Collaborative Podcasting: Exploring its potential to support communities [Minor Thesis]

Podcasts have become a very popular way for small communities to create content that is meaningful for them and reach a wider audience. However, many of the skills and equipment needed to produce a good podcast are inaccessible to non-professionals and there is often a learning curve attached to gain necessary skills. In addition, the production process is seen as an individual effort (one or two producers working in isolation to produce the final edit).

This project is about designing a collaborative podcasting model with a local community (or organisation) to use in creating a podcast model for them (this includes designing a podcast production workflow in addition to training guides and helping evaluate impact of podcast). Emphasis will be put on designing a process that uses existing technologies and free-to-use tools (i.e. all recording done on smartphones and using free audio editing/mixing software).

The methodology will be inspired by Action Research, co-design and participatory design approaches, which involve a commitment to working closely with practitioners (staff and volunteers from NGOs and community organizations).