#20 You too can YouTube
Universities and Libraries and utilizing YouTube as well. Here’s a YouTube video about Web 2.0 created by a professor at Kansas State University. Thomson Gale, a library database provider, recently sponsored a I Love My Libary video contest by asking people to post their videos to their YouTube channel.
Do some searching around YouTube yourself and see what the site has to offer. You'll find everything from educational themes such as Did You Know? to 1970s TV commercials to library dominos here. Of course, like any free site you’ll also find a lot stuff not worth watching too. But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t explore and see for yourself! :)
Discovery Exercise:
1. Explore YouTube & find a video worth adding as an entry in your blog.
2. Create a blog post about your experience. What did you like or dislike about YouTube and why did you choose the video that you did? Can you see any features or componets of the site that might be interesting if they were applied to library websites?
NOTE: If you like, you can login to YouTube with your Google account.
OPTIONAL: Try placing the video inside your blog using the copy and paste code labeled "Embed." The HTML code can be used for when you want to provide a link to the video at the YouTube site.
Note: when embedding a video in a blog post, switch from the Compose tab to the Edit HTML tab and then paste the Embed code. You can also use this code as a Page Element in your blog's sidebar (select HTML / Java)
Note: Due to frustrations that many users have with Internet Explorer 6.0.2 crashing when trying to open some videos, it is recommended that for this exercise you use the FireFox browser. It is installed on all public computers in the library, or you may easily download it to your computer from here.
Other popular video hosting sites:
NOTE: Videos, like music downloads, are bandwidth hogs. It is recommended that you complete this exercise during light internet usage times, and on a computer with a fast internet connection.
#21 Podcasts, Shmodcasts!
What differentiates a podcast from regular streaming audio or video is that the delivery method for podcasts is often done automatically through RSS technology, so once you subscribe to a particular podcast with a service, it can be continually updated when new podcasts from that same provider are available.
Here is an example of each from NPR's website: streaming audio that you can listen to using Real Player or Windows Media Player on your computer, and NPR's RSS podcasts that you can subscribe to through a service such as iTunes, where you will get new podcasts each week automatically.
In 2005, "podcast" was named the "word of the year" by New Oxford American Dictionary and with the growth of podcasting over the last 24 months, it's easy to see why.
Podcasts take many forms, from short 1-10 minute commentaries to much longer in-person interviews or panel group discussions. There’s a podcast out there for just about every interest area, and the best part about this technology is that you don’t have to have an iPod or other MP3 player to access them. Since podcasts use the MP3 file format, a popular compressed format for audio files, you really just need a computer with headphones or speakers.
iTunes, the free downloadable application created by Apple, is the directory finding service most associated with podcasts, but if you don’t have iTunes installed on your computer there are still plenty of options.
For this discovery exercise participants are asked to take a look at some popular podcast directory tools. Do some exploring on your own and locate a podcast that is of interest to you. If you like you can easily pull the RSS feed into your Bloglines account as well, so that when new casts become available you’ll be automatically notified of their existence.
Discovery Resources:
- To find out more about podcasts, start with the Yahoo: What is a podcast tutorial
- There are many, many podcast directories and finding tools out there. Here are just three of the more popular ones that, unlike iTunes, don't require a software download:
Podcastalley.com
Yahoo Podcasts
- What? You want to learn how to be a podcaster too? (Optional Resources for those who want to learn create podcasts)
Odeo’s Studio – online recording studio.
How to podcast tutorial
Discovery Exercise:
1. Take a look at one or two of the podcast directories listed and see if you can find a podcast that interests you. See if you can find some interesting library related podcasts here, like book review podcasts or library news.2. Create a blog post about your discovery process. Did you find anything useful here?
Optional: Add the RSS feed for the podcast you have chosen to your Bloglines account
Optional: If you're ambitious, why not try out Gabcast.com or Gcast.com and add an audio post about your experience to your blog.
