You will create a 15-20 minute podcast where you pose 3 - 5 scenarios that involves race for you and your guests to discuss. Your goal for each of these scenarios is to discuss "Is this racist?" or "Is this racism?" Your scenarios may involve algorithms or computing but they don't have to.

You should rely on scenarios that you have experienced or seen discussed in the news or social media and where you have some strong personal interest and knowledge. Please do not make up hypothetical examples and do not use any AI tools to help you "brainstorm". Our No Use of AI policy remains in effect for the podcast. Your scenarios should be specific enough so that they will be unique to you. You should provide enough details where your guests can be reasonably expected to be able to draw a conclusion based on the available information and not simply say "it depends on the context" or "it's hard to say based on the available information" since that leads to a podcast that is likely not too engaging.

During your podcast you will be the moderator, and you should have two or three guests who will hopefully not always agree. If they do it might mean your scenarios are kind of obvious and don't leave much to discuss, so please craft scenarios where some disagreement or discussion seems likely, at least at first. Your guests may be anyone, except they can not be members of our class. Please do not have more than three guests as that gets unwieldy for a podcast of this length. 

As moderator you should prod your guests to elaborate on their ideas and to consider alternative  points of view. You should also make connections to ideas from Talk About Race when appropriate. If you are unsure how to do this consider listening to an episode of The Public Philosopher with Michael Sandel for a good model of how to moderate. While this is not specifically about race and racism, he moderates engaging discussions about ethical questions, so his style of moderation is at least relevant. 

Please focus on having a conversation and do not rely on scripted remarks. You should be prepared with your scenarios, but otherwise focus on having a conversation with your guests and not following a script (which sounds terrible and is not engaging). 

You should start your podcast by introducing yourself. Give your name, major, year at UMD, and anything else you think might be of interest to your audience.  Then explain the basic idea behind the podcast, and have your guests introduce themselves. They may say what they like but at a minimum their name and major (if they are UMD students). They can say more if they like. 

After that your goal is to encourage a lively discussion. You should have have your scenarios ready to pose, and allow enough time to discuss them but please make sure you get through at least three of them during your podcast. 

Your podcast must be somewhere from 15 to 20 minutes long. Podcasts under 15 minutes will lose 1 point for not following these guidelines. Podcasts that run long are ok so long as the discussion remains engaging. Keep things moving and make sure your guests do not start to repeat themselves or drift off topic. 

Podcasting Considerations 

Please make sure you record in a quiet space. Dorm rooms and public areas are often too noisy. Consider using a library study room or some other private space for recording. 

You will need a good quality microphone so that everyone can be heard, so please consider using the resources of the UMD Media Hub. 

Make sure to create a test recording to make sure the sound quality is reasonably good and that there is minimal or no background noise and that audio levels are consistent for all guests (someone should not be too loud while another is too soft).

Please reassure your guests that this recording will only be listened to by the instructor of this class, and anyone you might choose to make a copy available to. I would encourage you to share a copy with each of your guests.

You will submit your podcasts as mp3 files to Canvas. There is nothing to submit other than the audio recording of your podcast.  Only mp3 files are accepted, if your recorder creates something else you will need to convert it to an mp3 file. There are many free converters online.

There are some useful tips on the NPR Student Podcasting page.

Your podcast is due by 11:59 pm on the date shown on the Class Schedule. Late submissions are allowed but will be graded according to the Late Work policy in our Syllabus.

Grading 

Your podcast will be graded on a 5 point scale, where 1 point is awarded for each of the following : 

1. 1. Your podcast is engaging, and not boring to listen to. If you are bored when recording the podcast, your guests will be bored and it will be boring to listen to. Your podcast will be a success if you are well prepared and enthusiastic.

   2. Your podcast is personal, and could really have only been prepared and presented by you and your guests. This means that it includes perspectives and ideas that are unique to your group, and makes connections between ideas that are not obvious. 

   3. Your podcast follows the guidelines for length given above, and does not include repetition or filler. Do not pad your podcast content in to reach the time length minimums, instead find more interesting ideas to discuss.

   4. Your podcast is factually correct. Make certain any facts you present are true and not based on misinformation or misconceptions. If you have doubts about something a guest is saying, make sure to raise those concerns and have your guest explain.

   5. Your podcast is relatively clear and easy to listen to. This does not mean perfect, but it means that the listener should not be distracted by your audio quality. Make sure you record in a quiet location with a good quality microphone, and that all your guests are able to be heard on the recording. Make a short test recording to verify this before recording the podcast.