Just Because You Can....

I've been listening and watching some podcasts and video-podcasts recently. And there have been one or two which I visit regularly, keeping up with new episodes and remaining topical. But for the most part, I don't revisit them. Mostly because they are just not very good.

The ones I revisit don't have particularly high production values. In fact, there is very little in the way of production or post-production. They don't appear to have expensive equipment or anyone assisting them. Simply put, it's the quality of the content and the skills of the presenters/interviewers that draw me in.

Interviewing is a skill, and good interviewing techniques take practice. I wouldn't say I'm an expert, but I do have some radio experience, I majored in Drama at University, was a teacher for more than twenty years, spent several years as an investigator conducting interviews, and undertook Research Methods for my Postgraduate studies.

So let's be clear. There is an art to conducting interviews and presenting. You need to prepare, to have areas to cover (especially if the interviewee isn't forthcoming) as well as being prepared to shoot off on tangents if the interview leads into other interesting yet relevant areas. And yet I have seen and heard so many who cannot interview or present to save their lives.

I saw one particular interview where the subject was fascinating, with a great tale to tell, and yet the interviewer, who had no charisma, presence or technique, tried to revert everything back to their own experience and made it about them. (And believe me, it was dull)

I saw another where the presenters had all the equipment, expensive and high quality, but spent the first five minutes talking about connection issues as though no-one was listening.

Another where the two co-hosts thought they were hilarious, and laughed at all their in-jokes which the audience wouldn't have understood.

And the one where the interviewer obviously hadn't prepared and made vague generalised statements about the subject (and the interviewee was a specialist) which showed a general ignorance and lack of understanding. They did have a marketable gimmick, though.

Oh dear, the list goes on.

It's all too easy these days, isn't it? Anyone can throw a podcast onto a streaming service, or a video up on a channel in YouTube. Anyone can claim to be an expert, and it appears many can build a following without actually being any good.

Which reminds me. There is also an art in being an audience member and using your discernment.

The Australian Spec-Fic Snapshot 2014.

The Aussie Snapshot has taken place four times in the past 10 years. In 2005, Ben Peek spent a frantic week interviewing 43 people in the Australian spec-fic scene, and since then it’s grown dramatically. It now takes a team of interviewers working together to accomplish!

In the lead up to the World Science Fiction Convention in London, Snapshot 2014 will be blogged at the below links.

Last time nearly 160 members of the Australian speculative fiction community were interviewed for the Snapshot. I was interviewed in 2012 - keep an eye out for my forthcoming interview for 2014.

To read the interviews hot off the press, check these blogs daily from July 28 to August 10, 2014, or look for the round up on SF Signal when it’s all done:

This year’s interviewers:

• Tsana Dolichva
• Nick Evans
• Stephanie Gunn
• Kathryn Linge
• Elanor Matton-Johnson
• David McDonald
• Helen Merrick
• Jason Nahrung
• Ben Payne
• Alex Pierce
• Tansy Rayner Roberts
• Helen Stubbs
• Katharine Stubbs
• Tehani Wessely
• Sean Wright

And you can find the past Snapshots at the following links: 2005, 2007,  2010 and 2012.

(This post was stolen and adapted from David McDonald's website with permission)

Turn And Face The Strange.

On Friday, after nine years, I finished working at Mooroolbark College. Last week I accepted a position at Vermont College.

My last day was emotional and surrealistic. (is that the right adjective for one who feels as though in a surreal landscape?) Not only had I had an insanely busy week, but the whole process, from application, through interview to finishing was incredibly fast. Plus my performance review, plus wrapping up the student tour to China I was organising, plus finishing all my marking in a very short timeframe, plus the whole 'am I doing the right thing?' insomniac questioning...
 
But the time is right, and the move is a good one.

I'm scared (I don't welcome change) yet thrilled by the challenges ahead. My brother-in-law is a poet, and so I asked him what the word is for excited yet terrified. He invented the word ''extrified'' for me. It works. 

You never really know for sure how your colleagues regard you, until it comes to the goodbye card and the gift. I was stunned by their generosity with only a couple of day's notice, and to find so many personal and real messages in the card. There were hardly any of the 'nice' or 'good luck' or 'who are you?" ones.

A friend once said, "You never really ever leave Mooroolbark College." At the very least I believe it will never really ever leave me. It shaped me into the teacher I am now.

Hi to everyone at Vermont College. Thanks for being so welcoming.

Thanks, MC. And thanks to all my friends and colleagues. I will miss you.