James Fee GIS Blog

19 responses so far ↓

• 1 Lefty // May 15, 2007 at 8:47 pm

  Right on James, I’ll say it because you didn’t. Directions podcasts are like watching paint dry. I love reading Adena’s work, but listening to her talk about stuff or Joe is brutal.

• 2 Milton // May 15, 2007 at 9:49 pm

  Aw come on James, like anything else there are good podcasts and bad podcasts. Life wouldn’t be complete without my daily fix of the Onion Radio News. http://www.theonion.com/content/radionews

• 3 Guido From Boston // May 16, 2007 at 5:08 am

  James… some of us like listening to podcasts while we spend our days editing data. But I will agree, that there are good and bad podcasts.

• 4 James Fee // May 16, 2007 at 6:40 am

  I’d rather listen to music to be honest. What bothers me in general about podcasts is that many seem to exist just because they feel they need a podcast, not because the medium fits what they are talking about.

• 5 glenn // May 16, 2007 at 7:40 am

  oh man, I’m glad you said it ;0) Obviously if I say that then its interpreted that I’m whinning about the competition but seriously… is there ANYONE who actually has the time and the passion to go out fetch a podcast, download it and listen to news… especially news about Geospatial technology.. Geesh - I think like some of the other comments.. there’s good podcasts but making GIS into a fun audio experience simply isn’t going to happen. Now video is another story.. after all GIS is quite a visual experience… I’d watch a youTube video that shows of an application — ok.. bring it on.. I know I’m gonna get bashed on this one (again ;0)

• 6 carlos // May 16, 2007 at 10:12 am

  I think if you listening to iTunes at work as much as I do during data editing, short podcasts such as the ones put out by ESRI aren’t bad. Short 10 minutes explainations of geodatabases, upcoming news, etc keep it short and sweet.

  Conversations on the VerySpatial podcasts aren’t too bad either but I’ve heard some people talk waaaay (>12-15 min) too long on there.

• 7 glenn // May 16, 2007 at 10:18 am

  that makes sense. I’m not an iPod user so that medium doesn’t make sense to me. I do, however, have a smartphone (why buy an iPod when the phone does all that and much more!) seems to me that simply having an AVI file or some other audio of video file where you simply click it and listen/watch is what people want/need. Unfortunately you can’t do that on some of these podcasts that are out there… too bad as they are restricting their audience by confining the experience to a certain device or device user

• 8 Chad // May 17, 2007 at 7:08 am

  I would listen only if it is Ben Stein doing the naration.

• 9 Brian // May 17, 2007 at 9:35 am

  Glad you said it too. I’m tired of seeing a subject line that draws me in, only to be confronted with a podcast. Reading allows me to skim to what I want\need. I don’t have time to listen to the podcast only to get a few usefull points.

• 10 Brian Flood // May 17, 2007 at 9:43 am

  I think all podcasts should come with a transcript. sometimes I like listnening to them but most times I just want to skim the content.

• 11 Gretch // May 17, 2007 at 9:43 am

  I’m too sick of Podcasts.
  STOP POSTING THEM

• 12 -Rob // May 17, 2007 at 12:54 pm

  I’m behind you 100% James. What a waste of time and energy. Especially for short news blurbs.

• 13 Joseph Wallis // May 17, 2007 at 1:23 pm

  Well, I know why they are doing them. They are LAZY. They can read off all their news bits once a day and chop them into what they really are, SOUND CLIPS. Podcast is just a fancy term for sound clip. They should be banned along with popups. I HATE podcasts just as much as I hate clicking on an MSNBC “article” to find out its a 30 second video clip! Some of us get audio and video streams blocked at work. Like James said PULL OUT A KEYBOARD!

• 14 Chris Hanson // May 17, 2007 at 4:00 pm

  I thought I was the only one who hated podcasts. Sure, if it’s stand-up comedy, maybe. But really, I can look at a page and in 5 seconds skim it to see if the info on it is worth reading. Podcast? Not so much.

• 15 KoS // May 17, 2007 at 7:20 pm

  I see nothing wrong with podcasts, so long as, it’s in addition to the written version.

  I’ve never, never listen to a podcast thou.

  KoS

• 16 brad // May 17, 2007 at 8:54 pm

  With this much vitriol, I thought sure this was a Manifold thread…

  I listen to podcasts on an ipod during my commute some days. Beats the radio and my old cassette tapes, plus This American Life is always interesting. GIS-wise, I like Very Spatial for the interviews and wacky discussions, but could take or leave the other GIS podcasts I’ve heard.

• 17 James Fee // May 17, 2007 at 9:08 pm

  See I wouldn’t classify This America Life as a podcast (probably since I listen to it on NPR all the time).

  My beef is with news articles that are podcasts. I’ve seen it more and more everywhere these days.

• 18 James Fee // Jun 4, 2007 at 2:03 pm

  What’s funny is I haven’t hear it yet.

  Then again I was there so I know what I said.

• 19 Jeff // Jun 18, 2007 at 4:23 am

  I listen to geospatial news and other podcasts while I’m commuting between my office and client sites. They download while I’m doing other things and are then ready for listening while I’m on the road or the sidewalk. I cannot use that time to read text. I do read articles at my office as well, but the podcasts are valuable when on the move (when their content is any good).

  However, I do detest links to mp3’s that are not labelled as such. ESRI’s RSS feed is perhaps one of the worst.

  Glenn, your blog could use more actual insight to geospatial industry and less of the latest sports finals, your smartphone, and your latest travel/family adventure.

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