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In recent years, podcasting has attracted a lot of interest and attention for users of digital technology. The idea or concept for podcasts first emerged in 2000 and was demonstrated early the next year by developer, Dave Winer, when he enclosed a Grateful Dead song in his webblog. For two years nothing much happened with the technology, known then as audioblogging. However in 2003 another developer, Stephen Downes developed an application that could scan and collect audio feeds. Others including Winer further refined and developed the processes and adoption and use of the technology exploded (Learn much more at History of Podcasting from Wikipedia). Podcasting experienced a 25-fold increase from January through May of 2005. So much growth that by December 2005, the editor-in-chief of the New Oxford American Dictionary declared podcast as their "word of the year." Radio broadcasters were among the early adopters, providing downloadable files of their programs called "podcasts." More recently, many radio broadcasts have reversed the feed to now include significant podcast components within their live programs. Today you can listen to literally hundreds of thousands of programs by their podcasts; everything from National Public Radio to coverage of a favorite sporting event.

checkRead Podcasting Catches On (April 2005) from the Pew Internet & American Life Project.

checkRead Podcasting and Vodcasting: A White Paper (PDF) from University of Missouri. Includes great resources including definitions, discussions, and implications for universities.

checkWatch and listen to a videocast interview by Steve Garfield of teen podcaster Michael Fogelman.

But you may still be asking, what is a podcast? If you need a better understanding of the technology, read Podcast at Wikipedia.

The word podcast was derived from the combination of "broadcasting" and "iPod." Remember that podcast refers to a series of episodes rather than just one program. Individual podcast programs are sometimes called 'shows."

Podcasting is a method of automatically distributing multimedia files (Our focus here is on audio podcasts) over the internet. Podcasts are received via RSS feeds (really simple syndication) that allows the automatic download of audio files. It is like having a radio program delivered to your door every day, every week, or every so often. Podcasts were originally created to be heard on an iPod (Apple's MP3 mobile device) but they can be accessed on any computer or other MP3 mobile player. Podcast is probably not the best title for these audio program feeds, because today most users do not download them to their iPod or MP3 player. They are more likely to listen to a podcast through a computer.

Podcasting terminology and technology is still evolving. The lines between technologies is sometimes blurred, overlapping and possibly confusing. When audio files are incorporated into blogs, it's still called audioblogging. Those audio files may supplement text blogs or be primarily audio journals. When mainly used to share music, the term MP3 blog, musicblog, or audioblog is often used.

checkListen to a three part series on podcasting: (1) EDUCAUSE Pocket Edition #1: Invasion of the iPods, (2) EDUCAUSE Pocket Edition #2: It's Pod Mania, and (3) EDUCAUSE Pocket Edition #3: Podcasting in the Classroom for an informal introduction to podcasting at the college level.

Research Related to Music / Audio Downloads and Podcasts

In the 2005 study How Women and Men Use the Internet (PDF) from the Pew Internet & American Life Project it was found that women and men are equally likely to play online games, listen to audio clips, and watch video clips. For example, 56% of men and 57% of women listen to audio online and 36% of men and 37% of women play online games. Another April 2005 PEW (PDF) study showed that more than 6 million American adults have listened to podcasts and 29% of those own MP3 players. A third study called Music and Video Downloading Moves Beyond P2P (2005) stated that "about 36 million Americans—or 27% of internet users—say they download either music or video files and about half of them have found ways outside of traditional peer-to-peer networks or paid online services to swap their files.

Getting Started with Podcasts

In order to listen to podcasts, you do not necessarily have to have an iPod or other type MP3 players (they will do fine though!). You can download and hear podcasts on your computer using free tools such as the free open source software: Juice, a podcast receiver or podcast aggregator. Thousands of podcasts are available at the iTunes Store and podcast directories such as iPodder.org and Podcast.net can be used to locate and track thousands more.

All that you have to do is find a program and subscribe or if available, select the option to "listen now." If you stream (listen right away) the podcast, nothing gets downloaded to your computer; no need to worry about available storage space. Many people stream podcasts to see if they want to download and commit to receiving a show again and again (subscribe). An advantage to having a subscription is that the program(s) are downloaded when your computer or MP3 player is connected, and you can playback or listen at your convenience or as many times as you wish. Just remember that the downloaded file will remain stored until you delete it, and audio files can fill up your memory fast.

Aggregator / Podcasting Receiver Software
This is the software needed so that your MP3 player, computer, or other device can read the RSS podcast feed. Podcasting News provides a listing of Podcast Software (Clients); software for subscribing to and receiving podcasts. Two of the most popular options that can be used with both the PC and Mac platforms are (1) iTunes and (2) Juice.

Podcast Search
Some people use search engines like SingfingFish to locate podcasts, but there are a few search programs that are dedicated to finding only podcasts.

Podcast Directories
Directories that index and provide search capabilities for podcasts can help you quickly locate programs of interest. Many of these have search engines for their indexed collections. Explore some of these and get started locating podcasts that you, your students, and library users might use.

Dr.J's Jags & Jabs
image of Larry JohnsonAre you still confused by the podcasting term; not seeing the difference from an audio file available for download or streaming to your desktop? The difference is more than just being able to be received on an iPod.

The biggest difference is the way that podcasts are published. You can subscribe to a particular program (sometimes referrred to as being syndicated) to have them download automatically. This is done using software capable of reading feed formats such as RSS or Atom.

For example the embedded MP3 audio files that I have placed within the Course Guides are NOT podcasts. They cannot be automatically downloaded, you have to click on the player bar to listen.

This may seem like a fine-line, but people often set up their aggregator so that it automatically brings them their favorite programs via the RSS feed. That is the biggest factor (in addition to the original idea for the iPod; largely displaced today) about Podcasts, and this was not possible until recent years.

podcast icon - not activeClues that visually identify that materials are available as RSS webfeeds / sitefeeds are an audio icon (the golden rectangle with bars symbol) and the RSS or XML icon (usually orange rectangles with letters XML or RSS) on the providing webpage. To give you the idea, here are several icon samples (Below and to the right, these are NOT active):

rss gif icon - not activerss icon - not activepodcast icon - not activexml icon - not active


Audio and Podcasts in Libraries and Learning

From poetry readings to language learning, there are many possibilities for audio blogging and podcasting in education and libraries.

checkRead Podcasting from Digital Pencil for a brief introduction and then explore the connections for great examples.

checkRead Tell Me A Story (Sept. 2005) by Kathy Ishizuka in School Library Journal. This article explores how a media specialist promotes reading through podcasts.

checkExplore Apple's iTunes U. Their goal is "to advance teaching, learning, and research through innovation, and engage and empower students." The system delivers educational content free through iTunes and can be downloaded to the iPod. Check out examples at the School of Dentistry at the University of Michigan and Stanford University.

checkRead Trends: Podcasting in Academic and Corporate Learning by Eva Kaplan-Leiserson in Learning Circuits. She suggests the following ways that podcasting can contribute to learning:

* Assist auditory learners.
* Provide another channel for material review.
* Assist non-native speakers.
* Provide feedback to learners.
* Enable instructors to review training or lectures.
* Replace full classroom or online sessions when content simply requires delivery.
* Provide supplementary content or be part of a blended solution.

checkGo to the Audio in Learning section of our website to explore effective uses of audio in teaching and learning.

Podcast Examples
Listen or sample several of these podcast programs:

Early Learning - Pre K - 3

Podcasting by Kids

Art

Communication, English, and Literature

Languages

Library

Math & Science

Social Studies

Technology

 

Selected Podcasts

Below you find a few more sources of audio podcast programs.

Radio Podcast Programs:

Other Podcast Programs:

Other Online Resources for Podcasting

Dr.J's Jags & Jabs
image of Larry JohnsonLet's think a little about audio conferencing. A few years ago, this usually meant a traditional telephone conference call but today with the Internet, there are several more options.

Instant messaging (IM) involves real-time communication between two or more people through a network such as the Internet. Although instant messaging traditionally involves text-based sharing, many of the IM services now provide tools for sharing images, audio, and video. In addition to software and an Internet connection, you'll also need a web cam and microphone. Some computers such as the newer Macs come with a camera and microphone embedded in the monitor. However it's also possible to buy external cameras such as the iSight. You can also purchase an inexpensive "eyeball" type camera or hook up your video camera. The IM software programs include AOL Instant Messenger, Google Talk, MSN Live Messenger (Windows Live Messenger or Microsoft Messenger for Mac), and Yahoo Messenger (all handle text, audio, video communications). Microsoft also has Live Meeting, a program that can facilitate an audio conference. Mac users can use the Apple iChat AV software for Mac OS X to facilitate for audio (up to ten people) and video conferencing (up to 4 people) over the AIM (AOL Instant Messaging) protocol.

Services such as Gizmo and Skype provide proprietary peer-to-peer Voice over IP (VoIP) networks that can be used to conduct telephone-like conversations and audio conferences over the Internet. Learn more about Skype at Wikipedia.

In the next few weeks, you will also be reading seeing examples of another closely realated topic: videocasting. And later on you can investigate some of the ways of creating your own podcasts.

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