I recently had a (way too brief) conversation with PodCamp NYC 2.0 co-organizer John C. Havens, VP of Business Development at Blog Talk Radio and fellow Advisory Board member of the Association of Downloadable Media. (He’s on the right in the photo, with Chris MacDonald.) John wanted to talk about this PodCamp’s wider appeal to students and educators, and about how the organizers are putting the spotlight on new media and podcasting in education:

“One comment I wanted to add to [our interview with co-organizer Whitney Hoffman] is how excited I am that this year’s focus is on educators/students. Teachers have always come to PodCamp, but we really tried to reach outside of the standard audience for PodCamps to connect with people influencing students to such a great degree.

“Also, educators are some of the most forward-thinking people in new media. I think that’s often overlooked. So, selfishly, I wanted to learn from people whose voices are outside of strictly tech circles to see case studies of what they’re doing, to implement tools effectively.

“Basically, I think it’s vital to get outside of our echo chambers, whatever and wherever they happen to be. Nothing wrong per se with those chambers, except that innovation dies in a vacuum.”

Havens is also author of an upcoming book on the role of communications in promoting business transparency, which comes out later this year. In the meantime, the interviews for the book are being published as a podcast.