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A - ABC of Podcasting

by Ryan Irelan

A is for ACCESS

Podcasting isn’t just for geeks.  Podcasting did start among geeks like me, but is going far beyond that very quickly. This presents us with a problem. Is learning how to create and listen to podcasts easy enough? I’d say it’s not. People promoting podcasting should work diligently to open up avenues of access, so everyone — the technical and the non-technical alike — can learn how to create or listen to podcasts. One way to do that is through tutorials.

I subscribe to several customized RSS feeds that deliver to me the latest writing on all things “podcasting.” Time and time again I see podcasting tutorials come through that are just plain complicated and completely unhelpful to anyone except those that already know how to podcast.

Surely this is frustrating for the learners and it all boils down to ineffective communication (willingly or unwillingly) and laziness (not thinking through the process you’re trying to explain). Teaching people something they know nothing about is difficult, exhausting and challenging. Many of the tutorials out there are only making it that much harder.

If we want to effectively spread information about how to podcast and how to listen to podcasts, we need to really think about what we’re doing and create clear avenues of access to podcasting for people of all technical levels. We can’t continue to slap together tutorials in a haphazard fashion. We can’t call a document “How to Podcast�? and then spend the next four paragraphs talking about what bitrate to use when compressing your audio file to mp3. We can’t sell people “Podcasting in a Box,�? promote it as simple and then require they download an open source audio recording tool that has a nightmarish interface. That’s insane. We need to think about what we’re doing.

Here are some tips on tutorial writing:

1. Who’s your audience? Before you start writing, decide who you’re writing for. If you decide to write a Beginner’s Guide to Podcasting, your audience is beginners. Assume these people have no experience at all. While drafting your tutorial, you should keep your audience in mind. Explaining compression of audio files is not a beginners topic.
2. Start with an outline: Organization is your friend. A well thought-out and structured podcasting tutorial will make it easier for your readers to follow along and learn. Write a simple outline and gradually fill in the details. Use the outline as a guide while you’re writing.
3. Teach by showing: Use of visuals such as screenshots, screencasts and diagrams will help make your tutorial easier to understand. Be precise with any screenshots by including only the pertinent information. All important information in a screenshot should be legible and clear.

By creating clear, targeted tutorials, we open up avenues of access and make it easier for people of all technical levels to create and listen to podcasts.

This is part of the series ABC of Podcasting from Podcast Free America.

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• M - ABC of Podcasting
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• B - ABC of Podcasting
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