podcasts have been around for a while now, and are becoming increasingly popular on the net. For obvious reasons i’ve always skipped right on by, but recently Mel of Beansprouts thought about setting up a podcast on her blog, and asked what people thought. so i spoke up about the difficulties of listening to a podcast when you’ve a hearing problem, and she promised to think about transcriptions. (which is great, cos transcriptions take ages but are a real boon to people like us.)
And then i started emailing Emma of Fluffius Muppetus. Initially it was over some seeds: she put extra packets she had going spare on her blog, said, if you want them, send me an SAE. which i did. And then she asked, having seen my comment on Mel’s blog, about transcriptions of podcasts, since she did them fairly frequently, about whether they would be useful to anyone, are deaf people interested in gardening? i actually found her question quite difficult to answer, mostly because i don’t keep in touch with the deaf community – i really only know one deaf person at the moment, and she’s in the US (although she does, as it happens, love gardening!).
Today i went to look stuff up on this issue. there isn’t a lot out there – most searches on podcast and deaf leads to videopodcasts by deaf people (which is of course a good thing), but i found a few. This page (by the RNIB – Royal National Institute for the Blind, funnily enough) has good tips on how to make a good podcast for the disabled, including the deaf, this blog entry, although rather old, has some valid points, and this blog entry has more tips, including autotranscribing services.
Anyway. back to Emma. i settled for saying: give it a try, look at the download figures of the PDF as a percentage of download figures for the podcast and make a decision from there whether you’re going to continue them. so that’s what she’s done. And she’s promised to talk to some other podcasters she knows, so if it proves popular, its a little bit of the net converted for deaf people..
I looked at the first one this morning, and its fantastic! it looks so professional, I’m actually considering downloading the podcast just to listen to her voice, and i don’t say that often 
So well done to Emma!!!
Go have a look, download and listen!! I promise its worth it.. Thanks Emma!
January 22, 2008 at 4:40 pm
January 22, 2008 at 4:46 pm
Well done Kethry,
I grew up in the 60’s and 70’s when anyone with a disability was shipped of to special schools, quite often residential. While the theory behind that education policy might have been well intentioned – specialist equipment and teaching methods – it had one very big effect that I don’t think anyone considered.
That being, a large proportion of the population grew up without encountering anyone with a disability. Thankfully that practice has diminished and where possible children with disabilities are integrated into ‘normal’ schools where everyone can benefit. Hopefully the new generation will have an understanding about accessibility and integration for all.
I think we are beginning to see a change with the better coverage of events like the wheelchair race in the London Marathon and the Paralympic. We (as in not disabled) just need to remember about accessibility and integration and make it part of our everyday life.
On a similar vein, did you see one of the comments on MSE on the Living on £100. The OP is small font, pale green on white. I’ve quite good eyesight but I had to enlarge the page to be able to read it!
January 22, 2008 at 7:28 pm
Deborah – i actually went to one of those residential special schools… lol!!! disability and education is an emotive topic and not one i’m sure i can do justice to in the space of a reply, so i’m not even going to try. However, blogging against disablism day will hopefully be coming again this year, on may 1st, so i may make this my choice of topic.
i know the thread you mean, i had to lean close to the screen to read it too! i think it was an effort by the OP not to take up too much screen space. either that or she’s got a screen that is older, and thus to her it looks fine. maybe someone should tell her?
thanks though, although the Well done needs to go to Emma and anyone else who transcribes, really, not me!
keth
xx
January 22, 2008 at 8:21 pm
Keth,
I am deaf and yes I am interested in gardening… and many other things! I have had to ask for transcriptions of podcasts before now (usually scrapbooking ones so far!) but it would be nice if a transcript was posted as a matter of course rather than when people ask…
As for schools… I was a mainstream child yet a sibling was a “special” school child – we both have different feelings and thoughts as to what is best..
I only realised truly what it was like to be in a wheelchair or to have difficulty walking when I was on crutches and with prams… (and this was just a hint of the problem!!) for many people.. they don’t understand as they have never experienced it…
Becca
January 22, 2008 at 8:46 pm
I used to design web interfaces, as well as edit and produce websites, for various corporations. I used to tweak the interfaces to work better for screen readers used by various friends as and when they noticed a problem. I also made sure other friends could access transcribed content or had a written description of the sounds being used.
I never really thought of it as an “accessibility policy”, until one very well known corporation decided to roll my little island into the rest of the massive monolith and, in doing so, not only changed the design and interface, but wiped out all those tweaks.
It was suddenly discovered that the website had a very large following of people who found it extremely accessible and user friendly. Unfortunately, internal politics meant it wasn’t reinstated — instead an “accessibility policy” was formulated and published on the monolithic site while a few tweaks were made with great fanfare.
It was very disappointing, but is so typical of the way things work.
Mind you, I’m a bit slack these days as I use a templated blog that could be much better with a few tweaks. I should get off my butt and set up my own host, but time is an issue…
Give me a slap, will you?
January 23, 2008 at 5:06 pm
Stonehead – certainly not!!! i like you too much to slap you. besides, i think you have far greater calls on your time than tweaking your blog, setting up your own host and stuff. hmm. you really do need a secretary or something. maybe a volunteer? or someone who’ll do a few hours of paperwork a week in return for some eggs or something? actually.. since i’m not 100% sure you’ll read this here, i’ll make sure to leave this idea on your blog too. although i can’t believe you haven’t already thought of it..
I found it interesting reading the British Social Attitudes Report, or rather, the BBC article about it (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/7203743.stm). “6% think equal opportunities for people with disabilities “gone too far”. really? hmmm. *growls*.
keth
xx
January 23, 2008 at 5:10 pm
Becca – crutches and prams? good lord. that sounds like a hell of a story. you should blog – if only for the blogging against disabilism day. if you go back to april/may then you should find links to Goldfish’s blog – she’s the lady who started it all a couple of years ago.
thanks for commenting – and i hope you enjoy the transcripts
keth
xx
January 24, 2008 at 6:52 am
I do read your blog reasonably often. I just don’t comment much. Too many blogs, so little time.
I’d love an egg-ecutive secretary!!
January 24, 2008 at 2:22 pm
ahhh i know the feeling (too many blogs, so little time), although i’m less busy than you are. nice to know you do read though!
as for the egg-ecutive secretary..? *groans*. that was bad, Stonehead, very bad..
keth
xx
February 14, 2008 at 8:09 pm
[...] ~ podcasts ~ which posted at ~ Urbania to Stoneheads ~ is Kethry’s chance to explain what it takes to make a podcast “super”. [...]