logo search
Ответы к билетам (1-29)

21. The Place of Podcasting in the Field of Contemporary Mass Media

Can podcasting be considered the new type of mass medium?

Yes. It can. Podcasting may count a new type of mass media because it was appeared in digital age, when computers and other digital devises became more popular and available than before. And for this devises were necessary to create new content that could be interesting as much as content of traditional type of mass media.

What advantages over traditional radio does podcasting have?

Main advantage of podcasts over traditional radio is that if you missed your favorite program or you have no opportunities to listen it you may find in the internet (usually it has been posted on radio station`s official websites). It is very comfortable for people who have no time to listen to the radio.

Do you think podcasting will succeed in edging out radio? Prove your point.

No, I think it won`t edge out radio because podcasting available only in web. Traditional radio will keep on exist because it is part of traditional type of media the same as print or TV. I think it should be more interesting to listen to the radio program on air than in recording.

How can podcasting be used?

It can be used for learning foreign languages, for example. You can use podcast if you have no opportunities to listen your favorite program on air.

А вот второй вариант 21 билета:

21. The Place of Podcasting in the Field of Contemporary Mass Media.

First of all we should decide, can podcasting be considered the new type of mass medium, to understand the rank of podcasting in the Field of Contemporary Mass Media.

Here are the definitions of mass media in different dictionaries.

Macmillan dictionary characterizes “mass media” as something that communicate news and information to large numbers of people.

Collins dictionary says that it is the means of communication that reach large numbers of people in a short time.

Wikipedia summarizes that Mass media refers collectively to all media technologies that are intended to reach a large audience via mass communication and also to the organizations which control these technologies.

So, most dictionaries point out such features of mass media as accessibility, availability to a large amount of people and ability to give information.

Podcasting is a relatively new phenomenon. It is available to people, who have devices, supporting Internet-connection. Now the amount of the Internet-users is about 2,1 billions, so nearly every third person in the world has an access to the World Wide Web. We should take into consideration that the most popular medium is television, according to the survey of Pew Research Center for the People & the Press. Television is suitable for usage for people of all ages, while the Internet is used mainly by youth and middle-aged people. The term podcasting is derived from "pod" from iPod, which stresses that most people listen to podcasts on iPods or similar devices. The amount of users of Apple production in America, according to CNBC, is nearly half of the population. And the amount of Apple-users is growing day after day in the world. So, we can make a conclusion that the audience of podcasts consists of young and middle-aged people using Apple-devices or similar ones, which gives opportunity to download the necessary podcast and listen at any time. That is a wide range of people, so we can speak of large-scale participation (the ability to occupy large audiences) in connection with podcasting.

The next question is whether podcasting gives information to people. Of cause it does! Moreover, there is a wide range of different topics of podcasts, and you can choose which you are interested in most: politics, business analytics, news of cinema and theatre, arts, interviews with famous writers, etc. The information can be new of actual at present. So we can call podcasting the new medium, as it contains the main features of classic mass media.

The main advantage of podcasting is that you can listen to podcasts at any time you want, while programs on the radio go on the air. You can download the podcast on your computer of device and listen to it for several times, play back the pieces that you didn’t catch, stop if you want to have a tea-break of make a call and then continue listening, not missing any point.

Another advantage is that each person, who has anything interesting to share with the world and has necessary devices, is able to make podcasts. If you want to have your own radio-station, you will have to buy expensive equipment and make a license for broadcasting, and that is far not everything.

Victor Agaev, the author and the host of the radio-programs of media company Deutsche Welle, says that podcasting is independent from the advertisers, unlike radio. For example, you can’t tell that you saw a rat in an elite restaurant because you advertise it. Podcasting, like everything provided with help of Internet, is freer from censorship. So it can observe such topics that cannot be observed on the radio owing to ethic or political reasons. Podcasting is useful in investigative journalism because you can provide all facts not being afraid of worsening the relations with advertisers or with the law.

Some programs can’t go on the air because the topic can be actual or interesting only for narrow circle of people, and most radio-stations are intended for mass audience. If such programs go out on the Internet in the form of podcasts, they will soon find their listeners, as the catalogues of podcasts and special search engines (such as iTunes, Juice, Doppler) have an easy-to-use system of navigation.

We spend a big part of our live on the road – going for work, home or somewhere else. We can listen to the radio in the car or in the surface transport with help of devices, but we can’t listen to it in the underground. Offline-podcasts can be listened to everywhere.

Victor Agaev, the author and the host of the radio-programs of media company Deutsche Welle, says that radio is dead, but that is not clear only for deaf and radio-journalists. Many famous radio-stations think how to survive. “When will radio die? Optimists say that nothing revolutionary is happening, it is a normal process of developing of radio. Pessimists affirm that radio will die in 4 years. The former director-general of BBC Mark Thompson supposes that in few years radio will not be able to exist without the Internet or will be entirely absorbed by the Web”. But people who make podcasts should think about the ways of getting profit. Podcasting is becoming popular mainly because it is free. According to the survey of the Research firm Ipsos Mori, only 53% of respondents in the UK said they would be interested in downloading podcasts containing advertising if they were free and only 31% responded positively to the idea of podcasts without adverts that had to be paid for. It means that people who make podcasts will have to make a new business-model if they want to get money for their work.

Podcasting as civil journalism can face the problem of low quality of presentation of content. Making of podcasts and sharing them with the audience is available now nearly to everyone who has Internet and a microphone. So a podcast can be made not only by professional journalist, but also by a student or a house-wife. So there will always be people who will prefer high-quality information to amateur version.

In conclusion, I should say that radio won’t be replaced by podcasting as TV and newspapers weren’t replaced by the Internet. The system of buying information through the Web is not full-blown. That’s why it is less profitable to work in the Web-project then in the classic mass medium and to get income with a help of Web-media. But we see the trend that all classic mass media have analogs in the Web and there is a stiff competition between them. I think that this trend will remain in the future, but the radio won’t be finally edged out by podcasting. Moreover, there is no legislation in the sphere of new media, so it is easy to infringe copyright. That’s why we can say that publishing podcasts along with writing articles or posting videos in the Internet is remaining a thankless work somehow. While there is less cases of copyright infringement in classic media.

First of all, podcasting can be used for spreading information. It can be fresh news, financial or exchange reports, lessons of foreign language or interviews with famous people.

Podcasting as a mass media can be used as means of propaganda and exchange of opinions. Ideas can be simply stated or imposed on mass.

There are several types of podcasts: audio-, video-podcasts and screencasts. It gives an opportunity to use podcasts in your professional sphere and studying. An overview of new production can be made, for example, an overview of new smart-phone with detailed characteristics of its features – weight, design, diagonal of the screen, camera, resolution, built-in memory, etc. It is sales promotion. One can also promote his business, publishing weekly podcasts about the news and developments of his industry and taking interviews of famous people in his industry or potential clients. One can publish that podcasts on the Web-site of his business, making it interactive. If one finds a proper person for an interview, it is possible to find a sponsor for his podcast. One can also share the interview with other people, letting them spreading and sharing it, but with indication of the name of author.

Screencasts is a new phenomenon that made teaching people through the Internet easier. The essence of screencast is to log the actions of a person on a computer screen with help of special program. It is ideal for explanation of using computer programs.

A new UK study suggests that podcasting can be used to grow audiences of radio stations that embrace podcasting. Research firm Ipsos Mori has found that 15% of respondents said they listened to more live radio since they began downloading podcasts, and 39% said they were listening to radio programs they did not listen to previously. Some radio-stations such as Liberty, Deutsche Welle, Echo of Moscow and telecasting station NTV use podcasts along with ordinary broadcasting.

Information from Wikipedia:

Public services

Education and academia

Podcasts enable students and teachers to share information with anyone anytime. If a student is absent, he or she can download the podcast of the recorded lesson. Teachers may also create podcasts to be used as a preparation tool for students. This would be pedagogically equivalent to having students read a text before a lesson. It can be a tool for teachers or administrators to communicate curriculum, assignments and other information with parents and the community. Teachers can record book talks, vocabulary or foreign language lessons, international pen pal letters (podcast pals!), music performance, interviews, debates. Podcasting can be a publishing tool for student oral presentations. Video podcasts can be used in all these ways as well.

Entertainment

News

Music

Politics

Publicity and marketing

Health

Special interests

Non-traditional and alternative content