InsectaPod Blog

We are working on writing episode 5 right now. The content we gathered is a little different from what we’ve done in the past, and we have to approach the task from a different angle if we’re going to put everything into a coherent structure. the material isn’t bad, it’s just different, and that means the writing habits and techniques that have helped Anna write previous podcast scripts aren’t working this time around.

Usually, we interview someone, pull out a few choice quotes, and then fill in the gaps in the conversation with Anna’s narration. This time, though, we spoke with an amateur insect enthusiast, and Anna plays the role of bug expert more than that of interviewer. All of our recordings are more field-oriented than interview-oriented, and even the one 12 minute interview segment we recorded is actually more a recording of a discussion that Anna and the subject engaged in equally.

The process by which the two of us each realized we were trying to tame a different beast this time around is interesting. I listened to the recordings last wee, looking for sounds we could pull out for non-interview “actualities” and, unlike most months, found a great wealth of usable stuff. Yesterday Anna sat down to write the script, which usually takes an hour or so. A few hours later she was frustrated because she was having trouble identifying enough of the formal interview quotes that are the framework around which she usually writes the script.

We had to sit down, figure out what was differnt about the way we’d gathered recordings for this episode, and then develop a strategy for how to handle them. In the end I think there’s a lot of potential for this to bring some variety to the series, and the make us better at thinking about how we’ll use recordings when we’re out getting them. If we think critically about these things ahead of time, it shouldstrengthen our repertoire of techniques and themes. Right now, though, we’ve still got to get the thing written.

Every few weeks I log onto the InsectaPod Cast myspace account and send out a flurry of friend requests. After I do that, I can look at the stats for insectapodcast.com and see a significant spike in visitors (the myspace page drives more traffic to insectapodcast than the msu entomology page, probably because I can’t actively draw attention to insectapod through the department page the way I can myspace).

After one of these sessions yesterday I got an email from someone at an organization I’d contacted, Conservation Calling. They sell conservation minded ring-tones for download and asked if I had any to contribute. I’m not sure how involved we can be in something like this because of our strictly non-profit mission (even if we didn’t accept the potential pennies they’re offering, the waters seem murky) but I think it’s a cool idea. My friend Jon Slaght is a conservation biologist at The University of Minnesota and he’s made recordings of the Blakiston’s Fish Owl, a rare bird from the Russian Far-east he describes as “Bad-ass” available as ring-tones. I’ve got a shrieking juveline male fish owl on my own phone, but maybe someday I’ll switch to bees or crickets or something.

Recently, while serving in my agricultural editor capacity, I received an email about a new online extension effort. Extension.org is using syndication feeds to create a continually updated and entirely comprehensive resource. My participation, as the editor the Michigan Dairy Review, involves writing and updating an ATOM feed (something I should have been doing anyway). Extension.org then uses my ATOM feed, along with every other dairy-minded extension feed they can get their hands on, to create a massive clearing house of information. I think this is great, as in super neat.

Chuck Zimmerman recently wrote a post on Agwired about another online agriculture communications initiative recently. He says this one uses “Web 2.0 strategies for agricultural communications…that would be blogging and podcasting.” While I’m not sure blogging and podcasting meet the criteria of “Web 2.0″ on their own (E-agriculture has forums and communities, too) I think it’s great to see these efforts moving agricultural communications forward. Around my water-cooler, digital modes are often discussed with skepticism. The only way to change that is to jump in and show the luddites what’s possible.

I spent the last two days working on Episode 4 and posted it this morning. This one was tough because Anna and I didn’t have a lot of confidence in the material we left the interview with. After we got it transcribed, though, she was able to look at the materials and find an angle of approach. She ran at it hard in the writing stage, though, and the script turned out well.

There are two sections of audio taken in Dr. Tibbetts’s laboratory, and those were difficult to get prepped for the final program. There was a lot of room noise (especially duct fans and air conditioning) and the people were spread out in different direction. With recordings like that I really have to sit and futz with them in cubase for a long time, trying different compressions and editing sections together to get rid of the unwanted junk. I think the office interviews can get dry though, and it’s worth it to try to get whatever “in-the-field” action we can.

Ultimately, we’re both pleased with this episode, and we’re really starting to get used to the process of making InsectaPod Cast. Anna’s getting very comfortable with the microphones, interviewing, and writing, and I’m learning how to work with the audio editor faster and better. I think it will be fun in eight months to listen to these in order and the improvements we make with each episode will be evident.