Eighteenth Chapter … Marc Lombardo, "Is the Podcast a Public Sphere Institution?"

This chapter ends with "If the podcast can limit its fragmentary and isolative aspects and continue to resist its integration into the corporate media structure, it may provide a valuable resource for the creation of a socially-transformative public sphere" (page 228).

This seems counter intuitive to the reason I see podcasts as being successful. Poscasts must remain fragmentary and isolative to avoid being too broad based and too corporate/advertising media controlled to be effective.

Another point (page 223), "While the increased connectivity of these devices seems a logical next step, it may well compromise the personal aspect of the iPod that attracted people in the first place and that served as the basis for the podcast's mode of reception." Wow - caught me off balance there - I really had assumed throughout the whole book that the increased connectivity of the iPhone was just a natural extension of the iPod and everyone appreciated it. Lombardo actually lays the foundations for a good point here however, in that the untraceable, disconnectedness of listening/viewing a podcast may be one of its most important characteristics. Maybe not in the USA today, but possibly in China, Iran or even the Philippines this may matter much more than I would have presumed before reading this chapter.