The Guardian Mobile Innovation Lab launched an experimental audio series called Strange Bird, to test a new audio player they developed for mobile web browsers.
The team aimed to address some of the limitations of the podcast listening experience, such as it being mostly confined to apps, which narrows down the potential audience to mostly people who are already podcast aficionados. They also wanted to test how audio could be augmented through the use of visuals that offer additional context, without distracting listeners or making them feel like they are missing out if they do not interact with images or links.
In this week's podcast, we speak to editor Sasha Koren and developer Alastair Coote about how the Lab built the audio player, and why more news organisations should explore the potential of mobile browsers for audio consumption.
Illustration of Strange Bird by Guardian data editor Mona Chalabi.
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