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If you want to hear me shivver my way through this weeks segment from the you can click here. On tonight's segment we concentrated on the issues raised by the - we included:

• Boston based podcasting legend on how new media is changing old media and old politics (live via skype from a nice warm room)


• of the Sunlight foundation who ran Howard Dean's online campaign in 2004 and who ran the Bush-Cheney online campaign in 2004 spoke about the net and politics


• of MIT talked about the intersection of and Politics


• about the One Laptop Per Child project (the picture is of one of the $100 laptops)


• Reason's on parallels between Old Time Radio and New Media

As we spoke quite a bit about this video, Ask a Ninja does , it's probably worth embedding it here for your viewing pleasure. Of course our embedding this video should not be taken to imply any support for ninja related activities or for building walls out of glue reed?!?!?

It's a clear crisp and very cold day here in Boston, snow is still piled up at the sides of the road and the sidewalks are treacherous. I'm at MIT for the Beyond Broadcast Conference, typing in the auditorium of the Strata Centre a modern building that looks rather like a shopping mall that somebody dropped. I'm live blogging the conference which means typing at break-neck speed - spelling, accuracy and lucidity of argument will all suffer: errors will abound.

The theme for the conference is how participatory media (blogs, YouTube etc) are changing the mainstream and altering our democracy. This blog is a bit behind the times, thanks to the failure of the wifi system to work (initially). Don't know why but techy-conferences always struggle with -er tech.

Henry Jenkins the Director of Comparative Media Studies at MIT set out a vision of the way that participatory culture was changing democracy, but also the challenges that presented for politicians and the media. One of Henry's argument was that in the new environment the distinction between serious politics and "fan" content, or content based around entertainment is no longer relevant. The tools and communities that are, lets say remixing movie trailers on YouTube, is also the pool from which content challenging politicians and engaging with the poitical process comes from. His closing example the hilarious "comedy" skits of Ask a Ninja used in one video to lobby for net neutrality as part of the Save The Net Campaign. Large media organisations, Howard argued, can pose a threat to this community by to aggressively trying to enforce copyright.

It was a great talk and lots of questions arise.. Heather Hopkins analysis of the Downing Street petition site suggests that it's not just the Revver generation who are using these tools. Silver Surfing Daily Mail probably aren't a large part of the community Henry spoke about, but I may be wrong. Political participation on the net, is moving beyond it's historic community, the young and tech savvy. Again if you look at the demographics for the readership of political blogs, that's an older community. I wonder what tools this community use, and where they will come from.

UPDATE: There's a lead by Jesse Walker of Reason Magazine now taking place. Interestingly Jesse put the issue of why people should submit content to "walled garden" sites for User Generated Content to Elisabeth Osder of Yahoo and Kenny Miller of MTV. As he said the World is Open and Flat so why seek to enclose it? The response from Yahoo was focused on pointing to the best content. Possibly not a complete answer. It's an interesting question. My feeling is that it's the community that's the draw whether it's MySpace or Yahoo. UGC sites that don't enable users to share their content and interact without central co-ordination are missing an important trick.

UPDATE: We're now talking about participatory Democracy. Drew Clark of the gave the introduction.Their well connected site enables you to map local media by ZIP (us postal code) and includes maps of broadband supply.
Jennifer Harris of the Centre for Digital Democracy is concerned about the commercialisation of the participatory media. Big media companies will be going after local sites and content soon so, in Jennifer's view, community based organisations need to pre-empt this. Not sure why advertising revenue is necessarily an anethema. Podcaster networks have started going after ad-revenue collectively..does that make them less credible, less participatory? Answers on a postcard.

UPDATE: Chuck DeFeo who was e-Campaign manager for Bush Cheney is speaking. He thinks that we are re-learning old lessons of voter participation through the new technology. He argues that broadcast media saw the audience as a group to be talked at NOT talked with. Now, he argues, candidates want to use many-to-many models back into the process. Interestingly the parallels he draws are with talk radio and the phone-in format.

UPDATE: The breakout sessions are feeding back. From the session on how public service radio can use open source technology there was widespread support for which looks very similar to our own concept...surely the two should be in touch if they aren't already

UPDATE: They're are talking about public access television and whether it has a future given that so much public access type TV is already available on YouTube. There's some resentment that PATV programmes are regulated in the same way regular cable TV is, yet online video isn't. The group looking at "Beyond YouTube" are reporting back. Predictions of a long tail of independent content creators...but no big media head to the TV beast. Talk about the resources helping people to become video citizen reporters.

UPDATE: Dave Weinberger is talking. The MSM (mainstream media) and UGC (user generated content) is theme. The MSM is "thrashing"..they wan't more of "your stuff" on their sites, but they don't know how properly yet. (IMHO because they haven't answered "why" yet). Dave is arguing for a transformative role for the new democratic media. He says that when we create content we have a special connection to it. (I'm subbing out a long Aristotelianish breakdown about what "ours" means - you can tell he used to teach philosophy - good stuff) He's arguing that the common experience of building content is uniting people from across the world. He thinks we are building a new "us" that will eventually change politics.

Leading political blog Slugger O'Toole cited by Lord Trimble in Parliament as a source. Bets on the next blog mentioned in either House welcome in comments.

Silver surfers living in the South East says Heather Hopkins. "The Daily Mail was the fourth largest provider of traffic to the e-Petitions website behind Google UK, MSN Hotmail and the No. 10 Downing Street website.", writes Heather.

To the delight of professional paparazzi everywhere no sneaky snaps will be allowed at possibly the most photographed event ever. Were they worried about celebrity generated content? Are you a Hollywood A-lister? Send us your pictures and you'll be able to say I report..

Our interview with Chris Anderson, editor of Wired Magazine and author now has a permalink, meaning that even after the seven-day archive disappears you'll still be able to hear the interview. In case you are wondering why The Long Tail matters take this :

Some of the most successful Internet businesses have leveraged the Long Tail as part of their businesses. Examples include eBay (auctions), Yahoo! and Google (web search), Amazon (retail) and iTunes Store (music and podcasts) amongst the major companies, along with smaller Internet companies like Audible (audio books) and Netflix (video rental).

To listen to the interview click here. And yes an mp3 would be easier, but we're not allowed _sigh_

You can listen to an archive of the segment here. I was only virtually present this week, (podcaster, reporter, man-in-kilt) ably stepped up off the bench to open the segment and provide us with a really great piece on blogging in schools in Scotland. Sincere thanks to Ewan: more from him later in the month. On the show this week:

• A fascinating interview about gun crime with Andrew Payne of with an excerpt of their excellent podcast on gangs


• Ewan's piece on blogging, featuring education-blogger


• Chris Anderson, editor of Wired and the man who actually


• My experience of visual and audio halucinations (see pic)

Next week I'll be blogging from . Any ideas for the segment, particularly those with a Boston connection very welcome via email or comments.

On Friday, Joe of the excellent Come Fly With Me podcast dropped me a note about a recent show. Joe is a former A10 pilot and his latest podcast is about the was killed by American A10's. It's a fascinating listen whether or not you agree with his conclusions. Former Pods and Blogs conspirator Kevin Anderson uses this podcast to argue that media organisations, despite their many appeals for "user generated content", often miss the point that the web itself is the one could wish for.

As if to underline Kevin's point today I heard from one of the people behind about gang life who told me that part their podcast was used by at least one major broadcast outlet. So the content is out there, the trick, of course, from a journalists point of view is spotting these stories; frankly there's just too much stuff and too little time. For us to make use of web content we often need its creators to give us a heads up. Which is why it's important that we as journalists stress that our use of citizen media is collaborative. Both parties benefit if this is done correctly, the podcaster/blogger reaches a new audience, the mainstream media organisation gets new content. Only if the creators of content feel there is a benefit to being part of our work will they let us be part of theirs.

Well it's Valentines Day so here's the obligatory Web 2.0 lonely-hearts type link: Wired's guide to

As usual you can listen to the archive of the segement here. On tonight's show we featured

• Associated Press


• Obama2.0


• Zappy of (aka Where Date Palms Grow) on bombs, hospitals, schools and driving to work in Iraq


• The of


• on online polls


• A bit of Radio 4's Profile - the Nick Robinson bit - then and in conversation with Senior Political Correspondent John Pienaar( who is also a star of )


• on why bomb disposal isn't about cutting the red or green wire


• of Movable Type on the future of blogging

We didn't run the story because of time. Hopefully it will be on Five Live later in the week in any case I'll post more about it separately.

Finally, if you can please help with our appeal for long interview suggestions for next week. Sky's the theoretical limit :we've managed to speak with Ricky Gervais, Larry Lessig, Dave Rowntree and Peter Gabriel, not to mention the man who makes nose trumpet noises and a blogging pigeon..so get your thinking caps on and suggest a name or two for our vast production team (me) to vainly attempt to book

Fans of political blogs might like to listen to Saturday's Weekend News, featuring and . in conversation with our political correspondent John Pienaar the interview is about 40 mins in. It's your standard 4mins news item length so you may want to wait for the longer version we'll play here on Pods and Blogs. Plenty of discussion about the lobby system, political journalists and the press. Particular thanks to Guido who turned up in spite of some serious issues with his transport. Shame too because I never got to test if you can gain access to a Television Centre parking space under the name of "Guy Fawkes"

Additional bloggy goodness on the programme included an interview with recent American immigrant to the UK, Alana Muir who has bravely undertaken the task of foods (spam fritters, haggis, black pudding etc) and reviewing them from an outsiders perspective. Like my better half who also hails from North America, Alana, seems to think that Marmite may be the missing WMD. Mrs V says it looks like "hoof paint". Personally I think this is a bit rich coming from the continent that loves "egg-nog" bleurgh...

It's worth listening to this featuring discussing which blogs PR people should read and why. The discussion on how PR people should "target" bloggers might well provoke a few interesting comments. In a funny way the questions are almost more enlightening than the answers, indicating the kind of issues PR's have with the blogosphere. Unfortunately the article the podcast refers to is subscription only (not very web2.0)

is again using the web explore the lives of people whose personal struggles are often overlooked by the media. Those guilty of crimes deserve punishment, but when they are jailed it can have a devastating affect on entirely innocent friends and family. Sandeep's new site documents this collateral damage produced by the justice system.

Perhaps we should do a special Pods and Blogs focussing on the criminal justice system and the web? What do you think? Do you have any blogs you might suggest? Drop a note in comments.

Who blogs in the media about the media? This Press Gazette feature . presumably isn't on the list because he works for the Gazette, but he should be.

Meanwhile been having some fun talking about the Peoria connection between some on the list. I'm pleased to say Pods and Blogs has had a role in bringing one or two members of the list together, but I'll let the happy couple tell that story in their own time.

A fascinating article by military expert, newbie blogger and sometime bomb disposal man on the art of defusing letter bombs. I've recorded an interview with Lewis that we'll run on the next segment.

I've lost count of the number of taxi drivers who take me the long way home thanks to the SatNav. "But I know where I live" I protest to no avail as we crawl along the Chelsea embankment, victims of the mantra "computers are never wrong". Well some Australian journalists found Google Maps was in one case seriously geographically confused.

Canadian Police are using YouTube to appeal for information about a suspected murder. Web 2.0 types will be interested to learn that the incident took place in Ajax, Ontario. The incident involved a young demographic, so the medium's appropriate. I wonder if British Police would benefit from a similar approach.

As ever you can listen to the archive of the segment via this link. This week's segment included:

• Viacom wants YouTube to take


• The missing computer expert Jim Gray


• Janis, an Iraq vet who survived an IED attack, and who blogs at on security plans for Baghdad


• a young Iraqi blogger on the trials of her daily life and thoughts on security


• on the severe flooding in Indonesia


• on India's


• Jo Addison of on teaching students how to develop viral videos (with a brief interlude for some )


• Kim Cooper on Save the 76 Ball (see below)

Your thoughts for next week welcome in the comments or email podsandblogs@bbc.co.uk

I may well be obsessed with these things, but here's an excellent video about the saving of the 76 Ball courtesy of

We'll be talking about the on Pods and Blogs. It's a collaborative writing project using a wiki that Penguin have undertaken jointly with De Monfort University. Here's how they explain the project

Is the novel immune from being swept up into the fashion for collaborative activity? Well, this is what we are going to try and discover with A Million Penguins, a collaborative, wiki-based creative writing exercise. We should go into this with the best spirit of scientific endeavour - the experiment is going live, the lab is under construction, the subjects are out there. And the results? We’ll see in a couple of months.

It will be interesting to see if you can crowdsource creativity in this way.

British political blogs...are they tipped yet?
is at the forefront of a . We've had so many tipping points in British political blogging I've lost track...are we now officially tipped?

Paid Content reports that you won't be able to sell virtual stuff there, but an exception is being made for Second Life

The Primary Teacher UK blog says its found that the £50million spent on Interactive white boards hasn't had a significant affect on grades.

And finally...On Tuesday's segment we're doing a little bit about viral videos and today I had the pleasure of speaking with a young man from Oldham whose "Nose Trumpet Symphony" has become one of those unlikely internet hits. We'll also find out more about what makes a great viral in the company of the foks at Boreme.com

Well it's almost Friday and I haven't made any great strides in setting up the segment so this would be a particularly good opportunity for those of you with an interesting blog or podcast to step forward and get a little exposure. Drop an email to podsandblogs@bbc.co.uk or leave a comment. Or if you have an idea for a story we should be featuring do get in touch. All suggestions very welcome.