23Things #21 Podcasts Smodcasts

This Thing has given me an opportunity to contemplate how I listen.

I'm VAK, or VKA. When I think about listening I identify myself as a good listener. Yet if I need to listen to something which is not also visible I have to close my eyes. I prefer to learn things by reading or watching - it takes longer for me to process verbal/auditory material.

I believe podcasts are potentially valuable - many people find auditory input easier, quicker or more enjoyable to process than visual. They're just not for me.

For the sake of the exercise I did search Podcast.net (can search Title & Description, Keywords, Location, Host, Episodes), Podcastalley.com, and Yahoo Podcasts (easiest on the eye interface, more visual while less textual, gentler organisation) in my typical areas of interest: breastfeeding, peace and communication, library, finding nothing that I consider worth requiring the time to listen. Ah of course... with textual input I can scan for key points ... audio and even video are linear, chronological.

Also for the sake of the exercise I subscribed to Peacepod by copying the rss link to my Bloglines. It stutters - is that Bloglines or the source?

A cast of news items read in Esperanto reminded me of the language I would, in theory, like to learn. Logically podcasts could assist in language learning, but not for visual learners like me.

Perhaps other 23Thingers might have found interesting casts? Jamie mentioned the Dolphin Pod at Yahoo, I'd like to subscribe to it but there is no RSS, and Yahoo wants me to download a jukebox. Even if it is free I don't want to download it. However there is a blog which has an atom feed, so Bloglines can at least tell me when a new podcast has been posted.

Thinking about labelling this post, I decided that while I would not categorise podcasts as web2.0, the podcast directories are.