Bicyclemark and the Secrets of Podcasting
Well, I don’t really know where to start this time… I have already mentioned HumLAB and Podcasting in my blog, but maybe it’s good to explain these terms in short:
HumLAB is in fact a nicely equipped computer lab at Umea University (under the library, opposite to that hopelessly crowded lab with the old and crappy PCs). HumLAB describes itself as “a vibrant and diverse meeting place for the humanities, culture and information technology”. They host a series of seminars and speeches covering all topics at the interface between IT & society. I think they have a really good reputation in the “scene”. Unfortunately, I have never been to HumLAB before, but I regularly check their English blog.
Podcasting refers to a relatively young fashion of producing and distributing (mostly non-professional) audio shows on the net. Google defines Podcasting as “making audio files (most commonly in MP3 format) available online in a way that allows software to automatically download the files for listening at the user’s convenience”. Podcasting is often seen as an alternative to commercial radio. Read more about Podcasting at Wikipedia.
And now it’s time to combine these two things: Today, HumLAB presented a seminar with Mark Fonseca Rendeiro, who’s running a popular blog and podcast called Bicyclemark’s Communiqué. He is one of the pioneers of podcasting. Mark describes himself as a “Portuguese-American, radical, activist-journalist, pretend-academic, university employee, podcaster, blog fanatic”. And today’s topic was of course podcasting.
After giving a general overview about the topic, he became more personal and detailed. He presented some of his favorite podcasts, showed iPodder Lemon on his new iBook and reflected on the future of podcasting. It was really fascinating to realize that the podcasting scene is still such a small and connected group: I knew almost every European podcast he mentioned. And he already knew about the Loudblog project of Gerrit van Aaken (one of the most popular German podcasters), which was launched just 10 days ago.
The seminar was live-streamed and archived; a seminar chat was set up as well. The audience seemed to be familiar with the world of blogging (most people knew RSS), but I can’t assess their interest in podcasting. I think that some questions showed the continuous uncertainty of classifying podcasts into the world of media. Podcasts are asynchronous, podcasts are underground, and podcasts are subscriptions. Podcasting claims to be easy for both the producer and the listener. Podcasting is not about sophisticated content tagging or 24/7 broadcasting. Not yet. 
After his presentation, I seized the chance to talk to Mark personally. He is really excited about the development of podcasting in 2005.
Bicyclemark, it was a pleasure meeting you! I’m looking forward to hearing your “Soundseeing” in Stockholm and the next German Phrase of the Week!
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Hi Ralf, It was a pleasant surprise to stumble upon your blog (via Technocrati). It is always good to find another who is interested in the multidigital life, and always more so if they are physically local as well.
Thanks for the link and see you again in HUMlab soon. You know you can apply for a members account on the HUMlab website. Come on down and maybe do some podcasting?
Hey Ralf, finally back in Amsterdam and checking the technorati, and sure enough, there you are. So from now on Ill be hooked up to your feed… It was really good meeting you and talking to you afterwards. Yeah, I’m that guy who hears even a pin dropping in the podcast world, which is why I knew a little about Loudblog. Anyway, good luck wwwaaaay up there, and speak to you soon.
Bicyclemark, Podcasting and Umea…combined!
You should check out Ralfs posting about Podcasting and Bicyclemark on his Umea International Blog. Ralf is one of the guys I met during my time in Sweden last year and now he finally (!) discovered the HumLab. Well, dude, I told you to take a look at…
Well, the power of technorati… It’s really cool to discover the social networks and complexity in the blogosphere.
@jim: I read the announcements about the talks in may. I hope that I find a topic which is of interest to me.
@bicyclemark: Still haven’t had the time to listen to your latest show. I had to enjoy the nice weather (10°C, yeah) and the first home match of the Umea IK soccer ladies. They won 7:0. When you see them (…playing…), you know that it was worth it coming “wwwaaay up” here.