Zeugma

Overview

This year, group members will produce the third season of Zeugma, an audio podcast spotlighting various intersections of rhetoric and technology. The first two seasons of Zeugma provide a framework for the series' identity and direction. The 2014-15 group will continue to develop Zeugma’s style and content while highlighting its identity as a rhetoric and technology podcast.

Goals

Overall, the goal of the group is to experiment with audio recording and editing as composing technologies, and to contribute to academic and intellectual discourses around rhetoric and technology. Because Zeugma has an established reputation, group members will have a framework within which to develop episodic content and form. So while group members may wish to pursue related goals, such as recruiting more listeners or enhancing Zeugma’s web presence, the primary goal is to continue the podcast’s tradition by producing a strong and sophisticated third season. Ideally, this season will maintain continuity with the previous seasons while emphasizing Zeugma’s conceptual focus on rhetoric and technology.

Responsibilities

Each group member can expect to serve as lead producer on at least one 20-30 minute episode, which gives every member the opportunity to invent an episode’s topic and format. To facilitate the production of episodes, each member will have access to an interview kit including an audio recorder, headphones, and two lapel mics. Additionally, members will have access to advanced audio recording equipment like boom poles, dead cats, and professional digital recorders and microphones. After episode audio is recorded, members will also have opportunities to record ambient sounds and B-roll audio as well as edit episodes, all while developing expertise in such audio-editing software as GarageBand, Audacity, Logic, and Audition. Members are also responsible for building and maintaining Zeugma’s web presence through its Drupal 7 homepage and its pages on Facebook, Twitter, and Liberated Syndication (a podcast hosting service). Group members are encouraged to find or develop supporting content in the form of images, blog posts, videos, infographics, and other resources. Supplementary mini-episodes and video materials are encouraged but optional.

Deliverables

While the group is not responsible for a large deliverable at the end of the academic year, it is responsible for delivering episodic content throughout the academic year. Historically, Zeugma has released a new episode every two weeks during the spring semester. The 2014-15 group will also set up and promote a mobile app developed in Liberated Syndication.