Blogging Section of SLA-IT

SLA Blogging Chair Interviewed on Talking w/ Talis

Just wanted to let you all know that I was interviewed recently on Talking with Talis.  I talked about Open Source, Libraries and the way we're headed in the future.  If that wasn't enough, Michael Stephens adds to the pressure by saying:

I think we should watch developments such as this very closely. The structure and focus of Nicole’s new position may influence and guide future jobs for librarians in consortia, large library systems and our associations. I am very happy to see this move and the press around it.

While it is a lot to live up to - I agree that we need to keep an eye on open source - especially in Special Libraries as we move forward with new technologies in our libraries.

So many podcasts, so little time

Many podcasts are long (over 20 minutes), which may be longer than our attention span for listening to a headless, faceless voice talk to us.  Pauses in the audio give our minds time to wander and wander they will.  The truth be told, we can actually listen and comprehend faster than many people speak.  (I live close enough to NYC to know that we can really talk fast!)  StevePavlina.com has a tip that can help us get through longer podcasts more quickly by adjusting the speed of the audio.  Yup...play the podcasts faster.  How?  For example, Windows Media Player allows you to adjust the speed (View, Enhancements, Play Speed Settings).  Steve suggests that you increase the speed in increments, so that you can adjust to the faster talking.  Once used to it, you may find yourself able to listen to more podcasts in a shorter amount of time.

TalkShoe for interactive podcasts

TalkShoe looks like it might be useful for people who aren't as technically savvy but still want to do podcasts, as all you need is a computer, a phone and their software. There are clients for both Mac and PC, which you can download after signing-up. I'm intrigued by the interactive element - so it's not a traditional "I talk, you listen" podcast as much as it's a hosted discussion.

Tip of the hat to Eric Rice for making me aware of TalkShoe.

Plenty of previous discussion on this blog about podcasting.

Podcast about podcasting

Yesterday I found an excellent blog post and podcast about setting up and doing a podcast!  Lots of places talk about the equipment, but Michael goes beyond that and talks about editing your podcast, upgrading equipment and more.  If you are just getting started with podcasting -- or haven't started yet -- this podcast is for you!

Denver session: Podcasting the Librarian Way

I would like to thank all the bibliocasters who have send me a file to be played during the "Podcasting the Librarian Way" session I moderated at the 2007 SLA Annual Conference in Denver. While the session took place on Wednesday afternoon, a time where a lot of attendees are starting to leave town, we enjoyed the presence of some 60 attendees. The two presenters, Tammy Allgood of ASU, and Debbi MacLeod of the Colorado Talking Book Library, did a terrific job with their talks and answered many questions. Attendees also enjoyed the MP3 files although the poor sound system in the room prevented us from playing three of them. But, no problem as they are now available on the SLA IT Division website (http://units.sla.org/division/dite/2007/index.html#podcasting), along with the powerpoint files of the presentations.

Thank you again to Robert, David, Chris, Christine, Heidi, Daniel and Mary, as well as Tammy Allgood and Debbi MacLeod.

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Technorati tag: sla2007

Free webinar on podcasting

The SirsiDynix Institute is offering a free webinar on June 5th entitled "What's New in Podcasting?" The presenter is David Free of the Decatur Campus Library, Georgia Perimeter College. The webinar is taking place from 11:00 AM to 12:00 PM, Eastern time.

You can register online. If you are going to miss this webinar because, like me, you will be in Denver at the Annual Conference, SirsiDynix usually puts the presentation online in its archives at a later date.

Safe music for podcasting

PodSafe Audio is a website where musicians can upload music under the Creative Commons license for use in "Podcasts, Mashups, Shoutcasts, Webcasts and every other kind of 'casting' that exists on the 'net." Therefore it is a website where podcasters can find music to use in the 'casts without worrying about copyrights. Good deal !Just make sure to remember to not resell the music and to give credit to the artists!

Podcasting session at SLA-Denver - request for podcasts from the field

I'm the moderator for "Podcasting the Librarian's Way" at the SLA Annual Conference in Denver, CO. The session will take place on Wednesday, June 6, from 1:00 - 2:30PM. Speakers will be Deborah MacLeod of the Colorado Talking Books Library and Tammy Allgood of the Arizona State University Libraries. They will be sharing how they use podcasting in their respective libraries. This will be a "real-life experience" session and it should very good - I hope you can make it.

As an added feature to the session, I would like to showcase other podcasting libraries/librarians. Therefore, I would like to invite blog readers to send me a short podcast, telling me how you use podcasting. Please include your name, your organization or place of employment if relevant, and how/why you, or your library/information organization, utilize podcasting. Please keep your podcast to 3 minutes or less.

These podcasts would be played to the audience between the speakers during the conference session. Please take note that the session itself will be recorded and I would have a release form for you to sign.

Please don't hesitate to contact me for further information at clw@lakeland.usf.edu.

Podcasting

The topic of podcasting came up at the IT Division Board meeting in January.  There is an interest among Board members of learning more about podcasting and perhaps incorporating podcasting into division activities. 

I have been collecting podcasting link in Del.icio.us here.  These are web sites that I have found useful on the topic in regards to the hardware and software needed.  I'm sure there are others and I'll continue to add those that help me towards the goal of creating a podcasting setup for a library client.

Working with a colleague on a specific podcasting setup (for this library client) has been quite interesting.  Podcasting can be quite inexpensive to do, but to have better quality, you need to spend some more money.  It also requires a computer that can handle the input and output.

Computer: You can use a Mac or PC.  The computer will need decent hard drive space since the audio files will be large.   So you will want a hard drive that is many gigs in size (probably 40MB+).  One person said that he created a 3 minute .mp3 file that was about 750 KB in size.  So a 15 minute podcast, might be 3.5 GB.

The computer will need to have USB 2.0 or FireWire 400 for input capabilities. 

The computer will also need more RAM than the minimum.  We tend to buy computers will the minimum amount of RAM, but the things we want to do now are becoming more graphical and more multimedia, which requires more RAM. So have 1 MB of RAM or more.

As for the podcasting setup, we thinking of:

• Microphone: Shure SM-58 or Shure SM-57
• Microphone accessories: desk stands, clips, wires, etc.
• Audio Interface: Tascam US-122 interface (USB 2.0) to connect the mics to the computer
• Audio editor: Audacity
• Audio recording program: Audacity
• Headphones

It has been suggested that we do an external hard drive for offloading (backing up) the audio files.  I need to ask some questions about this, since the podcasts will be loaded on a server anyway.  Maybe we could backup on CD?  mmm...questions....

Are you podcasting? If yes, what is your setup for recording yourself?  Do you do interviews with your setup?  If yes, how do you handle that equipment-wise?   And what lessons have you learned about your setup that you wish you had known upfront?  Please leave comments...lots of people in the Division would like to know!

New library news podcast

Marv K. has launched a new, hopefully regular, podcast called LibVibe. The podcast features a "review of library news headlines in an upbeat, professionally-produced format". Marv K. describes himself as a reference librarian and former broadcast radio personality.

Podcasting links

Learning Communities Chair Ty Webb sent this email to the IT Division sla-dite list last night containing interesting podcasting resources. I'm reproducing here with her permission.

A while ago, I sent a message about gadgets that referred to Hope Tillman's presentation in Toronto.  In that conference session, Hope talked a little about Podcasts (audio file on a blog or website, linked by an RSS feed).   If you're interested in exploring this technology, here are some sites for you to look at:

Podcast directories

www.ipodder.org

www.podcastalley.com

www.itunes.com

Hosting and technical advice

www.libsyn.com

www.ourmedia.org

CastBlaster creates podcasts and RSS feeds for you

www.castblaster.com

Thanks Ty!

Podcast workshop

The Metropolitan New York Library Council Program is holding an online workshop titled Podcasts as Library Resources on Monday, February 27, 2006 (3:30PM to 5:00PM).

Description:
Podcasting is a rapidly growing form of communication and information delivery in both business and academia. The number of podcast listeners using iTunes alone grew from one million in July 2005 to six million in August 2005. This webinar will present a basic introduction to podcasts and show how they can be useful research and reference tools in libraries. Instruction will outline and share techniques for seeking out existing resource podcasts, including those distributed by RSS feeds.

Objectives:

• Learn to understand podcasting basics.
• Review the history of podcasting and assess how it is being used in libraries today.
• Identify applications for podcasting in various types of libraries.
• Set strategies to identify podcasts for reference services.

Presenter:
Kathryn Shaughnessy is an instructional services librarian at St. John's University in Queens. She has taught in a variety of institutions and libraries representing business, government, and academic organizations. She specializes in innovations in instructional technologies and in the promotion of information-literacy and information-ethics.

You can register online. Registration fee is $40 for members; $75 nonmembers.

Coursecasting at UCincinnati

The University of Cincinnati is the most recent university to jump on the podcasting wagon in letting their instructors record their classes. I see such podcasts become part of institutional digital repositories very easily (maybe someone here have such experience at their learning institution?).

But I was wondering, is there any podcasting being done in the private sector, especially in the non-IT field? What could the podcasts consist of? Seminars and trainings? Communications from the executives? Do librarians/information professionals in the corporate world create podcasts? I would love to hear from you on the subject and I just might try looking on my own.

Podcast: word of the year

The term 'podcast' has been declared Word of the Year by the New Oxford American Dictionary.

Wasn't it last year that "weblog" was the word of the year?

Podcasting listserv

There's a new bibliocasting listserv around.

Introducing the Bibliocasting listserv.

The bibliocasting listserv (bibliocasting@listserv.syr.edu) is
dedicated to a discussion of streaming media in the library
environment. This list grows out of the increasing popularity of
"Podcasting," or the use of RSS and the Internet to download audio
programs (like audio blogs) to computers and MP3 players. A recent
Reuters story states:

"Twenty-nine percent of U.S. adults who own MP3 players like Apple
Computer Inc.'s iPod say they have downloaded podcast programs from the
Internet, the Pew Internet and American Life Project found...That means
more than 6 million people are listening to a form of communication
that emerged only last year, according to the nonprofit group."

[ http://www.pewinternet.org/PPF/r/154/report_display.asp ]

So what to post on the list? Examples of how libraries can build on the
growing excitement of Podcasting; Questions on how libraries can use
podcasting and other multimedia information they create to promote
themselves and provide better service; Questions on how to podcast and
other technical questions on streaming media including QuickTime
Streaming, RealProducer,  and others. In addition, the list will
include postings of key articles, reports, and news about podcating and
other streaming media in general and in the the library context.

Bottom Line: We are looking to build a community of individuals
interested in the application of multimedia in the library environment.

SUBSCRIBING TO THE LIST

You can get the listserv in two ways. The first is through e-mail. To
subscribe to the list send an e-mail to listserv@listserv.syr.edu with
the entire message (no subject line):

        subscribe bibliocasting FirstName LastName

We have also set up a podcast for the list...that's right, you can
listen to the list. Each post is transformed from text-to-speech, and
syndicated using RSS. The RSS feed (podcast feed) for the list is at:

        http://drew.syr.edu/iis4/pod/pod.xml

I haven't used podcasting in any of my blogs;I need to get to it. Have you?

Podcasting intro

Want to know more about podcasting? On December 7, Greg Schwartz of Open  Stacks gave an online seminar on the subject on OPAL. It will be available on the OPAL archives soon. Meanwhile, check out their other programing.