tartanblog

Old Firm Podcast 006

2006-08-01T13:41:00.000+01:00

The 6th Old Firm Podcast has been released, and again I'm without my co-host.

But check it out, please, and any feedback would be appreciated.

The Tartian Podcast is Nominated

2006-08-01T13:37:00.000+01:00

My music podcast has been nominated at the Podcast Peers site. To get onto the nominee's page you need to have received at least +5 'for' votes in the forum. If you're a podcaster who hasn't registered yet for the Podcast Peers site, head over now and sign up (tis free, of course). Drop a vote the Tartian Podcast's way!

Podcast User Magazine Issue 7 out now

2006-08-01T13:13:00.000+01:00

Australia's podcasting boom

2006-07-28T11:01:00.000+01:00

ABC Radio will top 2 million podcasts a month by the end of 2006, Australian podcasters are expected this trend to continue.

read more | digg story

Podshow and Alexa

2006-07-28T10:20:00.000+01:00

I'm not going to go into huge detail about what Alexa is and how it works, but it's regarded as a reasonable gauge as to which websites are generating the most traffic in the world.

The Keith and the Girl podcast have a bit of a 'tiff' (I don't know what else to say about it) with Dawn and Drew, and on the KaTG forums someone put up info on which of the two have the best Alexa rankings.

Here's a post from said forum; quote

Alexa Stats

Keithandthegirl.com 51,570
dawnanddrew.podshow.com 14,751

Very distrubing until i did some more searchs

Dawnanddrew.com 4,301,756
podshow.com 14,751
deltasierracharl.podshow.com 14,751
yeastradio.podshow.com 14,751

i think you get the idea. Basicly every time someone goes to a website of a podcast owned by podshow the main podshow.com gets a hit on alexa. So podshow can boast huge numbers and the individual podcasts can also boast the same numbers.

End quote.

Does this make Podshow evil? You decide.

UPDATE:
I've posted this up to various podcast forums and the overwhelming response has been that, not only is Alexa a fairly ignored-by-the-ordinary-person statistic, but that sites such as Blogger, Libsyn etc have the same issue. Alexa looks at the main domain, ignoring the subdomains.

What's happened with Podshow is common and most certainly not evil.

Here are some comments;
From the Britcaster forum-
Why the accusations without the research? Makes KATG look like they can't be bothered to research how the Alexa chart is compiled.

Quote:

"Alexa's traffic rankings are for top level domains only (e.g. domain.com). We do not provide separate rankings for subpages within a domain (e.g. www.domain.com/subpage.html) or subdomains (e.g. subdomain.domain.com)"

Plus:

Quote:

Alexa's traffic rankings are based on the usage patterns of Alexa Toolbar users over a rolling 3 month period. A site's ranking is based on a combined measure of reach and pageviews.

The dawnanddrew.podshow.com domain has been there for a lot longer than 3 months, the beta has only been going for around 4 weeks so anyone freshly registering won't be able to accumulate as many hits in the last 3 months.

If registering under any podshow.com subdomain increases your Alexa popularity surly thats a good thing as your stats are bumped up by Podshows popularity.

Is it me or is anyone else fed up with podcasters bitching at each other over hits and popularity? Can't we just all have a laugh instead of throwing out rattles out of the pram with the instinctive reaction to make anyone above you in a chart into an enemy'? I'm honoured to be alongside some big name podcasts in charts, who cares if they get a thousand more listeners or clickthroughs to their site? Put your energy into making a better show rather than complaining that "its not fair" when a third party site that ranks stuff puts you below someone else.
_________________
Us : www.topofthepods.com
Skype : topofthepods
Email : topofthepods@gmail.com

From Podcast Pickle -
The people that use alexia are advertisers and such. I do not think any listeners would care. If you were a company interested in working with Podshow you ma use their Alexa rating to get an idea of how popular they are.
Posted by P Dilly

Conclusion:
This proves nothing regarding Podshow's alleged evilness, rather a quickness for people to interpret stats incorrectly!

eBay auction now closed

2006-07-26T16:38:00.000+01:00

For the past week I've had an eBay auction running to win a 30 second ad slot on the tartanpodcast. The auction finished today, and I'm delighted to say that Will from Smart Bomb Radio has won.

I'll keep the blog posted with details as to whether Will's ad in the tartanpodcast has the desired effect; in Will's case driving listeners to his podcast.

PUM podcast August edition

2006-07-25T15:54:00.000+01:00

The PUM podcast is now online.If you'd like to support the marketing of the magazine and put the podcast down your own feed, then here are the details;

enclosure url="http://media.libsyn.com/media/tartanpodcast/PUM0807.mp3" length="7362820" type="audio/mpeg"/

Just add the < and > at the start and end!

I love this stuff

2006-07-25T06:52:00.000+01:00

As heard on TWiT 63, I looked up the 'Chinese black helicopters' story.

You can read about it here.

Road-warrior travellers targeted with airport podcasts

2006-07-24T20:47:00.001+01:00

Taken from Podcastingnews.com - with an 18,000 acre, five terminal complex, Dallas-Fort Worth Internatioinal Airport has introduced a series of podcasts aiming to help their 59 million annual visitors with information on parking, restaurants and shopping.

read more | digg story

The 1% Rule

2006-07-22T21:21:00.000+01:00

It's an emerging rule of thumb that suggests that if you get a group of 100 people online then one will create content, 10 will "interact" with it (commenting or offering improvements) and the other 89 will just view it.

read more | digg story

PodShow+

2006-07-08T21:07:00.000+01:00

I had a bit of difficulty adding the tartanpodcast to my Podshow+ page (http://tartanpodcast.podshow.com - as an aside my old page still exists - http://tartan.podshow.com) as the tartanpodcast was already in the PS+ directory.

When I registered for my personal page I chose the name 'tartanpodcast' which precluded me from automatically adding my podcast to my personal page; the name 'tartanpodcast' is already taken.

Here's the solution; you need to put a post in your feed containing a piece of code provided by Podshow. Once that post is up, choose a name for your podcast. In my case I chose 'thetartanpodcast'. I then entered the my podcast's feed address. PS+ 'vacuums' the feed, finding the post containing the piece of code it needs.

Your personal page now lists your podcasts.

But PS+ alerts you to this;
By Creating a new Show or Importing an exisiting podcast you agree to be bound by the terms of the PodShowPDN Free Edition Agreement

Upon opening the Agreement I found that it was a trimmed and tidied version of the producer's contract I signed last June.

Of note are;

Quote:

You hereby grant to PodShow the non-exclusive, royalty-free, worldwide right and license to digitize, convert, install, upload, select, order, arrange, compile, combine, synchronize, use, reproduce, store, process, retrieve, transmit, translate, distribute, publish, publicly display, publicly perform and hyperlink your Programming; and make archival or back-up copies of your Programming in any venues, media and channels of distribution now existing or yet to be invented. (hereinafter collectively referred to herein as “Use”).

Well, we've pretty much covered that already here.

There's also this;

Quote:

PodShow may at its discretion place advertising before or after the Programming at its discretion.

This is interesting. Is there justification for PS to add adverts to your podcast just because you've got it listed on your personal page? If they were, for example, hosting the podcast files without charge to you as a the producer, then fair enough. But I pay for my podcast hosting. So are podshow caching my podcast on their servers, then when someone plays my podcast via my personal PS+ page it's taken from their server and ads are auto-inserted?

Also;

Quote:

PodShow has the worldwide right as part of its promotional efforts to utilize your likeness, name, personality and celebrity during the Term, as well as all show related graphics, logos, slogans, fonts, and other such podcast items.

I've brought my podcast's RSS feed onto my PS+ personal page and as a result PS can use my logos, my likeness, my name etc etc for their own marketing? Confusing.

Could this all be made a bit more transparent or am I nit picking?

All in all, I like the site. But I'd love to know what was really going on.

originally posted on Britcaster.com

Some pictures from holiday

2006-07-06T09:58:00.000+01:00

Is a podcast a repackaged radio broadcast?

2006-06-30T18:34:00.000+01:00

According to the Oxford English dictionary a podcast is 'digital recording of a radio broadcast made available on the internet for downloading to a personal audio player'.

Almost a year after podcast was entered into the American English dictionary the word is recognised by the Oxford English equivalent.

Such a (sickening) shame that the definition is wrong.

BBC Link

Podcast User Magazine - the podcast

2006-06-30T17:47:00.000+01:00

Bizarrely enough we at Podcast User Magazine have decided to produce a podcast to promote the magazine. Each month, ahead of the release of each issue, there will be a podcast that'll give you an idea of what content we've got in store for you.

The podcast's feed is http://feeds.feedburner.com/pumpodcast so subscribe away. It should be up on iTunes soon.

Redirecting

2006-06-24T17:44:00.000+01:00

I've been tearing out my hair the past week or so (and I'm talking figuratively - see the picture) over my podcast not showing up in the iTunes feed.

I claim that iTunes is the easiest will to collect and keep track of your podcasts, what with the cut-off feature where it stops updating, and thereby clogging up your hard drive (essential for laptop users), podcasts you haven't listened to for a while, among other tricks.

Mike Versteeg disagrees with me, and having used Winpodder on my Windows XP laptop I can see the usefulness of his software. And now that I'm having issues with iTunes collecting the latest episodes of my own podcast I'm starting to rethink my aggregator loyalties.

According to Neil Dixon of Britcaster notoriety the redirection that takes place within Libsyn's servers causes delays in aggregators picking up the lastest files. Add to that the redirect that Podtrac uses to tot up total unique downloads, and the average podcast file stored with Libsyn and tracked by Podtrac is being pinged about like the ball in the final match of the Chinese table tennis championship.

So, what is the solution, anyone?

Creating a podcast

2006-06-21T15:09:00.000+01:00

Further to my entry below, it would seem a bit crazy to consider starting a podcast with a view to making money on it.

However there are a few stalwarts who firmly believe that by the end of 2006 they'll be making a living, and to quote one of them, making a living means paying the mortgage, via podcasting.

Ewan Spence has been plugging away for a long time now, and his recent blog entry tells you something about what he's been up to.

At the end of the post he invites you to consider starting your own podcast, namely a music podcast. So if you look at the TPN music show list and don't see a music podcast that fits your musical tastes, email Ewan and he'll get you started on the path to becoming a music podcast. Which, I can state from personal experience, is a fairly satisfying past-time to be involved with.

It's been a while.

2006-06-19T16:27:00.000+01:00

It's been a while since I posted here last. I notice the date of the last entry was before I got my iMac. Since I spend most of my in-front-of-the-computer hours on the Mac and I tend to blog here on the Windows laptop you'll understand why the blogging hasn't been frequent or regular.

That being said it's not like I've been slacking off at all.

My goals at the start of this year were to get Tartan Media Productions, the podcast production/consultancy business I started last June, off the ground. And the end of 2005 promised that this was a feasible goal to aim for. I had a couple of production commissions lined up, one of which would involved several days consultanting for a magazine. But as has been my experience so far, both project amounted to nothing at all.

I was excited last year to be appointed as an associate of Caledonain University's Spoken Word department, a role that was to work in an advisory capacity with them as they rolled out podcasting to the students. Again this has amounted to nothing at all.

One business avenue that needs to be exploited was pointed out to me by Hollow Horse's Kenny Little, but what's holding me back right now it the time needed to invest in getting the project off the ground. Ideally I need a business manager to take care of the 'pitching the idea' side of things while I'd concentrate on doing the actual work.

It's now almost July, we're more than half way through 2006 - a year that promised financial gains for podcasters - and the climate financially within podcasting seems much more arid. 2005 had me earing a couple of shekels, nothing I'd consider giving up the day job over, but enough that made me think by this time in 2006 GUTDJ could be a viable option.

It would seem that some podcasters still look to Adam Curry and Podshow for the secret ingredient needed to snare some cash as a podcaster. They have afterall got a nice wedge in the bank courtesy of Kleiner Perkins. However, before anyone kids themself into believing that signing Podshow's producer contract gives them access to those funds, be aware that venture capitalists don't pour money into a start up so that the little guy can take home the profits; VCs want their investment back. And then some. Therefore Podshow hold its purse strings very tightly.

Listening to Podshow produced podcasts tells me that they're perhaps struggling to bring in the lucrative 'big name' advertisers. Earthlink, GoDaddy and perhaps one or two HBO shows don't add up to the millions they surely must hope to see coming in to the coffers via ads by this time 2007. Where are the sugary drinks companies or the sporting goods manufacturers advertising in podcasts? Are Podshow sweating about paying the investment back? Adam's transatlantic airfares must be eating into it a bit...

It's obvious to any podcast network (a company who have a stable of podcasts and host/distribute the files under their name) that you need to have a global presence with podcasts produced in various parts of the world, therefore having your brand represented in those countries. The more shows in your fold the better; you have a bigger collective audience spread across the network to dangle in front of potential advertisers. When I signed up with Podshow, right down - I believe - until I left them in January, I was the only non-North American producing content for them. (As an aside, I wrote them a long email last November after the Expo explaining my lack of desire to produce 3 shows per week for no money, but outlining my keeness to work for them, expanding their profile in the UK as their only UK based producer. They never replied to that email.)

However, Podshow are now moving into the UK. The UK has, until now, been for the most part anti-Podshow. Much of this has developed through the perception that Podshow - and by Podshow I mean Adam Curry - not taking the UK podcast community as seriously as it does the North American one. Whether there's any truth in this isn't for me to guess. Podshow were approached late last summer to ask if Adam would come and speak at PodcastCon 05, but he was unable to. For some of those in attendance this was taken as a snub, and with the Daily Source Code having an American-centric slant for much of 2005, a vocal number of long standing UK podcasters didn't have much good to say about Podshow.

Now that it looks like they're bringing some of Kleiner Perkin's cash over the pond, along with their within-podcasting-circles universally recognised name, we can expect to see several UK podcasters queuing up to sign over their content to Podshow.

At least now it was seem they have a contract written up specifically for the UK. Hopefully for those signees they also have an advertising or two on board so that there will be a level of financial compensation on offer that was absent while I was under contract.

To read more of my thoughts on this subject download July's issue of Podcast User Magazine - available July 1st.

Subway Challenge

2006-01-14T14:58:00.000Z

taken directly from their website;

You are on the Glasgow underground (subway), travelling clock-wise. The journey time between Buchanan St. and St. Enoch is approximately 55 seconds. Hmmm. On the surface it's downhill journey, down the busiest shopping street in Glasgow with 2 road crossings. Hmmm.
Challenge: Can you get off the a train at Buchanan St. and back on the same train the next time it stops at St. Enoch?
Rules: You can break the law if you wish

I've put the video up here to spare their bandwidth.

podcastingubiquity

2006-01-13T15:13:00.000Z

Skype-me buttons, donate buttons, podcast-enthusiam, voicemail with the last 4 digits refering in some way to your podcast, libsyn accounts, Cafepress store, PMN buttons, 4 40 minute shows in 4 days, Go Daddy sponsorship, frappr maps, piece in local newspaper elation, flickr buttons, personalised forums, tip jar pledge drives, polls, gmail accounts, Jawbone cartoons, Podsquad envy/bitterness, promo mp3, DSC promo prayers, Expo flashbacks, Podcast Pickle pages, iTunes subscribe buttons, 4 20 minute shows in 4 weeks, sponsor-envy, podcast directory submission frenzy, vote-for-me, vote-for-me, podcast-disillusionment, Podtec surveys, 4 12 minute shows in 4 months...

Am I a sellout?

2006-01-12T15:02:00.000Z

Back in August I put up this post on the tartanpodcast.

There was quite a lively response to it, and today another comment was posted;

I think that a lot of people are doing this for a lot of different reasons, and that’s cool. Everyone needs to figure out what their reasons are and define their own path based on that. Personally, I agree that PMN has sold out. The argument that they haven’t based on a statistical analysis speaks volumes to me. At the same time, we just had our show removed and that was that.

I am a musician. My show is a communal effort. Every show is hosted by musicians and we have formed a small network that supports each other. It’s not about numbers. And it’s not a copycat model of traditional radio. The show is about music. It’s about how much we all love and care about music. That’s what’s missing in my opinion from traditional radio. It’s all about marketing studies and business models and numbers of people who have played a certain song. (kinda like PMN)

PMN can do their thing though. And they will attract listeners who are into that, and that’s cool. One thing I would like to mention though from the musicians perspective is that PMN has built this whole model based on musicians donating their music. The system is intended to propel individuals who host the shows on the backs of the musicians who donate their music – the sentiment being that publicity generated from podcasting will help the musicians earn income from a secondary unrelated stream (such as a record deal or other music industry related windfall). Well, anyone who knows jack about the music industry would know that that for the most part is a load of crap. In essence, the musicians are being used. However, unlike traditional radio where there is an archaic appearance of a system to payback artists, PMN doesn’t seem to keen on sharing any of the $$ they generated from their business model with the people who made it possible.

The reason why PMN has sold out is because PMN isn’t enabling artists to work outside of the system. This is what podcasting was about initially. It was a way to go around the overhyped, overmarketed, outdated, corrupt system of traditional media. All PMN is doing is prepping people for more of the same – more girls rolling around on the floor half naked with guitars, more i need to sell 500,000 copies of my record to break even, more i need to make some money capitalist crap. and that’s cool.

But my point is that it’s not about music anymore.

I've replied, click through to see it.

But thinking about it afterwards, I think she's implying that we've sold out, i.e. me, Big Mike, CC, Canis, Renamarie, Julien, Marcus, Michael - we've all sold out. And the last bit about it not being about the music anymore, can anything annoy me more?!

Re. advertising (which, let's face it, was what started the discussion; running ads was selling out), there hasn't been an ad on the tartanpodcast since September.

Re. not about the music - I played at least 3 songs per podcast and I put out at least 2 shows per week. What is it about if it isn't the music.

It's a topic guaranteed to get my goat ;-)

More new pics

2006-01-06T18:15:00.000Z

sunset towards glasgow
Originally uploaded by tartanpodcast.

I've been out snapping again - the results can be found by clicking through to flickr via the picture here.

tartanpodcast LIVE! What am I doing?!

2006-01-06T17:16:00.000Z

A while ago it was suggested that a live event featuring some of the best Scottish podsafe bands would be fun. Great idea. But now that I'm actually going ahead with it (see the post on tartanpodcast.com) I wondering what on earth I'm getting myself into.

Since I started the podcast I've met Roz and Magnus of Miss the Occupier, Al Bishop of Hotrod Cadets, Steven and Jolene of Finniston and the Taylor brothers of Dropkick. While I've been invited to see many of the bands I've played perform live, I've only actually seen Miss the Occupier, Finniston and Dropkick. The reason being is I don't like having to go out and meet people.

It's all about comfort zones; podcasting from my tiny wee studio is comfortable. I record a couple of shows per sitting, update show notes, mess about with the website, fire off a few emails. All within my abilities. No sweat. Not a stretch, etc etc. I'm in my comfort zone. Doing the tartanpodcast is what I do. Going out and meeting bands is not.

Now, I'm not overly shy or lacking in confidence. The existance of the tartanpodcast is evidence of that, I suppose. So it's not some fear of meeting new people and having to shake their hand and strike up a conversation.

I just don't like having to leave my house.

So, when a band kindly emails me to say they're performing at such and such at this or that time, I usually reply to say that I'd love to be there, but won't be able to make it.

I just don't like having to leave my house.

So what on earth am I doing organising something like tartanpodcast LIVE!?? 7 bands? All on stage one after the other? MCd by me?

That's a lot of leaving the house.

Add to it the logistics; booking the venue, organising the tickets, the sound, the bar, making sure everyone has everything they need. And then on the day making sure everything runs smoothly and enjoyable for the bands, and more importantly, the people who've paid good money (and travelled a distance) to hear their favourite Scottish indie band perform.

It's a nightmare.

Anyway, subscribe to the RSS feed of tartanblog to keep up to date with the developments as we head towards the 24th June 2006 and tartanpodcast LIVE!

Anyone know a good project manager?

local6.com - News - Family Finds Raw Meat Instead Of iPod Inside Sealed Box

2006-01-05T00:22:00.000Z

Family Finds Raw Meat Instead Of iPod Inside Sealed Box

Fantastic!

1st production gig via Tartan Media Productions

2006-01-04T15:08:00.000Z

I got an email today responding to a proposal I'd sent to Touched By Scotland who are putting on a live music event later this month. I'd met their founders at the podcast workshop/presentation I'd put on in December.

They're accepting my proposal and they'll be in touch with the details. It'll mean me travelling up north to Aberdeen to cover the event, then editing it into a podcast for them.

tartan media productions

Ah, hindsight...it's always 20-20

2006-01-03T17:28:00.000Z

Great quote from an article on the iPod;

So the iPod will be an early success. No doubt about it. But after the initial wow factor of the Mac faithful wears off, sales will plummet, the price will be cut in half, different color choices will be made available, and it will become compatible with PC's. And it still won't sell as many units as Apple had hoped it would. The reason is simple, and can be summed up in one word. Sony.

Ok, they were right about the early success, the price drop and the PC version. As for the rest, well, we'll let the guy off...it was written in 2001.

Read the article here.

sent by Janell

2006-01-02T09:17:00.000Z

sent by Janell
Originally uploaded by tartanpodcast.

Janell very kindly sent me a PDF of February 2006's Keyboard Magazine.

Another afternoon at Glasgow's People's Palace

2005-12-30T17:20:00.000Z

Reflection
Originally uploaded by tartanpodcast.

What do you do on a snowy - but not snowy enough for snowy fun - afternoon in Glasgow? With the library being shut (how hard to librarians work that they need to have so much time off as they do in our district?) we decided to head into People's Palace again.

The reason I'm blogging this is to vent a little about the quality of service you receive here in Scotland; be aware of this, you North Americans, if you're planning on visiting this beautiful country - do not expect the level of courtesy and service as you currently enjoy...

We stopped in the Winter Garden for a coffee and soft drinks. I ordered a cappucino, but decided to change that for a regular coffee. The person serving - and bear in mind, this person will be serving people from all over the world who have spent good money traveling to Scotland to see the sights and visiting tourist honey pots such as People's Palace - made such a fuss about changing what she'd entered into the till from a cappucino to a regular coffee that I actually said - twice - 'no, no, just leave it as it is if it's that much trouble..'.

I mean, what are we talking about here? Canceling the cappucino on her till and then hitting the button for 'regular coffee'. It's not like I'm asking her to re-tile the public toilets blindfolded and without the use of grout.

But this is indicative of the poor level of service you can expect here in Scotland. My view is, if you don't like SERVING people, don't be a waitress or work in an industry that makes its money SERVING people.

Don't let this put you off heading to Scotland on holiday; the scenery and the people in general more than make up for it...

ice on ladders

2005-12-29T13:22:00.000Z

ice on ladders
Originally uploaded by tartanpodcast.

It's very cold in Glasgow right now. I was working today and here's a photo of the ice that formed on my ladders as I was working.

I'M BACK! - taken from tartanpodcast.com

2005-12-29T13:03:00.000Z

After weeeeeeeeeeks off from podcasting I'm finally back. Refreshed and invogorated after a week in Arisaig (see Flickr for some of the pics), I'm ready to take on the podcasting world again.

Gloves are off this time. No more Mr Nice Guy.

Ok, maybe I'm joking about that part.

As you'll see, the site is back here on Podshow's server. Some of you may know I have issues with how Podshow is handling its talent, the '3 shows a week' for no money etc. But after long and open discussions with the Music Gang, my podcast brethren, I'm going to stick it out with them. At least for another few months.
We are after all approaching a bright, new, shiny year so here's hoping things start falling into place.

In the meantime, The Scottish Podcast Clan is alive and kicking and I urge all of you to check it out and listen to the other Scottish podcasts listed on the site. More will be added in due course, including Amplificast, the podcast from Amplifico.

A technorati search showed up what looks to be a rival Scottish podcast site, but note; we were doing it first ;-)

Here's a write-up on the release of The Scottish Podcast Clan.

Other news - the tartanblog is up and I'll be posting most of my podcast experiences, thoughts, opinions and news over there, including developments with tartan media productions, which was officially 'launched' earlier in the month. So please subscribe to the RSS feed.

I recorded the first SaltireCast, a project I'm working on for Glasgow Caledonian University. My plan is to have 'channels' that you can subscribe to via the tartanpodcast site, and the SaltireCast will be the first, all being well.

Look out for a podcast of the workshop/presentation I delivered a couple of weeks ago here in Glasgow; it'll be made available via tartanblog.

Shows coming up in the next few months;

Spotlights on Maeve O'Boyle and Quinn

Interviews with Lance Anderson and Paul Story

Live appearance at the Lance Anderson Podcast Experiment, along with Top of the Pods and Hotrod Cadets - book your tickets now!

Tartanpodcast LIVE! I can confirm - officially - that there's going to be a LIVE tartanpodcast event next Summer (2oo6). Details will follow very soon.

Saltirecast

2005-12-16T18:57:00.000Z

Further to me mentioning Glasgow Caledonian University, I was there today to record a sound-seeing tour of their new Saltire Building on the campus.

I'll be turning that sound-seeing tour into a podcast and an enhanced podcast, including photos.

You can have a look at the pics here in advance.

Podcasting workshop/presentation

2005-12-15T21:11:00.000Z

Today was the first tartan media podcast workshop/presentation. It was held in Adelaide's, Bath Street, Glasgow. Taking place over 2 sessions - 1 morning, 1 afternoon - 25 people in total attended.

Part of the plan today was to market tartan media productions..Well, I sort of managed that. CEO of the company that organised the event said that the feedback for the presentation was excellent, but that it was commented on that I should have 'sold' my service more. That'll take some getting used to.

That being said, I did get 3 very positive responses, 1 of which was from an uber-cool Scottish arts magazine who want me to work with them on a podcast.

I recorded the sessions, along with contributions from some in attendance, and I'll make the finished podcast available only through the tartanblog, for those interested.

Some pictures are here.

First review on iTunes

2005-12-14T09:23:00.000Z

Lance Anderson Podcast Experiment (LAPE)

2005-12-12T19:54:00.000Z

We're moving ever closer to this landmark event on the podcast calendar, Lance Anderson's trip to the UK and the Lance Anderson Podcast Experiment. What makes it historic is this; Lance will be telling his signature story 'No, I Didn't Even Kiss Her', then he will be joined on stage by

Jon and Rob from the UK's top podcast Top of the Pods, who will be performing a special top ten list
'Podcast Pioneer' Dan Klass of The Bitterest Pill, who'll be joining the LAPE via LIVE satellite video link up
Me - host of the tartanpodcast
Glasgow's finest, Hotrod Cadets will be travelling down to perform live

Now here's the thing, if you're not familiar with Lance's podcast I highly recomend you familiarise yourself with it by visiting www.vergeofthefringe.com.

Now head along to the event site by clicking the logo above, tickets are the bargain price of £4.50.

I think this is going to be a genuinely exciting event - 5 podcasters and 1 live band all on stage together (well, one via satellite). I was going to travel down from Glasgow to attend anyway, so I was thrilled to be asked by Lance to be a part of it.

If you want to be there too and need more details, email me or visit Lance's site.

New camera, workshops and channels

2005-12-12T09:17:00.000Z

After 3 years I decided to buy a new camera. We've got a short holiday in the highlands of Scotland coming up, and couple that with a special podcast I'm producing on Friday that will be enhanced, I thought it a good idea to get a new camera.

I picked up a Konica Minolta DiMage E500 for under £120, which is fairly cheap for a 5 megapixel camera. Obviously it isn't loaded with features, most notably it's missing a view finder, so you're stuck with the LCD - a huge battery drain. But it does that job. Shutter lag is a teeeny bit of an issue, but I'm getting the hang of it.

My old camera, an Olympus C120 (I think) was 2 megapixel and lasted 3 years, took great pics and is now in the custody of my mother-in-law.

Here's a quick sample of the new camera's work.On Thursday I'm holding a workshop in Adelaides, Bath Street, Glasgow. It's not open to the public as such, but I hope to record it and make it available here as a podcast.
Topics will include 'down-time' verses 'sit-down-time', making people come to you verses reaching out to people.

There's every chance that, through time, the tartanpodcast will add channels. These channels will be seperate feeds that can be subscribed to. Of course, the tartanpodcast as it currently stands will continue - 2 or 3 shows a week, including the sleepy sunday show etc. But there's potential for me to add other channels pertaining to different topics.

We'll see how it pans out.

On Friday I'm producing a special one-off podcast for Caledonian University. They're building a big, new, hi-tech building which is due to open in January. The podcast will be a sound-seeing tour of the building and will be made available as an enhanced podcast which will include pictures of the various cool new elements of this building.

It's both a showcase of the University and a showcase of what I can offer organisations such as the university...therefore I'm doing it free of charge. A one-time-only deal...

Again, this will be made available via the tartanblog.

You can post feedback here, if you so wish!

More social engineering from Yahoo

2005-12-11T22:56:00.000Z

12/10/2005 10:10:25 AM, by Ken "Caesar" Fisher

Yahoo! buys del.icio.us

Yahoo's courtship with the blogging world got a little deeper yesterday when they agreed to buy "social bookmarking" site del.icio.us. The terms of the deal and its financial make-up were not announced by either company, and no reliable murmurs have surfaced on the 'net so far.

The purchase makes sense. In March of this year Yahoo purchased Flickr, and coupled together, Flickr and de.licio.us are quite complimentary services. The idea behind both sites is relatively simple: allow users to share data (pictures in the case of Flickr, bookmarks in the case of de.licio.us), allow them to mark that data up with metadata, and make it all easily searchable. Del.icio.us' founder, Joshua Schachter, seemed pleased with the transaction, noting that Yahoo "gets it."

We're proud to announce that del.icio.us has joined the Yahoo! family. Together we'll continue to improve how people discover, remember and share on the Internet, with a big emphasis on the power of community. We're excited to be working with the Yahoo! Search team - they definitely get social systems and their potential to change the web. (We're also excited to be joining our fraternal twin Flickr!)

We want to thank everyone who has helped us along the way - our employees, our great investors and advisors, and especially our users. We still want to get your feedback, and we look forward to bringing you new features and more servers in the future.

Furthermore, Yahoo's Jeremy Zawodny said that the company will likely work to put del.icio.us together with Yahoo's existing My Web service, and I wouldn't be surprised to see Flickr integrated there as well. Behold the birth of Y.ah.oo! M.y W.br!

Yahoo is a company hot on the trail of so-called Web 2.0 (a clever self-marketing term if there ever was one), and 2005 is wrapping up to be the Year of Community Driven Content; blogs, blogs, and more blogs, plus all of the accoutrements of the social scene, really hit big this year. Never mind that people have been doing this stuff for ages; it's all in the self-marketing, you see. That, and the fact that it's becoming more and more socially acceptable to know how to use a computer.

Del.icio.us fans will now have to wait and see

Soundbiters on the BBC

2005-12-11T21:21:00.000Z

For those interested in hearing Ewan Spence and I on BBC Radio Scotland's Soundbiters quiz, the air date is Friday 23rd December 11.30am GMT.

I'll post a link nearer the time.

I will be on holiday when it's aired!

2005-12-11T10:12:00.000Z

CC Chapman started a great thread on his site regarding an article slamming podcasting

Here's my reply on his site;

I listen to one repackaged radio show distributed as a podcast - The Best of Chris Evans. To people of my age Chris represents the time when tv and radio was wrestled from the grasps of the grey, middle aged, middle managers.
What sets EvanÂs tv and radio shows apart is that to hire him, you have to hire his production company. He produces his own shows, therefore he has a double-handful ofmanagementtÂs underwear, ready to rip it up into a wedgie at the first hint of a sniff of interferance.The podcast of his radio show is 30 minutes long, and in my opinion, it works as a podcast. ItÂs simply just the best bits. Evans is a born podcaster - original content, produces it himselfÂperfect. And when you listen to him, you know youÂre listening to HIM.

A BBC Radio DJ told me that the buzz word at the BBC is podcasting, the Beeb wants to podcast as much of its content as possible. For corporations such as the BBC a podcast of their content has added value; itÂs the BBC fergoodnesssakes, they eschew everything that commercial TV and radio stands for. They have to. ItÂs in their code. Rather than the BBC fearing podcasting theyÂre embracing it as a way to deliver their content.
The BBC asides, repackaged COMMERCIAL radio shows masquerading as podcasts have no added value; the best bits are ripped out, i.e. the music. Any reasonable person sat down with an iPod - or personal media player of their choice - and given two podcasts to listen to, Frankie and JoJosÂ Whacky Radio Call-ins and [insert well produced music podcast] and asked to compare the two would surely fall on the side of [insert well produced music podcast].

Why? The Chris EvanÂs effect - [insert well produce music podcast] is produced by the person presenting it, youÂre hearing THEM and they answer to no one.

Add to that the fact that itÂs fairly inexpensive to purchase the gear needed to produce a professional (in sound quality) ÂradioÂ show, then itÂs obvious commercial radio is going to be nervous, even fearful.
Good.

Discuss...

Playing the drums and the mouthorgan. At the same time.

2005-12-10T17:50:00.000Z

I saw something reasonably remarkable tonight while sitting in a pub in Bath Street in Glasgow. No, it wasn't young people trying too hard to resemble Goldfrapp album covers , or the trying-too-hard-to-look-fashionably-scruffy-haircuts on young men in bum crack showing low slung jeans. It wasn't even the Saudi Arabian horse racing that was on the 3 large plasma tvs hung on 3 different walls in the pub. Nor was it the strange fellow with the just-out-of-bed hair (you know, all pushed up to one side and flattened from the back), bad teeth, pale denim jacket with dark hoodie under it, although all of these things were reasonably remarkable to someone like me who doesn't leave the house much after 7pm at night.

The reasonably remarkable thing that I witnessed tonight was someone playing the drums and the mouthorgan. At the same time.

The perpetrator of this feat was none other than Andrew from the Edinburgh-based band Dropkick. The band, having managed to secure the visa, had made the trip west (on a school night - Alastair's words) to play The Butterfly and the Pig, a pub on the odd side of Bath Street. I'd walked passed the basement pub everyday for a year when I worked for Barclays Stockbrokers at the Charing Cross end of Bath Street (300 Bath Street, Tay House - the building that goes over the motorway for those taking notes), but I'd never noticed it before.

Typically decked out for a Glasgow pub/venue/restaraunt; all battered sofas, raw wooden floors, black t-shirted bar staff and the aforementioned people trying too hard, the bands would be performing on a small 'stage' against a wall papered with sheet music. Directly behind the stage, i.e. right behind where the band would be performing, was a large plasma TV showing Champions League football. I was imagining people heckling the musicians, yelling at them to 'get oot ay the wey ay o the footie, an tha.'

That didn't happen, although there would perhaps have been call for it during the first band's set. I don't have their name to hand, although it would be fairly easy to retrieve. But I won't as I like to reserve the tartanpodcast for bands of quality. Yes. I am a snob. They were overly loud and their songs all sounded repetitively similar. They also managed to clear out, oh, most of the people in the pub.

This was borne out when a member of the bar staff whom I presume to have a managerial type position (this assumption is made based on her being at least 22) came over to one of the guys with the trying-too-hard-too-look-scruffy hairdos and proclaimed 'there's only 32 people left, this lot better not be as loud as the last lot'.

Those who had departed the pub had freed up seats near the stage and by the time Dropkick had "sound checked" - asking random drinkers to twiddle the nobs on the board till things sounded reasonable; no fault of Dropkick's, the sound guy had failed to show up - there was a cozy crowd in front of them.

They didn't disappoint, kicking off their set with Chastity Pyjamas, drummer Andrew on lead vocals and Alastair on guitar and harmonies. The applause was genuine and generous. There followed Gary Larsson Cartoon and Crisps and Irn Bru, among others.

Finishing up with Turn Off Your Radio (Turn Me On Instead), at one point the bassist (sorry, didn't get the rest of the band members' names - Alastair?) caught my eye and we had a shared grin at the lyrical content of the song, much of it probably lost due to the sound guy having a night-in.

Two highlights of the night; immediately after they finished their set, a guy rushed up to Andrew and asked if they had a CD for sale. He was, of course, American. Alastair and I had chatted briefly and we had agreed that their sound was particularly popular with Americans. (Inexplicable sidenote - Alastair offered me a Dropkick t-shirt, which I refused, for some reason. Perhaps the soda water and lime had gone to my head.)

The other highlight? Not, as Grant may assume, being asked to guard the Dropkick box - which I was and did and have photographic proof of - but rather seeing a drummer drum while playing a mouthorgan.

Remarkable.

Dropkick's music is available to purchase and download from www.dropkickmusic.co.uk