Quality and Purpose

Filming teachers to model has been an aspiration ever since I joined HRD. Now technology has eliminated the need for “outside” support and allowed the development of HRD podcasts. Unlike broadcasting, podcasting has eliminated the days of extra lighting, having a director, needing an editor, developing a script, practicing rehearsals and some might even say, “Gone is the Quality.”

The good news is that Quality and Standards are alive and well. A statement from the podcasting seminar Pods, Pocket Computers and the end of the Myth of Live Broadcasting held in March 2006 had me thinking. The article mentioned that Podcasting would destroy the myth of "live" TV broadcasting. Broadcasters create the illusion that their content is "live to air", and up to the minute. That was it… Broadcasting is not Podcasting. Broadcasting projects an illusion of what is real, and the Podcast captures reality.

Both are important mediums, yet two distinct styles with a different purpose. For example, an Interview of the Director of NSDC would involve a well groomed appearance, proper stage lighting, identified marks that show where to stand or sit, a rehearsed script, prompted questions, and many, many attempts to get “IT” just right. This is fine for an interview, it is staged and far from being “real”; this is not what my clients need or want.

Podcasts show a slice of reality. You will see poor lighting, ambient sounds, and chairs in strange places. You will see Broward classrooms, with Broward teachers, with Broward students. Viewers will see their classroom represented in the podcast, with familiar children, with familiar materials, and with familiar sounds. They will relate. A connection will be formed, and quite possibly even a relationship. Did someone mention Quality?