Q: What purpose(s) does this genre usually serve?
A: A podcast is a way for a person to convey information or their opinion on a subject to an audience through an audio media file. This can easily be compared to radio. The key difference between a podcast and radio is a listener can listen to any podcast at any time they want as long as they have a capable device, whereas radio needs a station and does not repeat itself for the most part.
Q: Where, how, or in what context do readers usually find this genre?
A: Readers will normally find this genre in audio format on some kind of device capable of downloading or playing audio files. There is such a thing as vodcasts but these are more similar to TED talks or live radio shows. Podcasts are mostly used to convey information about a subject through a fairly quick and efficient means.
Q: Who is the typical audience for this genre?
A: All podcasts have different topics. Some might have a general concept in common but for the most part, podcasts each have their own individual specific point. This varies the audiences of each podcast. A broad audience would be the general public. Podcasts are public audio files that can be downloaded by anyone. This means they can provide information on a subject to everyone that downloads that particular file.
Q: What are some of the key features or characteristics that are unique to this genre, distinguishing it from other texts?
A: The pure fact that a podcast is not text is what distinguishes it from other texts. What distinguishes podcasts from quick reference guides is not only the textual aspect, but also quick reference guides are more of a short succinct article like something found in a newspaper or magazine that briefly but effectively conveys a subject. Podcasts normally give to the point information along with explanations, examples, and possibly event the speakers opinion thrown in the mix.
Based on your answers to the questions above, come up with a definition in your own words for this genre.
Podcast- an audio file capable of informing the intended audience on a certain subject
Zoomar. "Roscoe Considers Recording a Podcast" 02/14/2008 via flickr. Attribution-NonCommercial 2.0 Generic License
Your explanation of the podcast is succinct yet leaves nothing out. I can relate to how you described that there is no specific topic that can be determined as the podcast can be as varied as the people listening to it, I've heard both scientific podcast and humor ones, sometimes both at the same time.
ReplyDeleteI think you could have been ore specific with your description of the purpose for using a podcast as a sort of medium for an "essay". You could have expressed more in the way of having a purely audio way of expressing ideas lends to the mobility of those listening to whatever topic and how there is a wider range of places a podcast can be listened to than places an essay can be read.
Erin, I agree with your statement about how podcasts get to the point of their arguement in a slightly different way than articles which try to be very direct. Podcasts allow for the speakers to add their own opinions, examples, and explanations unlike a quick reference guide can.
ReplyDeleteThe thing that you could probably mention would be, like Alexis said, the mobility allowed by a podcasts. They can be listened to almost anywhere which is a huge part of their popularity.
I like your focus on the lack of limits to their audience. The widespread accessibility of podcasts is such a neat and important quality. It really sets them apart from the more limited accessibility of video essays which you need to have a more in depth understanding of technology for. Your writing is concise and understandable which follows the outline of how to construct a blog post. It is interesting and well written.
ReplyDelete