Sunday, March 30, 2008

Week Nine - PODCASTS, VIDEO AND DOWNLOADABLE AUDIO

Thing #21 - Podcasts

I was looking forward to this part of the 23 Things as I have only listened to podcasts as they pertain to my favorite shows on NPR and my iPod. I had no idea how to access all that there is out there.

Maybe I'm just looking in the wrong places, but when I looked for library related podcasts, I found them, but they weren't current, that is the most current one was 2 years old. I did subscribe to one, but I'm not sure if I'll get an alert to a new podcast since the most recent podcast was from 2006.

I think with podcasts, it seems that they would be something that would be fun to make, but I think they require time, planning, and more than just a half an hour a week to produce. In order for something like this to be worth listening to, one has to put in the time to make it good. I'm not sure many of us have this time. Perhaps that's why anything that looked interesting to me on the podcast directories were out of date. For me, listening to a program that is already produced with decent funding like This American Life or Fresh Air is what I'll continue to use podcasts for. I don't see myself using them for much else. The amount of effort required to find something interesting doesn't seem to give the payoff I'm looking for. As far as making one, the time issue is definately a factor.

1 comment:

Jackie S, 2.0 project manager said...

Yes, time can be a big factor. How about turning ipod productions into an ongoing project powered by students? First, set up a working formula (branding like "Powered by (school name) Students" from the heart of the(school name)school library; (1-3 minutes) duration; (monthly, weekly or daily) themes; recording time (before school or at lunchtime); podcast music (beginning and end of each podcast -- also a branding technique.)

Talk about visibility for the library!