Dun Laoghaire Rathdown County Council: The Podcast
October 6, 2007
Following the blogging and podcasting workshop I ran with Conn earlier this year and some of our conversations about extending the reach of publicly funded services Dun Laoghaire Rathdown County Council Library Service (a client of mine) decided to commission a series of 2 podcasts of one of their cultural events Books in the Park. The podcasts were created by Conn at Edgecast Media and part one The Children’s Corner is now available for download from the DLRCC Library website. Part 2 is now also available by clicking here and features the adult authors who read in Cabinteely Park on June 23rd. They are Paul Carson, Sarah Webb, Robert Dunbar, Marisa Mackle and Jacinta McDevitt.
The event itself was held in Cabinteely Park on 23rd of June, organised by the Library and Parks Service and 5 Childrens’ authors read their work to a rapt audience. Conn and Brian Greene recorded the events and interviewed a selection of people on the day and this episode includes authors Don Conroy, Oisin McGann, Aisling O Loughlin, Joe O Brien, Derek Landy. Mairéad Owens and Conor Peoples from the Library Service and some of the attendees are also included.
I’m hoping this is going to be the start of many more podcasts from Dun Laoghaire Rathdown who are trailblazing in this regard – and I’m hoping that other local authorities will follow. This is such a brilliant example of how to extend the reach of publicly funded services – it’s about connecting with people where they are when they want rather than the other way around. The trick now is going to be to find ways of evaluating the impact of initiatives like this when they don’t tick the traditional number-crunching formats. For now, I’m thrilled to have been part of the conversations that led to this development. The DLRCC Library site doesn’t have a comment facility on the post (not yet anyway!) so please leave a comment here or at Conn’s site, or alternatively drop the Library Service an email at libraries {at} dlrcoco(.)ie I know they would appreciate your feedback.
Hi Annette. I really enjoyed working on this. Talking to someone about it this morning, she put it this way:
“The old model is that you organise an event and then it’s over. With podcasting, it’s still on!”
I feel the same way about PodCamp Ireland, which will offer a chance to hear many of the sessions again in the coming weeks. I was delighted to walk into a PodCamp session led by David Maybury from Poetry Ireland, just in time to hear him talk about the seminar you and I gave at the College of Surgeons in June. David credits that day with influencing several projects in relation to new media and the arts. I’m looking forward to the results!
Full credit to the organisers of Books in the Park – it was a privilege to be a part of it. Special thanks to the stars of the show: the writers who gave freely of themselves on the day, and who continue to do so in their recorded (as well as printed) words.
I met someone from a national cultural agency this very morning to talk about how they can start being more creative with social media..I can’t wait!