The Geek Fu Morning Show

8 Comments

• 1. George Starcher replies at 13th January 2006 um 3:53 pm :

  Hi Mur,

  For the women in podcasting thing. Nothing says it has to be a real formal group. You could think about what we did for Friends in Tech. http://www.friendsintech.com/ Just a group of podcasters who do stuff together for fun. Nothing financial, overly organized and no requirements on its member shows since the goal is to keep podcasting fun for us.

  -George

• 2. Timothy replies at 13th January 2006 um 4:35 pm :

  Hi all,

  the firefly filk group are the Bedlam Bards (and were featured on ep 16.5 of the signal)

  Tim

• 3. Michael replies at 13th January 2006 um 5:54 pm :

  Hi, Mur —

  I’m a former blogger/would-be-podcaster (long story - short version is that I got asked to end my blog/podcast as a condition of taking a new job - I work for WXIA-TV Atlanta - http://11alive.com/), but I’ve had to deal with the same sorts of issues that you point out with women in podcasting.

  I’m one of those rare political animals - black and a libertarian. I’ve had plenty of folks insist that myself and other blacks with more conservative mindsets shouldn’t seek to get together to discuss our commonalities.

  But the reality is that when you are a part of a small group like that (either black conservatives or women in podcasting, or any other defined group for that matter), the natural inclination is to want to associate with each other.

  Don’t let ‘em sweat you.

  I’ve been listening awhile, and keep saying that I was going to drop a note — I’ll try to be more vocal in the future…

  M

• 4. Mur replies at 13th January 2006 um 7:23 pm :

  George - good idea, thanks a lot.

  Tim, thanks for the update. I’ll change the show notes.

  And Michael, thanks a lot for that perspective. And please, do drop a note. And I hope your job is good enough to quit podcasting.

  Mur

• 5. Christiana replies at 16th January 2006 um 7:40 am :

  Hey Mur, I’m glad you’re starting to feel better, particularly because you gave it to me at Podcastercon and I need hope that it will eventually go away. Sure, there were lots of other sick people there, but I choose to blame you personally anyway.

  Seriously though, I came out of the Women in Podcasting session a little more satisfied than you did, I think. Of course, I’ve not really participated in any other significant discussions on the issue, so perhaps my expectations were different.

  Still, I think that the two different sides of the discussion (coming together vs. fear of segregation), while outwardly contradictory, both actually come from a similar place. Because the numbers, as you mentioned with your excellent pebble analogy, are still almost overwhelming, many still see podcasting as a “men’s game.”

  For some, I think the idea of forming a group or a guild or something feels like trying to “fight the system” or “making a stand,” as though this were just like the Civil Rights movement and we were opposing institutional discrimination. I think most people who really give it some thought realize that the current situation is not the same thing at all, but there can still be that perception. So I think that resistance to forming a group can come from a couple of different places related to that perception.

  For many women, there can be a tendency to not want to make waves or cause problems. So they are content just doing their own thing, but the idea of coming together to accomplish more feels like asking for trouble. Then there are others who feel, I think, that coming together would just allow us to be dismissed as an entire group, as opposed to having a diverse infrastructure that is hard to pin down.

  But I think the key misconception for both of those positions is the assumption that a guild or group of female podcasters would somehow be both compulsory and exclusive, when as far as I can tell, nobody is advocating that.

  Just as was discussed in the session, it’s not like a book store, where we might be relegated to the Feminist Literature nook or something, not appearing anywhere else. We would be everywhere we are already, and we would be at this group too. And it would also allow for a sort of public face for the podcasting outsiders who don’t realize that we’re already here and working. I think it’s a great idea.

• 6. RapidEye replies at 17th January 2006 um 7:14 am :

  So you’re the one that got Christiana sick!
  She missed a bunch of work because of you =-)

• 7. TimK replies at 20th January 2006 um 5:27 pm :

  HI, Mur. Okay…

  Thanks for the note about Teresa. If she and her doctors decide she must use a medicine, even if there are risks, it’s her call and her moral right. Unfortunately, she’s not the first person to be hurt or killed by FDA politics, and she won’t be the last. I feel the urge to break something, and I’m holding back the tears as I write.I knew about your husband’s podcast. I don’t remember where I heard about it. Was I the only one?Women’s issues: I’m one of those people who as a kid— Even if you were right next to me, if you said something to me, and I wasn’t paying attention, I wouldn’t hear you. I’d be like, “What? What did you say?” No, I wasn’t hard of hearing. I’m just wrapped up in my own little world, don’t see things right in front of my face unless attention is brought to them. This is a bitter blessing, as I listen to and read stuff by men and women, and I work and play and have always with both men and women, of every skin color, and I never notice any of these skin-deep differences or care about them. You’d think this would be great, being naturally color-blind and a-sexist. But it’s awful. Because as a result I get uncomfortable even about the subject, it being so foreign to me, and I’m not allowed to say so. But I’m saying so now, so there! Prepare to have your sensibilities offended. Here it is: The first thing I instinctually think of— I honestly can’t help it. The images involuntarily pop into my head whenever anyone uses the words “women’s issues.” And this is all true. &mdash are gynecologists and tampons.

  -TimK

• 8. Matthew Stewart-Fulton replies at 12th February 2006 um 1:05 am :

  Since filk came up I thought I should help spread the word about local filk artist and friend Tom Smith (The Worlds Fastest Filker) at http://www.tomsmithonline.com

  Matt

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