Hi Ricky,
I have been running a podcast on "web design for client & designer alike" for some time now at www.boagworld.com/podcast. I also produce a monthly web design podcast for the cover CD of Practical Web Design Magazine (A new spin off of .net) It has been a valuable experience and I have learnt a lot through doing it.
The technology behind podcasting is simple. All you need is a mic, a pc and the ability to create a podcast RSS feed. The quality of the sound is dependant primarily on the quality of your mic but you will find current podcast listeners generally very forgiving.
If you are not very technical then you might be better going for an online podcast provider like podomatic (http://www.podomatic.com) or a piece of software that automates the process like propaganda. If you don’t you will have to deal with RSS feeds and the like.
One word of warning on the technology front...watch your bandwidth! I had a 25gb per month bandwidth limit on my hosting and that got eaten up in no time. The cost of hosting a podcast can get very steep if your show proves popular. You might want to think about financing the hosting costs using an advertising service like Fruitcast (http://www.fruitcast.com)
What makes or breaks a podcast is not the technology but the presentation and content. As with most things you need to focus on a very specific target audience and produce content specific to them. However, probably the most important thing to remember is that people listen to podcasts for pleasure and so your podcasts need to be entertaining and engaging. Too many podcasts are as dull as ditchwater even though they have interesting subject matter. Even my listeners who are subscribed to a web design podcast listen to it primarily in their own time and so want to be entertained as much as informed.
As somebody who is both a podcaster and works extensively in the Higher Education sector I strongly believe that podcasting has a lot of potential not just for recording seminars and lectures but also attracting new students.
If you want to discuss podcasting more then feel free to email me directly and we can have a chat over the phone.
Paul
-----Original Message-----
From: Managing an institutional web site [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of rrankin
Sent: 21 November 2005 11:13
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Pod casting
One of our users would like to develop a pod casting site.
I would be interested in hearing how others have gone about this
Ricky
__________________
Ricky Rankin
Principal Analyst
Information Services
Queen's University Belfast
Tel: 02890 974824
Fax: 02890 335073
email: [log in to unmask]
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