Podcasting History

Two months ago I attended an exciting training program for "Border War" history organizations in Missouri and Kansas. The program took place at the Cass County Library, and the computer room was packed with people from twenty organizations. The organizations are all learning how to conduct good oral history interviews and to produce podcasts.

A podcast is a short package of audio or video content that you record and make available for playback on a computer or miniature playback device such as an iPod. You make it available by putting it on a web site.

A good place to look for a youth-oriented style of podcasting is the Kansas Historical Society. They have a good podcasting operation there, and a great overall web site. Listen to Episode 25, "Civil Defense Food Kit," in their "Cool Things" section to see how one of their better ones comes across.

There's a different approach to podcasting at Biltmore in North Carolina. Listen to episode 19, on the wedding of George and Edith Vanderbilt. To my ear, the choice of a "local news broadcaster" sound for the introduction is a jarring contrast to the more natural speaking style of the voices who narrate the real content. This "broadcast style" is something people learn for an industry that values sameness, like the unvarying flavor of a McDonald's french fry. "Sameness" is the last thing I would want in an interpretive program that seeks to highlight distinctive features of a place. If I were running that outreach program, I'd seek a voice that does not belong on a local news TV set. It's something to consider if you're doing this for a historical society. Where there are distinctive voices and cadences, please use them! In a podcast, which is a very intimate medium, like radio, sound is a message unto itself. Find voices that sound at ease, pleasant to hear, natural in delivery.

Here's a distinctive and pleasing local voice from Cass County, Missouri. It's Carol Bohl in her first podcast from the Border War Network. Be warned, this link currently goes to a demo web site, and the "subscribe" link doesn't work yet, though I think everything will work properly by the end of November. Carol is the first person in the Border War Network to own and operate an iPod.

The other thing about podcasting is that the most important art form in the process is the art of storytelling. Especially if you're only using audio, your opportunity to create interest is in how you shape what you have to say. Always look for an opportunity to pose an intriguing question.

Speaking of questions, if you're interviewing someone, it's a very good idea to plan your questions. Naturally, if you think of something during the interview, ask! One podcster to watch closely is Eric Langhorst, an 8th Grade History teacher in Liberty, Missouri. I understand that he is going to produce podcasts next month in association with Ken Burns' TV documentary, "The War." Eric told me about a PDF document on the web site of that series. It explains how to conduct oral history interviews of World War II veterans. You can apply the lessons in that document across the board, I think. Its title is, The Power of Story.