Podcasts are part of my Personal Learning Network
4 min read
Having recently participated in the Exploring Personal Learning Networks seminar (#xplrpln), I found the discussion around reciprocity in a PLN interesting. For me, my PLN is not only the people that I learn from and that learn from me, but includes the resources I learn from - even if the people behind those resources are unaware of my existence.
For the last eight and a half years, since iTunes added podcast subscription capability, I have been a regular podcast listener - primarily when driving and walking. I drive quite a bit, and find that listening to podcasts helps keep me current on emerging technologies and feeds my interests in a wide variety of subjects. I'll often share information from and links to particular episodes that strike a fancy, though I doubt many people take the time to listen to the podcast.
I thought it would be useful for me, and perhaps others, to share my current list of podcast subscriptions. I listen on my Moto X (Android phone) using the DoggCatcher client, and listen at 1.5X speed (I find it intelligible for all but the fastest talkers or those with particularly thick accents) so that I can cram more information in my listening time.
The list (ordered by priority - I generally listen to new episodes from the top to bottom, with the last ones being removed if I don't have the time. I skip around if I feel like it, and rearrange the order as my interests change. I also remove subscriptions if I don't find them useful or relevant. I add new podcasts to the bottom of the list and then "promote" them or remove them after a few episodes):
- Working Differently in Extension Podcast - a fantastic podcast from my friend Bob Bertsch at North Dakota State University Extension featuring interviews with Extension professionals who are approaching their work in new ways.
- EconTalk - economics podcast from Russ Roberts with a decidely Hayekian bent
- Extension Quick Bytes - tips and tricks from University of Minnesota Extension
- This Week in Google (TWiT network) - Leo Laporte, Gina Trapani, Jeff Jarvis, ant others discuss the latest happenings in the cloud.
- Security Now (TWiT network) - Steve Gibson takes a deep dive on security and technology issues
- All About Android (TWiT network) - focuse on the Android operating system, phones, and tablets
- This Week in Tech (TWiT network) - A roundup and analysis of the week's technology news
- The ButtonClick Admin Podcast | For Salesforce Admins, Developers, and Executives
- Triangulation (TWiT network) - Leo Laporte interviews various tech personalities
- Freakonomics Radio - a decidely different view from the Freakonomics authors
- More or Less: Behind the Stats (BBC) - do the stats in current news stories add up?
- NPR: Planet Money Podcast
- Revolutions explores great political revolutions (focusing on English Revolution currently)
- Stuff You Should Know - cursory glance at a wide range of technologies, phenomena, and events
- Stuff You Missed in History Class - discussion of relatively obscure events and people in history (at least, obscure to me)
- Science Friday Audio Podcast - recordings from the NPR radio program featuring current topics in science
- FLOSS Weekly (TWiT network) - Free, Libre, Open-source software
- Sawbones: A Marital Tour of Misguided Medicine - campy look at medical history
- In Beta - talk show about tech culture, making open source software, and how mobile, social, and web apps are changing the world.
- This Week in Enterprise Tech (TWiT network) - discussion of technology affecting large corporations and institutions
- HBR IdeaCast - from Harvard Business Review, a brief look at an interesting management research topic or idea
- Frontiers (BBC) - new ideas in science from the BBC
- Tim Harford: Pop-Up Ideas (BBC) - mostly economics-related talks to live audiences by Tim Harford
