Comments on: History Podcasts

By: Yog

Yog — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 15:51:53 +0000

Dan Carlin’s Hardcore History podcast is superb. It’s extremely accessible, and Dan doesn’t assume the listener has any real level of historical knowledge, but it’s not dumbed down either. Dan explains the complex nuances of history by giving the listener plenty of context and making frequent analogies to modern-day life.

Check it out here: http://www.dancarlin.com/disp.php?page=hharchive

I recommend starting with “Punic Nightmares” or “Ghosts of the Ostfront”.

By: Jim

Jim — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 15:22:23 +0000

The BBC has a new podcast on a major exhibition at the British Library. A History of the World in 100 Objects http://www.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/series/ahow

By: Janine

Janine — Sat, 13 Feb 2010 10:47:35 +0000

Radio National from Australia has excellent history podcasts.
http://www.abc.net.au/rn/programs/

in particular the Hindsight, Background Briefing and Rear Vision programs. You can get them from the site or subscribe through I-tunes. Quite a few of them deal with Australian topics, but not exclusively.

By: Ian Milligan

Ian Milligan — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 22:18:10 +0000

The very same day Jim posted his post, there was a query sent over H-Labor about labour podcasts. Norman Markowitz responded by pointing out that Political Affairs has podcasts which often deal with labour issues. Apparently there is a labour day interview with Rosemary Feurer (a well-known American labour historian), as well as podcasts on labour conventions, the Employee Free Choice Act, minimum wages, etc. (link here: http://www.politicalaffairs.net/article/articleview/4881 as well as iTunes at http://www.itunes.com/podcast?id=219660429) To be honest, I haven’t checked it out yet, but it seemed like a helpful suggestion.

By: Adam Crymble

Adam Crymble — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 20:52:48 +0000

You can add power point slides yourself if you make a slidecast video. The problem is it requires an extra level of skill and work. Most people find pushing the record button challenge enough, despite those Windows commercials with the 7 year olds making videos and putting them on their parent’s tv.

By: Jim

Jim — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 02:28:27 +0000

I agree. I could imagine listening to iTunes U course from other fields, like the sciences, where I don’t have much of a university level background, to better understand a topic. Do you know if they are working on a way to include PowerPoint slides? I think it would really help to include visuals along with the audio recordings.

By: Sean Kheraj

Sean Kheraj — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 02:06:13 +0000

I tend to agree with you about the recorded lectures on iTunes U. They’re a particular type of podcast that replicates analog tape recorded lectures. This is still immensely useful, especially for projects like Open Courseware (http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/web/home/home/index.htm). While they take some advantage of the digital medium (infinitely copyable; global distribution; searchable; easily stored), they do not take full advantage of podcasting as a means of scholarly communication.

By: Jim

Jim — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 20:43:53 +0000

Thanks for bringing up the iTunes U podcasts. I’ve never really got into listening to these, as many are recordings of undergraduate lectures and simply don’t transfer to a podcasts very well. Another example are the conference presentation recordings that we have recorded for NiCHE over the past few years. I know these are interesting for those of us studying environmental history who can’t make every talk during a conference, but I don’t imagine a wide audience will find my presentation at the ASEH too enjoyable: http://niche-canada.org/audio-video

By: Sean Kheraj

Sean Kheraj — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 18:36:33 +0000

Jim:

Thanks for writing up this great post, surveying the field of history podcasting (and thanks for including Nature’s Past).

In general, I think academic podcasting is still finding its feet in this new medium. The dominant form of podcasting has been the iTunes U model of distributing recorded course lectures. This was really just the beginning. With more properly produced podcasts, like Exploring Environmental History and Digital Campus, I think we’re seeing podcasts evolve into a more mature state as a form of scholarly communication. Will podcasts replace journals? Almost certainly not. But I think that they do have a place in the growth of scholarly communication. We shouldn’t be looking at new media communication as a method of replacing traditional forms of scholarly publishing. Digital technologies should be used to grow scholarly communication.

My recommendation for a history podcast: http://makinghistorypodcast.com/

By: Adam Crymble

Adam Crymble — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 16:13:16 +0000

You should probably ask some of those podcasters directly what work and skills are involved in putting together a good podcast. I don’t think it’s as easy as speaking into a tape recorder. But I’d welcome another Canadian based history podcast.