Podcasting

This week we are exploring podcasts. I learned that the p-o-d of the podcast is actually an acronym for Personal On Demand broadcasting. It offers the means to step away from the constraints of traditional media broadcasting. The Commoncraft video clip embedded on the 23thingsn'at page (Week 11) explained that there are 3 essential appeals to podcasting: (a) given a few simple tools (a microphone and/or video camera, a computer, and a web connection) anyone can create his/her own podcast; (b) anyone with just a computer and a web connection can subscribe to a multitude of offerings; (c) podcasting is very gadget friendly... you don't have to be stuck in front of a computer to view or hear a podcast.

I then went through yet another clicking spree on the 23things Week 11 Wiki page. To understand the difference between streaming and downloading, I visited cnn.com Live. After clicking on a news story it took 22 seconds (There was a countdown window which seemed to hang up) before the news stream started. During those 20 some seconds, I was treated to a blasting advertisement about a pregnancy test product. Then a pop up recommended that I upgrade to Octoshape Grid Delivery Enhancement . I declined. That CNN sampling showed me that streaming is very similar to tuning into a radio/television broadcast. There would be a bit of flexibility about the timing of watching the broadcast but a limited window of opportunity still exists. Streaming is not as slick as a download.

To prepare for the actual assignment of selecting a podcast and subscribing to it, I opted to click through the suggested library links. Each one had a slightly different style, graphics, sound quality, amount of information to sift through before deciding where to click. The Library of Congress link had very sophisticated graphics. It was easy to use. I simply clicked on an image and then listened to an interview with Marisa de los Santos. At the Seattle Public Library link, they included the play time for the podcast offerings, a nice feature, in my opinion. On the Library Beat site, I listened to a Longshots podcast in which Susan Kent talked about library leadership in this year's economic climate. To jump to something different I visited the NPR link. Quite frankly I was overwhelmed by the possibilities of places to click! I finally listened to a few minutes of the Splendid Table, which had a very good audio quality. It didn't have quite the AM broadcast background sound in the voice of the person being interviewed that some of the other podcasts did.

The podcast I selected was from the Denver Public Library. The link opened at the Stories for Kid's page. I listened to a tale from India, The Talkative King. It opened up in media player. Oh, what a psychedelic experience! I did however enjoy the sound quality of the reader's pleasant voice. As I was listening, I could imagine a group of kids stuck inside on a rainy day, coloring or drawing while they listened to a story. Sounds like a flashback of an old-time radio show, doesn't it? Yet here we are again... only now the kids wouldn't have a box of paper dolls to play with.