Podcasting as Liminal Praxis: Aural Mediation, Sound Writing and Identity

Abstract

You realise a world in which the principle mode of communication is oral is a very different kind of world in which the principle form of communication is written. It's something I hadn't thought about until I did a podcast -Malcolm GladwellThe above quote from Malcolm Gladwell (Longform, 3 August 2016), about the writer's first venture into podcastinga series entitled Revisionist Historyencapsulates a philosophical interrogation and self-examination that emerges from working within the still relatively new sound medium. The question of what is the principle mode of communication in today's media saturated world, is itself a debateable one. However, I doubt whether sound would trump text or image in anyone's hierarchy of importance. Yet Gladwell is one of an increasing number of writers, artists, filmmakers, critics and academics, who have turned their hand to podcasting as an adjunct, subsidiary or development of their primary area of expertise. Such moves may be derived from the desire to accrue economic, cultural or social capital, by diversifying into a medium that is arguably going through a 'golden age' (Berry 2015, Ganesh 2016), but which retains an edgy, alternative aura. Yet, when listening to the experiences of podcasters discussing the form, a sense of self-reflection around the processes and effects of mediation, is often apparent. Gladwell, being a journalist and non-fiction writer is interested in the relationship, or disparity, between oral and written communication. He ruminates on how podcasting opens up questions concerning how the form of communication is inherent to the production and ontology of knowledge therein. Furthermore, Gladwell is not alone in suggesting that podcasting seems to engender a reflexive practice in the producer, inspiring interrogation of one's self-conception and agency as a mediated subject.Engagement in the diverse of range practices required in the production of podcasting, and an attendant effect of critical (self)interrogation as a mediated subject, is a phenomenon that I have experienced in my own venture into podcasting. The Cinematologists Podcast stemmed from the fundamental pleasure of discussing cinema, with my colleague Dr Neil Fox, along with ruminating on various other interrelated subject: the rigid strictures of academic production and dissemination, the mill of research and publication, the possibilities and pitfalls of the internet as a space for debate, and transformational effect of digital age on all aspects of cinema. Both Neil and myself had also become avid podcast listeners, not just film related but in many different areas, sensing that some of the most articulate, insightful and relevant conversation was taking place in this independent and idiosyncratic audio space. In developing the format for The Cinematologistsrecorded in a live venue, around a specific film screening, with audience debate the central componentwe attempted to explore and utilise the characteristics of an audio medium to adhering to the sensibility of the cinema-going experi...

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