My Pod or Yours? How Podcasting fits in with your library and your life Medical Library Association - Greater Midwestern Region Technology Forum 2006 Max Anderson, SOLINET October 10, 2006

2 Agenda Define podcasting Why and how podcasting fits in with the library environment How podcasting and RSS are related How to podcast Examples

3 Podcasting defined “Podcasting is the method of distributing multimedia files, such as audio programs or music videos, over the Internet for playback on mobile devices and personal computers.” - Wikipedia

4 So, in English People can subscribe to regularly updated audio content They don’t NEED to subscribe though, more on that later Automatic downloads of new content Podcasting= iPod + Broadcasting Typically audio files are.mp3 files

5 The biggest myth: “You need to buy an iPod!” You don’t need an iPod to listen to it (or any other dedicated.mp3 player really) You can listen to audio files on your computer if you wish (or your smart phone, your pda, your digital media player)

6 How do you access a podcast? Via your computer and internet connection Using a tool for downloading content Receiver Aggregator Can be a website (e.g. bloglines), or a program like Juice or iTunes OR even the website of the podcast itself Listen to the content Computer.mp3 player, etc. Same thing, different name

7 Finding podcasts via iTunes Music Store>Podcasts Cost

8 Listening to a podcast via iTunes

9 Download and listen Once you have downloaded the content, you can play it via iTunes Or transfer it to your iPod What about other options?

10 Other ways to find, subscribe, listen Juice, NewzCrawler, RSSRadio, (for the visually impaired) Bloglines, Lots of them out there

11 What other ways can you find them? Look for the button Copy Link Location Paste into your aggregator Don’t see the button? Search for podcasts Podcast Alley Podcast.net iTunes Bloglines, etc.

12 Search for podcasts Example: Search in for “libraries” Skim list for one you are interested in Click on “Get Podcast” Copy URL into your aggregator conversations/tc1.xml conversations/tc1.xml

13 Result set from search… …then add the feed to your aggregator

14 Listening via Bloglines To listen, click on the play button!

15 C’mon, everybody’s doing it! Don’t do it just because “everyone” is doing it BUT it is an interesting medium of communication for your patrons And if you do it, remember to regularly record podcasts or people will not come back (to listen to yours)

16 What can the library podcast? Upcoming events News Tours Bibliographic Instruction Interviews with local authors Teen book reviews Anything else you can think of?

17 Does podcasting fit in with the library's’ mission and vision? Does it fit in with your library’s goals? Does it fit in with your library’s communication strategy? Have your patrons asked for it?

18 Podcasting in libraries Thomas Ford Memorial Library “Click-a-Story” – stories for kids read by staff Arizona State University Library Channel – news about what is going on in the ASU libraries J. J. Hill Reference Library “offers educational programs and business learning seminars with featured speakers on a variety of topics” Western Kentucky University Libraries Offer audio library tours via a podcast PLUS lectures

19 Anatomy of a podcast A podcast is based on RSS technology RSS is a specific use of XML RSS makes content available to be published and viewed/listened to/etc. elsewhere

20 What do you need to make a podcast? Computer Internet connection Microphone Audio editor Server space

21 How to podcast 1.Decide on your content 2.Get equipment and people together 3.Record 4.Post-production 5.Listen to your work before publishing 6.Upload to server 7.Create feed (RSS) 8.Publish 9.Promote

22 Including music on your podcast? Some things to keep in mind: Read the Podcasting Copyright Guide _Legal_Guidehttp://wiki.creativecommons.org/Podcasting _Legal_Guide Learn about Creative Commons Licensing Podsafe Music Network

23 You might need to edit your audio Windows Adobe Audition, Pro Tools Macintosh Garageband Also check out Audacity – free, open source and multi-platform

24 Two terms to know well Sample rate Like frames of a movie The higher the rate, the larger the file kHz is typical (set this before recording) Bit rate Amount of information processed per unit of time (bits/sec) Higher number is better, but larger file 64 kbps for voice and double for music

25 Using Audition to Podcast

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27 What other types of podcasts (non-library) are out there? SirsiDynix Institutes Radio OpenSource Eat Feed NPR

28 Some podcasting aggregators BlogMatrix Doppler – Even BlogLines can do this now… How can I tell if there is a podcast on a site? Example of what to look for:

29 Selected Resources Audacity, GarageBand, Wikipedia article on Podcasting,

30 More Selected Resources Learning to Speak, p/learning-to-speak-creating-a-library- podcast-with-a-unique-voice/ p/learning-to-speak-creating-a-library- podcast-with-a-unique-voice/ Podcasting News Podcasting with Windows (by Zef Hemel) CreatingAPodcastingShowOnWindows.pdf CreatingAPodcastingShowOnWindows.pdf

31 Podcast Directories iPodder iTunes Podcast.net PodcastAlley Yahoo! There are lots of them out there…

32 What will your patrons think?

33 Thank you! Questions? Max Anderson Phone: