How do I promote Canadian Queer Online Content?
Hi SweetPeas! I’ve been racking my brain the last few days trying to come up with a concept. Let me back up and tell you of my little story.
A little while ago, maybe only a few months ago, I discovered the scary fact that Canada only has a handful of Queercasters. What is a Queercaster? A Queercaster is someone who is queer/gay/lesbian/bi/trans/2spirited/rainbow coloured who creates a podcast or a vidcast. So literally, there were only 3 Queercasters that I could find listed in the iTunes directory in Canada that have been actively creating podcasts (there were a few who had created podcasts but hadn’t produced new content in over 6 months to a year).
Why so few? I’m not sure exactly why there are so few Canadian Queercasters. I know that there is a demand in Canada for podcasts and vidcasts with a queer bent. Goodness knows, I went out looking for queerness on the internet. I found many American Queercasters and even a few from outside America; Twinkleboi being #1 on the list of non-Americans! There are many other Canadians looking for Queercasters but can only satisfy their need by looking outside Canada. You only have to listen to Wanda Wisdom of LuckyBitchRadio to know that she has many Canadian listeners.
Anyway, I started getting the idea of somehow organizing something to help promote Canadian Queercasters and Canadian Queer Online Content. I created a facebook group and started posting those who had podcasts. Soon I moved toward adding others who had YouTube accounts to vlog on. I soon realized that there potentially are MANY queer people in Canada on YouTube who vlog or create any type of video for YouTube. How do I get everyone under one roof when the posibilities for social media are so great?
This is where I got confused. Should I limit my undeveloped concept to exclude those who solely create content for YouTube? Is this wrong? Should I only focus on people who create podcasts and vidcasts that you can subscribe to through iTunes or through a personalized rss/atom feed? I want to be inclusive and only exclude non-Canadians 🙂
I turned to the definition of New Media. Can I find the answer there? Is New Media strictly Podcasts? Can this solve my dilmena? Well no. I realized if I wanted to be inclusive and promote Canadian Queer Online Content that would include EVERYTHING New Media which includes Blogs, Vlogs, Podcasts, Vidcasts, the kitchen sink if you could leave a comment on it, the gammot!
So this is where it is. LIMBO! Do the Limbo… do di do….
Maybe I’m hoping for someone to say, “Tyffanie, it’s alright.” I’m just a bit hesitant to exclude. Is there some way to incorporate without turning this task into a huge production requiring a workforce of hundreds?
Many questions, not many answers.
Another last minute question: Should I remove the twitter blog postings on this?
Should you limit it…no. The reason is that YouTube is one of many formats out there for people to queercast. Be it audio or video…YouTube isn’t the only user generated video sharing site on the web….so that alone should encourage you to broaden your net.
Regarding the Twitter stuff…I think the twitter syndication on the right sidebar is enough.
You just need to keep on doing what you’re doing, and be patient a little — and by setting a good example, as you do, you might encourage others to take up the mic and produce their own podcast.
You’re coming to PCTO and to PAB, that’s a good place to make connections and let people know you want to get the word out and connect the queer podcasting community.
A thought, though — how about putting in a proposal for a Jolt at PAB, maybe 5 minutes on creating a community within a community, the joys, the frustrations, and why this is important to you?