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Podcasts today are used in various ways by educators. But is the technology truly mobile? That depends on how it is used. If a student has a one hour bus ride after school, that mobility aspect may come into play. Whereas that student may have been at a disadvantage in the past if they felt motion sick reading a book on the bus, they could 'study' through listening to material. This is just one way a pod could even the playing field bringing opportunities to learners with different strengths and situations. What people seem to love about podcasts most is that they can consume information on demand while they perform another mundane physical task. Where do we go from here? What if other technologies were added?
GPS, AI....
+ GPS
+ GPS
Allow this App to know your location? Sound familiar? Location has become an integral part of the value add to many of our mobile technologies. We stated that Podcasts are already 'mobile', if the device happens to be mobile. But what is the true value add of that mobility? One may argue that unlocking that value add that the mobility has to provide relevance through geo context. Enter GPS. With your podcast platform being able to sync with your GPS it (could) suddenly opens a world of 'geo-context'. I would argue this could bring in a real-world educational aspect, bringing more of your senses into sync with the information you are hearing. We'll explore this in the scenario below. But first lets also consider if we could layer one more technology onto that... AI.
+ AI Assistant
In 2024 we are on the cusp of AI being packaged into truly personal 'assistants'. This brings the power of access to information and makes it personalized. This aspect would make the podcast more 'interactive' and multi dimensional, meaning the ability to zoom in on interests.. Is it possible all of these technologies could come together? Well, Open Ai just signed an agreement with Apple see the 4 minute sound bite below if you want to hear more on that. This in effect creates a possibility to combine these three technologies in any of your mobile Apple devices.
In 2024 we are on the cusp of AI being packaged into truly personal 'assistants'. This brings the power of access to information and makes it personalized. This aspect would make the podcast more 'interactive' and multi dimensional, meaning the ability to zoom in on interests.. Is it possible all of these technologies could come together? Well, Open Ai just signed an agreement with Apple see the 4 minute sound bite below if you want to hear more on that. This in effect creates a possibility to combine these three technologies in any of your mobile Apple devices.
(Dahmani & Bohbot, 2020)
SCENARIO 2: EMBEDDED AI ASSISTANT.
Imagine you are walking by yourself around a city steeped in history. What you see is beautiful, if only you understood the meaning of the architecture, the tragic tales, the ghost stories, the past inhabitants. If you could be accompanied by a podcast platform that would sync with your GPS, that could pinpoint your location, and have interactivity with an AI assistant, what would that look like? For starters you could ask your AI "what am I looking at?", the answer to which could be "would you like to listen to x, y, z about this artifact? Would you like to hear about it in David Attenborough, Morgan Freeman or perhaps Scarlett Johansen's voice?" You start listening, it mentions something you are unfamiliar with, "AI, stop, tell me more about x, what is x? .... restart" As you continue your stroll through the city your Podcast acts as your local guide. It could accompany you, or perhaps you don't know where to go... you could accompany it on a recommended journey! If you are not alone, why not sync up with a friend, or even share the experience real time with someone who could not be there. You can imagine the possibilities opening up combining these three technologies.
Generated with AI (Adobe Firefly). June 15, 2024, 5:44 pm
Now that you've considered these future scenarios/ possibilities, lets see what exists in this frame now and how you can use the current technology to level up the educational effectiveness of your own podcast.
In our scenario above, I chose to focus on the end user. It is more likely at this time that the innovation with AI will start with focusing on the producer not the end user. Why? It would seem logical that tools follow profit. So a producer may be willing to pay for an AI Producer Assistant such as this one: https://www.myvirtudesk.com/services/podcast-virtual-assistant . The technology claims to essentially replace all the functions of a human producer from research to distribution.
The end user does not pay... per se. However as we understand with our free products we know and love (email, social media) we are the product. So in theory GPS and AI have a blue ocean in that regard to leverage the end user, but we appear not to be there yet. Which is why my scenario in 2024 is still mostly science fiction, for now, it would appear that GPS is starting to be utilized to some extent.
Geo-tagged Audio Tours: Some podcasts are designed as guided tours for specific locations, such as historical sites, cities, or museums. As listeners move through a space, GPS triggers the relevant audio content. For example, the app Detour (now part of Bose AR) provided immersive audio tours of various cities, using GPS to deliver location-specific narratives and information. (ChatGPT June 15 2024)
Examples:
Although these case uses exist, they are certainly not in the 'mainstream' of podcasts. Could AI change that?
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