Hi Ricky
> One of our users would like to develop a pod casting site.
>
> I would be interested in hearing how others have gone about this
I evaluated Podcasting at IWMW 2005 - see
http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/web-focus/events/workshops/webmaster-2005/podcasts/
Prior to that I recorded a 45 minute talk I gave and made that available as
a Podcast, but found there were some issues with the sound quality - I
recorded using an iPod. As a result I now use my laptop for recording and
Audacity (or sometime Blogmatrix Sparks) for recording and editing the
sound.
From the above URL, you'll notice that Podcast No. 4 - Social Events at IWMW
2005 is of very good sound quality. Adrian Stevenson created this recording
- some of the techniques he used to enhance the sound quality were (I think)
to remove any pauses from the original recording, to remove background
sounds and to amplify the signal.
At IWMW 2005, we also recorded Stephen Emmott's plenary talk on "Customers,
Suppliers, and the Need for Partnerships" and made that available as a
Podcast and also SMIL presentation. Adrian Stevenson kindly processed the
audio (as described above) and created the SMIL file.
More recently I gave a brief talk on "An introduction To Podcasting". This
talk is available as a Podcast and SMIL presentation - see
http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/web-focus/events/workshops/trieste-2005/talk-2a/
I currently create the Podcast RSS file manually (and validate it to check
there are no syntax errors) - however this is not an ideal solution so at
some stage I'll need to look at Podcast authoring tools (e.g. Blogmatrix
Sparks).
So far I've focussed on various technical issues. There's obviously a need
to consider user issues (are end users likely to listen in to Podcasts?)
Some of the additional things I've been doing are creating Podcasts along
side SMIL presentations (little additional effort needed) and thinking about
the accessibility benefits (as well as the obvious potential benefits, I've
started to record talks in case I'm ill and can't give a presentation -
which was almost the case recently when I was going down with a cold).
Note that most of what I've been doing related to use of Podcasting to
complement talks (and brief information about IWMW 2005). Derek Morrison, a
colleague at Bath University, has used Podcasting to complement his
e-learning Blog - see
http://www.bath.ac.uk/e-learning/Download/podcasts/auriclepodcasts.xml
Derek also described some of the technical issues associated with recording
Skype interviews - see
http://www.bath.ac.uk/dacs/cdntl/pMachine/morriblog_comments.php?id=457_0_4_
0_C
Hope this helps
Brian
PS The QA Focus "An Introduction To Podcasting" briefing document may be of
interest - see
http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/qa-focus/documents/briefings/briefing-83/
---------------------------------------
Brian Kelly
UK Web Focus
UKOLN
University of Bath
BATH
BA2 7AY
Email: [log in to unmask]
Web: http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/
Phone: 01225 383943
FOAF: http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/ukoln/staff/b.kelly/foaf/bkelly-foaf.xrdf
For info on FOAF see http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/ukoln/staff/b.kelly/foaf/
> 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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