Slate is doing some really neat things with podcasts now, starting with this "unauthorized" museum tour of the Met's modern art collection by critic Lee Siegel. Podcasts designed for specific places, with the mobility of the media in mind.
I recently listened to the tour for one small art museum, and you know what I noticed? I noticed how often the soporific tour guide told me to notice things in the paintings. Notice the loitering group of men. Notice the light coming from the side. Notice the clown's cheekbones. OK, I've noticed. Now what? Wake me when you get to the juicy stuff.
Museums, historical sites, and the companies that produce their audio tours aren't completely honest with you. They can't very well say things like "critics think this work is terrifically overrated, but we keep it on the wall because we sell a thousand posters of it a day," or "we know this sketch looks profoundly boring, but here's why it's the most interesting thing you'll see all day," or "we only hang this painting here because old Mrs. Dimbledumble wouldn't have donated the new East Wing otherwise."
They can't say things like that, but we can.
Link. Disclaimer: Slate is the online partner of NPR's Day to Day, the public radio program to which I'm a regular contributor. Hey, look, a Wikipedia entry! (Thanks, Andy Bowers!)
