Frequently Asked Questions

How does this work?

SpokenWord.org is a free non-profit service that helps you find, share and keep track of recordings of spoken-word events. All of the recordings (audio, video, slideshow and transcripts) are submitted to our database by members like you. Here are the basics:

• The number below the image for each program tells you how many members have added that program to one of their collections.
• Click on that number to see which collections contain the program.
• Click on any of the Tags on the homepage to see which programs have that tag.
• Use the Search or Advanced Search at the top of the homepage to find programs by title, description or tag.
• The Firehose tab on the homepage shows all of the programs recently submitted to SpokenWord.org, most-recent first.
• You can create your own collections and share them with others. Just register (it's free) and login.
• Once you're registered you can also earn Badges as you use various features on SpokenWord.org.

How is the content organized on SpokenWord.org?

• The fundamental content "object" is the program, which will have one or more audio, video, slideshow or transcript versions.
• Programs may be submitted individually or by an RSS/Atom feed in which case all future programs in the feed will be automatically submitted as well.
• Members can create Collections that contain individual programs and/or subscribe to feeds or other collections.

What are Collections all about?

Collections are the secret sauce of SpokenWord.org. You can find the most-recently updated collections on the homepage or search or browse all of the collections from all members. Once you're a registered member -- it's free! -- you can create as many collections as you like and give each one its own title and description. You can add programs to your collections in three ways. In all case, just click on the Collect buttons that you see all over the site that are associated with each of the following content objects. The number you see just above a Collect button tells you how many other members have already added that object to one of their collections.

• Add programs individually.
• Add the entire contents of (subscribe to) any other collection (yours or someone else's), which will also automatically inherit any programs added to that other collection in the future.
• Subscribe to any RSS or Atom feed that has been submitted to SpokenWord.org. As with other collections, subscribing to a feed will at first add all programs in that feed to your collection and any future programs in the feed will be added as well.

Other things you can do with your Collections:

• Add Tags to help others find your Collections. Just click on the title of any collection (even one created by someone else!) then on its edit/tag link.
• Add Comments.
• Click on the Share This link to send via email or post to services such as Facebook, del.icio.us and Digg.
• Copy and paste a Google Gadget containing the always-fresh content of your Collection to any web site.
• Subscribe to any playlist using the RSS/feed icons for iTunes, Google Reader, My Yahoo!, etc.
• To see which collections contain a program, feed or other collection just click on the number below the image for that program, feed or other collection.

Does SpokenWord.org copy my web pages or media files?

No. We only link to your web pages and media files.

What are those strange images where my photo should be?

Rather than ask you to upload an image just for our web site and repeat the process for every web site you visit, we use a service called Gravatars (globally recognized avatars). If you change your photo or avatar on the Gravatar web site, it will instantly be changed on all the sites that use their service. And if you don't yet have a picture, Gravatar will create a unique snowflake for you.

How are RSS feeds processed?

We process feeds as follows:

• Comments are removed.
• Certain elements such as images are removed from descriptions.
• If a channel-level image is present, it is used to create thumbnails in a variety of sizes.
• Item date elements are used as our recording dates.
• Title elements are used as program titles.
• GUIDs (global unique identifiers) are retained and used to determine if/when a program has changed.
• Enclosure elements are used as media-file URLs.
• Permalink elements are used as web-page URLs.
• Keywords are used to pre-populate our tags.

What are Badges?

Badges are awarded for actions performed on SpokenWord.org. See our Badges page for details.

Note that not all badges are awarded retroactively, so as we add new badges you may not receive them automatically even though you may have met the requirements. You'll have to qualify anew.