Asked in isolation if the audio quality of any recording is important my answer is a unequivocal "Yes". Asked in isolation if coherent and eloquent speech is important my answer, again, is "Yes".
Despite this I feel there are circumstances where the message is more important than the quality of its delivery, and HPR is one of them. In the case of just about every podcast outside of HPR the presenters have willingly put themselves forward because they have sufficient confidence in their ideas and their ability to deliver them verbally that it is neither daunting nor difficult for them. HPR is different. We have, of course, more than our rightful share of great speakers who are also very adept at producing high quality audio recordings. However, unlike other podcasts many of our contributors might best be characterised as the kid sitting at the back of the class who has something to say that is important to him but is worried his ideas may be criticised or even ridiculed. His natural inclination, therefore, is to say nothing at all. For a lot of contributors that first show may be a frustrating or even harrowing experience to produce - with sections being re-recorded perhaps over and over again in the hope of getting it "right". However, some of the best shows in terms of interesting content come from contributors who are clearly not at ease in front of a microphone. For high audio quality to be deemed a key attribute of what constitutes a good show is perhaps one extra burden on the nervous or reluctant contributor that might just prevent them from submitting one at all. The stats demonstrate that it is considerably easier to attract a new HPR listener than a new HPR contributor, so it surely follows that it matters less if occasional sub-optimal audio quality deters a listener than the drive for audio excellence deters a potential contributor. My own view is that part of the charm of HPR is precisely that you never quite know what you are going to get - especially when it is the first show of a new contributor. It is very rare for me not to listen to every show as it is released as I have come to realise that subjects that on face value have little interest to me often turn out to be quite the opposite. The technical expertise of many contributors is both inspiring and instructive but I have enjoyed non-technical shows every bit as much - such as Dave Morriss' pen collection, Klaatu's urban camping or Christopher M Hobbs' lunch breaks being particular highlights for me. So I find myself both agreeing and disagreeing with Claudio at the same time. Best possible audio quality? Absolutely, but in the case of HPR in particular not at the expense of content quality. Beeza LibreOffice - Free and open source office suite: LibreOffice Website<https://www.libreoffice.org> Respects your privacy, and gives you back control over your data ________________________________ From: Hpr <hpr-boun...@hackerpublicradio.org> on behalf of Claudio Miranda <clau...@linuxbasement.com> Sent: 25 April 2021 19:08 To: nstr <n...@riseup.net> Cc: hpr@hackerpublicradio.org <hpr@hackerpublicradio.org> Subject: Re: [Hpr] Article by hedorah on HPR Hi nstr, Since I follow you on Mastodon, I noticed the article when someone boosted it and decided to give it a read. I also join in with the others in saying that an apology is not necessary and I also believe you made some great points. Personally, I don't mind if the shows aren't polished as far as the recording is concerned. In some instances, maybe the volume is a bit too low and I just can't be bothered, but if someone records something from their phone on the way to work (which I have done as well as some others that have contributed), that's OK for me. It doesn't have to be polished as those "AAA" podcasts do, but it also can be if that's what the contributor wants, so long as the content is "of interest to hackers," the slogan of HPR in the first place. There have been some episodes I've heard that were a bit raw but provided some amazing info, and others that were a little more polished but personally saw no value in them. It is a rare occasion that I skip an episode even if I think I won't be interested, but it happens, and even that's fine because not everything will appeal to everyone. As far as the schedule is concerned, it hasn't been something that's affected me directly. That being said, I know I need to contribute a show because I want HPR to continue for a long time. Life just gets in the way sometimes. All things considered, you've given everyone a lot to think about given all the mailing list responses from your blog post, so that's a win in my book. Welcome to the community! -claudiom On Sun, Apr 25, 2021 at 5:40 AM nstr <n...@riseup.net<mailto:n...@riseup.net>> wrote: On 21-04-24 20:02, BK Navarette wrote: > Funny, why does the blog writer not do show? Give an example of quality. Or > if they are shy use espeak or a volunteer to read i out, I'd be willing to > help with either. > > Brian-in-ohio > Hello, I'm the author of the post. I regret writing this post in hindsight. 'Quality' was a bad choice of words. I also enjoy the DIY rawness of HPR and I certainly don't want it to be more polished, in some professional sense. I've should have replaced 'quality' with 'to my subjective interest' or something along those lines. The main point was to bring up the question of perhaps keeping empty slots empty. As a non-contributing listener it's not my place to try to impose my ideas on the project. Therefor I choose to post it on a personal blog rather than, for example in this mailing list. As for the reason I'm not submitting a shining example of a quality show I've been a listener since at least hpr0980 :: Broadband for Rural North and I've considered this many times and attempted it a few but I'm terrible at podcasting and after this I don't want to be known as the asshole who complained about HPR quality but still submits shows. It was not my intent to offend anyone and I regret my choice of words. I have huge respect for all of the contributors and I want to apologize to all of you. I'm sorry. All the best -- rtsn PGP: 8F72 C5BE AAFA B4BA 8F46 9185 5C39 89E0 616B B08C _______________________________________________ Hpr mailing list Hpr@hackerpublicradio.org<mailto:Hpr@hackerpublicradio.org> http://hackerpublicradio.org/mailman/listinfo/hpr_hackerpublicradio.org<https://emea01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fhackerpublicradio.org%2Fmailman%2Flistinfo%2Fhpr_hackerpublicradio.org&data=04%7C01%7C%7Ce9ae746a81d74318c07308d908155e9e%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C637549710137788988%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C1000&sdata=ZFL4NHjrfVBbChkgdvHEI8ZQ6rDnShMFjDnb6FQ2oF0%3D&reserved=0> -- Claudio Miranda Contributor - Hacker Public Radio http://hackerpublicradio.org<https://emea01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fhackerpublicradio.org%2F&data=04%7C01%7C%7Ce9ae746a81d74318c07308d908155e9e%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C637549710137798982%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C1000&sdata=TruGBbqFoH8buVmVrKmed6T%2B9jyuen75Xvac5SXS0Cs%3D&reserved=0>
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