I’m not Catholic, but I, like much of the world, was saddened to learn of Pope John Paul II’s passing last week.  The man made a difference in the world, and, agree or disagree with his politics, held human life in great respect. 
    But that’s not the reason for this post.  The reason is to respond to this statement from Philip S. Corwin:

   

      The Washington Post reports
that during the days leading up to the funeral of Pope John Paul a
Dutch priest "led Internet listeners on an intimate audio tour that
allowed them to pay one last visit to Pope John Paul II before he was
laid to rest. Father Roderick Vonhogen brought the Catholic Church’s
ancient rites to life through a cutting-edge format: the podcast, a
radio-style show that is distributed over the Internet. "

The story continues:
"On
"Catholic Insider," listeners hear Father Roderick banter with students
camped out in St. Peter’s Square and describe the pope lying in state
in the basilica. "It’s beautiful, it really looks like he’s sleeping,"
he whispers as a choir sings in the background.

Religion, whether organized or splinter, is clearly not asleep and seems to be emerging as an early adopter of podcasting.

That
said, articles like this are bound to fade as the novelty value of
podcasting dissipates. We already take ubiquitous video imagery for
granted to the extent that it hardly seemed remarkable that multiple
amateur videos provided a worldwide audience with unprecedented views
of a historic natural disaster, the recent Indian Ocean tsunami.
Likewise, it will soon be expected that any world event of note will
generate multiple first person podcast reports and reflections.

  The last sentence is so significant, let me repeat it:

Likewise, it will soon be expected that any world event of note will
generate multiple first person podcast reports and reflections.

    What a big idea — that the expectation of society will be that, when the big events of the day are occurring in one’s own neck of the woods, that person is responsible for sharing their experiences and information with the larger community. 
    I don’t know if society is willing to buy-in to idea that we are all responsible for contributing to the knowledge of others.  Heck, many of us can’t seem to fathom that jury duty or voting are important civic responsibilities.  But as a teacher, I hope to prepare my students to be  responsible citizens.  Stepping up to contribute when society has a need or interest is one way in which they can do so.      
    Grassroots Journalism, indeed. 
    Podcasting, then, becomes a tool that is a piece of a larger obligation to share information.  This idea furthers the idea that blogging and podcasting are tools for students who have real value to add to an educational program, and that students are not just in school to gain value and/or meaning from someone else.  We (schools) exist as institutions to help students craft their worth and interests into tools that are useful to society and to the students themselves.  Schools that see students as vessels to be filled with information don’t need social technologies. 
    I’m off to check out the Catholic Insider.  What other podcasts are exposing people to new experiences and ideas?