I have prepared a brief intro to the topic of voice-blogging, and attached an audio file, Intro 2 Voice Blogging. The most useful application for voice-blogging is when one engages in private sense-making within one's own ideas sandbox, and then building on the earlier iterations of the voice-blog posts after listening to one's raw audio posts, jotting down notes to append/clarify/comment on, and building on others' feedback.

I use a small portable digital voice recorder that captures up to 35 hours of voice recording in MP3 format. I use it for voice memos, or to reflect "open mic" on related articles. I complement the voice-over with a text post, or a photo, or a slideshow, or a rich picture.

I know the quality is sometimes less than ideal - oftentimes distractions and noises intrude - and I just go with the situation, not turning off or re-winding the tape. I try to plan my voice-overs a bit and not do it entirely ad lib. However, the ad lib interviewing and stream of consciousness narrative is interesting, as it takes on a truly spontaneous element that canned polished responses lack. I don't tend to edit out the silences, the re-phrasing, the real-time struggle for the right phrasing, the right words, the right imagery, all this sense-making activity is captured as a gestalt.

I think the value of voice blogging is that it gives the speaker a lot of immediate feedback on the way their voice is projected - tone, wording, pitch, etc. The speaker gets a raw take on their mannerisms, and the potential of voice-blogging is the self-referential feedback loop.

Alan Levine and Darcy Norman and I sat down and had a couple of short chats. I had done some prep beforehand, thinking about the questions I wanted to ask in advance, and reviewing the background information about their blogs and my impressions of it. I considered my "hook" what perspective I would take, and went with that.

One thing about live interviews is that they capture the working through of ideas - I always know I have got the right mix when I ask questions that the interviewee has not considered before. The give-and-take, the passion for ideas, is best captured in voice-blogging when you introduce your shifts of perspective, your turn of phrase, your context. Voice-blogging makes the listener aware that the interlocutors are aware of each other, themselves, and their audiences. 

For more examples of voice-blogging (integrated audio within blog posts on Posterous), please visit:

Talking About Blogging With Alan Levine

Talking About Blogging With Darcy Norman