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Subject:RE: Podcasts for Customer Support From:"Johnson, Tom" <TJohnson -at- starcutter -dot- com> To:"Stuart Burnfield" <sburnf -at- au1 -dot- ibm -dot- com>, <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com> Date:Tue, 15 Aug 2006 07:50:32 -0400
Stuart asked:
Can anyone give examples of technical 'writing' that they have successfully
absorbed through a podcast?
It's not podcasting per se, but it's audio. National Public Radio frequently has educational segments on the air. They do a good job of giving the listener a good background on the subject and then go into the finer points of a topic. Listen to some of those programs and you could come up with some ideas. Of course, they probably have a bigger budget than many private companies. Even so, there's a big potential for training and education about our products.
As you mentioned, podcasts lend themselves to topics where the listener has time to listen. Podcasts aren't appropriate where the listener needs immediate feedback or answers. They could be used to introduce new ideas, techniques, and technology applications.
The thought just occurred to me that way back when, most information was shared orally and passed down from generation to generation. Podcasting just makes it easier and more convenient.
Tom Johnson
-----Original Message-----
From: techwr-l-bounces+tjohnson=starcutter -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
[mailto:techwr-l-bounces+tjohnson=starcutter -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com]On
Behalf Of Stuart Burnfield
Sent: Tuesday, August 15, 2006 1:44 AM
To: techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
Subject: Re: Podcasts for Customer Support
I still find it hard to picture how podcasting would be an effective way to
communicate technical information. Reading is so much faster than
listening.
In ten minutes of reading I can scan, skim, reread, follow links, and so
on. In a ten minute audio presentation I can cover ten minutes of speech
and that's about it.
For technical information I need to concentrate and work at my own pace.
>From my experience of podcasting it would work best when I can listen while
doing something else (cooking, driving) and it doesn't require my full
attention. So it would be good for catching up with radio programmes and
talking books but not for trying to grasp technical concepts or procedures.
Can anyone give examples of technical 'writing' that they have successfully
absorbed through a podcast?
Stuart
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