Podcast Workshop
Writing about web page http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/newsandevents/audio/
The podcast workshop was really useful, I had no real understanding of what podcasts were at 9.30 this morning, and now I am starting to think of various ways they could be used by libraries to get information out to users.
Perhaps the most important thing about the workshop was that it did not try to make podcasts look like the answer to all our prayers, and actually they were quick to point out that simply embedding audio files into web pages would achieve much of what we may want to do.
I think uses for embedded audio files are wide ranging, especially for the team that I currently work in, and for general library induction type use, a couple of examples being:
- Audio to accompany floor plans on the web site (clickable maps which are synchronised with audio files so uses could select, for example "short loan" on the map, and the audio file would play basic info about short loan while they view a close up image).
- Clickable form layouts (say for inter-library loan forms) with audio files embedded in each section explaining how to fill it in and other relevant points (maybe copyright requirements in this example, etc.).
- Audio accompaniment to web based tutorials
Use of techniques like this could also help us reach students who maybe cannot attend/make full use of standard training sessions or perhaps cannot use standard web pages, for example:
- Distance learners
- Dyslexic users
- Visually impaired users
I think I would certainly need further training if I was to produce any material for podcast/embedded audio files and would question if there really is time in the day to do much of this kind of work (just editing the existing web site can be a bit of a bind) but I think it has a lot of useful applications should there be chance to develop them.
I have added my notes from the day here: podcasting notes.
Has anyone used podcasts in libraries?
What for?
What kind of responses did you get?
Katharine Widdows
01 Mar 2007 17:20
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Good response to the Warwick Podcasting Workshop
Yesterday we (the E-learning Advisor Team) and the Communications Office (Tom Abbott) ran a half day workshop on podcasting and using MP3 audio...
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Katie
Good luck with your chartership! I’ve just registered for it. It’s been interesting reading your blog!
01 Mar 2007, 17:45
Robert O'Toole
Good to hear that it was useful. If you’ve got a map that could use audio links, then we would be happy to set it up. You’ll need to write the script and get someone to read it – that’s often the hard bit!
02 Mar 2007, 12:13
Suzanne
Me again. I work in a community/FE college, and we haven’t ventured into podcasts. Time is definitely one reason, but I suppose another is that they could be seen as excluding some students who don’t have the means to listen to them.
On the other hand, audio commentary on website/VLE material is something that we definitely want to get into as soon as we have the time. I’d agree that this would be particularly useful for induction material, not to mention topping up on the W3C compliancy, and providing a variety of options for users. When designing things like tutorials, we try to cater for the different learning styles, favouring visual information over textual, and audio would be a brilliant addition for increasing the user’s options.
05 Mar 2007, 12:53
Mac keth
The number of podcast listeners using iTunes alone grew from one million in July 2005 to six million in August 2005.
29 Aug 2007, 06:45
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