Growing numbers of scholars have turned to podcasting as an accessible and popular medium to share their research more broadly with academic and non-academic audiences. Podcasts—mp3 files circulated online on a regular schedule via a syndicated RSS feed—have existed for over a decade, and have seen steady growth in terms of both creation and audience in recent years. Podcasting plays an increasingly central role in North Americans’ media consumption and information-sharing habits. “The Canadian Podcast Listener 2019” found that “[n]early 11 million Canadian adults (37% of the 18+ population) have listened to podcasts in the past year.” And yet, while there is ample evidence that academics are interested in using this popular dissemination tool, there remains little institutional support for podcasting as a form of scholarly communication.
The Amplify Podcast Network is a partnership between Simon Fraser University’s Publishing program and Digital Humanities Innovation Lab (DHIL), Wilfrid Laurier University Press (WLU Press), Wilfrid Laurier University Library (WLUL), and The Documentary Media Society. It will also include four co-applicants and three collaborators from institutions including the University of British Columbia, Thompson Rivers University, the University of Alberta, Concordia University, and Dalhousie University, in disciplines including English, First Nations and Indigenous Studies, Open Learning, and Library and Information Studies. Students will take central roles as project managers, podcast producers, and podcast creators, gaining expertise and generating new research in knowledge mobilization, research management, and scholarly communication.