Thoughts and ideas of a dyslexic designer/developer
Recently I was interviewed on the Plutopia News Network. Podcasters talking on other podcasts, indeed. But good to discuss with people I have never met before.
Its an interesting interview, with a bunch of twists and turns, big thanks to the 2 hosts and regular Techgrumper and writer at Netwars Wendy Grossman.
After the podcast series which you can still hear on the BBC 2LO Soundcloud account. You might have noticed a few workshops we did around the human values.
Right up till now, we couldn’t say exactly why or who was funding it. However yesterday we can finally say, we won a Nesta NGI policy in action bid along with a few others. In short…
This project, led by the BBC, seeks to try out a more human-centric focused approach to measuring audience engagement by putting human values at its core. It will do so by putting into practice longer-standing research work on mapping the kinds of values and needs their users care about the most, and developing new design frameworks that would make it easier to actually track these kinds of alternative metrics in a transparent way.
The project will run a number of design workshops and share its findings through a dedicated website and other outlets to involve the wider community.
You can learn a lot more about the project in a longer interview with Lianne. But do keep an eye on the BBC R&D project page, humanvalues.io and for future workshops/opportunities to help us shape the research project into a tangible resource for all.
This is exciting stuff…
A little while ago I mentioned the work myself and colleague Lianne have been conducting around the BBC R&D Human Values project.
I can happily say they are all uploaded to the BBC’s 2LO Soundcloud account, thanks to Bill. All of them are a good listen.
Episode 1: Human value discussion
What is the human value framework, and what are the intentions behind it?
Episode 2: Applying the human value framework
How is the human value framework used?
Episode 3: Exploring the underlying philosophy
A discussion of the philosophical model that underpins the framework
Episode 4: Measuring success using the framework
Are human values the new way to measure success and value in a digital age?
Episode 5: The impact of Covid-19 on the Human Values Framework
Considering human values in the current pandemic, and in the longer term
The BBC R&D blog post has updated details for each episode and who is in each episode. But I wanted to thank again our guests.
Its rare when everything comes together like this but I have another thing I wanted to share.
Myself and Lianne Kerlin in mid summer interviewed a number of well respected people about the human values framework. Its something I blogged about previously.
BBC Research & Development is examining how core human values relate to digital media use, in order to enhance service design and improve impact measurement. Empirical research has identified fourteen core values, all underpinned by human needs and psychological drivers. These are the basis of the Human Values Framework, a new approach to the design of online services.
In this series of podcasts Lead Researcher Lianne Kerlin is joined by Senior Firestarter Ian Forrester to discuss the Human Values Framework from different contexts. They are joined by experts in design, social impact of technology and other disciplines.
Originally it was meant to be done live for Re:publica 2020 but the material we got was so good and of course covid19 ruled out republica, we decided to turn them into 5 separate edited podcasts.
Number one is about the human values framework, with Alexandra Deschamps-Sonsino, Solana Larson, Katja Bego, Paulien Dresscher, David Jay and Brian Suda
Number two: Is about applying the human values framework, with Alexandra Deschamps-Sonsino, Katja Bego, Paulien Dresscher and Solana Larson
Keep an eye on the human values podcast playlist on 2LO’s soundcloud account for parts 3, 4 and 5. RSS feed is here if you are old skool like me. But in the meanwhile I’d like to thank my co-host Lianne Kerlin. Our guidance and podcast expert Bill Thompson and of course our gracious experts who without them it wouldn’t be the series its turned out to be… Massive thanks to…
All wonderful people, so what are you wanting for? Get listening and the news announcements don’t stop there…
During the last few months I have recorded a number of podcasts on a number of different subjects; form Tech for good live blacklivesmatter specials, a late night conversation with Tara Hunt to a discussion with Cathy about the future.
I did also recorded one for Sam talks which will go up soon (about Adaptive podcasting).
However I was very humbled to be asked to recorded one with the fine folks at the Dyslexic Advantage. I half mentioned it previously but it went live last month under the inspirational people category. Its members only content, so I can’t send you a link, however I highly recommend being a paid member if you are dyslexic, are a partner/parent of someone with dyslexia or would like support the further research into dyslexia.
The folks behind the Dyslexic Advantage were happy for me to share this interview and I will remind people (they never asked for this). The Dyslexic Advantage is a 501(c)3 charitable organisation that needs support. Support via the Premium subscriptions and donations are welcomed.
The interview is a in-depth discussion about my dyslexic journey from an early age to where I am now. Listening back to it, it sounds like I had it all planned out but honestly I didn’t. I did have a certain amount of foresight about where I wanted to be based on my experiences. There was certainly a lot of decisions about rebelling against the status-quo and finding my own trajectory forward. If you want to see the full list of recommendations for young people its here.
Don’t forget the book is a great book to get! You can get it in ebook, audiobook and physical form.
I started subscribing to the Dyslexic Advantage, as I have gotten much benefit from the book and decided it would be good to digest much more.
After looking at their premium section, which has a lot of media I started thinking there is maybe too much and they are adding more to it all the time. I started thinking if they have RSS, I could subscribe and get updated media without having to go to the site to check.
Looking at their RSS it was the generic one for the blog no matter which page I went to. There was a note at the end of the podcast section saying if you have troubles or would like it another way ask.
So I did and got into a discussion with Dr. Fernette Eide and Dr. Brock Eide the researchers and writers of the dyslexic advantage. I talked about the advantage of RSS and explained you can have http authentication on RSS to keep their premium content secure.
They were using some other system which was costing them a bit and there was extra step of uploading content to the other system from their dropbox drive, which they nicely shared with me.
Dropbox drive I thought… sure I saw a service which will take a directory of files and generate a RSS feed? I remembered it was called Justcast.com
I set up a account and tried out Justcast for myself and was impressed with how easy it was to get up and running. The one thing which seemed to be missing was authentication on RSS feeds. So I ping them a support request.
Josh from Justcast wrote back pretty quickly… They were on it!
Thanks so much for your suggestion and interest on JustCast, and you know what, we are actually going to work on implementing this Authentication to the feed feature in July. I will definitely keep you in the loop on our development progress.
Following that email we went back and forth and he showed me what it would look like. Then a day ago (29th June) a email
Adding authentication to the feed feature went live. You will able to find the config under the Settings > Advanced. Please give it a try.
I did and it worked exactly how I specified previously. https://user:password@www.justcast.com/mypodcast/blah/index.rss
Perfect… and the Justcast team have so many features, check out their blog. If I was creating podcasts not on archive.org. This would be my number one option now.
In the meanwhile I was equally impressed to see the dyslexic advantage team had taken my advice, converted their whole premium content to Justcast and were asking me to test the RSS feed.
It worked perfectly, no need to have access to the dropbox anymore. I was able to subscribe to the RSS feed (theres a button called subscribe which gives you the full RSS feed link). I was able to add it the feed to my complex setup.
I was impressed with both sides and everything seems so much easier for all now. It reminded me how important it is to take advantage of those opportunities.
Justcast got a new client, dyslexic advantage cut their costs and time to upload and share new premium content. I got my RSS feed(s) with a automated drip of new content as they come.
Another nice unexpected thing came out of the whole thing. The dyslexic advantage team wanted to know my story and may turn it into a recording…!
Today I tried to open a Adobe Audition file which a Salford student sent me for a potential perceptive podcast. I knew it wouldn’t open but I wanted to see which applications Ubuntu would suggest.
Instead it opened in Atom editor and I was surprised to find a reasonable XML file. It was confirmed after a quick search.
Similar to Audacity and FinalCutXML, all can be easily transformed with XSL or any other programming language. Extremely useful for future User Interfaces. Sure someone will do something with this one day?
I was having a chat with someone (don’t have his card to hand) during a event in Salford University. We were talking about the perceptive podcasts application and podcasting industry in general. I was talking about how podcasting is/should/could be a different medium. There is still the opportunity to do new and interesting things with the format which suit/challenge the audience.
This lead into a discussion about diversity and how the established people are never going to be that interested. We zeroed in on ethic diversity
“What we need is more diversity and new voices; not just in front of the microphone but as producers.“I power-phrase him saying.
This headed to towards a long discussion about how many black podcasts we have heard? I instantly talked about…
Then he dropped the bombshell, “what about the UK?”
I found it very difficult to name any off the top of my head, so decided to asked the twit/fed-verse
Question: How many UK podcasts are hosted and run by Black people from the UK?
I know a few,The Resource Groups Podcast – https://t.co/3JYmeQgemZ
About Race with Reni Eddo-Lodge – https://t.co/8S3iRqTbi1But theres got to be many more right? #blacktwitter?
— Ian Forrester | @cubicgarden (@cubicgarden) April 3, 2019
A few people got back to me and I thought I’d share…
Then I found, podcasts in color which lists podcasts from people of colour (because actually its not about just one race). Its hard to work out which ones are UK but I found these.
There are many more but they don’t seem to be updated recently.
So the short answer is yes there are UK black podcasts but not as many as I would have liked. I’m planning to go back through this list and resources to find new podcasts to subscribe to.
Interestingly James from podcast news pointed me at a piece of news about diversity in podcasts.
Dane Cardiel from Simplecast is “working closely with Dan and Jared on an initiative collecting input from podcasters of colour for the 2nd Annual Podcasters of Colour Networking Event at Podcast Movement 2019.” If you’re a podcaster of colour interested in participating in discussions later this month, here’s a form to fill in.
I missed my chance but good to know others are thinking about similar things.
Anna Sale explores the big questions and hard choices that are often left out of polite conversation.
Death, Sex and Money is highly produced American public radio and Anna Sale really has the non judgemental tone needed for some of the sensitive subjects which are covered. Great podcast material always
RSS – https://www.wnycstudios.org/feeds/shows/deathsexmoney
RISK! is a live show and podcast where people tell true stories they never thought they’d dare to share in public
Talking of death sex and money, imagine if there was podcast which was a cross between that and the Moth. That is pretty much RISK and its great listening, with lots of quite quiet laughing at work.
RSS – http://feeds.feedburner.com/risk-show/yWzy
Team Human is a manifesto—a fiery distillation of pre-eminent digital theorist Douglas Rushkoff’s most urgent thoughts on civilization and human nature. In one hundred lean and incisive statements, he argues that we are essentially social creatures, and that we achieve our greatest aspirations when we work together—not as individuals.
Team human is just a fantastic listen, real high level conversation with a grounding in common sense. Such great guests and well worth it to hear Rushkoff’s thoughts at the top of each podcast.
RSS – https://feed.pippa.io/public/shows/teamhuman
The After on podcast is described as series of unhurried conversations with thinkers, founders, and scientists. Like Teamhuman, its great to hear the conversations about the future. Not every episode is as interesting to me as others but when they are, its perfect.
RSS – http://afteron.libsyn.com/rss
Each week Deborah Frances-White and guests discuss topics “all 21st century feminists agree on” while confessing their insecurities, hypocrisies and fears that undermine their lofty principles.
This is essential listening for everyone, a combination of the live events cut together for the podcast. Its just perfect to hear the insecurities, hypocrisies and fears that undermine the sometimes lofty principles of a feminist in the 21st century. Funny but so insightful always.
RSS – https://guiltyfeminist.libsyn.com/rss
Malcolm Gladwell’s Revisionist History and broken record
Anything Gladwell is always full of insight and interesting. Even the most unlikely of subjects can be great. He’s gone of and started Broken record, which is ok but prefer Revisionist honestly.
RSS – https://feeds.megaphone.fm/revisionisthistory
If you know anything about TorrentFreak and Jamie King. Then you know filesharing, decentralised tech, copyright, etc are common themes. The guests are pretty incredible with the depth of the always on podcast but with a slight political insight of team human.
RSS – http://stealthisshow.com/feed/podcast
Darknet Diaries: True stories from the dark side of the Internet.
Following up from Steal this show, comes a format which is great to hear. Each episode is a single story told extremely well focusing on the hacking, cracking and related fields. Its actually very accessible without loosing the details which matter. Each episode is pretty compelling and you can feel the darkness as you listen.
RSS – https://feeds.megaphone.fm/darknetdiaries
Following Reni’s amazing book Why I’m not talking to white people about race. I found out she followed up with a series of podcasts. I haven’t had the chance to listen to them all yet but its well worth listening to and sounds a bit like the old guardian token series. I also find the nod podcast good but this is better, as its more focused.
RSS – https://audioboom.com/channels/4947699.rss
Because Online Life Is Real Life; Host Manoush Zomorodi shares real stories of life online and real talk about the future of the Web.
Excellent podcast from Mozilla, explaining different parts of the internet through a combination of stories, interviews and news stories. Really well put together and interesting to experts and novices on the internet.
RSS – https://feeds.mozilla-podcasts.org/irl
Podcasts on Plex, at long last?
I was excited by the news of podcasts on plex
At last @plexapp supports podcasts!https://t.co/KLYNgWTmY9
Just as I had it sorted my own way https://t.co/YPUJTPVGea— Ian Forrester (@cubicgarden) May 30, 2018
So excited I decided to switch to the beta version to give it a try.
Now I know its beta but after closer inspection of the blog post, I noticed everything was focused on the player application. As most of my Plex use is as a server, I was expecting to see podcasts as a plex scanner/agent option or even better a library type.
Currently it seems like you can create a podcast library on the Plex player/app but that doesn’t sync back to anywhere. I expected that under my user account I would see the new podcast library on my Plex media server too. Trying to create a new podcast library also goes no where when using the web interface to the media server.
My hope is this is just a beta issue and it will be rolled out to the media server too. Because right now the point of Plex is the sync capability around one app. This does make me wonder about Plex’s previous move which upset a lot of people.
Till this is clear, I’ll be sticking with my elaborate podcast sync system.
Kate pointed me towards the BBC Radio 4 listening project which is touring and coming to Manchester in October.
The Listening Project is a partnership between BBC Radio 4, BBC local and national radio stations, and the British Library.
Capturing the nation in conversation
We are asking people up and down the country to share an intimate conversation with a close friend or relative, to help to build a unique picture of our lives today. Some of these conversations will be broadcast across BBC radio and archived by the British Library, preserving them for future generations.
I like the idea of this and funny enough I started listening to 33 Voices which reminds me of the sadly gone IT conversations.
There is something about conversations which are fascinating, its what made podcasts so raw and interesting…
Just overheard…
I know it's middle class but I still find 12 year olds with a riffle shocking— Ian Forrester (@cubicgarden) July 8, 2015
Nothing like a overheard conversation although there are ethics too, maybe its the reason why I don’t use headphones when in cafes and on standard class trains?
I look forward to hearing more and maybe even contributing to the project in some way.
I've been involved in a few podcasts recently.
The first one is a round table discussion with Paul Boag, Gary Marshall and Jeremy Keith for the .net magazine podcast. I've not heard this one yet, but I was calling with skype over a wireless network at work, so I cut out a bit.The topics for the show were,
You can listen to the mp3 file here or subscribe to the show with this RSS feed.
I'm also on the Boagworld podcast this week as the expert on video formats online.
Ian Forrester from BBC backstage and the Geek Dinners joins us to talk about online video. He talks through the different formats available (quicktime, real player, windows media and flash) as well as the different delivery mechanisms (steaming, download and progressive download).
I'm on about 28mins from the end and the audio level is scary. You can listen to the mp3 directly here or subscribe to the show here. Please note, I did record one copy about using Mp3 and Ogg streaming using shoutcast and icecast but it got too long and decided to keep it very simple and quick (if you can call 6mins quick). I also made
a joke about tubes and the straw dripping but deleted that one too.
I've attached the .net magazine podcast, so enjoy!
