Let's restart the Alternate History podcast

[Yelnoc]

About two years ago we did an AH podcast. Charl organized the podcasts, which were group discussions on recorded on skype, and three episodes were produced. There was an attempt to revive it a while ago but that fell flat.

I was thinking we could add a bit more structure into these podcasts then the original ones had. For instance, the community could submit questions in the forum, from which I would pick the best to ask the panelists. That way discussion could be free, but still directed.

Any interest?

 

[black angel]

I'll do it, if you want me

 

[Krall]

I was present at one of the previous podcasts, though I didn't say much. I'd certainly like to help out again - I'd suggest having a limit on how many panelists you have for each podcast and making sure that you include each of them in the discussion, as when I was present at one of the previous podcasts most of the discussion was done by only two or three panelists, as it's somewhat difficult to politely interrupt without other people seeing your body language.

It might be a nice idea to have a theme for each "episode", and then a series of specific PoD questions to ask the panelists. You could also get one of the forum's resident experts on the podcast and centre an episode around their area of expertise.

 

[Dustin]

We will expand our media presence. Eventually we will have a radio station, and then a TV station, and then our own country...

I wouldn't participate in the discussions to protect myself, but i'd try to contribute in other ways.

 

[Yelnoc]

Well, it turns out there are no programs which can record skype calls on Ubuntu 12.10 at a reasonable quality . I had planned on buying a new computer soon anyways, though I probably won't be able to scrape the money together until next month. In the meantime, someone else will have to record the podcast (though I can still lead discussion and edit the recording in Audacity). Any takers?

I'll do it, if you want me

If you have a reasonably good mike and are comfortable doing a group chat, sure!

I was present at one of the previous podcasts, though I didn't say much. I'd certainly like to help out again - I'd suggest having a limit on how many panelists you have for each podcast and making sure that you include each of them in the discussion, as when I was present at one of the previous podcasts most of the discussion was done by only two or three panelists, as it's somewhat difficult to politely interrupt without other people seeing your body language.

It might be a nice idea to have a theme for each "episode", and then a series of specific PoD questions to ask the panelists. You could also get one of the forum's resident experts on the podcast and centre an episode around their area of expertise.

There will definitely be a limit. I was thinking five would be a good number of panelists. If
we did this frequently enough, perhaps once a week, we could cycle through everyone interested in participating until we had a solid core of panelists.

Specific POD questions under one theme is a good idea. As to your second idea, maybe we could do a format where one or two people with the same area of expertise field questions from a few participants. Or to be honest, I could just interview them to accomplish the same thing.

We will expand our media presence. Eventually we will have a radio station, and then a TV station, and then our own country...

I wouldn't participate in the discussions to protect myself, but i'd try to contribute in other ways.

It's funny because there was actually a project about two years ago to create a alternate history content producer (audiovisual) called BIRT (Byzantine Foundation for Radio and Television) which I was involved in.

 

[black angel]

If you have a reasonably good mike and are comfortable doing a group chat, sure!

the mic is good, and sure

 

[Krall]

Well, it turns out there are no programs which can record skype calls on Ubuntu 12.10 at a reasonable quality . I had planned on buying a new computer soon anyways, though I probably won't be able to scrape the money together until next month. In the meantime, someone else will have to record the podcast (though I can still lead discussion and edit the recording in Audacity). Any takers?

Well, I have a decent laptop and a lot of free time - I guess I could do it. I'm not sure if I'll be available consistently, so it might be a good idea to have several people who can do it on hand, just in case. Also, I don't know what programs or what type of program I would need to record, I'm afraid (I'm on Windows 7, if that helps at all).

There will definitely be a limit. I was thinking five would be a good number of panelists. If
we did this frequently enough, perhaps once a week, we could cycle through everyone interested in participating until we had a solid core of panelists.

Specific POD questions under one theme is a good idea. As to your second idea, maybe we could do a format where one or two people with the same area of expertise field questions from a few participants. Or to be honest, I could just interview them to accomplish the same thing.

I was going to suggest somewhere between 4 and 6, so 5's a good limit. I like your idea for interview-focused episodes - particularly if it allows people on the forum to post questions to be asked in the interview!

It's funny because there was actually a project about two years ago to create a alternate history content producer (audiovisual) called BIRT (Byzantine Foundation for Radio and Television) which I was involved in.

It died slowly, and will be missed.

 

[Alex Richards]

I'd be very willing to get involved in the reboot. Still got all the same equipment and so forth from last time, so as long as it sounds alright on the old podcasts, things should be fine.

I was contemplating this earlier, but I've not got the necessary recording/editing software. Or the time to edit actually.

I also like the idea of specific theme areas, particularly as we could essentially take specific cliches that always come up and have a discussion on them as one example of this.

I mean, the only case of that was the lengthy discussion on Sealion in the old one on the Nazis, but even then it was perpetually in the state of 'we should really get on to other things soon'.

In terms of balance, 4/5 people with a couple of regulars and some rotation would work well. In terms of topics, we could probably work on a basis of three 'standard' classes, 'broad field' (such as Swiss History, Classical Mesoamerica etc.), 'narrow field' (such as Barbarossa, the Chinese Civil War etc.) and 'forum specialities' (talking with and about a board member's work, specific TLs, published works or elements of board culture such as the UCS, Basemaps, long-running shared worlds things. Help to link some of the subforums together and so forth).

 

[Yelnoc]

Well, I have a decent laptop and a lot of free time - I guess I could do it. I'm not sure if I'll be available consistently, so it might be a good idea to have several people who can do it on hand, just in case. Also, I don't know what programs or what type of program I would need to record, I'm afraid (I'm on Windows 7, if that helps at all).

Charl used Callgraph, which I also tested at some point if I remember correctly and it worked well enough. If you are going to record then you and I should schedule a call so that you can test the recording thing live.

It died slowly, and will be missed.

I just wish Orioes would pop in every once in a while. He worries me with all of his health and other issues.

I'd be very willing to get involved in the reboot. Still got all the same equipment and so forth from last time, so as long as it sounds alright on the old podcasts, things should be fine.

I was contemplating this earlier, but I've not got the necessary recording/editing software. Or the time to edit actually.

Great, welcome aboard!

I also like the idea of specific theme areas, particularly as we could essentially take specific cliches that always come up and have a discussion on them as one example of this.

I mean, the only case of that was the lengthy discussion on Sealion in the old one on the Nazis, but even then it was perpetually in the state of 'we should really get on to other things soon'.

In terms of balance, 4/5 people with a couple of regulars and some rotation would work well. In terms of topics, we could probably work on a basis of three 'standard' classes, 'broad field' (such as Swiss History, Classical Mesoamerica etc.), 'narrow field' (such as Barbarossa, the Chinese Civil War etc.) and 'forum specialities' (talking with and about a board member's work, specific TLs, published works or elements of board culture such as the UCS, Basemaps, long-running shared worlds things. Help to link some of the subforums together and so forth).

Good ideas, I like your division of topics into those three categories. We should probably start thinking about what we want the theme of our first podcast to be.


Oh and so far the list of participants is:
Yelnoc
Black Angel
Krall
Alex Richards

I think that is a good group to start with, though we could possibly squeeze in one more. If you're interested in participating at any time in the future, please let me know because like was mentioned earlier, I plan on rotating participants through.

 

[Petike]

OK, so who'll replace Charl in the role of main organizer and podcast host ?

You, Yelnoc ? Or Black Angel, as he himself had already proposed ?

 

[Alex Richards]

Good ideas, I like your division of topics into those three categories. We should probably start thinking about what we want the theme of our first podcast to be.

We should probably go with a 'classic' scenario, but not one which was covered in the old podcasts (we could go back to those at a later date though).

So perhaps the American WOI? There's some room for a bit of freindly debate on that.

 

[Krall]

Charl used Callgraph, which I also tested at some point if I remember correctly and it worked well enough. If you are going to record then you and I should schedule a call so that you can test the recording thing live.

Okay, I've downloaded, configured, and tested Call Graph - it seems to be working fine. The audio quality is not exactly at professional levels, but I'd bet that's more to do with my microphone than the program, as the automated Skype Test Call voice sounded perfect.

I'll PM you my Skype name so you can find me to do a test call.

I just wish Orioes would pop in every once in a while. He worries me with all of his health and other issues.

I honestly don't remember him mentioning health issues, though that's probably due to my rather intermittent memory rather than him not mentioning them. Now that I think about it, I haven't seen him on here in a long time either - I hope he's okay.

Good ideas, I like your division of topics into those three categories. We should probably start thinking about what we want the theme of our first podcast to be.

Well, why not West African history (both pre- and post-colonial)? It's been in the news quite a bit recently what with the war in Mali (and the attempted burning of many medieval texts in Timbuktu), and it's definitely one of the more obscure areas of history that I'd love if more people knew and speculated about. Also I've a personal fascination with the region's history, so that's good too.

I think that is a good group to start with, though we could possibly squeeze in one more. If you're interested in participating at any time in the future, please let me know because like was mentioned earlier, I plan on rotating participants through.

One last thing I'll advise is getting the podcast organised, and having some sort of schedule for when it happens/when the topic is decided/when it's released, etc. The first few episodes might be a bit chaotic in this respect, but once it's organised keeping to that organisation, and thus keeping the podcast going, will be a lot easier. Some "official" threads for the project would be a good idea, either in Books and Media or in Non-Political Chat (NPC might be better, as it's less cluttered with maps and similar - there's also less stickied threads in that forum, so if you can get the podcast thread stickied it won't be lost in the mess).

Anyway, I'll stop backseat-organising and send you that PM now.

 

[Petike]

So perhaps the American WOI? There's some room for a bit of freindly debate on that.

Good idea.

 

[Alex Richards]

I like the idea of a West African one, but I'm concerned that it might be a bit overambitious for the first podcast. If we can get Thande in (he's just done a big bit on the area for LTTW) it could work very nicely for a second one though.

Indeed, AMWOI is definately narrow field, whereas West Africa would be broad field, which would nicely give us the set up for the third being a forum interest one.

 

[Krall]

I like the idea of a West African one, but I'm concerned that it might be a bit overambitious for the first podcast. If we can get Thande in (he's just done a big bit on the area for LTTW) it could work very nicely for a second one though.

There's also Jonathan Edelstein, who did a timeline called Malê Rising based around West Africa. I agree that it may be a bit ambitious for a first episode - a solidly popular subject would be better.

Indeed, AMWOI is definately narrow field, whereas West Africa would be broad field, which would nicely give us the set up for the third being a forum interest one.

Just to be clear, does "WOI" stand for "War of Independence"?

 

[Baconheimer]

As much as Ilike the westafrica idea, it seems to vague.

 

[Alex Richards]

There's also Jonathan Edelstein, who did a timeline called Malê Rising based around West Africa. I agree that it may be a bit ambitious for a first episode - a solidly popular subject would be better.



Just to be clear, does "WOI" stand for "War of Independence"?

Of course there's Malê Rising, how could I forget.

And yes it does.

 

[Yelnoc]

The West Africa idea is certainly interesting, but I think the American Revolution suggestion would work best for our first podcast. Krall and I did our test and callgraph is working fine, so I think we're ready to begin planning for the first podcast. I'm going to try and get a thread stickied in NPC where we can collect questions from the community and that sort of thing.

As far as when goes, would Thursday at 4pm EST/9pm GMT work for you guys?

 

[January First-of-May]

I know it's completely off-topic, but having been an active participant of the original podcast, I would very much love to participate in this new version.
I don't know anything about the American Revolution, though (well, outside the basic stuff like "it was in 1776"), so I guess I'll have to skip the first one

 

[wolf_brother]

It might be a nice idea to have a theme for each "episode", and then a series of specific PoD questions to ask the panelists. You could also get one of the forum's resident experts on the podcast and centre an episode around their area of expertise.

Yes, I like this idea.

Also I'd be game for a mid-to-late 19th century Europe.