For my next thing, I’ll be talking about podcasts. Podcasts are essentially internet radio programs that you can subscribe to. A common misconception is that you need an iPod to listen to a podcast, but that’s not true. Since most podcasts are just plain old Mp3 files, they’ll work with just about anything – including your computer. Podcasts started off as just a bunch of amateur guys with recording equipment talking about something they liked. But now, podcasts have evolved so much that big names are taking notice. While I’ve listened and subscribed to podcasts, I decided to go a bit deeper and see what sort of things I could find.
My favorite way to find, download, and listen to podcasts is through iTunes. I have used other software in the past, but iTunes is so smooth, especially if you own an iDevice of any kid (iPod, iPhone, etc.) There are many different ratings and categories for the different podcasts and you can also see audio and/or video podcasts. I noticed that iTunes also has something called iTunes U, where you can listen to various lectures in college campuses in the form of a podcast. Very neat! Also, while poking around iTunes, I found this article (http://www.apple.com/itunes/podcasts/), which pretty much tells you anything you want or need to know about how podcasting works and how to make a podcast yourself. As a technical writer, I am very impressed at how it is written.
NPR makes a lot of different podcasts that I listen to. I typically subscribe to them via iTunes, download them to my computer, and sync them to my iPhone or iPod. However, I decided to try something new and poke around on the NPR site to see what more I can do with podcasting. One thing that’s really cool is that you can mix your own podcasts (http://www.npr.org/rss/podcast/podcast_directory.php). Basically, I can select key words, topics, or programs and create a hybrid or mashup of several different podcasts. As I add keywords, it creates a “live view” the most recent topics that will be in my feed. I decided to make a feed of the topics Technology, Pop Culture, and Books and called it, “Pop & Geek”. NPR gave me a convenient and personal link to put into iTunes, so now – only the relevant articles for the topics above will pop up. This would be great for librarians, because they could make custom feeds based on the topics that they (or the patrons) are interested in.
I could also see how libraries could create their own podcasts, too. For instance, if libraries had guest speakers come, they could record these lectures and they make them available as a podcast so everyone could see. This would require a bit more maintenance though than just mashing together a feed.
I could also see how libraries could create their own podcasts, too. For instance, if libraries had guest speakers come, they could record these lectures and they make them available as a podcast so everyone could see. This would require a bit more maintenance though than just mashing together a feed.
All in all, podcasting is very cool and there’s quite a lot to do with it. I really like how big sites like NBC, ABC, etc. are embracing podcasting and put out their news programs for everyone to download so you don’t necessarily have to watch it on TV. I think of all the sites I’ve seen, NPR is the most welcoming of podcasts, putting all their programs online, transcribing a good chunk of them, and allowing the user to create custom podcast feed of their choosing (as mentioned in the paragraph above).
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