Podcasts rely on RSS feeds for distribution. But what happens when podcasters stop paying for RSS hosting? How can we keep podcasts accessible? In this episode, Molly Schwartz and Sarah Nguyen explore options for free self-hosting for the Preserve This Podcast podcast. Featuring Dave Winer, Jason Scott, Elsie Escobar, and Brad Smith. Find out more,…

Metadata makes podcast files accessible. Follow Kaytlin Bailey, host of the Oldest Profession podcast, as she tries to make little-known histories of sex work accessible, now and in the future. We will cover MP3 ID3 tags, episode descriptions, transcripts, and how machine learning will affect podcast discovery. Featuring host and producer Molly Sch…

Enjoy this clip from a new podcast that Library Bytegeist host and producer, Molly Schwartz, has been working on! It's called Preserve This Podcast. You can find more information on our website, at www.preservethispodcast.org. Episode 18 transcript: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1xVS-XXlEx3kggw9artPMjSDhkPQpSKpjURDi_Xut8hk/edit“The Podsucker” …

Get ready for the digital storage showdown! Nearly everyone has a hard drive horror story. If you listen to this podcast, you won’t be one of them. In this episode we work with Amanda McLoughlin and Eric Silver, two indie podcasters working with the Multitude production collective. We go over the best techniques for backing up files, from hard driv…

The first step in preserving a podcast is to get organized! For this episode we work with Dan Weissman, the producer of a podcast called An Arm and a Leg, on organizing his files. We cover folder structures, file naming conventions, and the challenges of navigating digital oceans of stuff. Find out more, download our zine, and RSVP to our traveling…

Alice Y. Hom is an oral historian who is trying to turn the interviews she’s collected into a new podcast, called Historically Queer. But even though Alice has devoted her life to preserving overlooked pieces of history, she has no idea how to preserve her podcast. Find out more, download our zine, and RSVP to our workshops at [preservethispodcast.…

“The Podsucker” is a machine that Jason Scott built in his basement 15 years ago. Jason was trying to capture all the podcasts -- before they disappear. Preserve This Podcast is a series about how podcasts are disappearing. And what podcasters can do to save them. Follow along with our podcast preservation exercises by downloading the zine at prese…

This episode of Library Bytegeist is all about New York’s public libraries and the people who inhabit them. In a city that has a reputation for being inhospitable, many people have found a makeshift home away from home in the library. Leila Goldstein reports a story about the live-in custodians and their families who used to have apartments in NYPL…

This episode of Library Bytegeist is all about collectors and keepers. The people who go through life gathering and capturing and saving things. First up, we have a short story by Sarah Esocoff about Collector’s Night in NYC (minute 2:38 - 9:56). Then, we have an interview Nikki Silva, one half of a radio duo known as the Kitchen Sisters (minute 10…

The Dewey Decimal System is the most popular library classification system in the world. It was created by a man, named Melvil Dewey, in the late 1870's. And Dewey's system of classifying knowledge reflects his worldview as a white man living in the late 19th century. In this episode of Library Bytegeist, we break down the Dewey Decimal System and …

One year ago today, we post the first episode of Library Bytegeist. Molly Schwartz, METRO’s Studio Manager who also hosts and produces LB, decided to take the 14th episode to put together a kind of “year in review.” It’s a look back at the year gone by, including audio snippets from past episodes, a short history of how the podcast came into being,…

GitHub is a great tool for collaborating and providing access to content -- which makes it a great tool for libraries and archives! Dinah Handel (NYPL) and Ethan Gates (NYU) taught an introductory GitHub workshop at METRO on August 2, 2017. This is a supplementary episode about what they covered in their workshop.Audio Mastering by Dalton HartsRela…

Brandy McNeil is the Associate Director for Technology Education at the New York Public Library. Over 100,000 New Yorkers come through their TechConnect classes in 89 branch libraries across Manhattan, the Bronx, and Staten Island. We talk to Brandy about how she has expanded the program to include advanced computer programming classes as part of P…

Public libraries are important access points to the internet. But sometimes people use library computers to engage in activities that are controversial activities for public spaces, like watching pornography. We sat down with Rob Caluori, the Director of Information Technology for the Westchester Library System, to talk about the techniques librari…

Ilona Kish is the program director of Reading & Writing Foundation in Brussels, Belgium. She stopped by METRO's offices on June 21, 2017 to give a talk about the initiatives she has led to harmonize library lobbying efforts in the EU. We had a quick chat about some of the topics she covered, including the importance of getting MEPs into the library…

In this live recording at BRIC Media Arts for the Public Access / Open Networks exhibit, Molly was joined by the New America Foundation's Raul Enriquez and Gowanus Digital Steward Mario Peart to talk about the community-run mesh wifi networks they are setting up around Brooklyn to build resilient communities.Links:New America Foundation's RISE:NYC …

Data artist Jer Thorp has a dream of putting an artist in every library. In this episode we explore the benefits and challenges of hosting artist residencies in libraries through open conversations with Jer Thorp, Ben Vershbow, Jenny Odell, Steve Keene, Trent Miller, and Laura Damon-Moore about the artist residencies that have been hosted at NYPL, …

What is it like to restore audio on classic films? For this bite-sized Bytegeist we sat down with Gabe Liberti to talk about his time as an audio restoration engineer at the Criterion Collection. These days Gabe uses his sound engineering skills to design interactive installations as part of the design duo, Dave and Gabe: http://www.daveandgabe.car…

Libraries have always been places for free and unfettered intellectual exploration. But how is this threatened by the inherent leakiness and insecurity of the networks we use to access information these days? In this episode we talk to Alison Macrina, Bill Marden, Melissa Morrone, Chuck McAndrew, and Phoebe Stein about privacy policies, CryptoParti…

Saving love letters in the digital age can be tricky. Iris Lee, a metadata analyst at the American Museum of Natural History, came up with a clever solution for saving the text messages between her and her partner off her old cell phone. Dr. Michelle Janning, professor of sociology, and Davy Rothbart, founder and editor of FOUND Magazine, weigh in …

In this episode, Molly talks with Dr. Rachel Mattson about her work as a member of the XFR Collective, an all-volunteer group of over 14 members, does the work that it does, partnering with artists, activists, individuals, and groups to preserving at-risk audiovisual media – especially unseen, unheard, or marginalized works, like this gay wedding c…

In this episode, Molly talks with Dr. Shannon Mattern about New York City's LinkNYC program and the troubles it has faced in trying to provide public access to the internet on the city streets. The discussion revolves around how involving librarians and archivists in the planning process could bring some wisdom to smart city developments.Here is a …

In this episode of Library Bytegeist, we sat down with Ben Fino-Radin, a Media Conservator at MoMA, to talk about his approach to media conservation, what to do when art installations involve super computers, and his favorite old medium. Many thanks to Kate Lewis, Ben Fino-Radin, Peter Oleksik, and the Time-Based Media Art team at the Solomon R. Gu…

This is an introduction and discussion with the three METRO fellows: Katie Martinez, Karen Hwang, and Molly Schwartz. They talk about why Google searches don't take you inside library catalogs, how email preservation is becoming more of a priority, and what the opportunities are for libraries and archives to adopt new media for storytelling.Intro a…