Podcasts

I found this week's activity most interesting. Just as some people are addicted to Blogs, others are to Podcasts. Subscribing so that you receive new content is a great idea, as it means that you do not have to search far and wide again to get updates. I would recommend the Yahoo tutorial. I found this approach easy to follow and pleasant on the eye. Additional information was quickly available. www.nonstopmac.com
This tutorial identified podcasts as audio.
A number of video applications are out there which follow a similar format, but the are not technically podcasts.

I would recommend this tutorial format for use by library information literacy aspects of learning. The pictures at the top of the page added colour and appeal, and everything was delivered in short clear snapshots in steps of three and with only minimal links out. I recommend it as template.

I would recommend that we add RSS feeds to our existing library podcasts or at least, investigate making them a series to which we could add an RSS feed. We also need to add the length against each one. I found this invaluable in planning my time, when deciding whether to listen to a podcast now or reschedule it. Some of the Sirsi Dynix podcasts go for an hour. These are very good podcasts, but not targetting the net genners out there.

I think, that like all social networking technologies, strict selection criteria is needed when creating a directory suitable for attaching in an academic library collection. Nontheless, I believe that this is a task worth investigating as it enhances our existing collection, providing a format to many who maybe too busy to investigate scholarly sites and evaluate them. I would suggest that by being critical, the lists we as librarians choose for this purpose would remain small and focussed.

An additional activity is to create podcasts in the library setting to either advertise a service or to teach some aspect of library knowledge, such as identifying the different types of journals and their uses. I think podcast technology quite suited for this . As podcasting is an audio platform it assists librarians in providing for differing learning styles in their teaching materials. This option is suited to those with an 'aural learning style."

ELLE