As I was trying to think of a name for this project last year “podcast” came up a lot because that is essentially what the audio recordings are. I knew that this term “podcast” wouldn’t be a term that everyone was familiar with, but decided to go with it anyhow. My concern was to make the SfAA Podcast project accessible to the discipline of anthropology, but also to make it accessible to non-anthropologists as well. Looking at the Google search terms that have lead visitors to our website (both anthropologists and non), “podcasts” was a good term to go with.
The SfAA sent out a short email yesterday to announce the passing of Robert Hackenberg.
In this email, there was also an announcement for the SfAA podcasts. Traffic to the site has dramatically increased in the last two days, and I believe it is because of the SfAA email.
For those of you that are visiting the site for the first time, I’d like to suggest a place to start. The “About Podcasts & Blogs” page (upper left hand corner) has information about what a “blog” is, what a “podcast” is, and how to get automatic notifications of new podcasts and blog posts (via email or RSS). There is also a link to an excellent video that explains what “RSS” is.
Links to the podcasts and blog posts that have already been published are available on the left hand side of the screen.
One of the things that I have tried to keep in mind throughout this whole project is that the term “podcast” might not be familiar to everyone and that most people will not know what “RSS” is or the readers that serve as a home for the RSS feeds. In an effort to make this website accessible to everyone, I’ve set up an “about blogs & podcasts” page and set up easy ways to subscribe to this site’s RSS feed (via RSS and email notifications) so you, the reader, can enjoy automatic updates without having to check the site daily.
These are all confusing terms and are not the easiest of technologies to wrap your head around. BUT, there is now a video that makes these concepts much more understandable! Common Craft has created a fantastic, entertaining, educational, and short video that explains what RSS feeds are, how they work, and why you should use them. Watch the video here. (And feel free to email questions)
After you’ve watched the video and are convinced that a (RSS) reader is the way you would like to get updates about news and new blog posts, don’t forget to subscribe to this blog’s RSS feed. Also, stay informed about anthropology on the internet via blogs with your new RSS reader (After you have your reader, click on the xml button on the top right hand corner of the boxes on this page for any of the blogs that you want to “subscribe” to). There will be year-round updates on this website about the progress of the project for next year and updates about how to participate! Just think of how easy it would be to learn update these updates and opportunities if you did not have to check the website everyday.
