Podcasts! january 21, 2013
We are used to having quite a lot of information flying around us every day, articles and tweets filled with new discoveries, techniques and useful links. However there is a resource I never really paid attention to: Podcasts.
I find them to be very valuable for a couple of reasons:
- Podcasts help you get a relaxed view on subjects articles do too, but we normally hover over them fast, or save them for later but never actually get back at them (how long is your "read later" list?).
- You get the warmth of people talking and that is how we have been transfering knowledge for thousands of years. So the human voice factor really adds some touch to it.
- There is some kind of radio nostalgia specially when there are also Q & A from people actually recording messages that reminds me of when I used to listen to late night radio shows.
- There is content curation you get a condensed view from people who know what they are saying about certain topics or tools. Many times I take notes and discover useful things.
If you never have, give podcasts a try. I usually listen to them while doing mechanical work or designing something I don’t need to have my full senses on.
podcasts I listen to:
Shop Talk Show
Hosted by Chris Coyier and Dave Rupert, it’s probably the funniest yet technical podcast of this list. They really make it fun (they have a killer soundboard). I must say this podcast is what finally got me interested in them!.
It’s more front-end oriented but they pretty much touch every aspect of web design. Interviews are nice and they have two winnig sections:
**hot drama**, in which they talk about the latest web design issues and **Q&A** where the guest and hosts answer questions from whoever feels like asking. I did once ask Brad Frost and got my answer, so c’mon and get yours!
The Big Web Show
Presented by Jeffrey Zeldman “the godfather of web design” it features special guests and topics. Having Zeldman as the host, allows it to have a very wide scope of the industry, portraying how everything has changed over the years.
I recommend a visit to the oldest podcasts from the archive, pure gold.
The Web Ahead
Jen Simmons is the host and the format is similar to The Big Web Show. Jen has been around the web since the early days and has a wide scope for all web design related topics.
Happy Monday
It’s hosted by Sarah Parmenter and Josh Long. It’s aim is to make monday mornings better with a short but rich podcast every week. They feature guests from the web design industry and discuss current topics.
It’s pretty fun and short so if you don’t have much time, this is your podcast.
podcasts on UX
I did a little research and found some UX specific podcasts, I haven’t had the time to check them out yet:
podcasts from User Interface Engineering
UIE, is a leading research and training firm founded by Jared Spool, if you don’t know who he is, check out this video and you’ll surely start following him.
uie.com/brainsparks/topics/podcasts
Information & design
A better User Experience
abetteruserexperience.com/category/podcasts
extrabonus
you probably heard of it, but if you haven’t, take a look at huffduffer.com, you can search, subscribe or add thousands of podcasts. For example currently there are 284 tagged as UX