Ah, podcasts. There are so many good ones out there, but they are often so poorly organized that I give up before I find anything useful. Which is frustrating, since I am certain – certain! – that just the right podcast exists for today’s workout!
But there are a few shining lights, sites that organize their podcasts well and give enough information for browsers like me to find just the right podcast, even if we didn’t know exactly what we were looking for ahead of time.
One of these is the University of Oxford. Yes, stodgy old Oxford. Lectures are organized by Division (the Humanities Division is right at the top), then by Faculty (that’s “department” on this side of the pond), and enough information is given about each series of lectures to allow the listener to decide which one best suits her or his mood. There’s a series on Tolkien at Oxford, for instance, and a philosophy lecture series on Ethics of the New Biosciences. Plus, it’s Oxford, the mystique of which has yet to fade for most of us.
Our sister organization in Maine, the Maine Humanities Council, releases about one or two new podcasts every month on their Humanities on Demand blog. The lectures span the humanities disciplines, and each podcast is accompanied by a nice description of the lecture and the scholar who gave it. Thanks, Maine!
Finally, the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History offers over seventy podcasts available for free! Their podcasts feature “eminent historians discussing major topics in American history,” and new podcasts are uploaded weekly. Podcasts are organized by historical period, and you can also select from a list of their most popular podcasts (right now, “Myths of the American Revolution” is most popular). Each lecture has its own discussion board, too, so you can respond to the ideas in the lecture and to other listeners’ comments. Anyone dumping podcasts online pell-mell should be directed here for a lesson in how to do it right!
Post a Comment