaux, et Julien l’a pris comme tel en faisant une liste des dix erreurs de ce qu’il appelle lui-même un “podcast” (je continue à penser que ce n’en est pas un, en tout cas techniquement je ne l’ai pas “emballé” comme tel dans mon fil RSS). Déconstruction…

L’analyse faite dans ce podcast est très intéressante. Mais je pense qu’il s’agit d’un point de vue assez réducteur de l’audioblogging et de l’internet en général. Cela serait une erreur je pense de dire que : 1- Qu’avec les podcasts on ne peut pas être maitre de ce que l’on écoute

Ca se discute en effet, comme nous allons le voir ci-après. Cependant il est beaucoup plus facile de “surprendre” un auditeur qu’un lecteur : démonstration.

2- Qu’on ne puisse pas zapper. C’est l’intérêt du chapitrage par exemple (voir chapter tool)

Techniquement, on peut effectivement chapitrer un fichier audio ou vidéo. Mais cela demande une certaine technique et les logiciels qui vont bien. C’est plus difficile que pour un texte écrit, et combien de podcasts sont-ils chapitrés ? Une minorité, en effet. Et en transition avec le point suivant, l’auditeur avisé aura noté que les publicités ne sont jamais chapitrées, des fois qu’il nous vienne l’idée saugrenue de les zapper (certains députés étasuniens cherchent même à rendre le zapping des pubs illégal, embrayons donc joyeusement vers la nation de passivité).

3- De dire que les auditeurs sont passifs. C’est la même chose avec n’importe quel autre media ou medium. C’est juste la manière de l’utiliser et son sens critique qui fait que l’on est passif ou actif (radio, TV, journaux, blog…)

Bien évidemment je ne peux pas être d’accord avec l’idée que tous les médias sont dans le même sac, donc que blog = TV. La télévision est pour moi le comble du médium passivant (l’expression “couch potatoe”, patate de canapé, en est le meilleur emblème, tout comme le fameux “temps de cerveau disponible” de M. Le Lay). Quant à la radio, je l’écoute dans mon lit ou dans la salle de bain. Je suis certes actif dans ces moments-là : je rêvasse ou je me rase ! La passivité ne s’entend pas par opposition à l’utilisation ou non de son sens critique (j’ose espérer que vous l’exercez en toutes circonstances) mais par le fait que je sois maître de ma consommation du contenu. Un journal, un livre, un blog, je peux les lire, les abandonner, y revenir, picorer comme bon me semble et à mon rythme. Une émission de radio ou de télé, c’est tel jour à telle heure, ça prend tant de temps, et si je ne suis pas disponible et que je n’ai pas la possibilité de les enregistrer, tant pis pour moi. Quelqu’un a décidé que tel sujet serait diffusé mardi à 2h du matin (parce que ça n’intéresse pas la ménagère de moins de cinquante ans et/ou que les enfants sont couchés), ou bien que puisque TF1 a programmé un super film lundi soir alors il fallait impérativement que France 2 les concurrence avec un autre super film pour ne pas perdre de parts de marché (et réciproquement). Et tant pis pour moi si ça ne me convient pas, je n’ai plus qu’à m’acheter un TiVo (un marché qui est basé exclusivement sur ce désir de contrôle, vs. passivité, de l’auditeur-spectateur, CQFD). Voilà la passivité de ces médias de masse : quelques personnes décident pour des millions d’autres où, quand, comment et pour combien de temps leur injecter tel ou tel contenu dans le cerveau (et en général ce contenu est surtout là pour décorer “utilement” les publicités).

4- On peut mettre des extraits de podcast sur son site ou son podcast et même permettre lécoute directement depuis le blog avec un player comme dewplayer.

Oui, et alors ?

5- Les enregistrements, il est vrai sont pour le moment invisible sur google mais des moteurs de recherche nouvel génération sont en train de sortir et ils indexent les films ou les fichiers audios. des logiciels de reconnaissance vocal vont permettre de trouver de mots clés dans les podcasts par exemple et cela permettra de les indéxer. ces moteurs vont apparaitre non pas dans 5 ou 10 ans mais dans quelques mois. Il existe même des versions bêta.

J’attends ça, cependant avec le peu d’impatience que mes 25 ans d’informatique m’ont appris à avoir. J’ai vu des démonstrations de moteurs de recherche dans les images il y a dix ans (la dernière que j’ai vu c’était Oracle il y a sept ans). Aujourd’hui on trouve quelques produits commerciaux et parfaitement confidentiels dont la fiabilité laisse encore à désirer, mais aucun produit ou service grand public. Il y a quinze ans, France Telecom avait le projet de remplacer toutes ses cabines par un modèle à reconnaissance vocale (plus de clavier ni de combiné pour diminuer les coûts liés au vandalisme), ils ont abandonné. Mi 2005, personne n’a encore produit un moteur de recherche textuel fiable pour les blogs. Alors même si je pense que ce n’est pas de la science-fiction, personnellement j’ai quelques doute quant à l’apparition “dans quelques mois” d’un moteur de recherche fiable dans le contenu des podcasts. Et je fais le pari que le premier prototype qui sortira n’indexera que l’anglais américain. Des catalogues par contre, il y en a déjà (iTunes pour ne nommer que celui-là).

6- Problème de surdité OK mais si vous êtes non voyant que faire des blogs. Si vous ne comprenez pas le francais, cela ne sert à rien de m’écouter mais cela ne sert à rien de me lire non plus.

Les aveugles peuvent écouter les textes grâce à des navigateurs oraux, il suffit de coder ses pages proprement en utilisant les standards web. D’autre part il est assez bien connu que lorsqu’on apprend une langue, il est plus facile de lire un texte que d’écouter quelqu’un parler. Et un texte, on peut le traduire facilement et gratuitement.

7- Vitesse de lecture ou d’ecriture, je ne vois pas trop le rapport. pourquoi vouloir toujours etre plus productif ? A quoi sert donc la radio ou la télé. Quand on lit on ne peut faire que cela. Mais quand on ecoute un podcast on peut faire d’autre choses en meme temps. Ce qui permet d’avoir une meilleure productivité ;)

Encore la confusion des genres (cf. point 3 ci-dessus). J’ai une technique de lecture ultra-rapide des textes mais ça n’a rien à voir avec une question de productivité, c’est une question de choix, et toujours cette idée de passivité. Devant un texte chacun peut lire à son rythme (y compris relire lentement plusieurs fois pour comprendre une idée complexe, ce qui est très difficile à faire avec d’autres supports que le texte), mais mon audioblog de l’autre jour dure 4 mn 38 secondes pour tout le monde. Quant à faire autre chose en écoutant, on sait bien que les conférences téléphoniques pendant lesquelles les participants surfent ou lisent leurs e-mails sont les moins productives de toutes.

8 Le monde s’est construit par du texte, c’est complètement faux. Les troubadours du moyen age remplacé les livres. L’internet lui s’est construit c’est vrai au départ avec du texte mais pour une seule et unique raison, les débits ne permettaient pas autre chose. Aujourd’hui l’internet c’est du multimédia !!!

Complètement faux, vraiment ? Il faudra prévenir les historiens alors, j’en connaît un paquet qui font fausse route depuis des siècles. Et c’est autour du texte, pas par du texte. Je crois que l’ironie du texte de Maciej a échappé à certains (cf. la référence à l’audioblog de Dave Winer, qui a débranché des centaines de blogueurs en leur laissant un simple message vocal, ou bien la visite 3D interactive des boyaux de votre chat). Oui l’internet permet de faire du multimedia, non ça ne veut pas dire que c’est obligatoirement intéressant. La radio n’a pas tué le livre, la télévision n’a pas tué le théâtre et ainsi de suite (internet n’a pas tué la télévision ni le téléphone mais ce n’est qu’une question de temps ;~~)). L’écrit, le texte, a des atouts que d’autres formes de communication n’ont pas. Et l’écrit sur internet, avec le lien hypertexte (tiens, il y a “texte” dans ce mot, quel hasard ;~~)), a des atouts que le texte imprimé n’a pas.

9- Mes podcasts ne rentrerons pas dans l’histoire je suis le premier à le dire, mes podcasts ne seront plus écouter dans 1 siècle mais 99,99999…% des écrits ne dureront pas non plus.

J’en doute, car le simple fait qu’il est plus facile de citer, de reproduire, de stocker et de conserver un texte, mécaniquement l’histoire retiendra plus de textes que de fichiers audio.

10- Il ne faut pas oublier que l’interet du podcasting c’est de pouvoir l’ecouter ou et quand on le souhaite directement sur son balladeur mp3. Cela veut dire en voiture dans le metro ou le bus, en vacance… Dans tous les endroits où il n’y a ni accès internet haut débit ni ordinnateur.

Là je suis d’accord et ça me facilite la transition : le podcast ce n’est pas l’audioblogging tel qu’entendu dans ce manifeste (au sens de l’enregistrement “amateur” d’une note parlée et sa publication sur un blog). Je ne dénigre pas le podcast en général, mais je pense qu’il était important de souligner les problèmes et les limites de ce genre de publication, comme par exemple la difficulté pour un auditeur de lier et de citer fidèlement un extrait dans un contenu audio, ou pour le producteur de lier vers des sources externes (c’est faisable, mais moins facilement que dans un texte publié sur le web), ou encore de mixer voix et musique. Je pense que le podcast a de l’avenir, du moins entre les mains de ceux qui en maîtriseront les spécificités et la technique. D’ailleurs le temps que j’écrive ce billet, Grey Mondain nous donne quelques conseils utiles dans un commentaire ici. Longue vie au podcast (maintenant je la ferme et je retourne écrire ;-)).

Daily-HOroscope-8/1

Mon, 01 Aug 2005 01:12:00 GMT

Monday: Gemini (Ardra) – Moon|Mercury|Rahu- 13th Tithi (Kama – Forming Friendships, sensuality). The Moon rules Monday and today the Moon is in flexible and verbal Gemini. The Lord of Gemini is Mercury, and Mercury is still retrograde in the sky, thus our communication is still somewhat stifled. We are aware of the limitations present in communication and information. A restlessness can be present when the Moon is in Gemini. Yet there’s a lightness to it, an ungrounded quality. Rahu and Ketu are both aspecting the Moon, and the Moon is in rahu’s nakshatra today—in the Star ruled by Shiva, the Star of Ardra. There’s a fierce intensity about this star. It is one of intensity and a potential flood of emotion. Our subconscious fears can lead to this flood today if we’re not careful. Especially if we think we’re in defense of some ideal or great purpose..Â

Daily-HOroscope-8/1

Mon, 01 Aug 2005 01:12:00 GMT

True Voice: A Conversation with Amy Gahran about Women in Podcasting

Thu, 28 Jul 2005 11:38:13 GMT

Over the past few weeks, I have gotten deeply involved in the development of Corante’s upcoming Podcast Hotel—scheduled for 6 to 8 September in Portland Oregon. One of the most satisfying aspects of working on the project has been connecting with people that I have never met before, as well as catching up with old friends. In the past weeks, I have talked with a diverse group of folks who will be collaborating with us on the Podcast Hotel event, including Chris Pirillo, Greg Narain, Eric Rice, and a dozen or so other leading figures in the world of Podcasting.

I had a really interesting conversation yesterday with Amy Gahran, who will be speaking on Women in Podcasting at the Podcast Hotel. Amy is a self-described info-provocateur, and she writes and podcasts at Contentious (www.contentious.com), where she writes about online communication, and has been collating a growing list of podcasts by women.

Click here to hear the podcast, or subscribe to the RSS feed for True Voice shows in the right margin.

[tags: True Voice, Amy Gahran, Podcast Hotel]