Silver lining in the sky - Harvard IdeaCast review

The latest issue of Harvard's podcast Business IdeaCast, contains an interview with Scott Anthony, author of the Innovation Insights blog. Subject of the talk is, whether there is a silver lining in the current economic crisis. Anthony acknowledges the historically observable effect that many a business emerges or is strengthened during the age of crisis. His most profound explanation ofr this phenomenon is that crisis actually stimulates creative business and causes greater scrutiny to kill off expensive experimenting. In other words, when crisis occurs, companies are forced to apply all their creativity to survive and while doing so, much more effectively weed out the good from the bad ideas.

My hope is that the company where I work is one that will thrive. We make a service that allows our customers to speed up their communications. It has been said this is the efficacy of the way people communicate through Twitter, or Facebook, or SMS and many more of those examples, all combined and applied at the working place.

It certainly seems like something everybody needs. Our first customers are very happy and will certain go on using our service and invest in us. So, I hope not only will my job be maintained, but our stuff will turn out to be among those good things that are revealed through crisis. At least the IdeaCast gave me good hope.

Previously:
Harvard Business IdeaCast review

War of the Worlds (2) - Science podcast review

WNYC's Radiolab dedicated a live broadcast to the War of the Worlds craze of 1938 and similar events. The radio show was, as usual also brought as a podcast. This week, this podcast was repeated in order to commemorate 50 years since Orson Welles' radio feat. This is a reposting of my earlier review.

Orson Welles allegedly didn't like H.G. Wells's War of the Worlds, nevertheless took it upon himself to turn the 19th century story into a radio play. Afterwards he claimed to have wanted to check the power of the new medium of radio and pretended to have wanted to teach the public a lesson in vigilance - not take anything they hear on radio for granted. In that light, the craze, the mass panic, showed the experience as a failure. Nevertheless, a radio maker in Quito, Ecuador, regarded it as a success and tried to emulate it in 1949, with disastrous effects. Riots and people killed and wounded.

Radiolab attempts to explain and shows that such a craze can still happen today, for which The Blair Witch Project movie was taken as an example. I am not sure whether their explanations are so strong, but one observation is brilliant: Welles' experience and approach have resulted in the opposite: news media use the pumped up language of impending disaster in order to draw the attention of the audience. The conclusion for Welles: the media are effective, too damn well.

EDIT 12 January 2012

I noticed the website and feed of Radio Lab have changed:
Radio Lab website - radiolab.org
Radio Lab feed - radiolab.org/feeds/podcast

More Radiolab:
Life and bio-engineering ,
Wright Brothers,
Morality.

Medicalhistory - podcast review

I have to admit I knew the podcast medicalhistory, which is an amateur podcast attempting to give some historical insight in the development of the medical science and profession. It is plagued by poor audio quality and didn't choose a didactic path that managed to bring me in and that is why I haven't written about it thus far.



Medical history is a fascinating and important subject though and we can hear some excellent issues in In Our Time and The Missing Link . So, there definitely is room and need for a good podcast on the subject. If medicalhistory pick up on the learning curve, it may just develop into that. And so, let us talk about the latest installment , which was, all deficiencies taken into account, a very laudable effort.



The aim was to show the transition the medical profession has gone through in the past two centuries and to give the acclaim to Michel Foucault, that is due in this respect. In spite of his faults, Foucault managed to clarify how the medical perspective shifted and consequently changed from a patient to a disease oriented profession. The consequences for the patients being rather to the detriment, even if the effectiveness of treatment was enhanced. In any case, it took the patient out of his home and into the medical ward. Foucault is not a terribly accessible writer and one that is not considered to have sufficiently made his theories sound, and as such presented the podcasters with quite conundrum as to how to convey the message.



The form that was chosen, was a scripted dialog between students. A good idea that has two major advantages for podcast: the variety of voices and the possibility to start at a low level of understanding. The script as it can be heard, certainly achieved to teach me the message, but made me cringe also. The audio was mediocre as usual. The acting was pretty poor and the scripted dialog lacked some dramatic punch.



So, the medical history podcast, is still trying to finds its direction, but it surely should be kept an eye on, by those who are keen on the subject.

Anne is a Man on the weekend (8 November 2008)

From Friday until Sunday, you can expect a continuing stream of podcast reviews on Anne is a Man!

- Radiolab repeated its wonderful podcast about the 1938 War of the Worlds craze.
- Medicalhistory is an amateur podcast that attempts to teach aspects of the history of the Medical science and profession. My review will pay particular attention to the podcast issue featuring the ideas and impact of Michel Foucault
- The Word Nerds seem to publish in their shows in pairs. Again, after a long pause, two quick successive shows entered the feed. About Debate I wrote in the past week, next we will attend Story Telling
- With the economic crisis making us all feel pessimistic, Harvard's Business IdeaCast explores the possible good turns the economy will take during the hard times.
- Making History with Ran Levi - עושים היסטוריה paid attention to the life and work of Max Planck.

While you will be reading these reviews, I will be working on the next bunch.

I am thinking of posting another TED video. I am following a course at Yale, which is downloadable, yet not in an RSS feed and therefore, technically no podcast. I have a German podcast, I am not sure yet, what to write about (Junggesellenblog). I have been postponing for weeks on end to write again about Namaste Stories (recent episode: A girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do) and UChannel (listening to a panel about India). Enough to look out for - I guess.

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BBC: pods and blogs - podcast review and source

Pods & Blogs is a short weekly podcast from BBC's radio 5. As with other BBC podcasts (such as In Our Time), this week's edition is available for download in the feed, the previous ones were removed already. The 24 minute program talks of notable blogs, podcasts and the on-line reality of today.

Although it is hard to fit Pods & Blogs in with the podcast categories I have devised and is carrying a different content than most of my regular podcasts, I have come to like it a lot and find it to be a great source of information. It sure helps to be in touch with the digital world at large, hear of other bloggers and podcasters (there are most of the time interviews with interesting bloggers and podcasters on this show), but most of all, I present it here as another source for finding new podcasts.

By all means, this is a light program. The tone of voice is easy-going and friendly bordering to the ironically humoristic. Also, the length of the show, 24 minutes (give or take 30 seconds) and a regular schedule (every week promptly), make it easy to pick up on, tune in and take away what you like. Whether it is about a Cameroonian who discovered podcast, the effect of the bloggosphere on the American elections and the latest fads on YouTube and Twitter.

More BBC:
In Our Time,
From Our Own Correspondent,
BBC History Magazine.

Roman Nightmares - Dan Carlin Hardcore History

It is called Punic Nightmares, the trilogy Dan Carlin produced in his podcast Hardcore History , and deep into the third episode , the Romans are still suffering a nightmare, brought upon them by the Carthaginian genius Hannibal. And Carthage is an important Punic power in the Western Mediterranean. In the east they rule in the coastal city of Tyre. Mostly they are better known as the Phoenicians. And they could have become the major power in the Classical world, if not for the Romans. (feed)

And so, the Punic Nightmare of the Romans, experiences a turn of tables and become a Roman Nightmare for the Phoenicians of Carthage. The way Dan Carlin tells this story goes way beyond the realms of history podcast. He apologetically proclaims: "I am not a historian, I am a fan." This serves as an excuse to go on a What If tangent, but that tangent and that kind of thinking is no the most profound quality of Hardcore History. It is part of Dan Carlin's method of telling the story. Carlin brings home the drama of the facts, the intensity of the experience, the experience itself, as far as possible.

Hannibal, in spite of all his successes, has to fight it alone and eventually is worn out by the nearly defeated Romans. He barely makes it back to Carthage, but can no longer lead. The Roman hero of this turn of events, Scipio Africanus, also eventually is slid out through the back door. And while these heroes die their ignominious death, Carthage, at long last is cruelly and ruthlessly destroyed by the Romans. The Romans will come to rule the Mediterranean and leave their footprint on our world.

It has always been the great quality of Hardcore History, but in these 23 shows, Carlin has gotten a firm grip on how to do it. He knows better than ever to balance the facts with the analysis, the drama with the sources, his excitement with standing historiography. I would say, by now, Dan Carlin has developed his way of relating to history into an art form.

More Dan Carlin:
Punic Nightmares II ,
Punic Nightmares I,
Under the Influence,
Apaches,
and Dan Carlin praises Anne is a Man!