This schedule is a living document, and is subject to change at any time. Hopefully any changes will be made with significant lead time, but I can’t even guarantee that. But we’re in this together no matter what.
Week 1 (January 24, 26)
Monday: Introductions
For Wednesday:
- Michael F. Robinson, “Why We Need a New History of Exploration”, Common-place, vol. 10 no. 1, October 2009.
- Nathaniel Philbrick, “The Scientific Legacy of the U.S. Exploring Expedition”
- Join our Slack group.
Wednesday: Goals of exploration
For Monday:
- Dan Cohen, Bridging the Academic-Public Divide Through Podcasts
- LISTEN: “Tenochtitlan: A Retelling of the Conquest,” Throughline (transcript)
- LISTEN: “Great Pitches Make Great Episodes,” Gimlet Academy
- Submit your grade contract here.
Week 2 (January 31, February 2)
Monday: Finding a story
For Wednesday: In your group’s Slack channel, propose three options for an angle on a story about exploration. Amongst yourselves, narrow down all of your group ideas to two pitches that you’re going to pitch to the class on Wednesday. Consider all the questions we’ve learned to decide which story has the best hook, the best “so-what?”
Wednesday: Finding archival audio/sources
In class: Pitching two episode ideas.
For Monday:
- BROWSE: NPR’s Project Blueprint
- Find two sources that you think are relevant to your episode. Post them in Slack and get feedback on their quality and usefulness.
- READ: JASON W. SMITH, “Empire of Commerce and Science,” in To Master the Boundless Sea, The U.S. Navy, the Marine Environment, and the Cartography of Empire (University of North Carolina Press, 2018), 41–73, http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.5149/9781469640464_smith.5.
- LISTEN: “The Price of Adventure,” Overheard at National Geographic
Week 3 (February 7, 9)
Monday: Imperialism
For Wednesday: Submit your group’s final episode idea, taking into consideration the pitch feedback you received.
Wednesday: More imperialism
For Monday:
- LISTEN: “Focus,” Out on the Wire
- LISTEN: “Now THAT’S Good Tape,” Gimlet Academy
Week 4 (February 14, 16)
Monday: Focus
Wednesday: Interviews
For Monday:
- Christopher Steinke, “‘Here Is My Country’: Too Né’s Map of Lewis and Clark in the Great Plains,” The William and Mary Quarterly 71, no. 4 (2014): 589–610.
- Find one or two potential guests that your group might want to reach out to, and reach out to them!
- Create a focus sentence for your episode and post it in our general Slack channel. Give feedback on other groups’ focus sentences.
Week 5 (February 21, 23)
Monday: Indigenous encounters
- LISTEN:
- READ: “Who gets to be ‘Hapa’?” Code Switch, August 8, 2016
Wednesday: Long-term effects of indigenous encounters
For Monday:
- HESTER BLUM, “INUIT KNOWLEDGE AND CHARLES FRANCIS HALL,” in The News at the Ends of the Earth, The Print Culture of Polar Exploration (Duke University Press, 2019), 209–30, https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv11cw6qx.12.
- If you’ve found someone to interview, try to reach out and book them by Week 6.
Week 6 (February 28, March 2)
Monday: Risks of exploration
For Wednesday:
- LISTEN: “Legacies,” Intertwined: The Enslaved Community at George Washington’s Mount Vernon
Wednesday: Special guests: Jim Ambuske and Jeanette Patrick, from “Intertwined”
For Monday:
- READ: “Radio intros: 5 examples of success“
- READ: “The Journey from Print to Radio Storytelling,” NPR
Week 7 (March 7, 9)
Monday: Scripting
Wednesday: WORKSHOP
Week 8 (March 14, 16): SPRING BREAK!
- By the end of spring break, submit your midterm self-assessment.
- By Monday:
- Install Audacity on your personal computer.
- Watch this tutorial and play around with Audacity. Post an audio clip to Slack that you’ve made playing around with Audacity.
Week 9 (March 21, 23)
Monday: Recording + initial edits
MEET IN RESEARCH HALL 462.
For Wednesday:
LISTEN: “Alaska Territorial Guard in World War II,” Unsung History
DRAFT ONE OF YOUR SCRIPT DUE WEDNESDAY
Wednesday: Special guest: Kelly Therese Pollock
Files needed in class on Wednesday: Click here.
For Monday:
- LISTEN: “Putting it all together,” Gimlet Academy
- BOOK: Book a time in R2 Studios to do your recording.
- WATCH: Dallas Taylor on the importance of sound design
Week 10 (March 28, 30)
Monday: Editing + sounds
For Wednesday:
- LISTEN: “How to Make Music for Your Podcast,” NPR
- In your groups, think about what sounds you might want to include in your sound design. Where are you going to get them? What might you need to do to them? (Discuss in Slack.)
Wednesday: Music
Week 11 (April 4, 6)
Monday: 19th century technology
For Wednesday:
- READ: “Becoming Martian“
Wednesday: 20th century technology
For Monday:
- READ: JON D. DAEHNKE and Tony A. Johnson, “‘Where Is Your History?’: Explorers, Anthropologists, and Mapping Native Identity,” in Chinook Resilience, Heritage and Cultural Revitalization on the Lower Columbia River (University of Washington Press, 2017), 83–111, https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctvcwn341.9.
- WATCH: “19th Century Anthropology,” Smithsonian Institution
Week 12 (April 11, 13)
Monday: Results
Wednesday: Workshop–we will not meet as a class.
Meet with your team.
Week 13 (April 18, 20)
Monday: The future of exploration
Wednesday: Edit sessions
Week 14 (April 25, 27)
Monday: Workshops
Wednesday: Workshops
Week 15 (May 2, 4)
Monday: Final thoughts
- Here’s your final evaluation form; please fill out out by Wednesday.
