Podium Product Tour

What is Podcasting?

 

Podcasting

Podcasting, according to Wikipedia, is the practice of making audio files available online in a way that allows software to automatically detect new files and download them.

Technically this is accomplished using RSS feeds to provide information about a collection of audio files in MP3 format. The term podcasting is often used to refer to one off audio broadcasts that can be downloaded from the Internet although this is not, strictly speaking, a true podcast which should be a series of broadcasts.

Podcasting lets anybody with a microphone; a computer and an Internet connection publish audio broadcasts that can be listened to by people anywhere in the world. Because the barriers to entry are very low, podcasting is rapidly becoming a popular way for people to share audio broadcasts. Podcasts are free and can be automatically downloaded to portable media players, so they can be listened to whenever it's convenient.

For personalized Podcasting

  • It gives them a potential audience of thousands for their work and they can think about tailoring their podcasts for different audiences.
  • Publishing their own podcast is hugely motivating for users; also gives them a sense of ownership.
  • Podcasts can be interactive; the audience can be invited to send their comments, giving valuable feedback to the publisher about their work.

To listen to a podcast you use a piece of software called an aggregator, e.g. iTunes. This software regularly checks to see if new content (i.e. a new episode) has been added, and when it has found some it automatically downloads it for you.

 

How do I create a Podcast?

Creating a simple podcast using Podium

The following example shows how you can use Podium to create a simple podcast to get you started.

To help you create your podcast, we recommend you always keep the following in mind:  

 

  • Prepare

  • Perform

  • Produce

  • Publish

  • Promote

     

    Preparation

    Fill in the podcast details

    Enter a podcast title, such as: Weather bulletin, and a podcast author, such as: class 4. Add an image (optional), and a podcast description: Your regular weather update.
    Add an image

    Fill in the episode details

    Enter an episode title: Monday 25th June, an episode author: for example, Jill and David, and an episode description (optional): The weather for today, Monday 25th June.
    Add an image

    Performance

    Record the audio

    Click on the record button on the sound toolbarRecord. You will see a three, two, one countdown and then the stop and pause buttons will appear in the centre of this workspace. When this appears, it means you are recording.

    Speak into a microphone and click on the stop button when you have finished. A waveform will appear.

    Production

    Play back the recording

    Click on the Play button on the sound toolbar. You can play back from:

    The beginning

    From a point in the audio by clicking on the waveform and placing the cue point. Clicking on the play button will play from this point to the end of the audio

    A section of the recording select the part of the audio you want to play by clicking at the beginning of the part of the waveform and dragging to the right until you are happy with the selection.
    NB. Clicking on the De-select button will remove any selection and place the cue point at the beginning of the audio.

    If you are happy with the podcast, you can publish immediately. If you want, you can edit it or, if you are not happy with it, you can re-record by selecting the entire waveform and clicking on record again.

    Publish

    Publishing your podcast means to load it to a server so that it can be accessed by other people.
    You can either publish locally (on your own network server) or globally (on an FTP server).
    When the podcast has all the requisite parts it needs, the Publish button will become red.

    Publish

    Click on the Publish button:

    If you have set security settings to off, the podcast will begin uploading and the Publish button will change colour and become the same colour as the other buttons on completion.
    If you have set security settings to on, a window will pop up and you can choose to either publish now by entering the password that you have set or publish later by clicking the Review button.
    When you publish, the Publish button changes colour and becomes the same colour as the other buttons on completion.

    Promote

    Promote the Podcast

    Now your podcast is published, you can tell everyone where it is.

    You only need to do this once per podcast since people who subscribe will automatically receive each of the new episodes as you publish them.

    • Click on the Promote button Promote. The promote window will open and you can either click on the email button where your default email browser will open showing a message that has been automatically created with all of the details in it, or you can click on the Copy button. This will copy the address of your podcast to your clipboard from where you can paste it into any other document (e.g. a Word document or an HTML page).

    When a user subscribes to the podcast they should drag the link or copy and paste it into their podcast aggregator. There are many different aggregators including Doppler and iTunes.

     

    How do I listen to a Podcast?

     

    Step by step guide to receiving a podcast

    There are three steps to set up your PC to receive a podcast:

    1. Download software to retrieve and play your podcasts

    You will need a software tool, called an aggregator, which will let you subscribe to a podcast and will download and play the mp3 files. So, once you have subscribed to a podcast this software will do the hard work of managing your subscription by checking for and downloading any new episodes that have been released. One common aggregator is iTunes but there are many others.

    2. Subscribe to a podcast

    To ensure that you receive the latest episode in the podcast series you must subscribe. Once you have subscribed your aggregator will regularly check for any new episodes. Subscription is achieved by letting the aggregator know the location of a file that contains information about the podcast. For example it will tell the aggregator when each episode was released, it will give a description of the episode and also let the aggregator know where the mp3 file is so it can download it.

    When you visit a web site that offers podcasts you will usually see either a button labelled 'XML' or 'RSS' and some text that will look something like this: www.teachers.tv/news/feed/rss.xml

    The text contains the location of the file that has all the information that allows the aggregator to download the mp3 files and manage your subscription.

    To subscribe to a podcast with iTunes:
    • Select the text that gives the location of the podcast information file and copy it.
    • Open iTunes and click on 'Advanced' and click 'Subscribe to podcast'.
    • A window opens. Now, paste the location of the information file here and press OK.

    You have now subscribed to that podcast. You will notice that iTunes is now downloading the information file and will soon download the first mp3 file. Once it has finished a black triangle will appear at the side of the podcast details. Click this for more information about the podcast.

    To subscribe to a podcast with Doppler
    • Select the text that gives the location of the podcast information file and copy it.
    • Open Doppler and click on 'Add feed'.
    • A window opens. Now, paste the location of the information file into the URL text box and press 'Add feed'.

    You have now subscribed to that podcast. Now click on 'Retrieve' - the podcast episodes will now start to download. Once it has finished a blue circle with a white arrow will appear at the side of the episode details. Click on the episode for more information.

    3. Listen

    In iTunes Podium - tell your story

    To view the podcast details and to listen to the mp3 files select 'Podcasts' from the menu on the left hand side. Select a file and press the play button. That episode of your podcast will play. If the file you want to listen to has a 'GET' button next to it then press this to download the mp3 file. This will happen if the podcast you have subscribed to has already released several episodes.

    In Doppler

    Select an episode from the top right-hand window. The episode details will display in the window below. Click on the play button in this window to listen to the episode.

     

     

     

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