It’s neither a directory nor a network
Published by on April 30th, 2006
Since Britcaster.com’s inception a year ago it has sometimes been a struggle to create a perception of exactly what it is. A recent exchange on the forums there demonstrated that there is still work to be done.
An individual turned up with a wholly distorted view of Britcaster: he presumed it was some kind of organisation, from which he felt intentionally excluded. That idea festered a great deal of frustration resulting in what came over as little more than abuse of Britcaster users and UK podcasters in general.
That got me thinking about the past conversations on what Britcaster really is and the problems caused by a misunderstanding of its remit. It seems your average internet user will decide pre-visit as to what they expect to find and sometimes become vocally irritated the moment the destination does not fit the expectation. Pigeon-holing is alive and well in cyberspace.
Back in the early days, the first assumption about Britcaster.com was that is was a directory. At the time, finding podcasts to listen to was simply a matter of searching through a handful of generally poorly organised online directories. Britcaster has never been a directory because it has never offered categorised listings of the podcasts signed up to the aggregator. I remember receiving one criticism that “your directory is crap because it just has a list of stuff, no categories”. The message went on to blame me personally for the lack of UK-centric podcast directories.
More recently ‘network’ has become the buzz word and even ‘traditional’ directories are morphing themselves into quazi-networks. Networks require an active participation from their members to promote both the network and other podcasts within that network. Britcaster on the other hand has no such policies of membership and is merely an aggregated content feed plus a forum where UK podcasters and some listeners hang out. Some find it a useful resource, and a number of more formal activities have arisen out of the networking opportunities, but it is hardly an organisation. Britcaster encourages promotion of the site and other podcasts of course, that benefits all, but does not insist on it.
Britcaster is neither a directory nor a network, so what exactly is it?
The closest analogy has to be community. Or maybe a funnel. The precise descriptive word might not yet be available, but whatever it turns out to be called, I expect people will still come to their own conclusions and grasp whatever end of sticks they want.
Technorati Tags: britcaster, podcasting, podcast directory, podcast network
2 Responses to “It’s neither a directory nor a network”
April 20th, 2006 at 12:14 pm
Enjoyed the interview, some interesting points raised, I gotta agree with Adam on the whole forming of an association, sometimes it just burns up too much energy on these things when people could be out there doing what they do best - being creative. On the other hand, I do see some of the benefits, I just question these groups and how much energy is wasted at times.
As for Podshow in London, I’d have to debate whether the market is there yet in the UK to warrant an office here, taking into account all of the podcasters, listeners and brands who might want to get involved (in podcasting with or without Podshow), I still think it’s a pretty small market. Saying that, I do think we’ll see things changing more quickly over the next 6 months than the last 18 months in this space in the UK.
April 20th, 2006 at 2:01 pm
It is going to be a carefully considered decision to have a Podshow presence in the UK. Clearly the podcasting scene here is showing some signs of maturity, but we have a way to go yet. Move too early and Podshow will simply be burning off cash for no return; move too late and they’ll have a bigger struggle to establish a solid presence amongst other similar activities currently being explored by a number of individuals and businesses. We’re on the cusp here, but that tip over the edge is still just a little out of reach.
Glad you enjoyed the interview - seems most people did, thankfully!
May 2nd, 2006 at 3:05 am
With all due respect, I prefer ‘Handbag Brigade” myself, but it is rather insulting to handbags.
Keep up the good work. It’s always good for a laugh.
-L.
May 2nd, 2006 at 8:56 am
That absolutely is the most appropriate categorisation for the forums… now and then