The Future Of Podcasts And Audible

 I do not listen to podcasts nor do I personally know anyone that does either. However, if Audible is considered a podcast, then I predict the future of it is very promising. As many of you may know, I go on YouTube all the time. So many YouTubers I follow talk about Audible and have a personal link to get a free trial. The idea of hearing a book rather than reading it yourself surprisingly appeals to me, an English major. I have never tried it because I don’t feel like paying a fee for yet another online subscription (cough…Netflix). However, in the future, I predict that I will. On their website, it states that more than 564,640,778 listening hours were downloaded in 2013. If that doesn’t say something, then nothing will. The narrator coming alive is also a very appealing feature of Audible and let’s be real. Some of us don’t like to read or can’t read for a long period of time. This is perfect for those individuals.

The article was very interesting because I learned a lot of new things about podcasts. I never knew that the word ‘Podcast’ was included in the Oxford English American Dictionary, for example. You know something is big when it gets added in that particular dictionary. I also didn’t know that “It is an application of technology that was not developed, planned or marketed,” and yet it challenges established methods of listening “that is not only unprecedented but also unpredictable” (144).

I believe the  future of podcasts is very promising because you can get many of them for free. Anything that is offered at $0 will appeal to members of society. Also, the fact that podcasts can be listened anywhere as long as you have a laptop or listening device, makes it that much more commercial. Our generation is always on the move, whether we are commuting to work by train or at the gym, trying to burn off excess calories we consumed throughout the day: “Portable media devices, such as Apple iPod, are now commonly seen in use on commuter trains, buses and in the high street and each user is hungry for content. What podcasting does is to combine these devices with online audio content (such as the material offered by Audible) and RSS feeds as a distribution system” (145). I can definitely picture and assume that many Americans are listening to podcasts rather than music during the morning commute or session at the gym.

I just left my chair to use the bathroom (TMI?) and as I washing my hands, I was humming “All Of Me” by John Legend and it got me thinking. When we listen to music, sometimes it gets stuck in our heads. That same exact concept could be beneficial and appeal to people who create podcasts. If someone wants to get their voice or opinion out there, they can make a podcast and publish it online. People would then have unlimited access to it and can be influenced. Thus that individual’s opinion or ideas would get passed onto hundreds, thousands or millions of people. I could just imagine hearing the President of the United States making an important speech in the car through the form of podcast in the future. Because why not, right? You could kill two birds with one stone. You could run some errands while listening to the President deliver an important message.

I had the opportunity to create a podcast last semester in my creative writing class and while it took hours to edit and record, I had a lot of fun with it. It was cool talking about a topic that I was genuinely interested in and hearing my thoughts flow. In the future, I could imagine students being able to talk about a topic or book (the case for English majors) for the midterm or final exam. Honestly, I find it so much easier to discuss my ideas rather than putting them down on paper. The style would definitely be different and perhaps, informal. However, I think our thoughts and ideas would come across so well via podcast. Any Rutgers professors reading this?

Jenn Im, a YouTuber I follow, talks about her favorite podcast

Also, if anyone has any podcast suggestions, please leave them in the comments! I am interested in hearing some.

Google: Friend or Foe?

I had to read this article last semester for the same class and to be honest, I was absolutely dreading it. The article is great because is makes us think about modern technology and we can see how it is affecting the way we think. Sometimes we forget that our minds evolve along with technology. However, it is so long. Nicholas Carr mentions a blogger, Scott Karp, who says: I was a lit major in college, and used to be [a] voracious book reader…what happened? I can definitely relate with Karp. Although I am an English major, sometimes I dislike reading the assigned homework. Sometimes I won’t read all of it and just skim the article or book. I think a lot of people assume that just because you are majoring in English, you love to read. And yes, that may be the case for some but not everyone loves to read. Some English majors love to write more than they love to read. Also, being told to read is very different from reading what you enjoy during your free time and not having to write a paper on it.

I love when Karp says, What if I do all my reading on the web not so much because the way I read has changed, i.e. I’m just seeking convenience, but because the way I THINK has changed? I agree that the internet has altered my mental habits. While I can appreciate long articles, depending on what the subject is, I rarely ever read all of it. I will usually skim them. That is why I love blog posts that are short and sweet. They get straight to the point and I get redirected to another blog through a hyperlink. It isn’t that shocking that our mental habits have evolved along with technology. The internet is so convenient and we get our information so fast.

Back in the day, students would have to spend grueling hours in the library to find information on their research topic. Now a days, all we have to do is go on libraries.rutgers.edu, type in some keywords and hundreds of scholarly articles will pop up. However, just because this is how we usually retrieve information, I don’t think we are necessarily becoming stupid. Nor do I think Google is making us stupid.

I learn so much on a daily basis by searching things on Google. I don’t waste my time and look up things I already know. For example, I currently have a sore throat and I searched ‘natural ways to soothe sore throats.’ I learned that Advil and gargling with salt water can relieve the pain. I learned so much and bookmarked the page. In the future, if I happen to get a sore throat, I will already know this information and I won’t necessarily have to look it up again. On another note, I do think Google can make us feel stupid or not learning anything valuable if we only look up invaluable information such as celebrity gossip or the latest news on Justin Bieber and his arrest. I do believe that we have access to a lot of information that we don’t necessarily need to know in order to succeed in life. However, I wouldn’t say that Google is making us stupid. That is a very strong statement.

Blogger With The Mostess

As a blogger, the article, “Why I Blog,” written by Andrew Sullivan could not have been more relevant to me. It was very interesting to read although sometimes hard to understand with his unique choice of vocabulary. I had to look up a lot of words. Nonetheless, I have an overall understanding of it.

He made very good points that I never even thought about and it was nice reading his thoughts and perspective on blogging. I never thought a conversation on blogging could have so much depth and be so insightful. I wrote down some things that caught my attention and I thought I would share them here:

A) The word “blog” is a conflation of two words, web and log and it is a log of thoughts and writing posted publicly on the world wide web. I never knew this. I learn something new everyday. 

B) There is no retroactive editing involved in blogging.

C) Blogging is a spontaneous expression of instant thought. I agree with this statement. My thoughts and ideas may change a week from now. 

D) The truth is inherently transitory or short-lived.

E) “A reporter can wait–must wait–until every source has confirmed. A novelist can spend months or years before committing words to the world. For bloggers, the deadline is always now. Blogging is therefore to writing what extreme sports are to athletes: more free-form, more accident-prone, less formal, more alive. It’s in many ways, writing out loud.” I definitely agree with Sullivan on that. Blogging is definitely less formal and more conversational.

F) A blog, unlike a diary, is instantly public. It’s hard to argue against that.

He made other great points such as blogging rewards a colloquial, unfinished tone. As an English major, I write a lot of papers. I always have to finish my paragraphs and thoughts with a final statement. Otherwise, my professor will make a comment and tell me to finish my thought. When I blog, I do not necessarily have to have a complete thought. I also loved the point he made about writers longing for a means to publish himself and reach any reader on Earth almost instantly. As a blogger, you can write anything your heart desires and as long as you publish it, it is readily accessible to anyone with a computer or smart phone. If you want to share a short-story you have written, you do not have to send it into a publishing company, hoping they will be interested. You can simply publish it on your blog and you can get feedback within seconds. You do not need Amazon.com telling you how well received your story is. Your audience will directly tell you.

That is a great quality blogging has. Nothing can compare to the immediacy of feedback you get when posting anything online. This is true for many cases. For example, when artists such as Beyonce upload a music video onto YouTube, they can see how many people like it just by looking at how many people gave it a thumbs up. Sullivan says in the article that the feedback is instant, personal and brutal.

I would definitely agree with Sullivan that blogging is much like hosting a party. A lot of times, I will see bloggers ending their post with a question for the reader such as “What do you think? What are your thoughts on such and such?” This invites and welcomes conversation in the comment section between writer and reader or reader and reader. Any successful blog will encourage their readers to contribute to the conversation and express their own thoughts/perspective on something. One of the greatest things about the blogging world is that everyone can learn something from each other. I love when people leave comments on my posts because a) I know that someone is reading them and b) it’s interesting to read what they have to say. If blogging wasn’t like hosting a dinner party, there would be no comment section. Every fun and successful party has guests interacting and socializing with one another. Much like a popular blog gets many comments. Although they share similarities, getting your guests talking to one another is a lot easier than getting people to comment on a blog post. It takes time to get comments or get a conversation going on a post but that just comes with the territory.

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Oh hi. I’m Sarah

Hello, I’m Sarah and I am a senior. I am majoring in English with a minor in music. I am the youngest in my family and I have two older siblings who both attended Rutgers University. My interests include blogging, baking, writing, singing, reading and surfing YouTube. My favorite YouTubers include itsjudyslife, LauraVitale, sWoozie, essiebutton, beautycrush and lilypebbles. I created my own blog last year called SarahJaiheLee.com so feel free to check it out. A lot of my posts are food-related and I love featuring cookie recipes like this one. I use wordpress for my internship at YHM Magazine so I am pretty familiar with it. However, I hope to learn more about it this semester. I was a Style Guru intern at CollegeFashionista last semester  and wrote a weekly column, “Style Advice of The Week.” I took street photos of students around campus and focused on one piece that stood out. I gave advice on how to style an outfit around that particular piece. I am currently a student blogger at OneClass and an English/Writing tutor. After I graduate, I hope to become a tutor or work in the journalism/editing field.  I’m thinking about contributing to The Daily Targum this semester because I enjoy writing and editing.

I took this class last semester but it was a different section. I really enjoyed the class and was able to work with audacity. I also created my own podcast, which was really tedious since I never had experience creating one. However, it was still a fun project because we were able to talk about whatever we wanted. I hope to learn more about Mac programs since I have a Windows laptop and am not very familiar with them. I think it’s very useful to know how to use different editing and movie programs. The class was very independent but we also worked in groups, which was nice since the work was cut in half. I love classes that allow me to work independently because I learn so much. Although it is sometimes difficult, I gain the most out of it. It is nice figuring things out on your own. I hope to get to know everyone in the class and hear people’s perspectives on multi-media. I really enjoyed the weekly posts we wrote because everyone had good points/perspectives. Since we grew up with technology, we have a lot of insight and thoughts about it.

YHM Magazine recently featured me in their Voice of The Month article so if you want to get to know me even better, you can check it out here.