Tag Archives: audio

Tim Harford on telling data stories with audio: “You need to keep simplifying”

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Economist and podcaster Tim Harford, author of How To Make The World Add Up, spoke to MA Data Journalism students this month. In a guest post for OJB Niels de Hoog rounds up Tim’s tips on creating compelling number-driven stories for radio and podcasts 

Orson Welles famously said that there’s nothing an audience won’t understand, as long as you can get them to be interested.

Listening to Tim Harford’s podcasts it is clear that he has taken this message to heart.

“If you’ve got a hook, a personality, or a question people want answered, that will carry people through a certain degree of complexity that they wouldn’t tolerate if it was reported straight.”

Take More or Less, his podcast about statistics for BBC Radio 4. At first glance it doesn’t offer the easiest subject for an engaging audio story — yet somehow the programme is very entertaining to listen to. Continue reading →

Audioboom is ending its free service. Here are some free mobile audio tools you can use instead

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Changes afoot at audioBoom With the massive growth in podcasting globally, we have have found that in order to offset the cost of platform maintenance, upgrades and related services we can no longer provide accounts for free. So, starting 4th December 2017, audioBoom will only offer a $9.99 monthly subscription to our current users that have thus far enjoyed ad-free channels at no cost. audioBoom’s $9.99 monthly subscription is a great fit for podcasters with smaller audiences or those who simply want an ad-free option for hosting and distribution.

Audioboom’s announcement that it will end free accounts

It’s been widely rumoured for some weeks now that Audioboom was about to end its free service – and this morning an email to users of the service confirmed that. From December 4, it says, “audioBoom will only offer a $9.99 monthly subscription to our current users”.

So what do you use if you want to produce mobile audio but don’t have the budget for Audioboom’s service? Here are three apps for three use cases… Continue reading →

Data journalism on radio, audio and podcasts

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In a previous post I talked about how data journalism stories are told in different ways on TV and in online video. I promised I’d do the same for audio and radio — so here it is: examples from my MA in Data Journalism to give you ideas for telling data stories using audio.

this american life

As with any audio post, This American Life features heavily: not only is the programme one of the best examples of audio journalism around — it also often involves data too. Continue reading →

Journalism tool: Clammr, the Vine for audio

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Clammr screenshot

Image: screenshot from Clammr

By Alex Iacovangelo

You probably already have your favourite audio recorder and editor but Clammr offers something new: a way to highlight the best bits of your podcast to help it stand out on social media.

Clammr allows you to select up to 24 seconds of a podcast or interview and post that clip on social media with a direct link to the original to attract listeners. Continue reading →

AudioBoom on election coverage, moving from hosting to publishing – and SoundCloud

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By Antia Geada and Agustin Palacio

The AudioBoom digital news team is facing its first big challenge: covering the upcoming General Election. 

The team was created at the beginning of the year, specialising in covering international news, as it aimed to be not only a platform where others share audio, but also a publisher in its own right. 
Team leader David Marsland has joined this group, which is now focused on engaging people in politics in the run up to the general election. He says:

“People don’t get involved with politics that much outside of the election’s time. But with the elections approaching, we are getting a lot of listeners for all of our political staff.”

Continue reading →

Audio: UK Conference of Science Journalists panel on tools for journalists

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Back in June I took part in a panel at the UK Conference of Science Journalists conference, discussing tools for reporters alongside BBC Trending’s Mukul Devichand and Digital Science’s community manager Laura Wheeler.

The conference website has just published audio of the session, including chair Daniel Clery’s tips and recommendations. You can listen to the clip below.

Motion graphic video workflow – a video tutorial

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Motion graphics has become an increasingly popular way to present data in a compelling visual form. In a series of videos guest contributor Sihlangu Tshuma outlines his workflow process for managing a motion graphics video project, the results of which are shown at the end. All 13 videos are also available in this playlist.

1: Motion graphics introduction

2: Researching the project

3: Motion graphics treatments Continue reading →

Review: Transcribe – a free browser-based app to make audio transcription easier

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Antoinette Siu takes a look at a new free app which promises to make transcribing audio easier.

Transcribing audio is one of the most time-consuming tasks in a journalist’s job. Switching between the audio player and the text editor, rewinding every 20 seconds in, typing frantically to catch every syllable—repeating these steps back and forth, and back and forth… in an age of so much automation, something isn’t quite right.

A new Chrome app tool called Transcribe lets you do all that in one screen. With keyboard shortcuts and an audio file uploader, you can easily go back and forth between your sound and text. Continue reading →

Interview: Ton Zijlstra on open data in the EU (audio)

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A couple weeks ago I spoke at the PICNIC festival in Amsterdam. While I was there I grabbed an interview with Ton Zijlstra, who has been following open data developments across EU governments very closely. You can find the interview embedded below:

[audio:http://audioboo.fm/boos/186944-ton-zijlstra-on-open-data-in-the-eu.mp3%5D