Willing speakers, willing listeners [384]

Greetings from my shed...

I sent you an email. Thank you for opening it. Unless it got sidetracked by your spam folder or had to navigate any filters you set in place, it travelled from me, directly to you. There is something wholesome about the lack of algorithms at play here.

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#TheAction

While in Spain, outside of the job in hand, I had a few hours where I could write. I ignored distractions like email, and my time was super productive.

I’m looking forward to sharing some of the stories. Perhaps serialised.

Now back in England, I’m playing catch up. I had a few probing emails with potential clients looking to book some workshop time. Interestingly, (at least for me anyway) two of them were large organisations who have multiple comms teams. They specifically queried how I might train video capture techniques when working across different audiences.

I commented that many of the methods and techniques of story gathering, especially during interviews, will be the same for each audience. All that’s needed is that the content captured be honed depending on its desired endpoint. Lighting, sound, video capture methods, as well as interview techniques could work effectively across the board.

I’m looking forward to getting back in the training room.

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In my locale, The Neotists are back. Starting a PechaKucha.

Richard Slade of @SladeDesign introduces PechaKucha in St Neots

It was a great night, not only because my wife gave a fascinating talk on ‘pattern’. The room was filled with an eclectic mix of people from extreme cyclists, to indigo dyers and prompt engineers. I miss geek meets like this. I wonder if it’s time to resurrect @StationX in some form.

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#ThePictures

The app Remover.io will enable you to remove some watermarks from copyrighted images but it’s won’t stop you getting sued in the US should you get found out.

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A unique photo editing tool. Free to use but the trial period is short.

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A simple beautiful story. Well shot. Well acted. Filled with love.

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#TheWords

You must have already read Cory Doctorow’s post entitled ‘Tiktok's enshittification’. It’s been shared in all the good places. And I am now sharing it here. It is not only well worth your time, it’s worth sitting down with a younger user of the internet and reading it to them. Cory once again tells how it is, explaining the progression of platforms from places pretending to have our interests at heart, all the way to the rug pull.

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#TheSound

A friend is thinking of starting a new podcast and is asking for tips. So instead of emailing them, I thought I’d share some here.

Don’t forget that for supporting subscribers there is a podcasting mini series in the archive called Documentally on Podcasting Episode One, Two, Three, Four, Five and Six. Also Founding Subscribers get an hour of free one-to-one consultation in any form of content creation you think I can assist you with. Even in how to start your own bestselling newsletter. ;-)

Anyway, here we go, here are 10 podcasting tips:

1. Choose a topic you’re passionate about. Something you have knowledge and experience in.

2. Research the audience, audio community and competitors to understand what is already out there and how you can differentiate yourself.

3. Beg borrow or steal some quality equipment such as a decent microphone and headphones to ensure that your audio sounds as good as you can get it from the off. Don’t worry about everything being perfect in the beginning. Just make sure you are clear and undistorted. Your podcast can evolve, getting better over time as you find your groove.

4. Plan and prepare content in advance and ideally create an outline for each episode to keep you on track.

5. Promote your podcast in social spaces to attract listeners and grow your audience. Substack does a really good job at hosting and sharing a podcast. This is not a paid for endorsement. Just an honest opinion as I have found it easy to drop and share files in here. Your regular readers can also be your regular listeners.

6. Unlike me, be consistent with your release schedule and try to publish new episodes regularly.

7. Ask questions and seek feedback from your network. Use that information to improve your content and grow your audience.

8. Keep your podcast short and to the point and make it interesting, engaging and informative.

9. Be sure to keep your podcast out of trouble by using licence free images and music, or getting permission to use any copyrighted content. Just like in video don’t forget to disclose any sponsorship or affiliate relationships that you may have.

10. Finally and most importantly, have fun. Podcasting is a creative and rewarding process. Enjoy making and sharing audio while building a community of listeners.

Sound and musics resources:

There are many places where you can find copyright-free music that can be used free of charge in your podcast. Here are a few:

1. Free Music Archive (FMA) is a library of high-quality, legal audio downloads directed by WFMU, the most renowned freeform radio station in America.

2. Incompetech is a collection of royalty-free music tracks composed by Kevin MacLeod that can be used for various purposes, including podcasting. Don’t forget to credit the composer!

3. Audionautix is another great collection of royalty-free music tracks.

4. ccMixter is a community music site featuring remixes licensed under Creative Commons, where you can find and download music tracks for use in your projects.

5. Soundcloud has a lot of independent artists that post their music under a creative commons license. If you you find something you like, it might be licensed free to use, or failing that you can ask for permission directly.

These places should get you going. Just make sure that you understand the specific terms of use for each resource and give proper attribution to the artist and source of the music you use.

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#TheConsumed

One of the stories I wrote offline this week documented a 20+ year search to find a particular dish from Northern Chiang Mai. Having just finished the first draft I found this book in my local community phonebox/library.

How serendipitous that the book not only comes from the Chiang Mai Thai cookery school, (somewhere I studied) it also contains a version of the dish inside. I look forward to giving it a go. Perhaps the search is over.

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I foraged some Prickly Pear in Spain earlier this week.

Spent a good ten mins pulling tiny spines from my fingers. The clue is in the name

It was probably just over ripe but think watermelon, meets kiwi, meets pomegranate.

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#TheThings

I had the sudden urge to put a composting loo in the garden. Next to the bar. Partly to learn about how they work, but also to have an off grid loo in the garden. Not acted on this urge yet as i’m pretty sure I’d be the only one using it. Perhaps the thought will pass. Should you also have the urge you can buy kits on eBay.

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Thanks to @Simfin for sending me a link to a bike that can also be a tent. Our dystopian future needs these. As long as the tent fabric is covered with photovoltaic cells, tribes could wonder the wastelands Mad Max style.

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Meet glass artist Josh Simpson.

In the spirit of my Audio Caching drops, I asked Josh Simpson if I could hide one of his amazing ‘planets’. He has agreed and I’ll document the placement of this beautiful piece of art… guess where i’ll share?… Yes! in a subscriber post. Another reason to support this dispatch. ;-) He also sent one for me to keep. But which one should I hide? Want to help me choose?

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#TheThanks

This is where I thank paying subscribers that pay a few quid a month to support this dispatch. I’m looking forward to sharing some of the stories I’ve been writing. Just let me get a few more under my belt and you’ll be the first to read anything before it gets published elsewhere. If you’re able to become a paid supporter please do. (Thanks also to those of you that share these posts to others and those who hit the like button.)

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#TheWeb

• Supernovae might be a good place to hunt for alien broadcasts

• Yes the Documentally community map is still a thing you can add yourself to.

• Rome’s self repairing concrete.

• Do you need to forge a note for school? Then Calligrapher.ai can help.

• I have some photos here on Flickr, or search Documentally@octodon.social to find me on Mastodon. I’m still @Documentally on the birdsite.

• If you have an hour, this Mechano motorbike attempting a lap of the Isle of Man TT circuit is an interesting watch.

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#TheEnd

Thank you for reading. This time next week will be my birthday. It might be i’ll give most of you a week off. For the rest expect some audio. Have a great weekend!

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“The capitalist and consumerist ethics are two sides of the same coin, a merger of two commandments. The supreme commandment of the rich is ‘Invest!’ The supreme commandment of the rest of us is ‘Buy!’ The capitalist–consumerist ethic is revolutionary in another respect. Most previous ethical systems presented people with a pretty tough deal. They were promised paradise, but only if they cultivated compassion and tolerance, overcame craving and anger, and restrained their selfish interests. This was too tough for most. The history of ethics is a sad tale of wonderful ideals that nobody can live up to. Most Christians did not imitate Christ, most Buddhists failed to follow Buddha, and most Confucians would have caused Confucius a temper tantrum. In contrast, most people today successfully live up to the capitalist–consumerist ideal. The new ethic promises paradise on condition that the rich remain greedy and spend their time making more money and that the masses give free rein to their cravings and passions and buy more and more. This is the first religion in history whose followers actually do what they are asked to do. How though do we know that we'll really get paradise in return? We've seen it on television.” ~ Yuval Noah Harari

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Email.

See you out there.

Over…