Is there a Transcript? A podcast transcript database-in-progress

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Podcasting is now an unignorable medium for influential cultural production, knowledge making, and community building. And although podcasts are commonly designed within multifaceted, multimedia content systems, not very many podcasts seem to come with transcripts. I've gathered data to assess the current state of transcript availability by surveying 94 English-language podcasts (two each sampled from 47 podcast production networks) so far. With this research, I begin to both investigate the limits of podcasting’s practical attention to access. Transcript availability matters for purposes of inclusion and for the empowerment of audiences who hope to engage with podcasting conversations for scholarship, activism, or coalition-building. This small study forms a foundation from which we can continue building the infrastructure needed to make transcripts more expected and more widely available.