E-Scribe News : a programmer’s blog

About Me

PBX My name is Paul Bissex, and e-scribe.com is my consulting business. I build web applications using as much open source software as possible. From September to June I teach web design and other important non-photographic professional skills to photographers. In the '90s I wrote technology commentary and reviews for magazines, newspapers, and web publications, including Wired, Salon.com, FamilyPC, the late lamented Web Review, and the Chicago Tribune. Feel free to email me.

Book Project

I'm co-authoring a book, "Python Web Development with Django", with Jeff Forcier and Wesley Chun. It will be published by Prentice Hall in July 2008, but is available for pre-ordering on Amazon now.

Colophon

This site is built on a fresh trunk checkout of Django, running on Python 2.5.1, served by Apache and mod_python. The database is SQLite. The operating system is FreeBSD, on a VPS hosted at Johncompanies.com. Comment-spam protection by Akismet. Vintage topo imagery from the Maptech archive.

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Stuff I Use

Akismet, del.icio.us, Django, dpaste.com, Emacs, FreeBSD, Freenode, jQuery, LaunchBar, MacPorts, Markdown, Mercurial, OS X, Postfix, Python, SQLite, Subversion, TextMate, Trac, Ubuntu Linux, wmii

A Django site.
(Finally!)

Copyright 2008
by Paul Bissex
and E-Scribe New Media

Podcasting Antipatterns

I periodically go searching for new tech-related podcasts to make my commute-time more edifying, interesting, or amusing. I'll admit right up front that I'm picky -- the only one I find myself returning to consistently is LugRadio, which I know is not everyone's cup of tea. But I'm not looking for "Bob's Gadget News". Anyway, content aside, there are some production and style problems that have turned me off to so many podcasts that I've come to view them as established antipatterns.

Here's my current list. Please feel free to expand on it in the comments.

Sunday, April 1st, 2007
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5 comments

Some related posts: Podcasts I actually like
• Comment from dmoore, later that day

Good post. I have never listened to a podcast. After reading your list of amusing apologies I'm not inclined to start.

• Comment from Paul, later that day

There are good ones, too! It's just like any other kind of low-barrier-to-entry media -- there are a lot of people figuring it out as they go. Nothing wrong with that. Mostly I just wish people would get down to what they actually have to say. Most of my list is about people getting distracted by uninteresting meta stuff.

• Comment from xian, 1 day later

Excellent. The "I Must Apologize for Not Making a Podcast in Several (Days|Weeks|Months)" carries over as a corollary from blogging, where likewise I don't give a shit if you haven't blogged in three months. If I care, I'll find your new stuff.

• Comment from dmoore, 1 day later

on your advice I tried out LUG radio. not bad, but they could afford to edit down the show to about 60 mins.

any others worth trying?

• Comment from Paul, 1 day later

Yes, it does get a bit long sometimes...

I have a few others worth mentioning, so I've gone ahead and made a new post on the subject.

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