Learning on ScreenLondon Scool of Economics turns on to Audio
The final ‘Academic Inspiration’ segment in each podcast is based on a popular series written on the LSE Review of Books blog where academics tell us what books inspired them into their subject. This portion of the podcast can be unexpectedly moving, as was the case in the Olympics episode where LSE Cities academic, Dr Suzi Hall, transported us to her native South Africa. She introduces us to a time and place where travel was prohibitively expensive, but then describes how she was able to nourish her early interest in architecture by leafing through beautifully photographed books on European cities. In this series, academics are also very willing to show a more personable side. For example, LSE Centennial Professor Mary Evans revealed in our feminism and gender episode that Scandinavian crime novels provide an exciting escape from the occasional banalities of academic life.
Cheryl Brumley interviews an LSE member of staff for a podcast.
As Digital Editor, I am responsible for producing and editing the podcasts. My colleague Amy Mollett, Managing Editor of the LSE Review of Books blog, lends her voice as host, and works closely with me to develop the themes, bid for guests, and conduct interviews. We tend to develop topics around academic subjects that have proven successful on the blog. We also benefit greatly from the LSE’s active events programme and our central London location, making face-to-face interviews with far-flung guests a possibility on a limited budget.
The most challenging part of podcasting in a busy university (without an in-built studio) is the limited availability of empty, quiet rooms, free of cave-like echoes, and far from the ambient chatter of neighbouring classrooms. A big feature of our the LSE blog ethos is open access, which can often limit the choices for music and stings, but this is easily rectified as there are an endless array of Creative Commons websites that produce professional-sounding music for seemingly every tone and hue required.
The podcasts are hosted on several different forums including our LSE Review of Books blog, the podcast channel on the LSE website, and iTunes U. We are seeing a growing interest from users on Soundcloud, having just surpassed 1,000 listens for a single episode, as the site transitioned from beta to a fully live site. The rich media team at LSE help us upload our podcasts on to the different web platforms and provide us with the latest statistics on listens and downloads.
