Best Data Crawling Podcasts (2025)

1
Is Web Scraping Legal? Risks & Real-World Use Cases 10:03

1d ago10:03

10:03

This episode explores the legal gray zones and ethical boundaries of web scraping, highlighting landmark court cases, websites' defensive tactics, and real-world applications across industries like law, real estate, and e-commerce. It is a must-listen for anyone working with data at scale.By Datamam

1
Friends Helping Friends with Patrick Hoffman 53:12

11d ago53:12

53:12

The mass incarceration system has been dubbed “the new Jim Crow”—there are now more Black men in prison or on probation or parole than there were living in bondage as chattel slaves in 1850. There are significantly more people caught up in the system of incarceration and supervision in America today—over six million—than inhabited Stalin’s gulag at…

1
The Hidden World of Web Scraping: Ethics and Innovations 7:08

11d ago7:08

7:08

Web scraping powers everything from market intelligence to AI training, but most people have no idea how it really works. In this episode, we reveal the hidden world of web scraping. Explore how companies, from small retailers to major financial firms, use scraping to make smarter, faster decisions. You’ll hear real-world examples, learn how modern…

1
More Beautiful, More Terrible: Teaching Truth with Jesse Hogapian 1:15:49

16d ago1:15:49

1:15:49

Thomas Jefferson was the masterly author of the ringing and rousing Declaration of Independence as well as a human trafficker and serial rapist. The second president embodies James Baldwin’s observation that “American history is longer, larger, more various, more beautiful, and more terrible than anything anyone has ever said about it.” The US is a…

1
Common Good Organizing with Elizabeth Todd-Breland 1:07:44

22d ago1:07:44

1:07:44

The Caucus of Rank and File Educators (CORE) led by Karen Lewis, a charismatic high school chemistry teacher, was elected to lead the Chicago Teachers Union in 2010. Lewis was a brilliant, transformational labor leader, and CORE developed a forceful form of social justice union organizing they called “organizing for the common good.” They foregroun…

1
Solidarity through Design with Lani Hanna and Josh MacPhee 45:54

29d ago45:54

45:54

Solidarity takes on many forms but for over four decades one vivid example rose out of a design and print studio in Havana, Cuba. Born in 1966 out of the Tricontinental Conference the Organization of Solidarity of the People of Asia, Africa, and Latin America (Organización de Solidaridad de los Pueblos de Asia, África y América Latina — OSPAAAL) st…

1
NOlympics with Jules Boykoff 52:47

1M ago52:47

52:47

Dave Zirin (“Edge of Sports;” and Under the Tree, Episode #58 ) gave a delightful and provocative talk at a conference a few years ago called “Will There Be Sports Under Socialism?” The short answer—of course!—human beings have played games and sports from the beginning, and there’s no stopping us. But capitalism has distorted and mangled our natur…

1
The Invisible Institute with Maira Khwaja and Trina Reynolds-Tyler 1:15:51

1M ago1:15:51

1:15:51

The Invisible Institute—with its evocative and mysterious name—exists in the proud tradition of “guerrilla journalism,” a difficult to define or pigeon-hole practice of human rights inquiry and documentation. This dazzling collection of journalists, archivists, writers, thinkers, organic intellectuals-without-portfolio, organizers, activists, data …

1
The Right to Think at All with Katherine Franke 46:47

2M ago46:47

46:47

Thousands of student visas cancelled by the government! Legal residents snatched off the streets by masked agents, detained and deported! Federal research grants to universities scrapped! The government asserting a special right to oversee academic departments and curriculum decisions! The frequency of events like these across the country are dizzy…

1
Big Data/Predatory Data with Anita Say Chan 57:14

2M ago57:14

57:14

To be ruled is to be spied upon and inspected, quantified, measured, and ranked, and then registered and regulated with all the inherent structural violence packed into those arrangements. To be free is to abolish all of it, to reject that system’s hold over our minds as well as to defeat its power in the world. What kind of society do we want to l…

1
Everything for Everyone with M.E.O’Brien and Eman Abdelhadi 55:26

2M ago55:26

55:26

What is your North Star? What are you fighting for, and what are you struggling to overcome, or leave behind? The goal is not a precise and detailed roadmap—that way lies dogma, orthodoxy, and worse—but rather a vision and a hope with which to gauge and partially frame our work in the here and now. The great Uruguay revolutionary, Edwardo Galeano, …

1
A Radical Reframing with Jeanne Theoharis and Erik Wallenberg 1:06:36

2M ago1:06:36

1:06:36

When a popular leader emerges from the whirlwind of a struggle for justice, power always stands in opposition—ignoring the rising demands where possible, ridiculing and coopting, and eventually fighting with everything in their arsenal. When the popular leader is gone—murdered or passed on—power makes them into a mythical hero while simultaneously …

1
Our Revels Now Are Ended 10:26

3M ago10:26

10:26

Howard Jacobson reflects on the radio essay, after almost two decades of A Point of View. With nods to Clive James, body-pierced baritones and with a plentiful supply of svelte notebooks, Howard explains why he believes the radio essay is 'more than words on paper'...why it captures the 'frolicsome spirit of truth'. And, Howard writes, 'at a time w…

1
How History Begins Again 10:18

3M ago10:18

10:18

The celebrated American theorist, Francis Fukuyama, in his book 'The End of History and the Last Man' argued that US-style liberalism was the ultimate destination for all mankind, 'the final form of human government'. John Gray explains why he believes his prophecy has been turned on its head. 'As in the past, many human beings will live under tyra…

1
Beyond Prison with Jimmy Soto 1:04:38

3M ago1:04:38

1:04:38

James (Jimmy) Soto was released from Stateville Prison in November, 2023, after suffering 42 years and 2 months in custody for a crime he did not commit. A month before his release he had received his bachelor’s degree from Northwestern University. He and his co-defendant, Tyrone Ayala, also exonerated, were the longest serving wrongfully convicted…

1
Elbows Up: Canada v Trump 10:36

3M ago10:36

10:36

After Donald Trump proposed that Canada could be consumed as America's 51st State, Adam Gopnik reflects on his homeland's history with the United States and Canada's new-found patriotic toughness - and how it differs from nationalism. 'It’s is only a little startling, though very Canadian, to find the new motto 'elbows up' radiating everywhere in C…

1
Leaning In to Social Media 10:40

3M ago10:40

10:40

Zoe Strimpel explains why she's decided to lean in to social media, and not worry about how much time she spends scrolling. Despite ongoing concerns about its impact on our brains, Zoe says she's personally found the algorithm benign, offering her endless information about food and cooking. "I have come to the conclusion that for a grown woman with…

1
How We Get Free with Barbara Smith 1:24:12

3M ago1:24:12

1:24:12

Barbara Smith is a Movement legend— the kind of courageous activist, powerful thinker, persistent organizer and whole-hearted doer who keeps the Movement moving. She is co-founder of the Combahee River Collective and co-author of the acclaimed 1977 statement that has been one of the most influential Black feminist documents of the twentieth century…

1
Tractors in Whitehall 10:18

4M ago10:18

10:18

As farmers prepare for another march at Whitehall in protest at the government's inheritance tax plans, Michael Morpurgo discusses the growing divide between city and countryside. 'The family farm, still at the heart of rural England,' writes Michael, 'is under threat, more than ever'. Michael reflects on how, during World War Two, we needed to pro…

1
Print the Legend 10:27

4M ago10:27

10:27

Tom Shakespeare explores the pitfalls of dramatised history and its influence on real life - but confesses to his own minor role in rewriting the past. "We turn to stories when the reality we desire fails us," he writes, "but if the legend is not based in fact, then history is in deep trouble, and so are we all." Producer: Sheila CookSound: Peter B…

1
Culture/Counterculture with Alex Zamalin 1:01:22

4M ago1:01:22

1:01:22

Human beings are suspended in webs-of-significance—we make sense and we make meaning—and culture is nothing more nor less than the webs. Those webs-of-significance are alive, forever trembling and vibrating, evolving and regenerating, changing and developing as messages and stories and ways-of-being vibrate across the surface. So culture can never …

1
The Joy of Archives 10:03

4M ago10:03

10:03

From sacks of correspondence belonging to a well known author to archives from the Battle of Waterloo (and the odd wooden leg), Sara Wheeler reflects on the joys of Britain's personal archives. 'I have loved almost every day I have ever spent in an archive,' Sara writes, 'and not just because dead people are so easy to get along with.' But she fear…

1
Geese, Aristotle and Migration 10:50

4M ago10:50

10:50

Walking along the muddy tracks of the River Ouse near her home a few days ago, Rebecca Stott reflects on migration. She contemplates the lives of the Canada geese that frequently fly over her home, as well as Aristotle's own studies of bird migration - and his extraordinary life as a migrant - while considering the historic links between the migrat…

1
To be Close to Books with Emily Drabinski 52:03

4M ago52:03

52:03

In America is in the Heart, Carlos Bulosan describes his good fortune at landing a job in a library where he could be close to books: “I was beginning to understand what was going on around me, and the darkness that had covered my present life was lifting.” Ursula Le Guin writes of a library’s sacredness: “its accessibility, its publicness.” She ca…

1
The Overwhelm 10:29

4M ago10:29

10:29

The 'overwhelm' - noun, not verb - has been around 'since at least 1596', AL Kennedy discovers. She looks at the reasons why the word is making a comeback - and she has some advice for those who also feel lost in 'the overwhelm.' Producer: Adele Armstrong Sound: Peter BosherProduction coordinator: Gemma Ashman Editor: Richard Fenton-Smith…

1
On Hyperbole 10:23

5M ago10:23

10:23

Remember the days, Howard Jacobson implores us, when we got on fine with 'very'? Today, Howard argues, 'very’ is not ‘very’ enough for the times we live in.' In its place, 'incredible' and other supersized words, spreading 'verbal chaos.' Howard reflects on the dangers of over-inflated language, 'where words prance about without their clothes, shou…

1
Comix Theory with Eve Ewing and Ryan Alexander-Tanner 56:15

5M ago56:15

56:15

Comix is a distinct art form—sequential art—that expresses ideas with multiple images, most often combined with text. It's a hybrid (think co-mix) and, importantly, it’s a medium not a genre—don’t confuse the two in the presence of a comix creator or you might get your head bit off (for a real-life dramatization, see the opening of To Teach: the jo…

1
Trump, Washington and America First 10:53

5M ago10:53

10:53

As Donald Trump prepares to re-enter the White House, Mark Damazer reflects on America's leadership in the world. Eavesdropping on a focus group recently, Mark tells us that the country's leadership was seen as 'a burden and a luxury - and a luxury they wanted to do without.' 'There was a time when large chunks of the world were grateful for Americ…

1
On a Gloomy Moment 10:35

5M ago10:35

10:35

In deepest, darkest January, Adam Gopnik muses on light and dark. Adam reminds us that - from the natural world of the ghost moth to the politics of today's America - although we live in a 'gloomy moment' we can 'adjust our eyes to the gloom.' 'Every little bit of light we make,' writes Adam, 'in every decent thing we do and every indecency we refu…

1
Goodbye to All That—Let’s Begin Again with Bill Ayers 35:08

5M ago35:08

35:08

When Freedom is the Question… was published on September 10, and we had a book launch that night at our home-away-from-home, Pilsen Community Books, in conversation with Eve Ewing. We traveled to Women and Children First, Seminary Coop, The Wooden Shoe in Philadelphia, Book and Puppet in Easton, PA, Riff Raff in Providence, Firestorm in Asheville, …

1
The Best I Can Do 10:02

5M ago10:02

10:02

Sara Wheeler explains why every week for several decades - despite knowing nothing about art - she has called in to London’s National Gallery to look at the same two paintings. 'This habit of mine,' writes Sara, 'started by accident when I moved to London forty years ago' when she first set eyes on Botticelli's 'Portrait of a Young Man' and van Eyc…

1
On Resolutions 10:46

6M ago10:46

10:46

Megan Nolan rediscovers a childhood diary with her first New Year's Resolutions. She was fascinated and appalled, she says, by what she read:. The final resolution, underlined, read simply 'be a better person!' These days, Megan looks on self-improvement in a rather different way - less an attempt at perfection and more 'an attempt to courageously …

1
A Jolly Good Pud 10:32

6M ago10:32

10:32

Mary Beards reflects on what really lies behind our attachment to Christmas ritual and tradition. In a special edition of A Point of View, recorded in Mary's kitchen as she prepares her Christmas puddings, she ponders 'why those of us who aren't particularly wedded to the idea of tradition for the rest of the year, fall hook, line and sinker for it…

1
Brave Community with Janine de Novais 50:51

6M ago50:51

50:51

The word “racism” can apply to a specific person or to the social structure, and in our hyper-individualistic culture, the word most commonly devolves to a singular individual who did something obviously prejudiced: Cliven Bundy, the Nevada cattle rancher, Amy Cooper, the New York person who called the cops on a bird-watcher who’d asked her to keep…

1
Monster Soup 10:27

6M ago10:27

10:27

With water companies reeling from criticism over sewage discharge and rising bills, Stephen Smith squelches through London's watery underworld. 'Descending into London's Victorian sewers', Stephen says, 'is like spelunking through the layers of the city's history, and reminds you that problems over water and sanitation have been the norm rather tha…

1
A baby's-eye view of the world 10:03

6M ago10:03

10:03

Zoe Strimpel on the joys of seeing the world through the eyes of her 9 month old daughter. 'Where previously I would barely have noticed them,' Zoe writes, 'I now size up trees from below in terms of buds, leaves, colour, height - and how all of these may look to my little lady viewed from her pram or carrier in which her neck swivels constantly li…

1
Reckoning with the Wreckage with Davarian Baldwin and David Stovall 1:00:09

6M ago1:00:09

1:00:09

This is the country we live in…no doubt about it: white nationalists well-organized and rising; a fascist in the white house surrounded by his loyal Renfields; a preannounced genocide against the Palestinian people of Gaza underway, funded and fueled by our taxes; raging, racialized police violence unchecked; capitalist-induced climate collapse on …

1
House Clearing 10:32

7M ago10:32

10:32

Rebecca Stott ponders the task of clearing her Mum's house, and the enormous difficulty of dismantling the things her mother loved and that Rebecca remembers her buying from bric-a-brac and antique shops. 'The beauty of the objects in my mother's house exists in her artistry,' writes Rebecca, 'the way she had placed some of them so that the evening…

1
The New Centre Ground 9:59

7M ago9:59

9:59

John Gray believes the British state is broken, and that we urgently need a new centre ground in British politics. 'Outside the echo chamber of metropolitan opinion', John writes, 'there is a restive electorate perplexed and discomforted by the country the UK has become'. He says our politicians seem bent on continuing the status quo, seemingly una…

1
Existentialism and an Escaped Monkey 10:27

7M ago10:27

10:27

From the escape of Cholmondley the chimp from London Zoo in 1848, to Chichi from the Kharkiv Zoo in 2022, to a group of 43 macaque monkeys from a research facility in South Carolina last week, Megan Nolan reflects on the great annals of animal escapes and why they hold an almost mystical appeal to humans. She believes the reason they are so potent …

1
From White Folks Who Teach in the Hood with Christopher Emdin, Sam Seidel, and co-host Adam Bush 1:06:54

7M ago1:06:54

1:06:54

Let’s talk about teaching, which means let’s also talk about racism—attitudes, stereotypes, prejudices, for sure, and much, much more. Let’s talk about structures and institutions, as well, about laws and legacies, cultures and the dogma of common sense. Co-host Adam Bush and I are joined in conversation with Christopher Emdin and Sam Seidel. After…

1
Time Travel 10:19

7M ago10:19

10:19

Sara Wheeler reflects on the valuable perspective offered by out-of-date guide books. They shed light on the life of the early traveler - advised to pack an iron bedstead and a portable bath tub - and reveal how destinations may have evolved or be frozen in time. 'The chief question I ask the old guides is whether the spirit of a place - the genius…

1
The Brink 10:17

7M ago10:17

10:17

In the last of his essays reflecting on America's search for meaning, James Naughtie recalls a meeting a year ago with General Michael Hayden - the former head of the CIA - who, without fanfare, expressed concern for the future of US Democracy. 'I don’t know that we’ll come through this,’ he said. ‘Right now I think it’s about 50-50.’ James reflect…

1
Parenting Toward Abolition with Maya Schenwar and Kim Wilson 1:07:29

8M ago1:07:29

1:07:29

Abolition can perhaps best be understood as a collection of creative and complex acts of world-building—what kind of world would we need to build in order to have no slavery? our forebears asked. And what kind of world could we begin to create today that would render prisons and police and militarism obsolete, predation and exploitation relics of a…

1
The Old Identity 10:39

8M ago10:39

10:39

James Naughtie argues that a common American identity will be achieved - one day - despite the heightened political rhetoric around immigration, that is making it one of the most contentious issues in this year's presidential election. He recalls Ronald Reagan's 'homely evocation of an American character'. For Reagan, James says, the inscription on…

1
Words, Words, Words 9:55

8M ago9:55

9:55

From the description of Alexander Hamilton as 'the bastard brat of a Scotch pedlar', to Lyndon Johnson's depiction of Gerald Ford as a man who 'couldn't fart and chew gum at the same time', James Naughtie argues that American political language has long been teeming with insult. He recalls as a student in 1974, queuing at the back door of the White…

1
Leaders of a Beautiful Struggle with Lawrence Grandpre 55:44

8M ago55:44

55:44

We’re in conversation today with Lawrence Grandpre from the group Leaders of a Beautiful Struggle (LBS), a grassroots think-tank that advances the public policy interests of Black people in Baltimore through youth leadership development, political advocacy, and autonomous intellectual innovation. Founded by young freedom fighters, you can find them…

1
Call Me Ishmael 10:13

8M ago10:13

10:13

James Naughtie presents the first of four personal essays exploring America's 'wild search for meaning' in the run-up to November's presidential election. From the freezing waters of Nantucket Sound in Moby Dick, via sunken levees of the Mississippi and the railroad blues of New Orleans, to the ‘raucous expeditions into an underworld of…richly woun…

1
Paranoids and Publicists 10:36

8M ago10:36

10:36

Adam Gopnik revisits two famous American essays from the 1960s and finds a remarkably contemporary vision - and one 'that seems to have an application to our own time and its evident crisis.' He couples Richard Hofstadter's 1964 essay, 'The Paranoid Style in American Politics' with Daniel Boorstin's 1962 classic on 'image' and America's tenuous rel…

1
Citizen Printer with Amos Paul Kennedy Jr. 53:32

8M ago53:32

53:32

Amos Kennedy, self-described “humble negro printer” and author of Citizen Printer, is a visionary treasure, an imaginative freedom-fighter, and the creator of type-driven messages of justice, freedom, and Black Power. He understands that freedom comes to life in action, and that we are most truly (and paradoxically) free when we name the obstacles …

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Podcasts Worth a Listen