The Friday Fillip

Connie’s talk of podcasting got me moving finally, so I’m testing that here on Slaw. If it works, you’ll be free to broadcast your mellifluous tones throughout the whole Slaw world. Essentially a podcast is nothing more than a link to an mp3 file (that can then be downloaded to your iPod if you wish — hence the pod part). Here is that link.

I’m going to be using a new (to me) part of the Slaw posting apparatus, to see if I can ensure the file info gets included with the RSS feed. Members who are interested in what I did can tell me that and I’ll explain.

Comments

  1. Hey, congratulations!! It is good to finally hear your voice, Simon. Yes, for those who read along, we are all in disparate parts of the country and most of us have never had a face to face meeting. Or even phone conversation.

    I’d be interested in knowing how you did this. For example, what “gadget” did you use to record, and did you use any particular editing device? There is an interesting discussion about effective but economical set ups for podcast voice recording here on Tod Maffin’s blog “I Love Radio.org” here: http://todmaffin.com/blogs/radio/?p=912

    And I will also let you in on a secret–check this out: http://conniecrosby.blogspot.com/2006/01/check-this-out-new-canadian.html

    You have a great weekend, too!

  2. Excellent, Connie! your secret, I mean. I’ll go over there this weekend and listen to you.

    Seriously, what’s the appeal, do you think, of podcasts? I can’t say I see the value for the file size. I know whenever I say something like this, it means that within six months I’ll be an evangelist for the thing. But I’m still seeing through a glass darkly…

  3. I’m hoping to pair it up with PowerPoint files so people can “attend” training sessions in their spare time.

  4. i had a radio show last summer that i simultaneously recorded at home using an RCA cable from my stereo aux output to the input of my pc’s sound card (the analog-digital hole that some legislators are trying to close in the u.s.). i’ve also just used the basic microphone that came with my pc speakers to record just voice, so i don’t really understand why you would need any sophisticated sound equipment.

    once i have the raw audio wav file, i then edit / mix with creative wavestudio and then convert from wav to mp3 using musicmatch. for my radio show recordings, the mp3 file sizes are around 50-60 megs per hour, tho i could dial down the quality to decrease that somewhat. as such, someone would have to have a pretty compelling reason to download the shows.

    also, server space to store the audio file might be an issue – there are services like yousendit that would work for short-term storage, but given my upload speeds from the arctic via satellite broadband, i’d likely be just as effective mailing out cd-r’s containing the files on request :(

  5. Hi Simon,

    I’m eager to hear your first recording, but I have to say that a podcast really is something more than a link to an MP3 file. We’ve had audio files on the Web for a long time now, and if your just talking about a link to an audio file, RealAudio and other streaming media formats are better–you don’t have to wait for it to download.

    To me, there are at least three essential elements to a podcast:

    (1) Portability: by downloading the audio to a portable player (typically in MP3) format, the listener can take it anywhere and listen at his or her convenience, without being tied down to a computer. This also means that a podcast can be longer than one would comfortably listen to on a computer at one’s desk.

    (2) Syndication: using an RSS feed and the ability to include audio files as enclosures, a podcast allows the listener to receive new programming automatically, without having to make an affirmative effort to locate each new file, download it, and copy it to a portable player. Since the download is automated and unattended, file size is not an obstacle.

    (3) Seriality: a podcast is a serial format of publication. Doing a podcast means a commitment to producing new and interesting content on a regular basis.

    The Health Sciences Library here at UB has recently posted a few MP3 files on their website; essentially, they are audio versions of help screens, so the user has the option of reading how to use a particular database, or listening to an audio version of the description. While this may be a useful enhancement, it is not a podcast, because it lacks portability, each entry must be downloaded individually on demand, and there is no continuing programming.

  6. Connie,

    I wonder if there is a way to convert Powerpoint slides to video? Then you could do the audio voiceover and distribute them as videocasts. A viewer with one of the new video iPods could carry it with them and watch while commuting on the train.

    Jim

  7. Jim, I agree that podcasts can be handy to listen to on iPods while you’re on the way to work or doing something else. I guess that’s one way of looking at the “plus” you get for the “minus” of big file sizes — the ability to multitask in a way you can’t really with print.

    There’s a significant distinction for me between written and spoken language — almost two different languages, really, as lawyers know. And that will make podcasts harder for some to do right and easier for others, I’d guess. As well, with spoken material you benefit from a good speaking voice and a practised way with speech; voice quality adds a dimension that podcasters should take into account, otherwise it’ll be like the depressing experience of listening to a solicitor doing a barrister’s job once the novelty of the thing has worn off.

  8. Connie, you can add an audio track to a Powerpoint presentation (see: http://www.cals.ncsu.edu/agexed/aee526/class10.html . And you can make one into a movie, too. Don’t know whether the Windows movie would play on an iPod, so you may have to get a Mac. ;-> A mini would be nice.

  9. Hi Connie,

    I like the idea of having lawyers and students “attending” training sessions at their own pace and time. I came across this UCLA web site a few weeks ago. http://www.anderson.ucla.edu/resources/library/libdgrid.htm There are several “Show Me” “animated” training guides, e.g. for Factiva, Hoover’s, Mergent Online, some with sound. Thought that it’s a good idea. GSI LivEDGAR does a far more professional job. Check out their Online LIVEDGAR training http://www.gsionline.com/training/index.html.

    I’ve attended 2 webinars. Does anyone know if webinars can be recorded?

  10. Thanks, all! Some fantastic ideas. Aside from training (which, according to Jim Milles’ well thought out definition, likely won’t be actual podcasting), I would like to be able to conduct interviews and post them to my blog on an irregular basis. I was especially thinking it would be fun to interview people at conferences, such as vendors and fellow delegates, and post the discussions. That might be a lot more palatable than a string of notes. And it would allow me to represent ideas from various people I encounter, not just the presenters as happens with my notes. I haven’t tried this all out yet, so I don’t know how it would go, but it does interest me.

    Jim, I love that idea of recording the slideshow. Simon C., thank you for pointing out some of the possible options.

    Louise, I have attended quite a few webinars and also demos using software like Webex. I was wondering the same thing, whether it could be recorded for people who could not attend the session and for later reference.

    We were finding here that we are spending a lot of time preparing sessions but few people have time to attend. I thought, instead, the focus should be on getting the law students into the face to face sessions, and breaking up the content in ways that would be useful to the lawyers as they need it. The idea of loading it onto an iPod is a great one. Now if we could just get it onto the blackberry….