Podcasting As Conversations Or From Ireland With Love

I noticed today that Podcasting In Ireland (for a second time) featured a snippet from Six Pixels Of Separation – The Twist Image Podcast along with commentary from the hosts. This is a very cool project. Check out how the Podcasting In Ireland Blog describes the show:
“These Irish podcasts started in August 2005 from County Tipperary, Ireland. Much of the content comes from third level college students engaged in a multimedia degree programme in Clonmel, County Tipperary. You can see their set-up by checking out the ‘educast’ tag on Flickr. They have a podcasting photostream.”
Then I got this email:
“Hi Mitch,
During the making of Educast 85, the college students listened to you on an iPod while in an art gallery and then they pressed ‘record’ on a handheld digital dictaphone to make a comment.
Then another college student, who was not present for the walk-around, edited the snippets and clipped them into the production according to show notes.
We’re taking you out for pizza next Wednesday noon, hoping the next SPOS is up before then.
By the way, they know that a portion of their final exam in Public Relations is derived from one of your episodes. This makes them regular listeners.
Regards,
Bernie The Lecturer.”
At first I was very flattered and loved hearing these young Irish accents intertwined with my segment, Six Points Of Separation, but what I really love about this is how these students are using a Podcast as a conversation. The challenge with Podcasting is that it’s mostly a host and listeners. Sure listeners can take part by sending in an audio comment or leaving a text comment in a Blog posting, but this is a great example of what feels like a “real” conversation in a Podcast. I make a point, they add in their point of view and the conversation goes on.
How great would it be to start seeing Podcasts where the host takes segments that are of interest to them and intersperse that with their own thoughts?
We’re not even at the very beginning of Podcasting, and already these audio experiments display inklings of where this will all lead.
Check out their Podcast here: Podcasting In Ireland – Fondling Forbidden Art.
I have invited Bernie and some of his students to join me on Six Pixels Of Separation – The Twist Image Podcast. I hope they accept the invitation.