Kerry and her boyfriend Jackie, from Webgrits, launched their first Crohn’s podcast on Monday! TW and I listened to it last night and I’m going to write a mini-review (in hopes of encouraging you all to listen to it and all future installments)!
As some of you know, TW has Ulcerative Colitis which is not Crohn’s but the two have a lot in common. So much in common that pretty much anyone with an interest in learning more about UC or anyone who has UC would find the podcast interesting, amusing, helpful and encouraging. Especially, people newly diagnosed or the friends and family of those diagnosed.
Kerry’s voice (and I don’t mean the cute southern accent) comes across well in the podcast. She sounds like a real person talking about her illness and while she obviously didn’t just turn on the mic and start talking (she talked about dehydration), she sounded real. I liked it.
Jackie, however, was definitely scripted during his piece about talking a loved one out to dinner (don’t do it!!!! lol). I didn’t mind the scripted bit but I enjoyed him a lot more when he put down the script and just talked to Kerry. I think being nervous for the first podcast was part of that scripted bit and I’d love it if he’d ignore the script and just talk. He’s obviously been through a lot with Kerry and he’s a personable guy (and obviously very sweet and sensitive). I bet in another podcast or two that will shine through and we won’t think about the script as much as we did in this first one.
So, there you have it. My initial review – a solid A for anyone interesting in Crohn’s or Colitis. I’m totally looking forward to the next installment.
And because I’m doing a little experiment I’m going to talk about how Kerry’s podcast and my post about it are community indicators. (Bear with me folks, if you have no interest in such things just ignore this part, ok?)
TW and I “met” Kerry and Jackie (and Kerry’s brother, Wes) when we stumbled into the Blogathon 2005 website. Finding someone on a blog talking about UC or Crohn’s isn’t easy even though IBD effects an awful lot of people. It was terrific to find them! Since then, we’ve corresponded via blog and by email. We’ve found people who can really relate to our situation even though we’re really not all that much alike in other ways. Kewl!
Finding those “like us” and “not like us” and then doing more than just reading and lurking in the background means we’ve become a visible indicator of community. And if Kerry chooses, she can use tools to track how many people she’s touching, how many people are in her community who aren’t actually talking to her. She can use site traffic tools, counters and yes even technorati to figure out that somebody is listening and linking and visiting. Those somebodies are her community, even if they never comment or email her or even really talk about her on their blogs. Right?
Crohn’s, ulcerative colitis, podcast,
community_indicators, community