Karavansara

East of Constantinople, West of Shanghai


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Learning how to do a better podcast

I’ve just been through the first unit of an online course I will be following in the next weeks, about digital audio storytelling and voice technologies – basically about how to tell stories using a podcast.
This is quite interesting, both because it will hopefully give me some new idea to improve Paura & Delirio, and because as a writer any new insight on the subject of storytelling is a welcome addition to my toolbox.

The course is hosted by the Knight’s Center for Journalism in the Americas, and it’s not the first of their online courses I take.
Indeed, I have now a nice portfolio of journalism courses in my CV.

This course is both useful and fun, and meeting my fellow students was a humbling experience – here in Italy we are still in the caves, when podcasts are concerned, and discovering the variety and quality of the work other people out there are doing – usually people much younger than me – had a sobering effect.

But after all, when you are in the wilderness, you have ample opportunities – unless of course you are in a wilderness because they are so impervious to change your opportunities are dead before they are born.


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The best thing to come out of this pandemic

The best thing to come out of this pandemic, for me, has been the opportunity to launch a podcast with my friend Lucy – we decided to do it because we were (and actually still are) in lockdown, with our respective jobs fizzing out, and too much time on our hands.
Why not try something new?

Just imagine, spending about two hours a week chatting with one of your best friends about your favorite – or least favorite – movies.
A lot of those are horror movies – but we have a very broad definition of “horror”.
Basically we do online what we’d normally do going out for a pizza, with one significant difference – I am sitting in the hills of Astigianistan, while my friend Lucy is in Rome, 600 kms away. Hooking up for a bite and a night of movie-talking would be complicated.

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