Design specifications and importance

As I haven't really explained it earlier, our new unit is concerned with creating podcasts to define adolescence. In Grade 10, we're all well into teenagehood, which many will describe as one of the most confusing time of their lives. This unit is therefore really about understanding ourselves and the other teenagers we interact with.
Sometimes, it's easy to enclose yourself in your little bubble and think your problems truly are the end of the world; it's just as easy to forget other people's feelings when you interact with them. By creating podcasts to better understand ourselves and others, we can gain a lot of personal insight and ameliorate our relationships with people our age, far beyond just the IT classroom.
Just like it is important to know yourself, understanding the people around you helps move everyone forward. Most people will agree that you are not the same at the beginning of adolescence and at the end. I like the way this person put it:

You may think of adolescence as a molten metal. It can be shaped in any shape, it can be easily manipulated and controlled. It is free to flow anywhere. This is why teenagers seem to change their personalities so quickly. However, at the end of adolescence and the beginning of adult life, the molten metal becomes solid and its shape cannot be changed as easily as it could have been before.

As one person I interviewed said, the teenagers of today are the future, just like the teenagers after them will be in their time. It's not only in our own personal interest that we get along well, but by ensuring we understand what we are going through by looking at how other people cope with teenagehood, we can all become more confident and make the future world an even better place to be.

Our task is to create our own podcasts about adolescence, particularly adolescence in Mongolia. Podcasts are regularly posted episodes, either audio or video, concerning a specific topic. They are a bit like modern, Web 2.0 versions of radio emissions; anyone can create them, from professionals to regular internet users. Likewise, anyone who wants to can have a look on the number of online websites that list podcasts and download as many episodes as they want (most podcasts tend to be free). The audio ones are simply voice recordings, sometimes edited with sound software such as Audacity; the video ones are basically short TV programmes, recorded with a camera or any other device. Podcasts exist on a variety of subjects, ranging from cooking shows to calligraphy and tech news. They are used to relay free, periodical information to as many people as possible.

We have a choice whether or not to make videocasts or audiocasts. I think video is more interesting, but also quite a lot harder to manage. Depending on the time we will be allocated for the project, I will choose one or the other. As far as my other specifications go, I want my podcast to:

• Be over 10mn long, not including credits or titles
• Sound (and possibly video) must be clear and downloadable in Mongolia
  
• Contain interviews with at least 5 people between the ages of 13-18
• Show different sides of adolescence by presenting teens with various interests and lifestyles
• Briefly examine what pre-teens and adults think of teenage years
• Give a good idea of the differences between being a teenager abroad and in your own country, focusing on Mongolia
• The podcast must be interesting and entertaining to listen to, using non-formal language
• My podcast must be available to many people
  

The reason I have decided to focus on teenagers living abroad is that I have always been travelling and although this seems natural to me, I am beginning to see more and more how widely different my life is compared to teenagers who live back in Europe, for example. I would like to interview people who have lived in both environments and people who have only known one. This design specification is my own, because I want to answer questions I have been asking myself. To verify I did follow my own guidelines, I will be conducting these tests at the end of this project:

• Show my podcast to at least one teenager, one pre-teen and one adult and see how the different age groups react
• Ask 3-4 of my classmates if they think my podcast accurately depicts adolescence and if not, what aspects I forgot to mention
• Put my podcast on Facebook and invite teenagers (particularly those living abroad) to watch it and comment on their own experiences.
  

Arshal, Abdul. "Significance of Teenagehood". Islamic Web Community. 14 Nov 2000. 10 Nov 2009 <"http://www.myiwc.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1855">