LibriVox Forum

I'm excited to see this episode so soon after the last one-- but my podcast app isn't able to download it for some reason. is there something wonky in the code somewhere that might be preventing it?

I'll find a way to listen one way or another, but I thought I'd mention it in case it can be fixed easily.

I hope someone figured this out. I wouldn't know where to start. I just made the thing!

I didn't listen on an app, I just went straight to the archive page. I hope, when you are able to listen, that it was worth your while.

finally made time to listen via browser-- what a very nice episode this was. lovely work!

Hello podcast folks. Have there been any segments on sexism / racism in recent ‘casts? If not, I’d love to hear suchlike. 100-year-old books are full of stuff that doesn’t agree with modern sensibilities ( ao it’s in your interest to look at a book/chapter before you volunteer to record it!

I don't think there have been-- not recently and not ever the focus of a podcast episode that I know of. it would be a really fascinating one! possibly a touchy subject for some, though.
but if people would be willing to share, we should collect some stories from everyone and get working on a new episode...

The Podcasts page lists the main theme of each recording, and if you scan back through this topic, you'll find the show notes which give more detail for each one. Combining both hopefully also gives an idea about the tone of the show ... these topics would need sensitive handling to be open to anyone to listen, which is a key goal of the podcast for me. Always family-friendly and generally positive and encouraging.

loon wrote: ↑June 29th, 2019, 6:49 pm Hello podcast folks. Have there been any segments on sexism / racism in recent ‘casts? If not, I’d love to hear suchlike. 100-year-old books are full of stuff that doesn’t agree with modern sensibilities ( ao it’s in your interest to look at a book/chapter before you volunteer to record it!

It's certainly an interesting and important topic, but I don't know how it would be covered without it sounding like a lecture.

Podcasts are more about LV than world problems and really everything that could be said about racism in literature and LV has been said in the threads, you either don't sign on for the chapter or read it as it was written. It's a personal choice. And that's really all I can say without it becoming controversial.

Anne

loon wrote: ↑June 29th, 2019, 6:49 pm Hello podcast folks. Have there been any segments on sexism / racism in recent ‘casts? If not, I’d love to hear suchlike. 100-year-old books are full of stuff that doesn’t agree with modern sensibilities ( ao it’s in your interest to look at a book/chapter before you volunteer to record it!

I think about this a lot, and it would be a cool topic to talk about if it's possible to get non-white readers together for the discussion. It's easy to dismiss it as "reader beware," but part of the reality of the public domain ending in the 1920s is that keeping it alive very frequently involves signal-boosting white supremacist ideas. Especially the most popular stuff, because English writing from ~1600s and on was generally written at least implicitly for a white supremacist public. Yet, at the same time, it provides us with the opportunity for sharing stories of resistance that may have been little-known in their time and little-known now. Personally, I find that far more interesting than modern attempts at essentially rewriting history to make it more palatable. It would behoove LibriVox readers to think critically about this rather than take a passive "reader beware" stance on individual threads because it's very easy to perpetuate white supremacist and sexist values with this platform.

I wouldn't be worried about it turning into a lecture so much as I'd be worried about how unpredictable the tension can be when people talk about racial trauma on air. I wouldn't even expect broad consensus except on dead-basic stuff like "It's bad to read racist stuff because you want to be racist." It would be interesting if a good panel can get together.

I'm a bit unsure of this, because I have never done a podcast before, although I have contributed segments to several of them. But for the past few days, I've had an idea of doing a podcast about LibriVox during the pandemic. Nothing in it about politics or economics or world affairs, but simply a narrow focus on LibriVox's place in all this.

Are more of us finding time to record, since we're stuck at home? Does recording give us something to do with our idle time, or make us feel that we're contributing something to the situation? Do we find it more difficult to record, with more family members at home? Have some of us switched from recording to listening, either as PL's or simply as delighted consumers of audiobooks, now that we have more time to listen? Maybe an admin who tracks stats could tell us if we have had more new members joining us lately? If you are a parent trying to home-school kids, have you been making use of LV audiobooks as part of the curriculum? Now that most of our public libraries are closed, and some (like mine) limit how many audiobooks can be checked out on a library card, are more of us listening to LV audiobooks? Does the LV community draw us regular members to chat in the forum more than usual, simply to find company here, people who seem like distant friends? Etc, etc.

I keep thinking of new angles for a podcast, and thinking, "Somebody should put this thing together!" And then I start thinking "Hmm, I wonder if I could do that?" As I said, I've never done a podcast. I have a general idea how they work, because I've contributed to a few, but no actual experience coordinating one. The only BC experience I've had has been the annual Christmas Carol Collection. Is there a more experienced podcaster out there who would like to take this idea and run with it? If not, is there an experienced podcaster who could give me tips on how one goes about organizing a thing like this? Does it even seem like a good idea? I know it has been a long time since we last had an LV podcast.

commonsparrow3 wrote: ↑April 18th, 2020, 12:03 pm I've had an idea of doing a podcast about LibriVox during the pandemic.

Does it even seem like a good idea?

Yes! I want to hear everyone's stories! I really like the angle of recording how the pandemic is affecting LibriVox and LibriVoxers. I hope that you and an experienced podcaster team up soon!

It's a good idea.

Include both reader and listener points of view. I'm finding it hard to get some alone-time to do recording!

I have been meaning to chime in here and say I think it would be great too-- I'm willing to help by contributing or editing things if needed!

Grace, Rich, and Amelia -- Thanks you for the encouragement! I wondered whether or not there was even any interest in such a podcast, and you have indicated "yes" to that question.

I've edited DWs and enjoyed doing that, so editing would be fun for me in putting together a podcast. But the part I don't know anything about is how one is coordinated. There's no template to launch one, such as we have for launching book projects, and no MW to organize it in progress.

How does one get started launching a podcast? Where are the files uploaded? How long should it remain open for submissions? What is considered a good length, for individual submissions and for the podcast as a whole? I presume an MC is needed, and I suppose that must be taken care of before I even begin. Do I post in the Launch Pad to find one, or something different?

I suppose other folks who have done previous LV podcasts might look in on this planning thread from time to time. If they see these posts, maybe one of them can give me a few basic tips on how to go about this, just a general rundown of procedures to follow, so at least I'd know where to begin. That would be very helpful!

How does one get started launching a podcast? You can start a thread in this forum to organize it. Here is an example: viewtopic.php?f=22&t=72893
or here, the part below the links (the rest was added after the podcast was published): viewtopic.php?f=22&t=72211

Where are the files uploaded? To an MC's folder. Get permission from an MC to use their folder.

How long should it remain open for submissions? Your choice.

What is considered a good length, for individual submissions and for the podcast as a whole? Your choice, but my preference is no longer than 40 minutes for the whole thing. You can see how long other podcasts have been on the Archive pages for them, such as here: https://archive.org/details/librivox_community_2013

For individual submissions: depends on what they say! I would suggest making it clear in your "call for submissions" that you will edit the submissions as needed (perhaps someone submits something really long and rambling, or part of it is a repetition of what someone else has said, or they got really nastily political and you don't want that in the podcast).

I presume an MC is needed, and I suppose that must be taken care of before I even begin. Do I post in the Launch Pad to find one, or something different? An MC is only needed at the tail end to have an uploader folder and to publish the podcast. These don't need to be the same MC. The "finalizing" MC doesn't really have to commit ahead of time; they can be determined when it's close to completion.

You can have different segments in the podcast, such as bloopers, etc. if you want, or just keep it to the main theme. Podcasts are quite flexible.