Over the last couple of months and especially since I started to record my own podcast with Markus Deimann, I have found myself in conversations on recommended podcasts. Sometimes these conversations follow a certain theme (anything related to digital pedagogy or storytelling), sometimes certain episodes are recommended. Most of the podcasts I listen to are English but some are in German as well so I decided to list them here following that categorization as well (alphabetical order). Let me know what you would recommend and what I am missing.
English Podcasts
99% Invisible – Design in everyday life, often architecture, product and industrial design. Very well narrated.
Breakdrink – Higher Ed in the US. I have only listened to episode 5 so far in which Chris Gilliard is invited to talk about Digital Redlining. Definitely a podcast I will continue to follow.
Crimetown – One of the many Gimlet Media podcasts I listen to. The story of the city of Providence, politics and crime.
Flash Foward – I listen to this on an episode-by-episode basis, depending on the subject. Often felt a bit techno-solutionist to me but still worth checking out.
Freakonomics – A classic if you’re at all interested in behavioural economics.
Heavyweight – The fact that I can’t describe in a sentence what this is about might be the reason it will not be continued for a second season (as far as I know). Basically, a personal story from the past is narrated and the podcast hosts try to reverse it somehow. The intro music is by my all time favorite band The Weakerthans. (another Gimlet podcast)
Homecoming – The only fictional podcast I listen to. Had a hard time to get into this but I am now looking forward to their second season. (another Gimlet podcast)
Invisibilia – A great NPR podcast that I hope will be continued for a third season. Human behavior, psychology, its effects and how to deal with them combined with some great storytelling.
Open Science Radio (bilingual) – Open Science in all its nerdy facets. The link here will lead you to the English only episodes. They just added a bunch of episodes last week that were recorded at the Open Science Camp 2017.
Planet Money – Another NPR podcast that I have been listening to for a long time now. I quite often disagree with the sometimes neo-liberal take, but they often have great guests. The Planet Money T-Shirt Project is an all-time-favorite.
Radiolab – Another classic here. Everything from nerdy science topics to rather popular themes.
Reply All – And another Gimlet podcast. Started out as a “show about the internet” which it still is quite often. A show hosted by internet nerds who display the expected kind of humor as well. Features like “Yes-Yes-No” (Alex Blumberg stumbles into the recording booth and brings a mysterious tweet which is then deciphered) or “Super Tech Support” are some of my favorites here.
S-Town (new) – This one is supposed to be released today or tomorrow (I think), so it is kind of black box for me. Given that it claims to be from “Serial” and “This American Life” it can only be worth some time to check it out.
Science VS – I didn’t realize how much Gimlet Media appears in my podcast catcher. This one is a host with a great Australian accent tearing apart myths of all kind with science. Nerdy humor, definitely worth listening to.
Serial – Serial is often pointed to as the show that made podcasts big in the US over the last two years. I liked the first season much better than the second one. The amount of energy, research, resilience and passion that go into producing this must be enormous.
StartUp – What started out as a self-reflection by Alex Blumberg while he founded his own podcasting company Gimlet Media (looking at this list, you can tell I am somewhat of a fanboy), is now a podcast that accompanies founders on their path of creating their own business.
Teaching in Higher Ed – Once you made it through the intro music, you will usually find yourself in a great interview-based podcast on teaching in Higher Ed, often related to EdTech, Digital Pedagogy, etc.
Team Human – I don’t listen to this podcast with Douglas Rushkoff on a regular basis anymore because the rants by Douglas Rushkoff in the beginning started to annoy me a bit. I guess you could skip that and you are left with interesting guests from the field of digital humanities for the most part.
The Contrafabulists – Audrey Watters and Kin Lane deliver tech criticism, mostly US policy (or the lack thereof). This used to be called the TechGypsies and I somehow missed the transition, so I have to catch up on a few episodes.
The Daily – What used to be The Run-Up has now been called The Daily for a couple of months. This NY Times podcast focuses on US policy and politics and usually features two top stories every day.
The HybridPod – Anyone remotely interested in Digital Pedagogy should listen to this podcast by the Digital Pedagogy Lab hosted by Chris Friend.
The Tim Ferriss Show – It has become increasingly harder for me to bear the cult around Tim Ferriss but his in-depth-interview podcasts can be nice entry points to topics you didn’t know you were interested in.
This American Life – “Every week we choose a theme, tell you different stories on that theme…” If you are into podcasts at all, I probably don’t have to say much about this one.
TIDE Today in Digital Education – Dai Barnes and Doug Belshaw talk mostly about education and technology. I have been listening to this from the beginning and wouldn’t want to miss it anymore. Take some time, they usually go on for about 90 minutes or longer. TIDE was also part of the inspiration for the podcast I record with Markus Deimann.
Undone – I liked the theme when it was introduced and his has not disappointed me yet. Undone comes in after a big story and narrates what happened then. Another Gimlet podcast…
German Podcasts
JRA Jöran ruft an – In wiederkehrender Regelmäßigkeit ruft Jöran an, oft bei Menschen, die irgendwie im Kontext Bildung arbeiten. Erweitert den Horizont der ‘digitalen Bildung’ und zeigt (mir zumindest) wen man alles noch nicht kennt im Kontext Digitale Medien & Bildung in Deutschland.
Bildung Zukunft Technik – Guido Brombach und Felix Schaumburg sprechen zu – der Titel verrät es schon – Technikeinsatz im Bildungskontext. Oft eher mit dem Blickpunkt Schule, nicht minder hörenswert.
Lage der Nation – Einer der Durchstarter aus dem Jahr 2016 (zumindest auf meinem Radar). Die Nachrichten der Woche (national und international), oft mit einem Einschlag Richtung Netzpolitik.
Logbuch Netzpolitik – Ein Klassiker für alle, die sich in irgendeiner Form für Digitales und die Politik im Zusammenhang damit interessieren.
Open Science Radio (bilingual) – Der einzige Podcast, der in beiden Listen auftaucht. Ich habe selbst selten direkt Bezugspunkte zur Open Science Community, da hilft ein Podcast wie dieser hier, dem man anmerkt, dass in die Themenauswahl viel Arbeit fliest.
ZugehOERt – Meist (oder immer?) von Jöran moderiert. Entsprechend alles rund um OER und Digitale Medien in der Bildungslandschaft.