I imagine many of you are like me: you spend a good bit of time travelling to, fro, and for work. I like to bring my iPod and listen to podcasts along the way. There is a fair selection of science podcasts I enjoy, but what I really want is something that will help me become better in my chosen field. I would love to be able to listen to podcasts of threads from comp.dsp. The text format of usenet lends itself well to both written and spoken media. The contributors of comp.dsp do a fantastic job of describing solutions to complicated problems succinctly in plain English. I'd rank the frequent posters of comp.dsp up there with the best technical writers. In fact, Rick Lyons is a good example of both. A particularly interesting thread would be edited and pared down to something that can be spoken in about 5 to 15 minutes. This would then be narrated and published. Obviously to do this all myself would be a big net loss in free time. However, I would be willing to pay for such a benefit. If others might also be willing to support such a thing, there might be an arrangement where we could sponsor those who are willing to take the time to edit and publish such podcasts. ??????????????????????????????? Would anyone else be interested in involvement in such a project either as a supporter, a contributor, or a subscriber? ??????????????????????????????? Here's a short list of items that need to be addressed, I'm sure I'm missing stuff: ### Website/Network hosting: This is an easy one. I've done this several times over. ### Funding: I don't want to restrict the listeners just to paying subscribers. I think a street-performer protocol/PBS style funding would be best. The more people listen, the greater the overall benefit. Spreading knowledge is why we come to comp.dsp anyway, right? My hope is that others would be willing to sponsor for the warm fuzzies and the targetted advertising. Primary sponsors would be recognized at the beginning of each podcast. If the podcast catches on, it might be worthwhile to found a non-profit organization. ### Licensing: I suggest a license that allows free copying and distribution for all purposes, even commercial. CreativeCommons.org is a great place to look for licensing options. ### Identification and Editing of Threads: Obviously the interests and experience of the editor are extremely important. I think it is best to decouple the Editing from Speaking roles, since the experience level needed for the two are different. I envision this role will be filled by "gray-beards" with less interest in money than in contributing to the field by helping to educate others. This would be the highest level credit. i.e. "... and very special thanks to XXX for selecting and editing today's podcast" ### Speaking: I see this role will be filled by engineers or engineering students with good speaking voices who will be modestly rewarded for their efforts. They will grow in their DSP knowledge at the same time they receive good exposure and resume' content. For all intents and purposes, English is the language of comp.dsp. English should be the first language of its podcast. While text-to-speech has come a long way, I think it is not yet ready for this sort of content. I'd be happy to be proven wrong. ### Liability: The podcast needs a disclaimer stating that individual contributors are responsible for the content, blah,blah,blah. -- Mark Borgerding 3dB Labs, Inc Innovate. Develop. Deliver.
comp.dsp audio podcast of select threads
Started by ●February 9, 2007
Reply by ●February 9, 20072007-02-09
Oh.. man... what did you drink yesterday ??? :-) For one thing, I would certainly not want any of you (with all due respect) narrate all the comments I make here (unless you are willing to learn Russian, then I might reconsider :), especially in view of the fact that some of those comments don't belong to me :-) It's lunch time on Friday, go have a beer and cool down... On Feb 9, 10:54 am, Mark Borgerding <m...@3db-labs.com> wrote:> I imagine many of you are like me: you spend a good bit of time > travelling to, fro, and for work. I like to bring my iPod and listen > to podcasts along the way. > > There is a fair selection of science podcasts I enjoy, but what I really > want is something that will help me become better in my chosen field. I > would love to be able to listen to podcasts of threads from comp.dsp. > > The text format of usenet lends itself well to both written and spoken > media. The contributors of comp.dsp do a fantastic job of describing > solutions to complicated problems succinctly in plain English. I'd rank > the frequent posters of comp.dsp up there with the best technical > writers. In fact, Rick Lyons is a good example of both. > > A particularly interesting thread would be edited and pared down to > something that can be spoken in about 5 to 15 minutes. This would then > be narrated and published. > > Obviously to do this all myself would be a big net loss in free time. > However, I would be willing to pay for such a benefit. If others might > also be willing to support such a thing, there might be an arrangement > where we could sponsor those who are willing to take the time to edit > and publish such podcasts. > > ??????????????????????????????? > Would anyone else be interested in involvement in such a project either > as a supporter, a contributor, or a subscriber? > ??????????????????????????????? > > Here's a short list of items that need to be addressed, I'm sure I'm > missing stuff: > > ### Website/Network hosting: > This is an easy one. I've done this several times over. > > ### Funding: > I don't want to restrict the listeners just to paying subscribers. I > think a street-performer protocol/PBS style funding would be best. The > more people listen, the greater the overall benefit. Spreading > knowledge is why we come to comp.dsp anyway, right? > My hope is that others would be willing to sponsor for the warm fuzzies > and the targetted advertising. Primary sponsors would be recognized at > the beginning of each podcast. If the podcast catches on, it might be > worthwhile to found a non-profit organization. > > ### Licensing: > I suggest a license that allows free copying and distribution for all > purposes, even commercial. CreativeCommons.org is a great place to look > for licensing options. > > ### Identification and Editing of Threads: > Obviously the interests and experience of the editor are extremely > important. I think it is best to decouple the Editing from Speaking > roles, since the experience level needed for the two are different. I > envision this role will be filled by "gray-beards" with less interest in > money than in contributing to the field by helping to educate others. > This would be the highest level credit. i.e. "... and very special > thanks to XXX for selecting and editing today's podcast" > > ### Speaking: > I see this role will be filled by engineers or engineering students > with good speaking voices who will be modestly rewarded for their > efforts. They will grow in their DSP knowledge at the same time they > receive good exposure and resume' content. > For all intents and purposes, English is the language of comp.dsp. > English should be the first language of its podcast. > While text-to-speech has come a long way, I think it is not yet ready > for this sort of content. I'd be happy to be proven wrong. > > ### Liability: > The podcast needs a disclaimer stating that individual contributors are > responsible for the content, blah,blah,blah. > > -- > Mark Borgerding > 3dB Labs, Inc > Innovate. Develop. Deliver.
Reply by ●February 9, 20072007-02-09
On 9 Feb 2007 09:16:23 -0800, "fizteh89" <dt@soundmathtech.com> wrote:>Oh.. man... what did you drink yesterday ??? :-) > >For one thing, I would certainly not want any of you (with all due >respect) narrate all the comments I make here >(unless you are willing to learn Russian, then I might reconsider :), >especially in view of the fact that some of those comments don't >belong to me :-) > >It's lunch time on Friday, go have a beer and cool down...Hehehe... I like your creative thinking, Mark, but I share a couple of fizteh's concerns. It's a frequent enough problem that people read inflections or meaning into writing that wasn't intended by the author, and that causes all kinds of misunderstandings. Such misunderstandings can be cleared up by subsequent exchanges, but at least they're limited to those readers who imagine the inferences on their own. If someone listens to a podcast and actually hears an unintended inflection or stress or whatever and your name is on the post...you're going to be answering for something that the listener definitely heard but that you never meant. Personally, that's a problem that I can live without. I don't know of a practical way to avoid it, even with the machine reading programs that are out there that tend to be fairly emotionless. (Sorry about the mid-post...I wanted to reference fizteh's comments...)> >On Feb 9, 10:54 am, Mark Borgerding <m...@3db-labs.com> wrote: >> I imagine many of you are like me: you spend a good bit of time >> travelling to, fro, and for work. I like to bring my iPod and listen >> to podcasts along the way. >> >> There is a fair selection of science podcasts I enjoy, but what I really >> want is something that will help me become better in my chosen field. I >> would love to be able to listen to podcasts of threads from comp.dsp. >> >> The text format of usenet lends itself well to both written and spoken >> media. The contributors of comp.dsp do a fantastic job of describing >> solutions to complicated problems succinctly in plain English. I'd rank >> the frequent posters of comp.dsp up there with the best technical >> writers. In fact, Rick Lyons is a good example of both. >> >> A particularly interesting thread would be edited and pared down to >> something that can be spoken in about 5 to 15 minutes. This would then >> be narrated and published. >> >> Obviously to do this all myself would be a big net loss in free time. >> However, I would be willing to pay for such a benefit. If others might >> also be willing to support such a thing, there might be an arrangement >> where we could sponsor those who are willing to take the time to edit >> and publish such podcasts. >> >> ??????????????????????????????? >> Would anyone else be interested in involvement in such a project either >> as a supporter, a contributor, or a subscriber? >> ??????????????????????????????? >> >> Here's a short list of items that need to be addressed, I'm sure I'm >> missing stuff: >> >> ### Website/Network hosting: >> This is an easy one. I've done this several times over. >> >> ### Funding: >> I don't want to restrict the listeners just to paying subscribers. I >> think a street-performer protocol/PBS style funding would be best. The >> more people listen, the greater the overall benefit. Spreading >> knowledge is why we come to comp.dsp anyway, right? >> My hope is that others would be willing to sponsor for the warm fuzzies >> and the targetted advertising. Primary sponsors would be recognized at >> the beginning of each podcast. If the podcast catches on, it might be >> worthwhile to found a non-profit organization. >> >> ### Licensing: >> I suggest a license that allows free copying and distribution for all >> purposes, even commercial. CreativeCommons.org is a great place to look >> for licensing options. >> >> ### Identification and Editing of Threads: >> Obviously the interests and experience of the editor are extremely >> important. I think it is best to decouple the Editing from Speaking >> roles, since the experience level needed for the two are different. I >> envision this role will be filled by "gray-beards" with less interest in >> money than in contributing to the field by helping to educate others. >> This would be the highest level credit. i.e. "... and very special >> thanks to XXX for selecting and editing today's podcast" >> >> ### Speaking: >> I see this role will be filled by engineers or engineering students >> with good speaking voices who will be modestly rewarded for their >> efforts. They will grow in their DSP knowledge at the same time they >> receive good exposure and resume' content. >> For all intents and purposes, English is the language of comp.dsp. >> English should be the first language of its podcast. >> While text-to-speech has come a long way, I think it is not yet ready >> for this sort of content. I'd be happy to be proven wrong. >> >> ### Liability: >> The podcast needs a disclaimer stating that individual contributors are >> responsible for the content, blah,blah,blah. >> >> -- >> Mark Borgerding >> 3dB Labs, Inc >> Innovate. Develop. Deliver. >Eric Jacobsen Minister of Algorithms Abineau Communications http://www.ericjacobsen.org
Reply by ●February 9, 20072007-02-09
On Fri, 09 Feb 2007 11:54:27 -0500, Mark Borgerding wrote:> A particularly interesting thread would be edited and pared down to > something that can be spoken in about 5 to 15 minutes. This would then > be narrated and published.I just ran your message through the speech system on my Mac, and and the results were quite OK. (I don't imagine that you really sound much like "Vicki", but I like her speaking voice best...) It wasn't quick, though. I use "normal" speed setting, and that post took several minutes. The TTS can be made to go faster, but I've not really experimented with it. It even pronounced "comp.dsp" the way I do. Finishing with "blah,blah,blah" was funny, too :-) So IMO, the real effort would be in the editing and selection. I've thought about doing this myself, from time to time, and I don't think that the automation option is necessarily all that bad. If each threaded topic was spoken as a "track", then it would be easy to skip forward to the next thread once a thread degenerated to off-topic doggerel :-) IPod memory is becoming cheaper... I think that the editing phase could plausibly be assisted by something like bogofilter (a Bayesian spam filter that I use on mail) trained for a while to discriminate wheat from chaff. What I'd really like to do, though (and have wanted to do this in a newsreader just as text, for a while) is to have the thread pulled apart and re-assembled with the quotes elided, annotated by poster, as in a play script. You would have multiple speaking voices applied to the different "parts", and a header that announced the names of the "actors" at the beginning... [See: I'm applying my theory of the internet here: by describing what I'd like to see, I expect someone to tell me that it's already been done, and give me the URL :-) ] Cheers, -- Andrew
Reply by ●February 13, 20072007-02-13
Mark Borgerding wrote: ...> The text format of usenet lends itself well to both written and spoken > media. The contributors of comp.dsp do a fantastic job of describing > solutions to complicated problems succinctly in plain English.Frankly, I have a feeling that comp.dsp is on the decline. The large part of the threads is turning in circles, beating dead horses, repeating the same trivialities or concerns extracts of code that someone wants us to debug for them. Many once-regulars have disappeared, and their input is sorely missing. Spam and noise is on the increase. Sometimes, I wish back for E-Bob (now who remembers him?) - at least he unifed comp.dsp into a compact group with common group-geist. The general tone has dropped over the years from friendly comradeship onto a level that would not seem very inviting to me, were I to visit this group for the first time. Is this a syndrome of the state of the industry, some socio-internet development or am i just geting old? Regards, Andor
Reply by ●February 13, 20072007-02-13
"Andor" <andor.bariska@gmail.com> writes:> [...] > Is this a syndrome of the state of the industry, some socio-internet > development or am i just geting old?Regarding the decline of comp.dsp, I suspect it is due to "socio-internet development." Unfortunately, the "herd mentality" of the general populus would rather use a web-based portal like dsp-related with HTML markup, accounts, topics, job boards, yada-yada-yada, instead of a simple text-only usenet newsgroup like comp.dsp. These other media sources dilute the quantity and quality of posters and readers available here on comp.dsp. -- % Randy Yates % "My Shangri-la has gone away, fading like %% Fuquay-Varina, NC % the Beatles on 'Hey Jude'" %%% 919-577-9882 % %%%% <yates@ieee.org> % 'Shangri-La', *A New World Record*, ELO http://home.earthlink.net/~yatescr
Reply by ●February 13, 20072007-02-13
On 13 Feb 2007 01:06:38 -0800, "Andor" <andor.bariska@gmail.com> wrote:>Mark Borgerding wrote: >... >> The text format of usenet lends itself well to both written and spoken >> media. The contributors of comp.dsp do a fantastic job of describing >> solutions to complicated problems succinctly in plain English. > >Frankly, I have a feeling that comp.dsp is on the decline. The large >part of the threads is turning in circles, beating dead horses, >repeating the same trivialities or concerns extracts of code that >someone wants us to debug for them. Many once-regulars have >disappeared, and their input is sorely missing. Spam and noise is on >the increase. Sometimes, I wish back for E-Bob (now who remembers >him?) - at least he unifed comp.dsp into a compact group with common >group-geist. The general tone has dropped over the years from friendly >comradeship onto a level that would not seem very inviting to me, were >I to visit this group for the first time. > >Is this a syndrome of the state of the industry, some socio-internet >development or am i just geting old? > >Regards, >AndorHi Andor, I don't think the value of comp.dsp has degraded. It's still the place where I go when I need help. And I think we still have a truly fantastic group of very highly-skilled guys here that are ready to help those who post questions. Maybe you're just gettin' old Andor. :-) But don't worry. I'll bet you're not as old, and as cranky, as me. See Ya, [-Rick-]
Reply by ●February 13, 20072007-02-13
Rick Lyons wrote:> On 13 Feb 2007 01:06:38 -0800, "Andor" <andor.bariska@gmail.com> > wrote: > >> Mark Borgerding wrote: >> ... >>> The text format of usenet lends itself well to both written and spoken >>> media. The contributors of comp.dsp do a fantastic job of describing >>> solutions to complicated problems succinctly in plain English. >> Frankly, I have a feeling that comp.dsp is on the decline. The large >> part of the threads is turning in circles, beating dead horses, >> repeating the same trivialities or concerns extracts of code that >> someone wants us to debug for them. Many once-regulars have >> disappeared, and their input is sorely missing. Spam and noise is on >> the increase. Sometimes, I wish back for E-Bob (now who remembers >> him?) - at least he unifed comp.dsp into a compact group with common >> group-geist. The general tone has dropped over the years from friendly >> comradeship onto a level that would not seem very inviting to me, were >> I to visit this group for the first time. >> >> Is this a syndrome of the state of the industry, some socio-internet >> development or am i just geting old? >> >> Regards, >> Andor > > Hi Andor, > I don't think the value of comp.dsp > has degraded. It's still the place where > I go when I need help. And I think we > still have a truly fantastic group of > very highly-skilled guys here that are > ready to help those who post questions. > > Maybe you're just gettin' old Andor. :-) > But don't worry. I'll bet you're not as old, > and as cranky, as me.News distribution is certainly going down hill. Many news servers have periods of lags by days, and they generally don't get 100% of the messages. People don't seem to care enough to maintain proper service, as newsgroups are no longer fashionable. I find google's groups pages are the only reliable way to see 100% of what is posted in a timely manner now. Steve
Reply by ●February 13, 20072007-02-13
Steve Underwood <steveu@dis.org> writes:> Rick Lyons wrote: >> On 13 Feb 2007 01:06:38 -0800, "Andor" <andor.bariska@gmail.com> >> wrote: >> >>> Mark Borgerding wrote: >>> ... >>>> The text format of usenet lends itself well to both written and spoken >>>> media. The contributors of comp.dsp do a fantastic job of describing >>>> solutions to complicated problems succinctly in plain English. >>> Frankly, I have a feeling that comp.dsp is on the decline. The large >>> part of the threads is turning in circles, beating dead horses, >>> repeating the same trivialities or concerns extracts of code that >>> someone wants us to debug for them. Many once-regulars have >>> disappeared, and their input is sorely missing. Spam and noise is on >>> the increase. Sometimes, I wish back for E-Bob (now who remembers >>> him?) - at least he unifed comp.dsp into a compact group with common >>> group-geist. The general tone has dropped over the years from friendly >>> comradeship onto a level that would not seem very inviting to me, were >>> I to visit this group for the first time. >>> >>> Is this a syndrome of the state of the industry, some socio-internet >>> development or am i just geting old? >>> >>> Regards, >>> Andor >> Hi Andor, >> I don't think the value of comp.dsp has degraded. It's still the >> place where I go when I need help. And I think we still have a >> truly fantastic group of very highly-skilled guys here that are >> ready to help those who post questions. >> Maybe you're just gettin' old Andor. :-) >> But don't worry. I'll bet you're not as old, and as cranky, as me. > > News distribution is certainly going down hill. Many news servers have > periods of lags by days, and they generally don't get 100% of the > messages. People don't seem to care enough to maintain proper service, > as newsgroups are no longer fashionable. I find google's groups pages > are the only reliable way to see 100% of what is posted in a timely > manner now.Good point. Earthlink let their usenet news service lapse for 3+ days a few weeks ago. I gave up on them and I now pay for reliable and complete usenet news service via supernews. Supernews has been excellent in both service and customer support. I am paying $3.95/month (text only) and it is worth it if you need a reliable news server. -- % Randy Yates % "Watching all the days go by... %% Fuquay-Varina, NC % Who are you and who am I?" %%% 919-577-9882 % 'Mission (A World Record)', %%%% <yates@ieee.org> % *A New World Record*, ELO http://home.earthlink.net/~yatescr
Reply by ●February 13, 20072007-02-13
Rick Lyons wrote:> Andor wrote: > > > > > > >Mark Borgerding wrote: > >... > >> The text format of usenet lends itself well to both written and spoken > >> media. The contributors of comp.dsp do a fantastic job of describing > >> solutions to complicated problems succinctly in plain English. > > >Frankly, I have a feeling that comp.dsp is on the decline. The large > >part of the threads is turning in circles, beating dead horses, > >repeating the same trivialities or concerns extracts of code that > >someone wants us to debug for them. Many once-regulars have > >disappeared, and their input is sorely missing. Spam and noise is on > >the increase. Sometimes, I wish back for E-Bob (now who remembers > >him?) - at least he unifed comp.dsp into a compact group with common > >group-geist. The general tone has dropped over the years from friendly > >comradeship onto a level that would not seem very inviting to me, were > >I to visit this group for the first time. > > >Is this a syndrome of the state of the industry, some socio-internet > >development or am i just geting old? > > >Regards, > >Andor > > Hi Andor, > I don't think the value of comp.dsp > has degraded. It's still the place where > I go when I need help. And I think we > still have a truly fantastic group of > very highly-skilled guys here that are > ready to help those who post questions.I think from the last couple of your posts, a large chunk was just triggered by your homework detector. It's just another syndrome of the disease ...> > Maybe you're just gettin' old Andor. :-)Perhaps.> But don't worry. I'll bet you're not as old, > and as cranky, as me.Regards, Andor
