Para além da emissão sonora: as interações no podcasting

Abstract

Podcasting is a media process that emerges from the publication of audio files in the Internet. Due to its minimal technological structure demands, the production and distribution may occur through a simplified way by only one person. That is, this allows independent productions with a global reach. The podcasts may not only be searched on the net, but they can also be subscribed (through the RSS service) for automatic download of new episodes to an aggregator software. Besides audio, each program may contain images, hypertext links and be divided into chapters. This way, mere listening is overcome, with the addition of a multimedia experience and new navigational forms, within the program or in the net. Podcasting, though, may not be reduced to an easy transmission of content in the Internet and new forms of reception. As podcasts are normally related to a blog, a dialogical interaction may occur among all the participants of the process, blurring the traditional separation between production and reception instances in mass media. Besides detailing production and reception conditions of podcasts, in contrast to radio, this article also discusses the remediation process between podcasting and radio, the potencial of this new medium as micromedia (Thronton, 1996) and its impact on the music industry.