Georgia Podcast Network

I was creating podcasts for quite a while before I actually started listening to them frequently (other than the stuff posted to our site). I mostly would listen on a hit-and-run basis, visiting sites and listening to an individual episode once and then typically not visiting again for a while.

What changed? Well, I bought an iPod and started running again for one thing. For another, I started listening to them at work in iTunes on my computer.

I am subscribed to 35 or 40 podcasts now, and listen to 10 or 15 of them frequently. Some of them are from friends. Some of them are from small independent media companies. Some of them are from Big Traditional Media (que fade to dark, rain storm, and thunder crash). Many are based in Georgia. Many aren't. I enjoy them all for very different reasons.

I'll probably have to do a "five more podcasts I listen to" post later, because this certainly isn't comprehensive or meant as a "best of." I'd love for you to share some podcasts you listen to in the comments (or in a blog post here or on your own site). I'm avoiding listing podcasts hosted here, because you already know that I listen to those and think they're awesome.

Here goes...

Escape Pod
www.escapepod.org

Hosted by Steve Eley, who lives in Atlanta, Escape Pod is a podcast with readings of science fiction short stories written by acclaimed authors.

My favorites lately have been the Union Dues stories written Jeffrey R. DeRego. The Union is like a dysfunctional Justice League which operates like a faceless corporation. The central characters have extrodinary powers, but are often also dysfunctional. One had a cocaine habit. The stories seem to have been getting darker as they've gone along. And I dig that.

This podcast is almost entirely responsible for my interest in other short fiction podcasts. Highly recommended. We intereviewed Steve about a year and a half ago in an episode of Mostly ITP:

The Bobby Blackwolf Show
www.allgames.com/radio.asp?show=blackwolf

I don't write about it much, but I am a video game nerd. There was a time when few things excited me more than getting my issue of Electronic Gaming Monthly in the mail.

Websites like Gamespot, IGN, 1Up and Next Generation have taken EGM's place for my video game news fix, and Bobby's show helps me understand the subtext behind that news better and brings things I've missed to my attention. Plus, the callers often say very funny things.

The snobbery of the mainstream press toward the video game industry has always boggled my mind. It's a multi-billion dollar industry with a lot of interesting things going on in it. Sit down with a copy of Grand Theft Auto 4 for a couple of hours and tell me a movie has ever engaged you that deeply. That's at least worth reporting on, even if it's frightening or strange in some way to you. Yet, it's treated like it's pro wrestling.

The Kudzu Vine
www.blogtalkradio.com/kudzu

Our friends Bernita, Mel and Catherine from Blog for Democracy all occasionally contribute to this show, which is the best podcast of its kind in the state that I know of. By "its kind" I mean a political talk shoe with a declared partisan tilt. The Ga. Politics Podcast and What Is Goin' On (two other podcasts that are somewhat similar and often lumped together) have a leftward tilt, but are not explicitly partisan.

The hosts David and Tim (along with the aforementioned contributors) get some great guests on the shows, often sitting Congressmen and Congressional candidates from Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi and Lousiana. Tim has this great booming voice with a drawl that sounds like a minister lecturing sinners on the evils of alcohol, except he's instead talking about something bad a Republican has done.

the fabric podcast
www.fabriclondon.com/podcast/

Thomas turned me on to this one. It's a music podcast produced by the Fabric night club in London, featuring a new guest host every episode. Hosts are people who have been making music one way or another for years. The only thing consistent about it is there is no consistency. The songs are almost always obscure and occasionally strange, and are based on what has inspired the host. Probably my favorite music podcast, though music is so dependent on my mood that you could ask me tomorrow and I might say something else.

This American Life
www.thislife.org

I fully expect "listening to This American Life" to be an item on Stuff White People Like soon if it hasn't been written about already. But it's as good as everyone says it is. To give but one example, listening to Episode 355: The Giant Pool of Money is an enlightening and terrifying look into the causes behind the current mortgage/credit crisis. This really is the gold standard of both radio and podcasts.

The redesign of the Georgia Podcast Network is live!

The short version of what's new is:

• Create podcasts, add episodes to them, or add your affiliate podcast to the directory without having to go through an administrator. Podcasts now work sort of like diaries on Tondee's Tavern and other group blogs. Everybody can have one, but not everything makes the front page.
• Let other members post episodes to your podcast. You can name co-hosts individually, or set the "group podcast" option to let any registered member post an episode. For examples of group podcasts, see (un)ConCast and Politics is Vocal.
• Album art, channel, and other meta information can be attached to podcasts
• Post M4V video in addition to MP3 audio
• Nifty Flash uploader
• Embeddable players and widgets
• iTunes meta information in podcast RSS feeds
• Can redirect podcast RSS feeds to Feedburner
• Webplay and download statistics
• Rebuilt podcast directory
• Pretty new theme
• Better performance. Up to 8 times faster under normal server load

That's not everything, but that's the important stuff. There are still some minor CSS issues to work out in Internet Explorer 6, but it should be relatively bug-free other than that. Have a look and let us know what you think!

Check it out, Amber is in the latest Download Squad Squadcast!

Wherein she talks about (what else?) podcasting. I know she's a little self-conscious about being on video, but I think it went smashingly.

Like Amber says in the video, the main thing that's fun to us about podcasting is it gives us an excuse to go out and talk to people we think are interesting. To a lesser degree, that's what remains fun to me about blogging. I think if I was just sitting around typing words and sending them out into the ether without meeting new people, blogging would get boring to me very quickly.

Also, since it's Amber Press Day, check out this article titled Ten Hot Sexuality (And Gender) Issues of 2007 by our friend Audacia Ray. The GDGF is quoted about pole dancing.

Cross-posted to Radical Georgia Moderate

The Wren's Nest
www.wrensnestonline.com/blog

The Wren's Nest is the historic home of Joel Chandler Harris, the Atlanta Journal editor who published the Uncle Remus stories near the end of the 19th century. It's now the oldest house museum in the state, featuring tours and storytelling among other things. We recently interviewed Lain in a podcast about The Wren's Nest if you're interested in hearing more.

Lain Shakespeare, executive director, and other employees/interns/volunteers share blogging responsibilities so that no one spends too much time with it.

The great thing about how that blog is written is everyone clearly has a lot of enthusiasm for their work and what it means. They find ways to make it interesting and relevant to a modern audience. But it's written like an actual human is talking, and not like a press release. They're not afraid to make fun of themselves or to own up if something isn't going as well as they'd like.

They also podcast readings and offer Google videos of some of their story tellers.

Sopo Bikes Cooperative
http://www.sopobikes.org/blog

Sopo is a non-profit where a bunch of Atlanta bike enthusiasts share a space and tools to work on their bikes. Rachael, the executive director of Sopo, periodically will share interesting stories from some of the folks who come through the shop.

The site features a Google video on its homepage that gives people a sense of what the co-op is about.

Probably later today, I'll post a podcast interview I did with Rachael last week. I'll update this post later with a link. [Update: here's the link to that interview]

Center for Civil & Human Rights Partnership
www.cchrpartnership.org

This blog just started a few days ago, but looks like it's off to a good start.

The Center for Civil & Human Rights, if you haven't heard of it yet, "will commemorate the groundbreaking contributions of Atlantans and Georgians to the historic struggle for African-American freedom and equality, and also serve as a space for ongoing dialogue, study, and contributions to the resolution of current and future freedom struggles of all people at the local, national and international level." (that's from the site's about page). It's supported by a wide variety of sources, including the Atlanta Development Authority and Central Atlanta Progress, among others. Coca Cola has offered a potential site for the center in Centennial Olympic Park.

The Partnership is responsible for organizing construction, the surrounding logistics, and everything else that will go into getting the project off the ground. Doug Shipman, the executive director, plans to blog about all of that, which I think could turn out to be fascinating.

If you want to learn more about it, Wilson interviewed Doug in October.

[Cross-posted at Radical Georgia Moderate]

This Thursday, Rusty and I will be participating on a panel sponsored by TAG, entitled "Podcasts: What You Need to Know." It's free for TAG members, and a mere $20 for non-members. Here's the summary from the TAG web site:

TAG Content Management has assembled a panel of podcast professionals and marketing executives to give you insight into publishing audio online and to help you develop your related corporate strategies. Podcasts are changing the way organizations and individuals are interacting with their constituents. Hear our panel discuss a variety of topics including:

• Why have podcasts
• Podcasting best practices
• The role of Apple's iTunes
• Real-world case studies

So, if you're looking for something to do Thursday night, come to the Macquarium building on Peachtree to hear us - along with Sherry and Kevin - yap about podcasting. Bonus drinking game: sneak in a flask and do a shot every time I use a corporate buzzword. (I tend to do that when I get nervous.)

SoCon07 is coming up in less than two weeks! There's now a podcast available of an interview with organizer Sherry Heyl; be sure to give it a listen! In it, Sherry mentions (among other things) how business use of social media is going to be good for both businesses and consumers. Registration for SoCon07 is currently closed, but be on the lookout in the few days before the event - they might open it back up if some people cancel ahead of time.