Podcasts are transformative in the way they can enhance digital humanities research that would otherwise be printed in academic papers. Podcasts transform academic scholarly tradition by taking advantage of the theatrical nature of podcasts. Dan Cohen, Vice Provost, Dean and Professor of Northeastern University, praises podcasts for their ability to genre-build as well as their “unparalleled ability to convey the reality of an academic work, and inculcate appreciation of it.” Essentially, podcast elements like sound design, audio editing, voice acting and narration, make scholarly research more compelling for a general audience. Podcasts such as NPR’s Throughline, Consolation Prize, and Ben Franklin’s World demonstrate the effectiveness of using audio design, sound mixing and voice acting in podcasting. They utilize hosts, experts and voice actors and sound effects to help drive the narratives being discussed and make the content more engaging for the listener. These podcast elements enable the listener to become more acquainted and engrossed with the narrative.

Similarly to the radio shows of the mid-twentieth century, podcasts communicate a story that is compelling to the listener. Fortunately, according to Pew Research data, a majority of podcast listeners engage with podcasts for entertainment, learning and diversion. In other words, educational podcasts that share scholarly research are only growing in popularity with the general public.

For the most part, podcasts differ from other tools in that they are more theatrical in the conveyance of academic research. Podcast elements such as sound design and voice acting make text based research more interesting to a general viewer. Podcasts also enable research to become more of a conversation to be had with multiple individuals such as the host of the podcast and the experts. The host helps guide the discussion by providing historical context and guiding questions that will help the listener grasp the narrative that is being told by the expert.

With all that is said with the existing differences, podcasts share a similar role with other data tools residing within the digital humanities. Data tools like Voyant, kepler.gl and Palladio share a commonality with podcasts as they all serve as re-representations of data that can be comprehended and interpreted for people to reach new conclusions about the human experience. While we may not typically conduct an analysis of podcasts, we can use tools like Perusall to annotate what is spoken or done in podcasts to keep track of source and citation information. This can then assist users in pursuing further research on a given topic. AI such as ChatGTP and crowdsourced knowledge projects like Wikipedia also lend themselves to the conversational and discussion style utilized by podcasts. Crowdsourcing projects just like podcasts also engage public audiences with scholarly research in a non-traditional fashion.

According to scholar Trevor Owens, the digital humanities “are at its best when it embraces the digital not simply as a means to the traditional ends of scholarship, but when it transforms the nature of what humanists do.” Fortunately, podcasts fit this understanding as they can drastically change the way in which scholarly research is shared and explored. Scholarly research no longer has to depend on its publication in academic papers but can now be shared in a digital format that can be listened to and shared with everyone to further the digital humanities.