Over the last few weeks we’ve heard a lot of feedback regarding the title change of The Linux Action Show to The Computer Action Show as with all of these types of changes, we’ve heard positive feedback, negative feedback, and of course the big one, no feedback. Seems there is always a large portion of the audience base that does not feel the need to chime in too often. But for those who do feel the need, there is typically a lot of passion behind the feedback, and as always our audience and community turns out to be full of some really cool guys and gals.
For the negative feedback, it tends to come in email form, as people don’t want to rattle the cage in a public forum. I appreciate and understand that, but I do like to try and respond out in the open when possible so that other community members can be kept in the loop, and perhaps expand on topic.
So with that in mind, I thought I’d take an email I received this morning, remove any names that might identify the innocent, and post the thread here. Simple because the email from this morning does a great job sort of summarizing the feedback from the negative responses to the title change, and my typical response.
From: Anonymous
Subject: Your Show
It looks like the Computer Action Show is replacing the Linux Action Show.
Your new show looks interesting. But I am specifically interested in supporting a Linux news and reviews podcast as there are so few out there.
I found yours to have the highest signal to noise ratio, i.e., quality content, of all that I had sampled. So I’m sorry to see it go. Good luck with your new show.
From: Chris
Subject: RE: Your Show
You got it right. The Computer Action Show, as of now, replaces the Linux Action Show.
Not sure if you have listened to the last few episodes, but it’s the same show, but with a new name.Our problem we ran into was Linux in the show title would prevent a lot of people from checking out the show. It also had the effect of drawing a lot of people in. But at a certain point we reached a growth ceiling of people actively looking for Linux podcasts.
It struck us that some of the very people we want to hear our show, are most likely the people who won’t download the show that has “Linux” in the title. Those are the people we need to reach, both from an audience growth standpoint, but also from a standpoint of educating them about OSS and Linux.
We came to this realization when we started thinking about the problem of today’s online tech shows. They are generally ether heavily Windows or Mac focused, even if it is a sublayer of the content… It seems to still influence the hosts, the way they frame ideas, and etc. I can’t think of a big online tech show that treats Linux like an equal citizen. Most of them heavily lean towards Mac coverage, as it’s their platform of choice. Despite Windows probably being the statistically much larger audience base. And in these shows Linux coverage is near non-existent.The idea behind the name change is two fold, the primary idea being people looking for a general geeky tech podcast will be more likely to check out the Computer Action Show, and thus by the core content of the show, will be exposed to Linux news, ideas, and community insight in a very organic way. Just like listening to TWiT or watching Tekzilla gets you the updates on Microsoft and Apple.The second idea is to allow us to expand coverage when needed. The simple fact is, some weeks, there is just not a “big” news story that we can wrap an hour and half show around. So this opens us up to things like a little Haiku coverage… Something that ends up not being too far off the beatin path, but is not specifically Linux.
Now earlier I’d said The Computer Action Show replaces The Linux Action Show “for now”. What I meant by that is, there is no direct plan in place to bring The Linux Action Show back into production. However, we’re always willing to try something for a season and re-evaluate after then. Additionally if we ever reached a point where we had more time to dedicate to creating shows, and I mean a fair bit of time, as The Linux Action Show and Computer Action Show require quite a bit of time, it would be first on our list.I believe once the initial shock of the title change is over, people will find that it’s almost the same show, with some extra content when it fits.It’s also healthy to step out side the world of Linux podcasts, news, blogs, forums, chat rooms, and so on. The Linux community needs a broader context outside it’s own sandbox in order to meet the requirements and expectations outside of it.
I also believe that the time has passed for treating Linux like a niche small time grass-roots thing that needs its own fully dedicated show because of the fear it can’t stand up on its own if it might have to compete with other content. Frankly I feel a lot of fear out there is rooted in that, epically from longer time Linux users when that may have been a real problem. But that time has passed, and it’s not a real problem anymore.
Linux needs to be treated (by the community) as part of the computer industry and ecosystem like it really is. We all know that’s where it is today, but yet a large subset of the community tries to treat it like it’s still being developed by a single person and you need to know the super secret handshake to use it.I really think that integrating Linux content into a broader context, where open source and Linux content is the primary focus, but the entire technology landscape is considered and brought into context will make for a better show, allow for better perspective, and frankly keeps our heads out of the sand and allows us to reach a wider audience that might have been turned away by that scary “Linux” in the title, but is now listening and becoming engaged in a new way with Linux news and content they never expected.
If you have not done so yet, give the last three episodes a listen (http://www.jupiterbroadcasting.com/?cat=345), and you tell me what you think!-Chris
