Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Polish your podcasting skills this weekend

Karthik Subramanian

Knowledge Foundation to hold podcast `unconference' at Tidel Park

CHENNAI: After having rubbed shoulders with Wikipedia founder Jimmy `Jimbo' Wales in February, Internet enthusiasts in the city are preparing to hone their podcasting skills this weekend over an `unconference' at Tidel Park.

The Knowledge Foundation, a non-profit organisation run by a group of IT professionals, entrepreneurs and Internet aficionados, is pulling all stops to organise "Podworks.in". The event would focus on both audio and video podcasting. A cross section of bloggers and citizen journalists from across the country are expected to participate.

The two-day event, that kicks off this Saturday, will follow the `unconference' format — the speakers nominate themselves and pick their topic, the audience get the right to throw sponge balls at the speakers if it gets boring (a crowd favourite).

The unconference topics range from "how to create and upload a podcast" to "monetizing the podcasts". The organisers have also planned to run a parallel workshop for podcast newbies to learn the art.

Kiruba Shankar, one of the city's most active bloggers, said: "The trend of podcasting, though recent, is definitely on the rise in India. Our aim is to make people aware of this emerging form of social media and educate them the new tools of communicative technology."

Volunteers for the event are only looking forward to learn more about podcasting. A. Vignesh said: "It is fun to be part of such a highly energetic team. You not only meet up with new people but the responsibilities given to you help gain insights on how to organise an event."

Another volunteer, Syed Razik, said they were keen to promote the unconference model. "It has worked before and gained acceptance from bloggers across the country. We hope it works again." Those interested to participate can log on to podworks.in.

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