It’s podcast week at Teaching Old Dogs New Tricks, and there are 2 activities:
1. Discover some useful tools for locating podcasts and for subscribing to them. Listen to a podcast of your choice.
2. Blog how you are doing on this adventure.
What’s a podcast, you ask? A podcast is an audio file in MP3 format that is distributed using RSS. See all the jargon you’ve learned through this project? A podcast can be either a series of programs (sometimes called a channel) or a single audio program. Some people think of podcasts as radio programs not bound by a radio station’s schedule.
In case you are wondering about the word podcast, it’s a combination of iPod and broadcast. Pod is an acronym for portable on demand. However, you don’t need an iPod to listen to podcasts. They can be played on your computer or any MP3 portable player.
Now that Apple has developed iPods that play video as well as audio, some people use podcast for both plain audio and audio with video. The latter are also called vodcasts or videologs. This week’s activities focus on the audio.
Why podcasts?
The possible uses for podcasts is vast. For example, learn another language or listen to a favorite radio program, such as those from National Public Radio.
Libraries are beginning to use podcasts to promote and extend their services. The New York City Public Library has a collection of podcasts they’ve created to archive some of their programs for patrons. Similarly, the Library of Congress maintains podcasts from its annual National Book Festival. Many presidental libraries, such as the one for Truman, include podcasts on their websites. StoryCorps: Recording America is an independent oral history collaborative project archived at the Library of Congress. Online Programming for All Libraries (OPAL) is an international collaborative to provide programs and training for library staff and their patrons.
Because podcasts can be created without expensive equipment or specialized skills, public libraries are becoming producers. The Denver Public Library has a series of recorded story times on the web, and Seattle Public podcasts its author readings and other events. The Cheshire (CT) Public Library podcasts a “teen-driven culture magazine,” and the Lansing (IL) Public Library has detailed information for their patrons about how to find and subscribe to podcasts as well as links to their own podcasts, which include teen book reviews.
How do you find podcasts?
While you can use your favorite search engine to find podcasts, a more direct approach is to use a podcast directory. PodAlley is a popular site. Another is PodcastDirectory, which categorizes podcasts by such aspects as region, topic, language, and popularity. For library podcasts, explore Library Success: A Best Practices Wiki. This wiki’s podcasting section has links to libraries engaged in podcasting and includes how-to information links.
Arguably the first and still the best podcast directory is the iTunes Store. Take a few minutes to explore this site. Although this is a store, there is lots of free content. However, you will not get very far unless you have iTunes loaded on your computer. It’s a free download that will manage your podcast subscriptions and organize the MP3 downloads on your computer. If you have an iPod or iPhone, iTunes will also manage synchronizing with those devices. Why would you want to use the iTunes Store and iTunes? For one thing, it’s where you can access the archives of SirsiDynix Institute presentations.
How do I subscribe to a podcast?
Once you become aware of podcasts, they are every place. Subscribe using the RSS skills you developed in Week #10. Or, if you want to isolate podcasts from your other subscriptions, consider using iTunes or another podcatcher, such as PodNova or Juice.
This week’s activities
By now you know how to find podcasts and subscribe to them. Make sure you listen to one to complete the first activity.
Then update your blog with a post on how Teaching Old Dogs New Tricks is going for you. Blog about your experiences recently. Which activities do you have remaining? Do you need to contact Pamela for personalized help?
April 22, 2008 at 12:11 pm
I recently explored Sniplits.com on my blog, which fits with this week’s theme.
Sniplits offers stories sorted by the length of time required to hear them from start to finish, and they offer original stories by new authors, so they fill a niche.
I spend a lot of time advocating for original (or indie) musicians and live performances, so I like that Sniplits essentially champions those “indie” writers out there waiting for a publisher to spot them.