the significance of podcasting?

[Bill Kerr]

I'm not yet a podcaster but have attempted to think about what I'm getting into

I've looked for opinions out there and blogged about what I found (not a great deal) here:
http://billkerr.blogspot.com/2006/04/turn-off-radio.html

At this stage, the bottom line for me is this: Blogs are machine searchable, podcasts are not. From my understanding of XML/RSS this makes a huge difference.

I'm particularly interested in other views on this one.

--
Bill Kerr
http://billkerr.blogspot.com/
http://users.tpg.com.au/billkerr/index.htm
skype: billkerr2006

[peter allen]

On 4/9/06, Bill Kerr <bill...@gmail.com> wrote:

At this stage, the bottom line for me is this: Blogs are machine searchable, podcasts are not.

errm... you better check out http://www.podscope.com/

 

[Jo Kay]

Podscope is def very cool – thanks for the link Peter!

 

However, its not just about machine searchable/readable….. there some access issues to deal with as well…..

 

Bill’s post got me thinking about accessibility for people with a disability – specifically those with a hearing impairment. (Web accessibility isn’t just about blindness and screenreader software!!!)

 

The Internet, mobile phones and other text-based technologies have had a massive impact on quality of life for people with hearing disabilities and their ability to communicate with others.

 

Sooo, whilst we’re busily podcasting all our latest and greatest info, we should probably factor in some thinking on how we can preserve accessibility for all. (And lets face it, with all the Baby Boomers getting older and deafer, and all the kids out there killing their ears with IPODs, this is a growing market! ;P)

 

Creating transcripts the old-school way aint the answer (sooo time consuming and sucky for the transcriber), but all the reasonably priced voice to text software I’ve seen probly wouldn’t cut it for podcasts with several speakers contributing (which is most of em).

 

Hmmmmm…….

 

So I did a bit of searching and found a whole bunch of pay for service tools (http://castingwords.com/, http://www.productiontranscripts.com/, http://www.enablr.com/) but nothing free or do it yourself.

 

I did find http://www.podtranscript.com/ - which is offering 10 free minutes of transcription – but it looks like that’s only while they are in beta, and they will start charging soon. Anyone else seen anything?

 

Anyway, have a good week! ;-)

 

Jo

________________

http://jstuffedblogspot.com

 

---

[Leigh Blackall]

Blogs are machine searchable, podcasts are not

But the blog post that supports the podcast is readable, therefore effort in discribing the contents of the media file should be made in the blog post that is delivering it...

--
--
Would you like to buy my book? http://www.lulu.com/leighblackall
--
Leigh Blackall
+64(0)34780079
skype - leigh_blackall
http://leighblackall.wikispaces.org/

[Michael Coghlan]

Fantastic! This is what I wanted - thanks Peter.

- Michael

[Sean FitzGerald]

Another podcast audio (and video) transcript search engine:

http://podzinger.com/

Sean

-- 

Sean FitzGerald
Tel: +61 (0)2 9360 3291
Mob: +61 (0)404 130 342
Skype: seamusy
Email: se...@tig.com.au
Website: http://seanfitz.wikispaces.com/
Blog: http://elgg.net/seanfitz/weblog/

The most important thing we can do is to hear
inside ourselves the sounds of the Earth crying.
-- Thich Naht Hahn

[Bill Kerr]

thanks peter, sean for correction

i'm suitably astonished but also delighted that things are moving so fast

from the podzinger About page there is a link to BBN which explains the technology
http://www.bbn.com/For_Commercial_Customers/AVOKE_Speech_and_Language/STX/index.html

- Bill

[brent]

Bill:

Your blog post raises some interesting questions around podcasting,
blogs, etc for education. But I don't think that your bottom line
should be the crux of the issue. Pedagogical issues and having good
examples of educational podcasts are for me more pressing than search
and discovery. Are images searcheable on Flickr? pretty much. There
must be some largish repositories of tagged podcasts out there because
it is seems the perfect medium for tagging/folksonomies, microformats,
etc. As the medium matures slightly i'm sure that the features of RSS
and Atom combined with folksonomies will enable rich searches across
digital or audio sources of information. I'd watch spaces like
Technorati closer for this than the Googles or brute search approaches.

brent.

work: http://blog.cfdl.auckland.ac.nz/brent/
play: http://cowboyangel.co.nz/

[Bill Kerr]

hi Brent,

as i said I'm not yet a podcaster, am just raising questions / thinking aloud to try to get my head around it

what has surprised me a little is that I haven't so found  much reflection / critical reflection out there about podcasting and the educational issues that it raises

it seems quite different from blogging to me - who is theorising it?

good theory or reflection can be a positive driver towards adoption - I'm not so much looking for cut and dried definitive answers, but just that teachers are grappling and thinking about the issues beyond the technical side

am I missing it? or is it just too early yet?
- B

--
Bill Kerr
http://billkerr.blogspot.com/
http://users.tpg.com.au/billkerr/index.htm
skype: billkerr2006

[Craig Bottomley]

maybe it is too early just yet bill. most educators seem to be still
trying to get the technology to work for them and are still grappling
with the realities of costs and products and so on...as yo have been the
last day or two here on talo. i think the pedagogy and philosophy will
come later. once the toys have been purchased and the testing out done
- then we will see a whole pile of stuff hit the blodosphere (blog and
pod????) questioning the whys and whos rather than just the hows.

have a good one
botts

Bill Kerr wrote:
> hi Brent,
>
> as i said I'm not yet a podcaster, am just raising questions /
> thinking aloud to try to get my head around it
>
> what has surprised me a little is that I haven't so found much
> reflection / critical reflection out there about podcasting and the
> educational issues that it raises
>
> it seems quite different from blogging to me - who is theorising it?
>
> good theory or reflection can be a positive driver towards adoption -
> I'm not so much looking for cut and dried definitive answers, but just
> that teachers are grappling and thinking about the issues beyond the
> technical side
>
> am I missing it? or is it just too early yet?
> - B
> --
> Bill Kerr
> http://billkerr.blogspot.com/
> http://users.tpg.com.au/billkerr/index.htm
> <http://users.tpg.com.au/billkerr/index.htm>
> skype: billkerr2006
>

> On 4/10/06, *brent* <pumic...@gmail.com

[Leigh Blackall]

Hi Bill, this video has educational uses of podcasting, though more to do with the learning by producing rather than consuming... and its certainly not a research paper :)

I think like all passive media, podcasting is to be looked at like TV, Radio, magazines. We all need to develop a critical understanding of it, and that is usually developed in the doing.

I have saved a couple of links on podcasting - can't recall if there is something in there that you are looking for..

[James Neill - Wilderdom]

a few inter-related questions/comments

 

1. Is the term 'podcasting' reasonable?  by this, i am wondering whether we are concerned that the term derives from an Apple product/brand, ipod, and that the phenomenon being referred to is broader than the ipod product?  I read that podcasting was the voted the most important new word, etc. and added to major dictionaries, etc. last year (can't remember specifics), so maybe I've missed the boat and perhaps society has accepted the terminology.  I guess I'm yet to be convinced, but open.

 

2. I think we need to further develop the nomenclature to better understand educational implications e.g., I noted that the wikipedia definion or podcasting includes audio and video recordings.  But I'd suggest it would be more useful to use audiocast and videocast.

 

3. It seems to me we are just talking about audio and audio-visual recordings accessible over the net, with some meta-data pushed out in XML/RSS format.  Whether someone streams or downloads and then plays via an i-pod or any other device is inconsequential.  i.e., cast = recording + feed.  Therefore the only difference between a downloadable digitally recorded audio and video file and an audio/video cast is the feed?

 

---

From: teachAndL...@googlegroups.com [mailto:teachAndL...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Leigh Blackall
Sent: Tuesday, April 11, 2006 4:44 PM

To: teachAndL...@googlegroups.com
Subject: :: TALO :: Re: the significance of podcasting?

[Bill Kerr]

I visited vicki davis' site (coolcatteacher) and found both her own comments v. useful and some of her links too

http://davidwarlick.com/connectlearning/2005/06/09/episode-27-an-interview-with-bob-sprankle/
podcast interview with bob sprankle (room 208) about how he makes a podcast and the learning rationale behind it- at the end, he is asked and answers the question, "what new learning is this producing?", at some great length. There is also a summary of important points by David Warlick right at the end.

http://www.odeo.com/
create recordings from your browser or phone (simple way to start the process?)

http://coolcatteacher.blogspot.com/2006/04/new-way-to-search-podcasts-and.html
details about podzinger, searching podcasts

http://coolcatteacher.blogspot.com/2006/03/wikis-blogs-and-podcasts-this-week.html
this made me realise that for my new game making team work projects I should be using a wiki not blogs

- Bill

--
Bill Kerr
http://billkerr.blogspot.com/
http://users.tpg.com.au/billkerr/index.htm

skype: billkerr2006

[Bill Kerr]

On 4/11/06, James Neill - Wilderdom <ja...@wilderdom.com> wrote:

a few inter-related questions/comments

 

1. Is the term 'podcasting' reasonable?  by this, i am wondering whether we are concerned that the term derives from an Apple product/brand, ipod, and that the phenomenon being referred to is broader than the ipod product?  I read that podcasting was the voted the most important new word, etc. and added to major dictionaries, etc. last year (can't remember specifics), so maybe I've missed the boat and perhaps society has accepted the terminology.  I guess I'm yet to be convinced, but open.

The editors of the New Oxford American Dictionary declared "podcasting" the 2005 word of the year, defining the term as "a digital recording of a radio broadcast or similar program, made available on the Internet for downloading to a personal audio player".^[2]

From the beginning various writers suggested other names or alternative interpretations of the letters "P-O-D." Technology writer Doc Searls had proposed "Personal Option Digital" in September, 2004. ^[3] The "Personal On Demand" interpretation was in international circulation as early as October 2004

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Podcasting
 

just some info from wikipedia abt yr question James

--
Bill Kerr
http://billkerr.blogspot.com/
http://users.tpg.com.au/billkerr/index.htm

skype: billkerr2006

[peter allen]

On 4/11/06, Bill Kerr <bill...@gmail.com> wrote:

The editors of the New Oxford American Dictionary declared "podcasting" the 2005 word of the year,

I dont have a problem with the term podcasting.... a pod is essentially a  vessel,   eg "open the pod-bay doors please HAL"

and so therefore a podcast describes  the function of RSS enclosures very well.


 

[Michael C.]

Hi all,

I'm a beginning teacher from Brisbane (Year 6/7) and am only new to this
list, but am finding out heaps of valuable info - cheers!

I am trying to find some (free + not copyrighted) jingles for my
students to use in a podcasting project I am hoping to run this term.
Can anyone here recommend anywhere online? I'm having trouble finding
anywhere!

Cheers,
Michael Cridland

> -----~--~---
>

[Jo Kay]

Not sure about actual jingles, but the Freesound Project is a good source
for beats, sound effects and other bits and pieces of sound that can be used
when mixing podcasts. All the sounds are CC licensed too. Check out:
http://freesound.iua.upf.edu/index.php

CCmixter is pretty amazing too - http://ccmixter.org/

Jo
__________
http://jstuffed.blogspot.com

[Kylie Rowsell]

yes, but Apple chose the word, and then branded it, with iPOD.

 

Each time I see marketing/TV stuff about iPods, I want to shout "its just freaking mp3 player".

 

But Apple are marketing maestros so that most folks probably don't even realise their iPod is the same as an mp3 player.

"No, its an IPOD!".

 

Thanks,
Kylie
 
ph: 4978 4016

 

---

From: peter allen [mailto:pgp...@gmail.com]
Sent: Wednesday, 12 April 2006 12:07 AM
To: teachAndL...@googlegroups.com

Subject: :: TALO :: Re: the significance of podcasting?

[peter allen]

On 4/12/06, Kylie Rowsell <kyl...@huntercouncils.com.au> wrote:

 "its just freaking mp3 player".

oh no its much more than that.

its a fashion statement. its an form of self expression  - a public statement of the values the user holds dear.  its become a label of design over function. and its  the vanguard of  the rebelion  over microsoft.

the ipod has pulled Apple from the brink of  irrelevency to being a major player.

its made white plastic  trendy again.

its also a major driver in  the move toward mobile  computing.

 its also been the major contributor in the sea change of music distribution.

its a defining moment of our times - like rubics cubes,   silver scooters and  blue headlights.


 

[Craig Bottomley]

dunno if its been posted previously but here's a link to some casts from
prensky's visit to adelaide

http://www.educationau.edu.au/jahia/Jahia/pid/202

have a great day

botts

[Leigh Blackall]

Hi Michael,

Have you checked
Creative Commons Audio
Internet Archive Audio
Our Media

[Michael C.]

Thanks Jo and Leigh - much appreciated! :)

[Sean FitzGerald]

Hi Michael,

For everything you ever wanted to know about "podsafe" music (and then some!) try:

http://spaces.msn.com/members/soundblog/Blog/cns!1pXOS7l93k8mqeQ7FlEEmOSQ!907.entry

I have several presentations/tutorials/resources on podcasting in education on my wiki that may be of value (although starting to get a little dated, as things on the Net do!):

 http://seanfitz.wikispaces.com/ 

(check out the menu on the left)

Sean

-- 

Sean FitzGerald
Tel: +61 (0)2 9360 3291
Mob: +61 (0)404 130 342
Skype: seamusy
Email: se...@tig.com.au
Website: http://seanfitz.wikispaces.com/
Blog: http://elgg.net/seanfitz/weblog/

Hard things are put in our way, not to stop us,
but to call out our courage and strength.
-- Anonymous

[Michael Coghlan]

At 05:57 PM 12/04/2006, you wrote:

dunno if its been posted previously but here's a link to some casts from
prensky's visit to adelaide

http://www.educationau.edu.au/jahia/Jahia/pid/202

And for my short take on his visit see http://michaelc.podomatic.com/entry/2006-03-05T06_14_42-08_00 if you want!

- Michael