Audioboo – podcasting has never been so easy

Here’s the history part: I started creating podcasts over half a decade ago. I created and ran courses about podcasting when no one else was interested. I even ran them locally for the community in conjunction with the local BBC centre. Initially it was reasonably technical to create podcasts. There was all the teaching of how to use Audacity, uploading the files somewhere, and to make an enhanced podcast you had to turn to a Mac and use three line-code programmes (pre-Garageband I’m talking here).

More recently running parallel to this we’ve seen the ever simplification of video production and upload, particularly to YouTube via Flip cameras, etc. I remember a couple of years ago working with Qik on a smart phone when it was in private alpha testing and then with Flixwagon as well with the idea of creating and streaming video from a mobile to such a site and then automatically squirting it out to YouTube and creating a vblog or video podcast. (I might revisit this idea with different hardware.) But there are still some things were video isn’t really necessary. If I just want to make some notes or regular comments to myself and/or others then my ‘talking head’ is surplus to requirements and just eats up bandwidth unnecessarily.

Well I’ve just found the easiest of podcasting solution and it’s Audioboo. This is an audio recording site that enables you to create high quality audio recordings direct from an iPhone or Android phone via some apps, or you can use the website if you don’t have one of those phone times, and before it’s rolled out to other phones.

There’s an editor built into the site, so you can cut out the bad bits from your recordings. Use the embed code to stick your ‘boos’ into a blog or elsewhere. However, it goes on from there, because it makes it easy to syndicate your feed via iTunes or via the ‘RSS’ (Atom) feed. And there’s more, there is also a social element to Audioboo where you follow and have followers – Twitter stylee. You can also link in with your Twitter account.

Here’s the 2min vid:

The British Library are using public uploads to Audioboo to create a soundscape map of the UK; simply tag your uploads uksm for possible inclusion.

I’ve set up an account that I’m going to use as an impromptu, quick and convenient podcasting platform for notes on new tech for education. Check me out at Minimarkuos.

Radio package making / podcasting

I’ve found a rich seam of informative short videos from BBC Blast that can help students in secondary and higher education with media work.

This is the first of these videos, only a couple of minutes long and presented by a professional radio producer giving some tips about radio (sound) production and interviewing. The advice applies to podcasting as well. [Always think beyond the box.]

more about "Radio package part 3- howto", posted with vodpod

JISC Web 2.0 videos

JISC is funded by the UK HE and FE funding bodies to provide world-class leadership in the innovative use of ICT to support education and research.

http://www.jisc.ac.uk/

Here are some useful videos provided by JISC about Web 2.0 and social media:

Social Media

Microblogging (Twitter)

Collaborative Document Writing

Podcasting

Use the best lectures and add value elsewhere

I came across this video today. It’s by José A. Bowen, dean of the Meadows School of the Arts. What José has to say aligns exactly with what I was saying at a recent forum to discuss the uses and implications of new technology, read/write web, and collaboration in lecturing within higher education. Whilst I don’t necessarily agree with removing computers from the lecture theatre, I certain agree with using the open educational resources, including lecture series’ provided by Stanford, Berkeley, Princeton, Yale, Harvard or MIT, and using podcasts to present lecture material. Why not use the best lecture material available? Students can access this material at any time. The added value of universities is the interaction with faculty; and this time could be increased by reducing the ‘pushing’ of lecture material. It’s said that students value face-to-face interactions with faculty; is a 50 minute lecture really that useful an interaction, or do they actually want more challenging discussion?

Audio outlet

Just created a specific audio channel via Podbean as an audio outlet.

First episode is now available.

Radio’s “Ask the Expert” Spot

A couple of months ago I was contacted by the BBC to see if I’d appear on one of their programmes to talk and answer listeners’ questions on their “Ask the Expert” slot. The subject – Podcasting.

Following some initial toing-and-froing, I found out what they’d want me to talk about would include what podcasting is, the history of it, how to get podcasts, how to listen to them, how popular they are, what some of the good ones are, and how to make them yourself. As I’ve taken an interest in podcasts and podcasting right from when the phenomenon started, I know how they came about, which of the original podcasts are still around and how big they’ve become, along with the history of podcasting (without having to look it up on Wikipedia). Also, as I’ve run courses both in the University and the community, I know how to create and where to host podcasts if the radio listeners wanted to know any of that. Consequently, I agreed to appear on the radio.

So the day arrived, one dull and damp Monday morning in the middle of October. Great, I thought, more people might be listening in on a day like this. I arrived at the studios and waited in the upstairs reception area. Eventually it was my turn ‘on-air’. I explained to the listeners a bit about what podcasting was and my involvement with it. How back in 2005, podcasting was very much in its infancy and was just getting off the ground in the United States. I heard about it and what the pioneers were doing and decided that it was something that could have significant impact for learning. I introduced the concept of podcasting in June of 2005 to The University of Sheffield when I created a podcast internal to the University to provide wider access to interesting and noted external speakers, for example the author Joanne Harris and the Noble Prize winner Prof Sir Harry Kroto. When the BBC started a pilot podcast services I realised that this was something which would be around for a few years to come, after all the BBC wouldn’t invest in something that wasn’t going to take off. My role back then meant that I was able to provide instructions on how to receive podcasts, use appropriate software and, indeed, how to create podcasts. I became an unofficial podcast support contact within the University at that time. External to the University, back in February 2007 I developed and ran courses at BBC Radio Sheffield covering an ‘Introduction to podcasting’ and ‘How to podcast’. In addition, I produced podcasts of my own, both audio and enhanced podcasts; one provided information for others who wanted to get started in podcasting themselves.

I explained to the listeners some of the uses of podcasting in learning at a university and elsewhere, including:

• The majority are for talk shows covering a host of different subject areas
• Some local councils are producing podcasts for self-guided walking tours
• Art galleries and museums in America, and recently the UK, are using podcasts to inform about exhibits and even incorporate the opinions of visitors
• Other areas include stories for children or the visually-impaired
• In business it is being implemented for ‘just-in-time’ training
• It is being extensively used in US universities as a supplement to lecture programmes, and is finding a similar use in UK universities. It was timely because I could talk about the decision by Oxford and Cambridge Universities to sign up toiTunes U the previous week.

I gave some statistics on how many people reportedly download podcasts, as well as what the popular ones are beyond the BBC ‘stable’, and what my particular favourites are.

The whole interview went well.

After answering a final listeners question, I left the studio. Very satisfying.