Audio Drama Forum?

How many spaces are there to talk about audio drama? What kinds of discussions go on when people who have a passion for audio drama get together? How can audio drama be promoted and championed by those who are most passionate and committed to innovating and making the production of audio drama more accessible to more people?

Two sites have caught my attention as I continue to look for ideas about how to improve Audiotheque. Audio Drama Talk is an American based bulletin board site that allows users to post messages and news to a set of forums that cover a whole range of issues. From commissioning to press releases, latest releases and radio drama history, to meeting and talking with friends who are like minded about their love for classic and contemporary audio drama. While this site is mainly text based, contains no audio, and is focussed on a discussion of audio drama from an American perspective, it certainly shows that a thriving community of users can gather around the right sort of site and discuss and debate the way forward for audio drama.

Speak Up for Audio Drama Now has over 1,500 followers on Facebook. It is a group that was set up by Gillian Reynolds who questioned the BBC’s decision to stop producing original drama productions for broadcast on Friday nights. The group demonstrates that there is potential for discussion and the sharing of thinking about how audio drama audiences might be represented when it comes to scheduling and the commission of new plays.

So, is it the case that in order to run a successful community site it means having a place for discussion and debate? Should Audiotheque attempt to provide a space for that discussion and debate? How would users issues of interest be broken down into categories? What type of language would the site need to deploy in order to be both accessible and of interest to the passionate enthusiast? Setting up the functionality of a bulletin board discussion group is one thing, figuring out how to promote it and encourage people to post to it is another?

The content management system that we use for the Audiotheque site is called Drupal, and it as a limited capability for users to leave comments against each post, or to leave a message in a forum. The problem that we have found with our forums when we have used them in the past, is that they have quickly filled with spam, and that they are not very easy to read or to manage. On other site I’ve integrated phpBB, which is a full functioning message board system that integrates with Drupal, and allows users of the site to more easily access a set of clearly defined forums in which users can set threads for discussion about topics they choose. phpBB can be customised to suit the needs of the user quite easily, and if used well can facilitate interaction quite well.

I’ve got two questions really, would lovers of audio drama benefit from having another space in which to express themselves? And would Audiotheque benefit from being this space, or would this dilute it’s purpose? Any thoughts, leave a comments and David and I will add it to the list of development ideas we are working on for Audiotheuqe.