Episode 16: Thinking Out Loud (Again)
As part of our effort to keep The Conversation transparent, we’re taking ten minutes to bring you up to speed on some of the discussions going on behind the project. A few questions have been badgering us: is The Conversation inherently elitist? If not, how can we democratize it more? Speaking of which, how can we spark a more lively online conversation and bring more listener comments into the interviews? Finally, we mention that we’re swamped with amazing interviews and not enough time to edit, so we’re going to slow the pace of the project to a single conversation per week and try to stretch The Conversation out over a longer production timeframe. This will allow us to include a huge variety of new voices but, at the same time, it will cost more. Apologies in advance, but you’re going to hear us ask for money at some point during this brief episode.
Artwork by Eleanor Davis: www.doing-fine.com
The obvious way to temporarily ‘solve’ the problem of editing taking too long is to forgo editing until you have time to do it. Until then, you can post the unedited (or lightly edited) conversations as they are.
One benefit of this is simple: The Conversation that’s going on isn’t edited at all.
So, you recorded two and a half hour of an interview, of which you spent at least an hour just trying to find out how to even begin asking intelligent questions? Well, not only are there people who will listen to all that (I for one, but there are others), it would also be a much better representation of what the conversation is like in real life.
That said, the fact I’m commenting and looking forward to the next episode each time should tell you, that you’re doing a good job.
Hey tp1024,
I’m thrilled you’re enjoying the project! I’ve certainly mulled over posting the raw audio, but I’d still need to slow the pace of production so I didn’t get further buried. From a dramatic standpoint, I’d also hate to spoil the reveal of posting a finished piece. Maybe I can try to blog a few notes after each conversation…
-Aengus
I’m going to give commenting via Sound Cloud a try. It seems easier to annotate the recording with thoughts, objections and spit takes than to try and ‘sum up’ a response at the end.
I’m reminded of the Mr. Show ‘Pre-Taped Call In Show’ sketch.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HrlS9_n8GX4.
It’s difficult to continue the discussion on one page when I feel that the attention has moved on to the latest interview. Maybe if there was a separate ‘all encompassing’ comment thread that focused on the broader ideas, rather than each segment.