American Humanist Association to Adopt Humanist Network News Podcast

HumanistNetworkNews.org
April 23, 2008

The American Humanist Association is adopting the monthly Humanist Network News (HNN) Audio Podcast as its official podcast.

The Humanist Network News podcast is a program of the Institute for Humanist Studies. The Institute (IHS) is an international non-profit think tank devoted to advancing humanism and free speech. It is headquartered in Albany, New York.

Stationed in Washington, D.C., the AHA is a national organization with 10,000 members.

A podcast is a series of digital-media files which are distributed over the Internet using syndication feeds for playback on portable media players and computers.

Don't let the techno-speak scare you away, though.

"Our podcast is just an old-fashioned radio talk show that is broadcast over the Internet, not the radio," said Duncan Crary, IHS director of communications.

"You just need speakers on your computer to listen to the program," said Crary. "Or you can burn it on to a CD, listen to it in your car, or through an iPod."

The podcast has featured such memorable guests as Salman Rushdie, Julia Sweeney, Holly Near, and the so-called "New Atheists": Christopher Hitchens, Daniel Dennett, Richard Dawkins and Sam Harris.

The latter show drew the all time highest listens for one show—11,869.

Crary said that HNN's podcast differs from many other humanist and freethought podcasts because most of their interviews are recorded face-to-face on location, not over the phone.

"It's fun for the listeners," said Crary. "It feels like we're bringing them along for the ride. We're "on-the-road" efficient."

Crary co-hosts the monthly show, along with IHS Information Technology Director Jes Constantine. They will announce the collaboration with AHA on their April 30 broadcast.

Their portable equipment has enabled them to interview singer-songwriter Holly Near in an "alley" after a performance at a college; atheist author and columnist Christopher Hitchens in a bar; and attorney Alan Dershowitz in an outdoor stairwell at Harvard.

The podcast began more than two years ago at the suggestion of a former employee, who actually started one of the first podcasting service companies.

Crary is looking forward to the partnership. While the podcast will continue to be produced by IHS, he is looking forward to creative collaborations with AHA in the future.

"We have a great little show that deserves a broader audience," said Crary. "We're looking forward to welcoming their listeners into our podcast listening community."

Constantine is equally enthused. "It's exciting to see collaboration between two large humanist groups and that we're using technology to do that," she said.

"This partnership is a reflection of the Institute's collaborative mission," said Crary.

On AHA's end, Executive Director Roy Speckhardt told HNN that part of the reason for the collaboration was that his group "didn't want to recreate the wheel."

"We all have the same agenda to raise the profile of the movement," said Speckhardt.

Speckhardt thinks that AHA and IHS have a lot of complementary programs and capabilities, citing IHS's prowess in electronic media and AHA's skill in print publishing media.

Eventually, AHA members will be able to listen to the podcast through the AHA web site. Written transcripts are published a month after each show for those who prefer to read, not listen.

AHA has collected a treasure trove of historical audio recordings of important speakers at their events throughout the years. Speckhardt said that Isaac Asimov, Kurt Vonnegut and Carl Sagan, are among those recorded. Some of the recordings are on reel-to-reel tapes.
Crary said he can't wait to unearth some of the treasures.

Ruth N. Geller is the editor of Humanist Network News, the weekly e-zine of the Institute for Humanist Studies.