Public Podcast Production on Interdisciplinary Teams Challenges and Successes

This experience report details technical communicators' contribution to an interdisciplinary team creating a public podcast at a university policy center. We outline challenges and successes that we experienced on this team, including 1) Academic Integrity and Multimedia Authorship 2) Inclusion and Community Engagement 3) Accessibility and Production Quality, and 4) Interdisciplinary Collaborations. We offer four practical takeaways for technical communicators working on public podcast production, which focus on foregrounding accessibility; emphasizing dialogue and multiple modes; offering professional pathways for students; and platforming public scholarship, interdisciplinarity, and community engagement. We suggest that technical communicators can play pivotal roles on public podcasts, due to our expertise in accessibility, commitment to social justice/interdisciplinarity, and attention to rhetorical contingencies. We also discuss such work as a strong pathway to TC careers and skill-building for students.