I’ve been looking for podcast bits out in the blogosphere as i shape these thoughts. I came across these in my travels:
At Blisspix: http://blisspix.net/index.php?p=29
“As I?ve commented to a couple of people and lists now, broadcasting/podcasting is fun, but it can be lonely and time-consuming to produce content. I found it quicker to produce live-to air in the studio, because I wasn?t going back and fixing mistakes, and all the equipment was set up (so I could play grabs, a record, a CD, a minidisc and conduct a phone interview all at the same time if I really wanted). At home, I didn?t have the luxury of a permanent set up, so if I wanted to add a song I would have to go back after recording and insert it. I suspect that?s the case for most podcasters who are generally using fairly basic setups. No doubt there will be new software available in the next couple of months to make recording podcasts easier.”
Jessamyn asked for comments about podcasting, and cited some interetsing reasons why it’s not the format for her. She also points to this, which I totally get: http://www.honan.net/2005/02/call-me-flakerson.php
I’ve written about unplugging and balance and think sometimes you have to say “Sorry…I didn’t get to read/download/listen/consume your content yet..” Sometimes I log on and there are suddenly 5 IMs for me! Recently, I turned an walked away from the Mac to unwind before addressing them. There is oonly so much time in a day - especially when two yellow fellows are eager to go outside!
“My multitasking does not extend to the audible realm.” Jessamyn West
http://www.burningdoor.com/feedburner/archives/001029.html
“I don’t buy that the majority of listeners are actually syncing and listening on mobile devices, but either way, I think it’s nice that people are taking the next step from text to multimedia.”
But I digress: Ahhh… podcasting! Here’s my all time favorite: Karen Schneider presents her Top Technology Trends from LITA via podcast: It’s POETRY!
http://freerangelibrarian.com/archives/020105/podcasting_test.php
I have been pondering — in fact, Aaron and I have had some in depth discussions about the merits and drawbacks of the library/librarian podcast this last weekend when he drove over to Mishawaka for a day long session on our CIL workshop and other up and coming stuff.
http://www.semls.org/tech/2005/02/podcasting-at-library.html
“Several librarian bloggers are starting to experiment with podcasts as a way to disseminate information. Podcasts work very much like RSS feeds, but are audio files sent out to iPods. If you don’t use an iPod, you can still listen to the Podcasts as long as you have Windows Media Player installed on your computers.My question is: how can libraries use Podcasts to get information out to their patrons, particularly those teenagers who are the most likely to have an iPod? I would love to see your thoughts.”
Frankly I see the application of syndicated audio content as more useful to libraries than to invidual librarians who blog. There is a niche here: one or two practioners who produce regularly scheduled audio broadcasts concerning LIS such as Mr. Greg Schwartz at Open Stacks.
Greg has done some nice stuff, but I realized in reading Jessamyn’s posts that I agree with her. It’s not blogging…it’s broadcasting. Works for me. I just hope all my favorite bloggers don’t convert solely to audio content. I would rather see libraries make promotional and informational audio content available when the format suits the content. ? Technomust occurs when folks in libraries say “we must get technology X” because all the other libraries are getting it. Bad idea! How does that serve a library’s users? Want to share a weekly calendar of events — put it up and feed it out with RSS. Makes sense. Have an author visiting? Ask if he or she might record a brief interview to be podcasted for users at home. What’s the implications of fair use for someone to record HOT new music at the library and include brief song snippets — this seems ok too. ?
Back in the day I recorded a segment for our educational radio station here in South Bend called “What’s New at the Library.” Are podcasts of the same stuff in our future? This would be great to carry around some cool content to listen to on a walk or at the gym. ?
http://www.mchron.net/site/edublog.php?id=P3074
Usable Podcast Archives: Most of the talk I’ve seen about podcasting has focused on ways the audio can resemble blogging done in a lively new medium, sound. So we get the regular posts and the familiar RSS. But if we’re going to go to the trouble of making audio, at least some of the things we make might be created with an eye toward later use. With our blogs, at least somebody can run a keyword search and hope to locate a useful older piece, but with audio, there will be next to no useful searching capability if the posts resemble blogs.
But if some people use podcasting for other purposes that don’t resemble blogs quite so closely, then the pieces might have a longer life. For example, students in speech or English classes might contribute their own recordings of great poems, with annotations or bibliographies to accompany them and with special attention paid to the sounds of good poems. Then later courses could use these collections for their own study, as well as contributing new poems and accompanying materials. The work would live on.
I posted on TTW that for some of the librarian produced podcasts I felt something was missing: chapter stops, a TOC, a way to better “mentally index” the content. Maybe the technology will improve? ?How can I search it? But maybe I was thinking of them as blogging and not as a “radio” show.
My big concern is someone taking on the task of recording weekly content and finding it a whole bunch of work! Just like all those library blogs that start and then STOP, will we see a bunch of sites that promised weekly — daily?? podcasts dry up and blow away?
Here at TTW, I have recorded two podcasts as a test: ?
http://www.tametheweb.com/ttwblog/archives/cat_ttw_podcasts.html
The first was very much a test. The second, I realized after it was done, was like a mini lecture on effective cmmunication channels in libraries for a class or workshop. Original content, a handout and a breakdown of my main points make up the whole.?I realized later it might be kind of silly to include a handout when someone might be walking or driving — sorry!
It was fun. I will return to it when the mood and the content strikes me. But BOY am I ready to see libraries jump on this wagon and cast out some content off of their websites — talk about PRESENCE!
http://www.engadget.com/entry/5843952395227141/
“Doc Searls may have said it best: ?Podcasting will shift much of our time away from an old medium where we wait for what we might want to hear to a new medium where we choose what we want to hear, when we want to hear it, and how we want to give everybody else the option to listen to it as well.”
So, today, David King posted a videocast, thus giving us more content to ponder, aggregate and make time for. He makes some EXCELLENT points about what libraries might do with vide — the same goes for audio. here they are
Benefits of Media Content (Podcasts of Audio or Video) to libraries:
Keeps IT staff interested 
Perfect for augmenting a Teen-driven Web site
Professors can archive/aggregate course lectures
Oral histories
Online storytimes
Local storytellers telling a story
Internal training
External training
Promotion of library events: interviews, music, speakers
This is an incredible time: iPods in libraries, podcasts via RSS, and librarians communicationg via blogs to create, improve and devlop serveices. Rock ON!
