@davidtoddmccarty @jaredwhite While I much prefer open RSS podcasts, and appreciate the sentiment against walled gardens, I have to note that “podcast” is a word derived from a defunct Apple product that greatly popularized the medium itself. I personally hope podcasts mostly remain indie and open to all via RSS but language policing feels like an indirect way to lobby for that
@palafo @davidtoddmccarty @jaredwhite Mr. LaForge: An editor for the New York Times that calls it "language policing" when two commercial companies attempt to co-opt a label that has meant one thing since 2005, and use it for something different, deliberating blurring the line between them.
It's not language policing, it's you failing to recognize your own lack of resistance to nefarious corporate marketing, and perpetuating that misinformation as a result.
@pwinn @palafo @davidtoddmccarty @jaredwhite now we’re talking about prescriptive linguistics vs descriptive linguistics. The truth is that most people don’t understand the underlying tech, and think of “podcasts” as “audio programs I can download to my device”. (N.b. the lack of success of video “podcasts” even though there’s no technical difference between audio and video!) I’m a fan of open RSS-based podcasts, but arguing the language is pointless.
@pwinn @palafo @davidtoddmccarty @jaredwhite disagree? Go ask ten non-tech-savvy friends. (If you get different results I’ll be shocked.)
@aelman @palafo @davidtoddmccarty @jaredwhite
@davew is in this thread and co-invented podcasting. I wonder if he thinks the word should be used to describe DRMed data locked into a single proprietary client. Does his word matter more or less than the two companies attempting to profit from redefining it?
@aelman @palafo @davidtoddmccarty @jaredwhite @davew
Please also note that I am not attempting to accost random non-savvy friends who don’t know better, but am instead responding to someone whose bio describes him as an editor for the New York Times. If a person I don’t know walks down the street talking about the “Joe Rogan podcast,” I feel no need or desire to correct them. If I see that phrase in America’s paper of record, I wonder if everything else in the paper is as poorly informed.
@pwinn @palafo @davidtoddmccarty @jaredwhite @davew Having read many things in the NYT and other sources of generally-great journalism about things I know more about, I can say with confidence that you should never assume that any journalist is particularly well-informed about anything. 🤣 The good ones are trying hard, but they don’t know.
@aelman @pwinn @palafo @davidtoddmccarty @jaredwhite
Why it's so important to get clear on what podcasting is.
Because podcasting is like the web. And we're fighting for something much bigger than podcasting, something which *includes* podcasting, the ownership of the web itself.
Google has been acting like the owner of the web for a few years.
This is being covered up by the tech industry, but it is a fact and a public issue of the most importance.
The web belongs to no one.
Period.
@davew @aelman @pwinn @palafo @davidtoddmccarty @jaredwhite
No-one except me.
