Podcasting Guide - Part 1 - the what and the why of podcasting
Posted By Doug Belshaw On 8th January 2006 @ 08:14 In Guides | Comments Disabled
WARNING! This website is no longer actively maintained. It is an archive of 2 years work by Doug Belshaw who now blogs at [1] dougbelshaw.com...
[2] 
Over the next few days we’re going to be exploring the world of podcasting. Some of you may already know what this is, some may have a vague idea and some may never have heard of the term. The latter group can be forgiven for this as the term was invented in late 2004/early 2005. Despite this, a Google search using the term turns up over 30 million references!
So what is a podcast? According to [3] Wikipedia:
A podcast is a web feed of audio or video files placed on the Internet for anyone to subscribe to. Podcasters’ websites also may offer direct download of their files, but the subscription feed of automatically delivered new content is what distinguishes a podcast from a simple download or real-time streaming.
So a podcast is a fusion of two technologies: compression of audio using a codec such as MP3, and ’syndicating’ or publishing it using a technology called [4] RSS which automatically ‘pushes’ new content to the subscriber. Basically it means that the end user need never worry about having the latest news bulleting/radio show/lecture as the software on their computer will see to it that they are always kept up-to-date.
Why should educators be concerned with podcasting? Well, approximately 10 million iPods were sold in the run-up to Christmas alone. MP3 players amongst the young are ubiquotous and ‘cool’. Tapping into this by making lectures, lesson, revision content, etc. available for students to listen to wherever they are can only be a good thing!
Podcasts are usually made available in MP3 format, though they may be in WMA (Windows Media Audio), OGG Vorbis (a free and open-source codec) or other file format. The term ‘podcasting’ refers to the iPod because of its popularity but subscribing to a podcast doesn’t mean you have to play it on an Apple-made device. The file, being simply an MP3 file ‘wrapped’ in an RSS feed, can be played back on any computer or MP3 player. Podcasting is merely a method of delivery.
Having said that, perhaps the easiest program to get starting with receiving podcasts is Apple’s excellent [5] iTunes application. You can add podcasts from a wide variety of sources. Most of the content is, unsurprisingly, America-centric but there are a number of quality shows and programmes, including some from the [6] BBC. A list of software to receive podcasts using Windows, Mac, Linux and other operating systems is available at [7] podcastingnews.com.
Over the next few days, then, we’ll be looking at the following aspects of creating your own podcast:
- Part 1 - the what and the why of podcasting (today)
- Part 2 - recording your podcast
- Part 3 - putting your podcast together
- Part 4 - making your podcast available to others
- Part 5 - advanced podcasting
This guide came into being due to [8] this thread on the History Teachers’ Discussion Forum and the confusion between putting an MP3 on your website and podcasting. A number of teachers including [9] Dan Lyndon and [10] Donald Cumming are experimenting with the technology with their students. Please feel free to comment on ways you are/would like to use podcasting with your students!
Popularity: 5% [[11] ?]
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Comments Disabled To "Podcasting Guide - Part 1 - the what and the why of podcasting"
#1 Comment By Nick Dennis On 8th January 2006 @ 11:53
I have to wait that long!!!???
I’m doing this on tuesday with my year 12 British History group! 
#2 Comment By Doug Belshaw On 8th January 2006 @ 12:36
Patience, young jedi! By Tuesday 9am you’ll have Parts 1-3, so all there’ll be left to do is make it available to others and then tweak it… 
#3 Comment By Nick Dennis On 8th January 2006 @ 12:45
LOL! Hopefully .Mac will be updated on tuesday so I’ll have them on my updated site this week. Cheers Doug!
#4 Comment By Johannes Ahrenfelt On 8th January 2006 @ 13:17
Thank you for doing this Doug! Looking forward to the completed guide.
Johannes
#5 Pingback By Podcasting Guide - Part 3 - putting your podcast together » mrbelshaw.co.uk/teaching On 10th January 2006 @ 08:12
[…] By now, if you have followed Parts 1 (the what and the why of podcasting) and 2 (recording your podcast), you should have recorded some spoken audio and saved it in WAV format. Hopefully, as directed in Part 2, you have also collected together any music, sound effects or quotations that you wish to include in your podcast. Today’s part of the guide shows you how to edit the parts of your podcast together and save it as a whole. Part 4 shall deal with putting your podcast on the Internet… […]
#6 Pingback By rEvision » iPod? iRevise On 13th March 2006 @ 20:54
[…] This is definitely going to be growing trend in education because anyone can do. Pupils at Musselburg Grammar School in Scotland produce an awar winning podcast which is worth a listen. If you want to have a go at podcasting for yourself there’s a good guide on Mr Belshaw’s site. […]
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URL to article: http://teaching.mrbelshaw.co.uk/index.php/2006/01/08/podcasting-part1/
URLs in this post:
[1] dougbelshaw.com: http://www.dougbelshaw.com
[2] Image: http://teaching.mrbelshaw.co.uk/index.php/category/guides/
[3] Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Podcasting
[4] RSS: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rss
[5] iTunes: http://www.apple.com/itunes/download/
[6] BBC: http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/downloadtrial/
[7] podcastingnews.com: http://www.podcastingnews.com/topics/Podcast_Software.html
[8] this thread on the History Teachers’ Discussion Forum: http://www.schoolhistory.co.uk/forum/index.php?showtopic=6130&hl=
[9] Dan Lyndon: http://www.comptonhistory.com/
[10] Donald Cumming: http://www.historyheaven.blogspot.com/
[11] ?: http://alexking.org/projects/wordpress/popularity-contest
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