For a change of pace, here’s an audio podcast. My good friend and environmental journalism colleague Dale Willman just got back from a three-week trip to Indonesia where he was training radio journalists there how to do an environmental radio show — and just how to do radio production, period.

Yesterday Dale and I had a fun conversation about his trip, the state of media in Indonesia, and why text messaging is so popular there.

Listen now! (Or right-click to download)

Dale Willman

In the studio: One of the Indonesian radio journalists Dale helped to train.

Tonight (Thursday, July 27) I’ve been invited to speak on a panel at a monthly gathering of Bay Area PR luminaries, held this month in Palo Alto. The topic is podcasting.

My fellow panelists are:

• Phil Gomes (Edelman)
• Barbara Anthony (Palo Alto 360)
• Aaron Burcell (Podshow)
• Jarah Euston (Fresno Famous)

The panel is at Fanny & Alexander in Palo Alto. It starts at 6:30 tonight, and probably goes until 9 or so. I don’t believe there’s a fee to attend this event, but you might want to RSVP via Meetup.com.

So to warm up my brain for this, here are a few thoughts on podcasting as conversational media…

Read the rest of this article at my other weblog, The Right Conversation…

Here’s the Women’s Hour web site. They archive their shows in streaming format. After this episode is archived online, I’ll post a link.

If you’re interested in this topic…

…Remember to check out my Women in Podcasting OPML list. I’ll try to update that again this weekend.

And speaking of women in podcasting, especially in the UK, today I’d like to give an especially warm “shout out” to one of my favorite podcasters and a good friend, Koan Bremner, who is right now in the midst of a major transformation. Way to go, Koan!

I looked for a feed link on that page, but found none. However, there is a link that says “Subscribe to podcast.” I clicked on that and got taken to a form where they expected me to provide my name, e-mail, street address, etc. just to sign up for their podcast!

It seems to me that whoever put this site together doesn’t understand that feeds ARE a type of permission contact. But it’s a type of contact that offers the subscriber maximum control and privacy.

If you want to build a relationship with people, it’s important to respect their communication and contact preferences…

Someone who wants to subscribe to your feed doesn’t want to give you their e-mail address. Therefore, it’s counterproductive to require identifying or contact information before granting access to the feed URL.

Here’s the message that strategy sends: “I know you want my feed, so you want information from me. But I don’t respect your privacy, so I’m going to force you to give me your e-mail and street addresses too, whether or not you want me to contact you through those channels.”

Not exactly a great start to a new relationship.

I provided dummy contact information, and then got taken to a page that gave the feed URL – which is, by the way: http://podcast.prx.org/nature/rss.xml.

So now if you wish to subscribe to that podcast, you can do so on your own terms.

If you want permission marketing or advocacy to work, it’s important to respect the audience’s preferences. A preference for a feed is about more than technology – it’s about privacy, too.

CHECK IT OUT! Follow the link in this posting to see the updated list.

Again, this list grows mainly through suggestions from you! If your favorite female hosted/co-hosted podcast isn’t yet on this list, follow the instructions on the list to suggest an addition. Thanks!

SEE THE LIST: It’s a rendered OPML file, not a regular web page, so be sure to see the instructions on how to navigate it.

HERE’S THE LIST! Note that it’s a rendered OPML file, not a regular web page, so read the instructions on how to navigate it.

Thanks to everyone who suggested shows to add. Keep the suggestions coming! In the “About this list” section of the list page I explain how to suggest a show.

Keep the suggestions coming! Under “About this list” on the list page, I explain how to suggest a show. Thanks!

I’ve just added about 40 new shows to the list. These are all currently active podcasts that are hosted or co-hosted by women. This brings the current total of active podcasts and videologs on this list to about 120 shows.

SEE THE LIST! Remember, it’s a rendered OPML file, not a regular web page. Just click on any “+” sign to view the contents of that item.

I’ve also included updates to a few shows that were listed previously.

More about this ongoing project…

When I first converted this list from a maintenance nightmare (HTML page) to an OPML outline, I discovered that nearly half of the shows originally listed are now defunct. However, I still have a huge backlog of new suggestions to plow through. As a rough estimate, I think that when I’ve caught up with the by backlog of suggestions, about 100 or more shows will be on the current list.

TO SUGGEST A NEW SHOW: Please e-mail me all of the following information for each show to be suggested:

1. Show name
2. URL of the show’s web site or blog
3. Name(s) of host(s). If there’s more than one host, indicate which one(s) are female
4. A brief description of the show (content and format)
5. Language of the show (if other than English)
6. Podcast feed URL

…Again, I need all of that information for each show to be listed. When updating my list, I give top priority to listing shows which do not make me hunt for any of that information.

Thanks!

Here’s how you can use that group to subscribe to all those podcasts at once…

From the group home page, look at the right-hand sidebar with the grey header that says “Women in Podcasting Group Roll.” Scroll all the way down to the bottom of that sidebar.

There you’ll see a link that says “OPML.” Right-click (or click and hold) on that link, and then save the target of that link to your computer. It’s a file called opml.jsp.xml.

Import that OPML file into your podcatcher software or service, where you keep your podcast subscriptions. Many good podcatchers allow OPML import and export. If yours doesn’t, you might want to consider switching to one that does, so your subscription list isn’t trapped in one particular place. When it comes to your data, you always want to keep your options open.