Podcasting and the Public: Leveraging Digital Media to Make Your Work Matter

Do you live near Washington, DC? Do you love the Women in Archaeology Podcast? Are you interested in learning more about podcasting as a way of engaging with a broader audience? If you answered yes to any of these questions you should know that Chelsi Slotten, host of the Women in Archaeology Podcast, will be discussing using podcasts for public archaeology in an upcoming installment of the American University Department of Anthropology’s Social Impact Talks.  This FREE event will take place from 4-5 on January 30th in the Humanities Lab (Batelle-Tompkins 228) at American University.

Chelsi Slotten is a PhD student at American University, as well as a host of the Women in Archaeology Podcast.  Her work falls into two main categories- gender roles in the past and public engagement with archaeology.  This presentation focuses on the later. Scholars believe the work they do is important, and want it to have an impact on the wider world. However, they sometimes struggle with bridging the gap between what they know, and making an impact with what they know. While many factors contribute to this difficulty, accessibility is a major factor that can be fairly easily addressed. While the Open Access movement has helped to make scholarly work more accessible, there are still many barriers to truly engaging in public archaeology. This talk will focus on using podcasts to reach and engage with a broader audience. Chelsi will briefly discuss the founding of the Women in Archaeology Podcast, identify issues of accessibility with traditional modes of academic knowledge dispersal, highlight the importance of public archaeology, discuss the benefits of podcasting as a mode of communication, and look at how to successfully run or participate in a podcast.

Learn more about the Social Impact Talks at American University.