New Learning Times interviewed me about FreshEd in December 2017 and just released a transcript online. You can find the full interview here. Below is an excerpt where I talk about some of the dangers of podcasting.

What is so powerful about the medium of podcasting?

Podcasts are certainly powerful, but I’m not sure they are always beneficial. Yes, they provide a new medium through which ideas can circulate. And, yes, more digital content has been created because of the medium. One of the values of FreshEd has been to provide listeners with a wide range of voices, from PhD students to public intellectuals such as David Harvey. FreshEd has helped, in some small way I believe, introduce people interested in education to new ideas. Personally, before FreshEd, I never heard of the Opt-Out Movement, thought about German right-wing extremism, or watched El Chavo del Ocho.

But, there are many dangers. Are podcasts yet another online distraction contributing to serious cognitive impairments? Are we, in some anti-Freirean way, oppressing ourselves by believing we can fill our brains with knowledge through podcasts instead of deep critical engagement with ideas? And are we learning to be capitalist consumers who accept sponsored content and advertising without question? The trouble with podcasts, in short, is that they do not allow the listeners to speak back, challenge ideas, or engage in critical discourse. It is a passive medium that may reproduce the status quo.

I’m deeply aware of these dangers and struggle everyday with navigating FreshEd through this political and ethical minefield. Some episodes of FreshEd, for instance, have used advertising and sponsored content as a way to pay the costs of running the show. However, my team and I have decided to stop these practices precisely because we don’t want FreshEd to be co-opted by powerful interests.

Moreover, we have spent the last few months discussing ways to engage listeners and focus on topics they feel are important. We have been self-critical of our Western-centric (primarily United States) focus thus far (70% of our listeners live in the USA, Canada, the UK, or Australia) and have developed a strategy for including what Raewyn Connell calls “Southern Theory.” Will this work? I don’t know. Maybe FreshEd will flop like my other ventures in 2008 and 2009. But I’m optimistic because members of the FreshEd team who, despite never being in the same room, have an energy and passion for the future.