Kenneth Lawrence's Page

Dear Kenneth: I read about your interest in oral Latin and I want to be sure that you've had a chance to see this call-for-papers:

Call for Papers:

American Philological Association 2009, Philadelphia

Outreach Committee


"Podcasting and the Classics"

Co-organizers Chris Ann Matteo and Ed DeHoratius


In the field of classical humanities, professors and K -12 teachers alike are witnessing the democratizing power of the "podcast" word: audio players and iPods are intimate hardware for both our students and the public we want to reach, and have proven a particularly powerful tool to restore oral and aural practice in our classrooms.


In the past few years, a number of highly successful podcasts -- audio media that are free to download -- have received attention from National Public Radio and other news sources. A few examples of these are The WordNerds out of Vienna, Virginia (http://www.thewordnerds.org), The Adventures of Indigo Jones, Classical Archaeologist!

(http://www.teaglefoundation.org/learning/indigojones.aspx) sponsored by the Teagle Foundation, and Twelve Byzantine Rulers from Stony Brook School teacher Lars Brownworth (http://www.podcastalley.com/podcast_details.php?pod_id=5440).


This panel will explore the various kinds of podcasts that are available and in development, and will explore uses of this new technology to enhance our pedagogy.


The kinds of questions the panelists might address could include:


●What are some of the ways we might use this in our classrooms, in both K-12 and college-level education?

●How and why did a given podcast originate?

●How does one actually get "podcasted" (what are the "bottom-line" practicalities: how much does it cost in terms of money, time, equipment)?

●Should we regard the podcast as an oral performance text?

●What does it mean to have a "timely" podcast in our subject matter (i.e., they are "live" and yet time can lapse, and I can elect when I want to listen)?

●What role do we see podcasts playing in our culture (educational, entertainment, and research)?

●What are the political or ideological dimensions of conveying the classics in this new medium?

●How does it affect what might be perceived as a "divide" separating the classics secondary school teacher and the professoriate?

●Can podcasts be used in our scholarship and, if so, how?

●What kinds of collaboration between academic and media interests have been productive in this area?

●What other uses can we imagine for them?


Submit abstracts electronically to Chris Ann Matteo camatteo@mac.com by Friday,
1 February 2008. The abstract proper should follow the APA guidelines (one full page in 11 pt type; title in upper right-hand corner in 12 pt type) and be anonymous: it should contain a clear statement of purpose, a summary of the argumentation, some examples to be used in the argumentation, and, if appropriate, a brief explanation of the abstract’s relationship to previous literature on the topic. Papers will normally be no longer than 20 minutes long. Please include requests for audio-visual equipment and allow time for listening to excerpts in your estimate of time needed.