For a lot of you, that title makes your eyes glaze over. It’s OK to hit the delete key right now, or just skip this if you are one of those.
But for those of you keeping your finger on the pulse of the podcasting world, you’ve likely heard about “wiki shownotes”. I’m hoping some of you have been using wiki shownotes, and can give me a solid opinion. If you are one of those, click the link below and let’s talk.
Adam Curry is using a site called ShowNotes.info to host a secondary and much more detailed version of show notes, complete with time stamps, and every single link. It’s a pretty cool little feature, and the guys at ShowNotes.info make it fairly simple to manage.
We already use show notes for our show. We take the script or notes made before the show starts and add them to this site. You’ve seen it. You know what I’m talking about. But with a wiki, things change.
For one, you are in control. You an log in, edit text, make links, add time stamps… anything you want which you feel enhances the show notes. The downside is that anyone can do this. Unsure what happens if some asshole comes along and deletes everything, but it looks like there is a way to go back to a previous version, so I think it’s covered.
I’m OK with using this service, but it only works if people give a turd enough to do the work. This is listener driven stuff. Someone (or someones) has to take the initiative to listen to the show, make notes of exactly what time we talked about something, and edit the page.
If enough of you say “hey, that’s cool”, we’ll give this a shot. But if not, not. It’s no skin off my back. Check out ShowNotes.info to see other podcasters using this service. And let me know…
Just curious…are you sure you want to give the listeners that much control, especialyl the listeners pissed at Evo “Let The Spoilers Fly” Terra and Michael “The Audience Is There for My Enjoyment” Mannanga?
Just asking. Just making you all think. Personally, I think it’s a ballsy move, but it’s a good idea to think of all aspects of it.
Interesting idea. ‘Courageous,’ even.
Looking at Adam Curry’s wiki shownotes, it seems this is only likely to work if there’s someone dedicated enough to take on the majority of the commitment.
My first response is “I don’t think that’s a good idea.” Or rather… I don’t see why it’d be a good idea.
However. If you’re going to post your version of the show notes and just let people add to them if they want, then I don’t think we’d end up with anything which is less than what we have now.
If you were looking for us to make up the shownotes entirely, for whatever reason, I think you’d find that you had no show notes at all.
I think I know what you are suggesting. But I’m not an expert on wikis. Here’s the deal:
1) if it’s possible to set up the wiki so that not everyone has *total* control, then I think it’s great.
2) Or, alternatively, if you have a core of eight or ten *TOTALLY FRIGHTENINGLY UBER DEDICATED FANS* that will act as “admins” in practice, and if they will get automatic email updates everytime someone anonymous updates the shownotes, then… …
it could work. And, I think it’s a good idea. Go for it. And remember, if it doesn’t work, then just say it was all Michael’s idea.
Well it would probably help to finally have the things in the show I always miss out because you don’t put them there …
But then again, you don’t need that other site there to just have a wiki of your own.
If the fans are the ones putting the show notes together after the show has been released then what is the point of the show notes?
It would probably work more like Adam’s notes in design.
There would be the condensed version for a quick rundown of the show’s contents.
Then the wiki could contain more detailed descriptions of each section, if someone wanted to skip ahead abit, maybe setup bookmarks for favorites, and avoid spoilers so we don’t have another ‘situation’ (spoiler ratings, maybe?).
Also, did anyone hear DSC #275? About RIAA and it’s international counterparts more or less gearing up to go after podcasters using licensed music? I’m now REALLY concerned on who will be left when the dust settles…And how soon those ben tian-sheng de yi dui rou’s will push up daisies. (Hopefully: immediately!)
The podcasters using licensed music were being stupid to begin with, then. Kinda hard to apply a CC license to something that contains a C license. Maybe in the very beginning it might have seemed underground enough to get away with it. But we’re pretty far from there.
I think in some cases, really dedicated fans from the show could also provide additional links and content that Evo and Michael could not have the time for. The trick is, how do you setup a system of editing that allows for the content to grow without introducing mistakes or errors? Can other wiki users police bad content? I know some sites are doing that.
Cesar
cesartorres.net
I think a show notes wiki is a terrific idea, although I think it would be easier to just set up you own wiki rather than rely on someone else’s service. A Dragon Page wiki could become the go-to place for SF info on the net.