Team Five, the Jazzy Awesome Legendary Genius Minds (also known as the humble team), chose podcasts as our focus technology. Over the last couple of weeks, we have all been listening to CBC’s The Secret Life of Canada. In our preliminary explorations, we found a plethora of podcasts that piqued our unique interests, but we landed on The Secret Life of Canada because it is comprised of podcasts covering a broad range of topics, so we all found podcast episodes we were interested in both individually and as a group. As well, access was free and did not require logging in to a streaming service.
As we embarked on our listening adventures and began digging into podcast-related literature, we were pleasantly surprised by a number of insights. First, we realized that there are podcasts for everyone; as long as one has access to a device and interests to explore, there are podcasts available that will meet their needs. Second, we discovered that podcasts are highly popular because they are convenient, customizable, provide listeners with the opportunity to “feed their brain” (Perks and Turner, 2019, p. 108) and allow users to timeshift in that they can be listened to anytime, anywhere (McClung and Johnson, 2010). Finally, we became aware of the many critical issues that exist alongside podcasts and in our initial discussions we brainstormed extensive lists of possible issues to explore. The infographic below summarizes the critical issues we each decided to focus on.
It would be prudent to be mindful that podcasts, like any widely accessible technology, bring questions around credible and accurate information to the fore. That being said, however, the most powerful and significant revelation we had, both individually and as a team, is that podcasts are, by nature, stories. Stories about education, lived experiences, culture, politics, marketing, community, tradition, and more; podcasts are a powerful vehicle for diverse voices to be heard by wide audiences. Just like a good book read over and over again feels like an old friend, the stories told through podcasts have the potential to connect listeners to the world and the people, places, and events that matter.
References
Brinson, N. H., & Lemon, L. L. (2022). Investigating the effects of host trust, credibility, and authenticity in podcast advertising. Journal of Marketing Communications, 1-19. https://doi.org/10.1080/13527266.2022.2054017
Collier, R. (2018). Containing health myths in the age of viral misinformation. Cmaj, 190(19), E578-E578.
Del Vicario, M., Bessi, A., Zollo, F., Petroni, F., Scala, A., Caldarelli, G., Stanley, H. E., & Quattrociocchi, W. (2016). The spreading of misinformation online. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 113(3), 554-559.
Giliberti, C. (2016). 6 reasons why podcasting is the future of storytelling. Forbes Under 30 Network [March 31, 2016]. https://www.forbes.com/sites/under30network/2016/03/31/6-reasons-why-podcasting-is-the-future-of-storytelling/?sh=3874e0f31fe0
Johnson, F., & Bowen, S. L. (2022). The secret life of Canada. CBC Radio. Podcast Series [Updated May 5, 2022]. https://www.cbc.ca/listen/cbc-podcasts/203-the-secret-life-of-canada
Kass-Hout, T. A., & Alhinnawi, H. (2013). Social media in public health. British medical bulletin, 108(1).
McClung, S., & Johnson, K. (2010). Examining the motives of podcast users. Journal of Radio and Audio Media, 17(1), 82–95. https://doi.org/10.1080/19376521003719391
Merchant, R. M., South, E. C., & Lurie, N. (2021). Public health messaging in an era of social media. Jama, 325(3), 223-224.
Mitchell, T. (2017). Indigenous podcasting: Resisting colonial paradigm. The Grassroots Journal. (November 6, 2017). https://www.thegrassrootsjournal.org/post/2017/11/06/indigenous-podcasting-resisting-the-colonial-paradigm
Moran, L. (2019). Simulating the Digital Divide. Streaming Media Magazine, 6. https://www.proquest.com/trade-journals/simulating-digital-divide/docview/2309775240/se-2?accountid=8056
Perks, L. G., & Turner, J. S. (2019). Podcasts and productivity: A qualitative uses and gratifications study. Mass Communication and Society, 22(1), 96–116. https://doi.org/10.1080/15205436.2018.1490434
Thanks for this reply Jolee! I really appreciate the Hillier reference. His open source MOLEAP idea looks like an interesting way around the connectivity issue. I think he’s also right when he talks about a “chicken and egg” (Hillier, 2018, p. 112 ) issue with the potential to widen the tech divide even further.
Reference:
Hillier, M. (2018). Bridging the digital divide with off-line e-learning. Distance Education, 39(1), 110-121. https://doi.org/10.1080/01587919.2017.1418627
Thanks for this great post and how well it aligns with your presentation from last night! I really like your use of imagery and the information you presented last night was really informative. I love podcasts and am glad to see the research you’ve found that back up that they can be used (with critical analysis, as always!) as a good source of learning.
Something I thought about later was what Jolee discussed about access. When combined with the planned obsolescence of the iPod that you brought up at the beginning of your presentation, what are your initial thoughts on best practices for continuing access for marginalized populations (both for hardware as well as software/internet access)?
Hi Corie, thanks for your comment. I think the question of planned obsolescence of technology combined with continued access over time is something that I think about even in my own choices and decisions about technology and investment. For example, the annual report Infinite Dial published by Edison & Triton Digital (2021) found that tablet ownership is actually trending downwards. Perhaps due to the availability of lighter laptops, smartphones, smart TVs, and other devices that may be priced similarly to tablet but have the processing power to do more. Would we eventually see tablet use and manufacturing phased out like iPods? Will fibre internet eventually be replaced by satellite internet?
My initial thoughts are to explore the drivers behind a technology: who are the manufacturers, who are they funded by, who are the service providers, what is the cost of implementation, use, and maintenance, what are the competing products?
Hillier (2018) who used a systems approach to suggest strategies to bring e-learning to offline environments. The key requirements were: low cost to access and use, ability to work offline, and compatibility with older systems and hardware. My overall takeaway is the need for flexibility in our technology to adapt to new changes and allow growth, but also allow backwards compatibility for users who have not adopted the new solutions.
Edison Research & Triton Digital. (2021). The Infinite Dial 2021. http://www.edisonresearch.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/The-Infinite-Dial-2021.pdf
Hillier, M. (2018). Bridging the digital divide with off-line e-learning. Distance Education, 39(1), 110-121. https://doi.org/10.1080/01587919.2017.1418627
Hi Luis,
Insightful blog and replies as always.
Do you know of a resource that discusses the concept of backwards compatibility? Sounds like a concept that may come in handy in my work.
Many thanks
Ben
Hi Ben,
Thanks for your question. I think it depends on how you are looking to apply backwards compatibility. Hillier (2018) considered the use of Ubuntu and Linux in communities where their devices are likely to be offline and with older hardware. Both are free, open source operating systems that can be booted from a USB stick (as compared to Windows which needs to be purchased, installed, and updated regularly). If you venture down the rabbit hole of Linux and Ubuntu, you will likely find a sea of resources surrounding open software which you may be able to connect back to OER.
A few years back, I loaded Linux onto my laptop in order to use it in a pinch because the Windows OS was too heavy for my soon-to-be-fried motherboard. I found that the installation was easy and although it doesn’t look as fancy as Windows or MacOS out of the box, there are a lot of opportunities for customization and tweaking in the system itself. Instead of paid apps like Microsoft Word, there will be free, open source word processing apps that you can use with Linux.
Depending on what you are looking to do, another term that comes into play is “forward compatibility.” As much as we want our devices to be able to use older software, we also want them to keep up with newer and updated software. For example, although older models of smartphones are cheaper and usually have the most updated features and software for their launch period, they often do not have the processing power or hardware to keep up with newer system and security updates. The developer may determine that the older system is not compatible with the update, or you may receive the new roll out but your device would have reduced performance. This is one of the reasons why consumers may choose to pay more for a newer phone as it would have more support and compatibility in the next few years. I feel that both backward and forward compatibility should be major considerations when deciding on technological investments.
Hope this helps!
Hillier, M. (2018). Bridging the digital divide with off-line e-learning. Distance Education, 39(1), 110-121. https://doi.org/10.1080/01587919.2017.1418627