Frequently Asked Questions
+0.2 What is a show?
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+
A show is your audio presentation (which we do not moderate), + with an intro, outro, a title and a summary.
+ The audio is the recording you have made and sent in to HPR.
+ The intro (introduction) is a piece of audio introducing the show. The components are:
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+
- a synopsis taken from the details submitted with the show (added automatically) +
- acknowledgement of our hosting provider (added automatically) +
- HPR introduction music (added automatically) +
+ The outro is added automatically. It contains the HPR outro music.
+ Each show needs a title to describe what it is about.
+ Similarly, a summary helps to add more information describing the show so a potential listener + can decide whether to listen to it or not.
+ Each show is expected to have certain mandatory attributes listed + below.
+ HPR shows are usually expected to be informative or educational, and as such some sort of accompanying written material + is highly desirable. This might consist of brief notes, links to relevant web sites, or possibly longer notes + and examples. Photographs, diagrams and example files are also welcome if the host feels + it helps to get the message across.
+ Shows are released under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported license. + See Stuff you need to know + for much more detail about this and related issues.
+ As a contributor you can choose when your show will be released. + We only release one show a day, during week days, + but if a slot is free you can claim it. Go to the calendar + page to do this. You need to have your show ready to upload before you reserve a slot though.
+
0.4 + What defines a show as being "Produced for Hacker Public Radio"?
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+
- If you create material and post it first on HPR then it meets the requirements of "being produced for HPR". + That means once you upload it to the HPR server you can publish it anywhere else you like. +
0.5 + What are the mandatory elements of an HPR show?
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+
See Picking a slot for your show + for the full details of how to submit a show and what information is required.
+ A quick summary of the main components is:
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- A show title +
- A summary of what the show is about +
- The explicit/clean flag +
- License +
- Show notes +
- Tags +
- Audio +
+
0.6 What are tags?
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We are trying to maintain a collection of tags to allow people to find shows on the same (or similar) topic.
+ Tags are simple words or short phrases describing aspects of a show such as what topics are covered in it. + To get hints about what tags have already been used you can view all the current tags in alphabetical order on this page: + Tag summary
+ Some examples are: android, creative commons and gaming.
+ Are there any tags that are best avoided?
+
0.7 + Is it OK if I don't include notes with my show?
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+
- Please don't do that. It is important to provide good show notes for reasons described on the
+ Picking a slot for your show page:
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+
- They provide the listeners with more information on the topic your show is covering +
- They ensure your show gets posted on time (the volunteers don't have to make notes for you) +
- They encourage people to download your show +
- They allow your show to be indexed by search engines +
- They make your show accessible to the deaf and hard of hearing +
+
0.8 + How do I include photographs or other files with my show?
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+
- TBA +
0.9 + What is and is not edited in a show after submission?
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+
We don't listen to the audio before posting a show to the website, so we don't change the content.
+ Unless you have done so and told us you have, we add an introduction to the audio announcing what it is. + Similarly we add an outro. This is not editing since we don't change the content.
+ We may make changes to the show title, summary or tags. Usually these are minor changes such as spelling corrections. + The intention is not any sort of censorship, merely to make these items more understandable or easier to index.
+ Depending on the form the show notes take we may modify these.
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- If what is submitted is plain text we convert it to Markdown in order to generate HTML. +
- If the notes are one of the permitted markup formats (mostly Markdown flavours) we may adjust this to ensure + that valid HTML is generated. +
- If the notes are HTML we run them through an HTML checker and correct any mistakes it highlights. +
- We may correct spelling, grammar and punctuation if this clarifies anything which might otherwise be unclear. +
- If despite the request for show notes of some kind, none are provided, we may add notes which help to clarify + the content of the show. This may be done after the show is released (when we have had a chance to listen to it). +
+ We are working on the production of reports about any changes made, which will be sent to the host after we have + processed the show.
+ We may make changes to a show's metadata if the host requests it (see the item on + + fixing errors after upload).
+ If a show contains links to resources which disappear after a period of time, we may at some future time change + the notes to refer to any Wayback Machine copy that can be found.
+
0.10 + What are some common errors in show notes?
+It depends on the note format to some extent:
+0.10.1 HTML notes
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+
It's very easy to hand-write bad HTML. That's why we use an HTML checker on it, and fix the errors it reports.
+ A common fault is to write
<code><pre>to define a pre-formatted block of text using a fixed-width font. + However it's illegal because the<pre>tag can't be enclosed in other tags like +<code>. Use<pre><code>instead.
+
0.10.2 Markdown notes
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- This is quite a forgiving format. Some people embed HTML in the Markdown, and the HTML used suffers from some + of the issues discussed in this document. These are much harder to spot. The HTML checker can't + really help unless it's run on the output from Pandoc. +
0.10.3 General errors
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+
Spelling is often an issue in notes. As the notes are processed they are edited in the Vim editor with the + spell check option turned on. In most cases spelling problems flagged by Vim are corrected.
+ Grammar and punctuation can also be issues. We do not have very effective grammar checking tools in the note + preparation workflow. Modifications may be made to split up extra-long (often comma-spliced) sentences, + rationalise the use of capital letters and similar.
+
0.11 + If I notice an error in my show's details how can it be fixed?
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+
The HPR administrators can make changes to show titles, summaries, notes and so forth. Ideally send an + email to
adminatpublicradio.orgexplaining what the problem is and we'll fix it for you. + We'll also ensure that the changes are propagated to the relevant page on archive.org.
+ Don't be tempted to send in your corrections as a comment. Comments are not propagated to archive.org, so people + referring to that copy will not see the changes.
+
0.12
+ Does hobbypublicradio.com have anything to do with HPR?
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+
Some environments prevent access to sites which use the word
'hacker'or'hackers'+ in their names (or content in extreme cases). The site nameshobbypublicradio.{com,net,org}have been created, + which link to the main HPR site, in order to get around this restriction.
+ See the mailing list thread here: + + https://lists.hackerpublicradio.com/pipermail/hpr/2015-February/002493.html
+
0.13 + How can I talk to other HPR hosts and listeners?
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- You have a number of choices:
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- The mailing list hpr@hackerpublicradio.org is where various + policy matters are discussed and announcements made. You need to be a member of the list to post to it. + Visit the listinfo page to sign up. +
- You can join the #oggcastplanet channel on IRC. + Visit the freenode.net network to sign up. +
- A number of HPR messages may be found on Twitter and + Mastodon. +
- There is a chat group on Telegram +
- An HPR tradition exists where we record a 26-hour show at the turn of the year celebrating the + arrival of the New Year around the world. We use Mumble to record the show and anyone can connect + to the Mumble server and speak to other HPR listeners and hosts. The recording is used to make multiple + shows which are released when they are ready. +
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