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Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Distributing your podcast for e-learning

I've just about completed all the topics I want to cover regarding Podcasting for E-Learning (for the moment). It's time to move on to other learning and development-related subjects. So, over the next couple of days, I want to tie up some podcasting 'loose ends.'

Now read on…

Today, publishing your podcast. As Jack Herrington (2005) so memorably wrote, podcasting is "blogging out loud." If you've created and posted a blog, you've already used pretty much all the technology required to distribute a podcast. In essence, a podcast is just a media file (usually MP3 audio, but you may also use m4a, .mov, .mp4, .m4v, and .pdf file types), and the RSS 2.0 web feed format which is used to publish frequently updated works like podcasts and blogs.

An RSS document (usually called a "feed") includes full or summarized text and metadata such as publishing dates. Web feeds enable publishers syndicate content automatically, and they allow subscribers access updates from individual websites or aggregated from many sites. The standardized XML file format allows the feed information to be published once and viewed by many different applications.

There are many ways to create a podcast RSS feed, but I recommend the free-to-use PodcastBlaster service (see Figure 1) if you're new to podcasting and don't feel up to hand-crafting the code.

PodcastBlasterFigure 1. PodcastBlaster RSS Feed Generator
[Click to Enlarge]

The most common way to distribute a podcast is via a blogging service, or by using specialized software provided by your ISP. Refer to your hosting provider for specifics on the system they - and by extension you – should use.

New Podcast Episode: Django Reinhardt and the Sound of Swing

The great jazz guitarist Django Reinhardt was born in France in 1910. image

The son of Gypsy parents, he grew up in a Manouche camp on the outskirts of Paris during the Great War. Django grew up in the world of the bohemian and the vagabond on the doorstep of a great city and it was here that he first learned to play the guitar.


This 15-minute podcast documentary follows the career of one of the great innovators in the guitar, through the 'Roaring Twenties,' the accident that nearly ruined his careers, his discovery of Jazz, and the emergence of the Swing style, epitomized in his work with the Stephane Grapelli and The Quintet of the Hot Club of France.

Click here to listen to the podcast (MP3, 13.5MB).

Click here to view the transcript (PDF, 81k).

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References:

Herrington, J. D. (2005). Podcasting hacks: tips & tools for blogging out loud. O’Reilly Media, Inc.

PodcastBlaster Internet: Available from: http://www.podcastblaster.com Accessed 20 September 2009 (Registration Required)

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