How did the podcasters' guild get started?

Steve Eley of Escape Pod (http://www.escapepod.info) came up with the
idea of founding a guild that would become a central content, community,
and podcaster services portal. No sooner had he acquired the domain name
podcastguild.org and started preliminary talks with a few podcasters
when the same idea arose spontaneously on the Yahoo podcasters list.
After a discussion with Paula Berinstein of The Writing Show
(http://www.writingshow.com), Steve posted his ideas on the list and
asked for volunteers to form a planning committee. Several people
stepped up immediately:

Andy Armstrong
Paula Berinstein
Dennis Hays
Juliann Krute
Mur Lafferty
Paul Puri
Matthew Wayne Selznick
George Smyth
Rob Walch

The committee has since undergone a few changes in membership, but many
of the original founders remain.

Who is involved in the creation of the group?

The current committee is:

Andy Armstrong, Mojo Crash. http://www.mojocrash.net

Paula Berinstein, The Writing Show, http://www.writingshow.com

Stephen Eley, Escape Pod, http://www.escapepod.info

Dennis Hays, Secrets of Digital Imaging Audio Magazine, http://www.imagingsecrets.com  

A Late-Night Blues and Jazz Hangout, http://bluesandjazz.thepodcastnetwork.com

Gary Leland, Podcast Pickle, http://www.podcastpickle.com

PD Love, The Lovehouse Radio Podcast, http://lovehouseradio.com

Charlie McEnerney, Well-Rounded Radio, http://www.wellroundedradio.net

Chris Miller, Podiobooks.com, http://www.podiobooks.com

Paul Puri, the Podcasters Podcasting Podcast Show, http://www.p3show.com
Podsafe Gear – Gear for Podcasters, http://podsafegear.com

Matthew Wayne Selznick, The Brave Men Run Podcast, http://www.bravemenrun.com

George Smyth, One Minute How-To, http://OneMinuteHowTo.com
and Eclectic Mix, http://EclecticMix.com.

What will you be doing?

The Guild’s mission is to promote podcasting worldwide; provide
resources, information, and advocacy for podcasters; and work to build
and maintain an effective technical, business, artistic, and legal
environment for podcasting.

We intend to:

Promote podcasting
Raise awareness of the issues involved in podcasting
Provide a central place where podcasters can come together
Provide educational services for podcasters
Conduct and publish surveys on topics that affect podcasters and podcasting
Work to create standards
Provide inspiration for podcasters
Address business and technical issues that affect podcasters by sitting
on committees, lobbying, and getting involved in other activities
Provide job information
Offer special interest groups
Hold events
Negotiate discounts and other deals for podcasters

Who should join you, and how can they do so?

We welcome individual and organizational members. We’re looking for
additional people to help us plan and publicize the guild. We are also
looking for an attorney who can help us set up. You can contact our
chair Paul Puri at

What would you like to make certain people know about the podcasters' guild?

This is everyone's guild. We want to make sure all points of view are represented, so contact us with your ideas!