The discussion over the proposal for a CDS radio station highlighted the looming importance of voice-chat in Second Life and the potential for a CDS podcast as a communication medium for our citizens, the wider circle of SL residents and, who knows, maybe those folks who live in the Real World 
I'd like to propose that we 'Just Do It' and see how it goes. I'm posting some ideas in this thread to see what kind of reaction it gets. I propose to follow up with an inworld meeting in about a week's time to thrash out a format and get a show recorded.
[list:1iqznrt4][i:1iqznrt4]Purpose[/i:1iqznrt4]
1. Better communications so CDS citizens know what's going in our micronation e.g. events, current political debates, NGO activity
2. Publicise the CDS to wider SL and attract RL attention
[i:1iqznrt4]Content[/i:1iqznrt4]
3. Rip off the [url=http://www.secondcast.com/:1iqznrt4]SecondCast[/url:1iqznrt4] format shamelessly. Have four reasonably regular panel members and one or two guests each show.
4. Possible items: Events in the CDS - this could be an interview with the artists Rose has brought to the Rigarto Art Gallery or a sample of music from Shantu Selene who is playing the Ampitheatre soon; Current political debates - this could be a discussion/debate around the Citizenship Commission; What's happening in Second Life - we could have views on the 'Windlight' technology that's being introduced in the next update, the introduction of voice chat, the ageplay controversy etc.
5. We could even have a voice-enabled election debate this year....
[i:1iqznrt4]Practicalities[/i:1iqznrt4]
6. I have lots of audio software on my Mac which ought to do the job. I tested Skype out with Moon (thanks Moon ) and can record direct from that to make a podcast. I need to test the 'conference call' facility though to see how easy it is (or not) to make that work. Any volunteers? If you search for "Patroklus Murakami" or "PatroklusM" on Skype you should be able to find me.
7. Finding somewhere to put the podcast shouldn't be too difficult, should it? I have a [url=http://slpatroklus.blogspot.com/:1iqznrt4]blog[/url:1iqznrt4] which, shamefully, has not been updated for months but which could host it. Similarly, I'm pretty sure that setting up website to host a podcast isn't beyond most of us.
[i:1iqznrt4]Trickier Issues[/i:1iqznrt4]
8. Who owns it? I started discussing this ideas with my fellow faction members in the CSDF first and I think I'd like this to be a 'CSDF-sponsored' project at the very least. If I'm going to put a lot of time into making this happen I'd like to be able to spend some of the time getting CSDF views across to a wider audience. That doesn't mean that other views won't be welcome or that it will be 100% leftist propaganda (cos no one would listen to that for long) but that's where I'm coming from. How do other citizens feel about that?
9. Regularity, Commitment. SecondCast is successful for a number of reasons but primary ones for me are - they use the same primary group of cast members each week; they record a podcast every week; they have their finger on the pulse and discuss current news; they are entertaining and, occasionally, controversial. I don't think we'll have any problem with the latter but getting people who will do this regularly will probably be the biggest factor in the project's success.[/list:u:1iqznrt4]
Oh, and it shouldn't cost the CDS a penny, I'm proposing that this is private, non-governmental activity. OK, enough from me. Dive in
