The official site for Fitnah: Movement for Women’s Liberation can be found at http://fitnahmovement.blogspot.co.uk, and is described as a protest movement demanding freedom, equality, and secularism and calling for an end to misogynist cultural, religious and moral laws and customs, compulsory veiling, sex apartheid, sex trafficking, and violence against women. It aims to remind the Islamic regime of Iran and Islamists everywhere that the women’s liberation movement is a source of fitnah for their rule alone.

The petition for supporting Fitnah can be found at https://www.change.org/en-GB/petitions/fitnah

Maryam works closely with Iran Solidarity, which she founded, and the International Committee against Stoning. She has spoken and written numerous articles on women’s rights issues, free expression, political Islam, and secularism and been interviewed by all the major international news outlets. She has co-authored Sharia Law in Britain: A Threat to One Law for All and Equal Rights (One Law for All, June 2010) and Enemies Not Allies: The Far-Right (One Law for All, August 2011), and has an essay entitled ‘When the Hezbollah came to my School’ in 50 Voices of Disbelief: Why We Are Atheists (Wiley-Blackwell, October 2009) amongst others.

Other links:

• Support “red-clothed” women of Marivan - Freethought Blogs
• Fitnah (Farsi) - Freethought Blogs
• Fitnah On Facebook

Theme songs are “P&P” by Derek K. Miller of www.penmachine.com and “Leap Second” by Milton Mermikides, of  www.miltonmermikides.com.

Please leave positive comments and reviews on iTunes and consider supporting the show via visiting  Tokenskeptic.org - and I’d love to get your feedback via tokenskeptic@gmail.com.

Darryl Cunningham went to Leeds College of Art and is a prolific cartoonist, sculptor and photographer. He has also worked as a health care assistant on an acute psychiatric ward which informed and inspired the thoughts and experiences which went into his best-selling Psychiatric Tales. As a review in The Independent says, “His deceptively simplistic cartoons married with an easy-read writing style announced him as a new talent on the graphic novel scene.”

When I was studying a unit in Abnormal Psychology for my postgraduate degree in Psychology, I first came across Darryl’s book Psychiatric Tales, which will be re-released later this year, expanded by some 40 pages and with some new chapters. I would highly recommend that book, not only for its investigation of conditions, but also the very engaging personal journey through depression that Darryl reveals in its pages.

Psychiactric Tales is available from Blank Slate in the UK and Bloomsbury in the US. His latest book is Science Tales: Lies, Hoaxes and Scams, is published by Myriad and is also released in the US as How to Fake A Moon Landing: Exploring The Myths of Science Denial by Abrams Comicarts.

For this interview, we discuss the process of creating art, the sources of his inspiration, how he researches topics such as homeopathy, conspiracy theories and pseudoscience, and what comic art brings to the table when it comes to challenging topics like mental illness.

Darryl blogs at Darryl Cunningham Investigates and Tweets at AcmeDarryl.

This show is available on Zune, mp3 via Libsyn or iTunes. Visit www.tokenskeptic.org; and I’d love to get your feedback at tokenskeptic@gmail.com.

Theme songs are P&P by Derek K Miller of www.penmachine.com and Leap Second by Milton Mermikides, ofwww.miltonmermikides.com. Please considering supporting the show via visiting Tokenskeptic.org and leaving positive reviews and ratings on iTunes.

This interview features a chat with Eddy Petrisor, Miruna Chelbea and Ovidiu Covaciu – all hard-working, passionate skeptics with a keen interest in promoting a rational attitude towards the weird and wonderful. You can find their site at http://podcast.sceptici.ro.

Links mentioned in the show include: http://insulaindoielii.wordpress.com/2012/10/11/colon-help-sues-wordpress and http://insulaindoielii.wordpress.com/trial-updates.

This show is available on Zune, mp3 via Libsyn or iTunes. Visit www.tokenskeptic.org – and I’d love to get your feedback at tokenskeptic@gmail.com.  

Theme songs are “P&P” by Derek K Miller of www.penmachine.com and “Leap Second” by Milton Mermikides, of www.miltonmermikides.com. Please considering supporting the show via visiting Tokenskeptic.org.

Speaking of skepticism, I was very impressed with a document that came out last month by Sharon Hill, which features on the Doubtful News website. It’s called The Media Guide To Skepticism and features some fascinating tips and guidance for anyone interested in finding out more about skepticism. Sharon Hill has recently started writing for the Huffington Post at http://www.huffingtonpost.com/sharon-hill and you can also find her monthly column “Sounds Sciencey“ over on the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry website.

Sharon Hill is a researcher specializing in the interaction between science, the media and the public. She is an advocate for scientific skepticism and the editor of DoubtfulNews.com – a critical thinking weird news blog.

This show is available on Zune, mp3 via Libsyn or iTunes. Visit www.tokenskeptic.org – and I’d love to get your feedback at tokenskeptic@gmail.com.  

Theme songs are “P&P” by Derek K Miller of www.penmachine.com and “Leap Second” by Milton Mermikides, of www.miltonmermikides.com. Please considering supporting the show via visiting Tokenskeptic.org.

Extra thanks to CSI for their support and for featuring transcripts of my show on their website – and to Derek and Swoopy of the skeptical podcast Skepticality, as theirs was the first show that inspired me and supported me.
Finally, the biggest thank you is to all my listeners, subscribers, and the many awesome people who I’ve interviewed for the Token Skeptic – if you wish to congratulate me, please buy Hayley something at the restaurant after the awards. Have a great night!

What do you want your listeners to know? What can you produce, in a feasible manner? What can podcasting do that other social media mediums (or other traditional forms of outreach) can’t provide?

The Token Skeptic podcast began in 2009 and primarily features interviews with scientists and pop-culture figures involved in science and philosophy; it  also includes essays, travel journals and lectures. Average listening audience per episode over 11,000; around 3000-4000 downloads a week; one episode per fortnight (sometimes more depending on availability).

The creation of a podcast isn’t anything new – articles from way back in 2005 in the New York Times discussed the creation of amateur shows (e.g “The Podcast As New Podium“). The influence of mainstream media is questioned, as entertainment and as an information source, as demonstrated by the growth of online forums and outreach effort.

What has changed is the increasing commercial adoption (and even abandonment) of podcasts as a method of communication in general – so why do it for science?

Basics of podcasting:

• online audio (sometimes used to refer as video); episodic and downloadable
• program driven, mainly with a host and/or theme
• convenient, usually via an automated feed
• mp3 is usually the audio format
• upload via sites like Libsyn to iTunes/Zune; AudioBoo, Spreaker, Stitcher also used to host audio (free or small cost).

Evo Terra, co-author of Podcasting For Dummies and early adopter of the medium once described it as “two dorks and a microphone” – but is it more than that now?

The example of the Young Australian Skeptics podcast The Pseudo Scientists (average age 21/2) – example of using computer, microphones, team hosted:

Podcasts can also be transcribed (e.g: CSICOP Curiouser and Curiouser,  the Token Skeptic book), be incorporated into lessons – for example, using audio for English as a Second language lessons.

Are podcasts good for communicating science? Good example of discussing science concepts via radio by David Kestenbaum, Science reporter for NPR on “Explaining the World in Four Minutes“, including audio of environmental reporter John Neilson talking to a zoologist about the fears about West Nile disease and zoos.

The importance of the question: “How do you know that?” – helping scientists talk the way they would usually talk to others, asking the kinds of questions students would ask about concepts raised in science class (about science used in movies, books and in pop culture).

When looking at the communication of science: thinking about the target audience; a few main messages; realising that one size/strategy/vector will not suit all and that learning from your experiences is ongoing. The Token Skeptic podcast is increasingly getting questions from listeners that prompt investigations and being asked to profile scientists to bring their achievements to a wider audience.

The example of Google Hangout – Dr Pamela Gay and Fraser Cain:

An interview with Drs Gay and Cain features on the Token Skeptic podcast - Episode One Hundred And Thirty – On Science Podcasting (In Space!) – Interview With Dr Pamela Gay and Fraser Cain:

Kylie Sturgess:  Is it just a matter of sticking out with it, if you want to get into podcasting? You mentioned the 365 days of astronomy, which needs funding. Anyone can contribute. It is crowd sourced. If someone wants to start up their own podcast, perhaps being inspired by having a go at the 365 Days of Astronomy – why should they podcast and why should they reconsider it?

Pamela Gay:  That is getting to be a harder and harder question, as more and more people join podcasting. If you are passionate about astronomy and you do want to get involved, I highly encourage you to get involved in the 365 Days of Astronomy podcast. We are someplace where, if you have every other week content, we have space for you. So we can help put you in that place, where you already can have an existing audience. Now, if you’re looking to do something truly original, there is still space for you. But, what we are finding is that it’s getting harder and harder to find new ideas. The one standout place for people, who are doing an old idea in a new way, is the people who are doing audio books. If you have a great story, this is a great way to share that great story.

Fraser Cain:  OK. No, I think I totally disagree. I think that, if you want to do this, then just do it. There is always room. People are going to be pod-fading all the time. If you have something that you want to talk about and reach out to people, then just get started and do it. You will figure out really quickly whether you are the right person for the job or not the right person for the job and whether you are enjoying it or you’re not enjoying it. If you are enjoying it, then just keep doing more, even if you don’t necessarily have a lot of listeners. But with this new world of media, it’s really about reaching out on every distribution platform that you have available to you. It’s on YouTube. It’s on podcasting. It’s on writing articles. It’s about going to meetings and all these kinds of things to have this large, wide audience that you can communicate out to.

Podcasting is one of the most powerful ways to do it. I really think, if you’ve got something interesting to say, you should do it at all times.

Another podcast, The Pod Delusion (crowd-sourced show), has around the same traffic as the Wired Podcast – link to Wired article about starting in podcasting with more advice.

Mixture of shows in the top 100 of iTunes – while the commercially-produced shows have an edge, the independent podcasts still are building an audience and often very dedicated ones.

Research – Research into podcasting demonstrates that in terms of retaining information and learning, short-form and dedicated to one topic shows have more influence; yet most people appear to listen to shows while exercising, travelling. Whether the show is about outreach, entertainment or education, a variety and a mixture may be beneficial.

Research papers used for presentation:

• Listening to an Educational Podcast While Walking or Jogging: Can Students Really Multitask?
• What is the academic efficacy of podcasting?
• Tuning in and hanging out: A preliminary study of college students’ use of podcasts for information, entertainment, and socializing
• Messaging, music, and mailbags: How technical design and entertainment boost the performance of environmental organizations’ podcasts
• Using podcasts to replace lecture: Effects on student achievement
• Podcasting Legal Guide – from music, to copyright and more – Wikimedia Commons.

Benefits include – ease of use/relevance; focused topics for revision/education; share resources; popularity of shows

Issues include – time consuming; novelty effect/ duplication/ competition for topics; use of them and what resources help improve quality; cost.

IDEAS:

• Directories / databases / reviews
• One stop sites (ScienceAlert has been doing this)
• Transcripts and activities
• Guided questions for shows

Overall advice for podcast beginners:

• Show your working – have show notes, links, details on the sources of information that is accessible.
• Make it easy for yourself – can you sustain same effort for a show weekly, fortnightly, monthly?
• Podcasting isn’t new, so don’t be discouraged if you’re not immediately popular!
• Research – not just the topics but how to format shows and what your audience is like and will want
• The question about quality audio vs regular episodes – while quality and improving your show is good, don’t let it hamstring you when trying to get episodes out.

Additional links to podcasting equipment advice:

• Podcasting Equipment Guide (2011)
• Starting A Podcast: The Best Recording Equipment & Platforms You Should Use (2012)
• Zoom products and iRiver – used by Token Skeptic

Basic podcasting Prezi:

For over twenty years, the Skeptics Society and Skeptic magazine have labored at the forefront of the skeptical movement—constantly experimenting, often pushing the boundaries, but always circling back to the heart of the skeptical tradition.

This week, we’re pleased to present Daniel Loxton’s challenging and provocative new project, “Why Is There a Skeptical Movement?” (PDF). Almost two years in the writing, these two meticulously-researched chapter-length explorations dig deeply into the roots, founding principles, and purpose of scientific skepticism.

If you don’t know who Daniel Loxton is, then you really need a history lesson. But for those who came in late, he’s the Editor of Junior Skeptic (the 10-page kids’ science section bound within Skeptic magazine). He’s is the author and illustrator of the national award-winning kids’ science book Evolution: How We And All Living Things Came to Be and is also the author and illustrator (with Jim W. W. Smith) of Ankylosaur Attack, a paleofiction storybook for ages four and up. This is the first book in the “Tales of Prehistoric Life” series from Kids Can Press, with Pterosaur Trouble soon out and yet another new book co-authored with fellow Skepticblogger Professor Donald Prothero on the way.

Daniel has written for critical thinking publications including Skeptic, Skeptical Briefs, eSkeptic and the Skeptical Inquirer, and contributed cover art to Skeptic, Yes mag, and Free Inquiry.

Why Is There A Skeptical Movement is an impressive document, covering two millennia of paranormal skepticism, and even if you are convinced that you know what skepticism is about, is well worth reading for the fascinating narrative of investigators, scientists and activists from years past. And if you are convinced that you know what skepticism is all about? You may very well need to read this document a few times.

Which is why it’s interesting that during a time of discussion and often heated debate about what constitutes skepticism, Daniel released it on Skeptic Blogs now. Hence, this Token Skeptic interview on Why There Is A Skeptical Movement…

Many thanks to Daniel Loxton and the Skeptics Society for granting this interview. This show is available on Zune, mp3 via Libsyn or iTunes. Visit www.tokenskeptic.org – and I’d love to get your feedback at tokenskeptic@gmail.com. Songs used with kind permission in this episode: “Walking In Snow With Russians” by Ice Core Scientist. Theme songs are “P&P” by Derek K Miller of www.penmachine.com and “Leap Second” by Milton Mermikides, of www.miltonmermikides.com. Please considering supporting the show via visiting Tokenskeptic.org.

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Sean Faircloth was hired as the Secular Coalition for America’s Executive Director in June of 2009 and served a decade in the Maine State Legislature. In his last term he was elected the Majority Whip by his colleagues and was an accomplished legislator, successfully spearheading over thirty pieces of legislation, particularly involving children’s issues and justice system reform.

Sean Faircloth is a strong advocate of the separation of church and state and has received many awards of recognition including the 2006 Legislator of the Year Award from the Maine People’s Alliance, the 2005 Excellence in Advocacy Award from the American Heart Association’s Northeast Affiliate.

In 2009 Sean became the executive director of the Secular Coalition for America, advocating for separation of church and state, and for greater acceptance of nontheistic viewpoints in American life. In September 2011 he became the Director of Strategy and Policy for the Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science and was the opening speaker for Dawkins’ book tour.

His first book published by Pitchstone Press, Attack of the Theocrats! How the Religious Right Harms Us All – and What We Can Do About It was released in February 2012.

NEW ZEALAND DATES:

Auckland: Saturday 6th April, 7:00pm –  Glen Owen Centre, Auckland University.

Hawke’s Bay: Sunday 7th April.

Christchurch: Tuesday 9th April

Wellington: Friday 12th April

Further details of times, venue, and and attendance prices will be posted soon - Check the NZ Association of Rationalists and Humanists website for more details.

AUSTRALIAN DATES:

Sydney: Sunday, 24th March, 4pm – Sydney Opera House (with AC Grayling, Father Frank Brennan SJ and the Hon. Pru Goward MP).

Melbourne:

Tuesday, 26th March, 6:30pm – The Spot - 198 Berkeley St, Carlton, at the Business and Economics building.
Thursday, 28th March, 12:45pm – Wheeler Centre - 176 Little Lonsdale St, Melbourne.

Regional Victoria: Wednesday, 27th March, 7pm - Kyneton Mechanics Institute, 81 Mollison Street, Kyneton.

Perth – Tuesday, 2nd April, 7pm – University of Western Australia - Social Sciences Lecture Theatre (G.130).

Check the Rationalist Society of Australia website for more details.

Theme songs are “P&P” by Derek K. Miller of  www.penmachine.com and “Leap Second” by Milton Mermikides, of  www.miltonmermikides.com. 

Please leave positive comments and reviews on iTunes and consider supporting the show via visiting  Tokenskeptic.org - and I’d love to get your feedback via tokenskeptic@gmail.com.

Shelley has written and recorded pop, folk, jazz, blues, country, electronic, reggae and rock songs and has toured the US and now Australia, including the Global Atheist Convention in 2012 and the Reason Rally in Washington DC. You can catch her on her current Australian tour by checking out the dates via visiting her site at www.shelleysegal.com.

February 19, Byron Bay, NSW, Byron Bay Brewery
February 24, Brisbane, QLD, X&Y Bar
February 27, Melbourne, Vic, The Toff
March 2, Lismore, NSW, Tatts Hotel

Although I previously blog-interviewed Shelley for my Token Skeptic site, this is the first time we’ve had a chance to talk for the podcast, and we discuss her musical influences, her recently posed question on “what does being a woman mean to you” (inspired by the Beauty and Lace site interview) and the origins and even a song from her new album, Little March.

Theme songs are “P&P” by Derek K. Miller of  www.penmachine.com and “Leap Second” by Milton Mermikides, of  www.miltonmermikides.com.  Additional song by Shelley Segal: “Stuck In The Memory”,  from her forthcoming album Little March.

Please leave positive comments and reviews on iTunes and consider supporting the show via visiting  Tokenskeptic.org - and I’d love to get your feedback via tokenskeptic@gmail.com.

Dr Burrows, of the Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health in Melbourne, has been given a Victoria Fellowship to continue her study in new touchscreen technology, which aims to improve treatment for dementia, schizophrenia and autism spectrum disorders.

For this episode of the Token Skeptic, we discuss her work and the claims of the “educational exercise program” known as Brain Gym, with suggestions as to how to sensibly and skeptically approach such practices.

Dr Emma Burrows also presented at the 2012 Science and Feminism session of “Cherchez la Femme“, which is a monthly gathering of current affairs and popular culture from a feminist perspective.

Theme songs are “P&P” by Derek K. Miller of  www.penmachine.com and “Leap Second” by Milton Mermikides, of  www.miltonmermikides.com, and “Good Morning Moon” by Marian Call.

Please leave positive comments and reviews on iTunes and consider supporting the show via visiting  Tokenskeptic.org - and I’d love to get your feedback via tokenskeptic@gmail.com.