Thoughtcast

Infobox Podcast
title = ThoughtCast
host = Jenny Attiyeh
url = http://www.thoughtcast.org
status =
genre = Talk, Education

ThoughtCast is a Podcast and public radio interview program with authors and academics. The interviews are conducted by [http://thoughtcast.org/about/#about-the-host Jenny Attiyeh] , a former public radio and TV reporter from Manhattan and elsewhere whose previous work focused on covering the arts and ideas. ThoughtCast aims to offer a "bridge between the publications and pursuits of the intellectual world and a curious, informed, mainstream audience."ThoughtCast is marked by its pace and focus: its segments consist of detailed, unhurried and personal conversation with current writers and thinkers.

Range of Guests

ThoughtCast thus far has a strong New England emphasis, with a majority of the interviewees being Harvard professors. Guests have ranged from Lisa Randall, the Harvard theoretical physicist; to Nobel laureate Amartya Sen, to Alan Dershowitz, who needs no introduction (he speaks on the subject of pre-emption and the Israel-Hezbollah war); to Sam Huntington of Clash of Civilizations fame, to public radio program directors, to biographers [http://thoughtcast.org/casts/the-peabody-sisters Megan Marshall] and [http://thoughtcast.org/casts/carol-bundy-civil-war-biographer Carol Bundy,] to philosopher Simon Blackburn, author of the recent book "Lust", of Cambridge University, England; to David Weinberger and two other netizens on the Web 2.0 who attended a [http://www.corante.com/events/ssa/blog.php Symposium on Social Architecture] that took place at Harvard Law School.

As of the summer of 2008, ThoughtCast introduced video to its lineup. The video includes interviews with Scottish historian Niall Ferguson on the "American Empire," Internet gurus on neologisms gleaned from life online, and Joshua Micah Marshall, the creator of [http://talkingpointsmemo.com/ Talking Points Memo] . A conversation on Steve Reich's Different Trains with The Borromeo Quartet was also picked up by [http://www.nhpr.org/node/16784 New Hampshire Public Radio.] The [http://thoughtcast.org/casts/steve-reichs-different-trains-meets-the-borromeo-string-quartet "'program] examines how Reich, in this challenging composition, compares the train trips he took as a child to the very different train trips Jews were forced to take during the Holocaust.

Means of Distribution

In addition to podcasting ThoughtCast, the program is listed on the Public Radio Exchange, which provides public radio stations throughout the country the means to broadcast segments. WGBH, an arts and culture public radio station in Boston, has broadcast many ThoughtCast interviews, and also features the program on its [http://forum.wgbh.org/wgbh Forum Network] . But what ThoughtCast is hoping to do is find a 'watering hole' of sorts, online, for like-minded producers and listeners of content. This way, of course, those who value say, a half-hour on Virgil's Georgics, can more easily find -- and comment on it!

References

* [http://www.henryjenkins.org/2007/03/from_participatatory_culture_t.html/ Henry Jenkins]
* [http://doc-weblogs.com/2007/02/28/ Doc Searls Weblog]
* [http://search.bbc.co.uk/cgi-bin/search/results.pl?uri=%2Fworldservice%2F&q=thoughtcast&go.x=0&go.y=0&go=go&edition=i/ BBC]
* [http://burningbird.net/connecting/congratulations-to-thoughtcast/ Burningbird]

External links

* [http://www.thoughtcast.org/ Thoughtcast website]

PRX reviews of ThoughtCast interviews:
* [http://prx.org/reviews/6447 Amartya Sen]
* [http://prx.org/reviews/6352 Alan Dershowitz]
* [http://prx.org/reviews/5261 Virgil's "Georgics"]
* [http://prx.org/reviews/5971 Megan Marshall's biography of the Peabody Sisters of Salem, MA]
* [http://prx.org/reviews/4293 Ilan Stavans]

Media Coverage

* [http://www.boston.com/news/globe/ideas/brainiac/2007/02/copyright_and_a.html BRAINIAC] , the Boston Globe's "ideas" blog.
* Internet pioneer Bob Doyle introduces ThoughtCast in [http://www.econtentmag.com/Articles/ArticleReader.aspx?ArticleID=13515 Econtent Magazine article "The First Podcast"]
* Associate producer Susan Wennemyr discusses ThoughtCast in [http://www.amherstbulletin.com/story/id/40700392005/ Amherst Bulletin]
* [http://oneminutehowto.com/Shows/Shows.asp?How_To_Apply_Eye_Liner One Minute "How To" -- eyeliner!]