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What is podcasting?
A podcast is a series of digital-media files, which are distributed over the Internet using syndication feeds for playback on portable media players and computers. The term podcast, like broadcast, can refer either to the series of content itself or to the method by which it is syndicated; the latter is also called podcasting.
Though podcasters' web sites may also offer direct download or streaming of their content, a podcast is distinguished from other digital media formats by its ability to be syndicated, subscribed to, and downloaded automatically when new content is added, using an aggregator or feed reader capable of reading feed formats such as RSS or Atom.
- Resources
How is a podcast different from other forms of broadcasting?
Using a podcast client:
- You subscribe to podcasts (pull versus push)
- You can schedule podcasts for automatic download
- Podcasts are often synchronized with a handheld device (think iPod)
Video: Podcasting in Plain English
History of podcasting
- Late 1990's blogs + RSS to create syndicated content
- ubiquity of MP3 audio format and broadband for faster downloads
- In 2004 RSS was updated to allow for audio files or enclosures in the RSS feed technology
- iPodder (or later known as Juice) the first stand alone podcast aggregator was developed. In June 2005 Apple included iPod capture into iTunes. This development quickly put an end to the popularity of the Juice application. There were just too many advantages to subscribe to podcasts natively in iTunes than using a 3rd party application.
How can I find and subscribe to podcasts?
Apple's iTunes (freely available for mac and Windows) has become the standard for podcasting clients. iTunes let's you manage your subscriptions, downloads and synchronization with your ipod.
- iTunes demo
How can podcasting be used in the curriculum?
Podcasting at Evergreen
Current Projects:
Possible uses:
- posting audio and visual materials of weekly lectures
Resources:
