In 2005, "podcast" was named the "word of the year" by New Oxford American Dictionary and with the growth of podcasting over the last 24 months, it's easy to see why.
Podcasts take many forms, from short 1-10 minutes commentaries (like the one used in week one of this Learning 2.0 program) to much longer in person interviews, lectures or panel group discussions. There’s a podcast out there for just about every interest area and the best part about this technology is that you don’t have to have an iPod or a MP3 player to access them. Since audio podcasts use the MP3 file format, a popular compressed format for audio files, you really just need a PC (or portal device) with headphones or a speaker.
iTunes, the free downloadable application created by Apple is the directory finding service most associated with podcasts, but if you don’t have iTunes installed there are still plenty of options.
For this discovery exercise participants are asked to take a look at some popular podcast directory tools. Do some exploring on your own and locate a podcast that is of interest to you. Once found, you can easily pull the RSS feed into your Bloglines account as well, so that when new casts become available you’ll be automatically notified of their existence.
Our University Library makes various lectures available via our library web site. These lectures can either be listened to one at a time via the web browser (streaming) or downloaded via a podcast aggregator (podcatcher), such as iTunes, but any podcast aggregator can be used. The UCSC Public Information Office also maintains a list of UC Santa Cruz Podcasts.
Discovery Resources
* To find out more about podcasts start with Yahoo: What is a podcast tutorial
* There are many, many podcast directories and finding tools out there. Here are just a few of the more popular ones that, unlike iTunes, don't require a software download:
o Podcast.net
o Podcastalley.com
o Yahoo Podcasts
o Library Success - A Best Practices Wiki: Podcasts
Discovery Exercise
1. Take a look at one or two of the podcast directories listed and see if you can find a podcast that interests you. See if you can find some interesting library related podcasts here like book review podcasts or library news.
2. Add the RSS feed for a podcast to your account
3. Create a blog post about your discovery process. Did you find anything useful here?
Note: Headphones can be found at either the McHenry Reference desk, the MERC or S&E Circulation desk.
Optional Exercises:
* Make a podcast
o Odeo Studio – online recording studio. It's very easy to make an audio podcast on this site with a microphone.
o Make an 'enhanced' (includes multimedia) podcast with Apple's free GarageBand software. See an example of the McHenry Library Addition podcast made with GarageBand.
o Yahoo: Publish a podcast
o Beginner's guide to Podcasts & Creating Podcasts
o How to podcast tutorial
Next Up: Audio eBooks
