Thing 21 - Podcasts

The link What the heck is a podcast? was a dead link again and the Ninja podcast available on 23Things was less helpful. Yahoo podcasts did not work either.

However, via Merlin and due to some serendipitous clicking, I ended up at Library Success and was see that libraries are using podcasts to promote their services. Some of these podcasts are several years old and others are dead. However, it became clear to me that MCPL does not always have to videotape a library program but taping a talk and making it available for others to hear, as a podcast would work.

In my searching the list on Library Success, one podcast that intrigued me jumped directly into Windows Media Player and I listened to a 2008 library program - "History in the Movies" with Dr. Dr. Cathy Schultz who posits that the current historians are film makers and discusses are historical films accuracy. Watching movies may lead to researching and reading material by some of viewers.

I was able to subscribe Kankakee Public Library's podcasts to my Google Reader but I was not able to add it to my blog. Originally, I thought they had not updated their podcasts since 2008 but I discovered that Kankakee has not abandoned creating podcasts (latest was two days ago). While I was trying to listen to the above program in its entirety from home, I had to return to Google Reader and locate the podcast since the link I collected for the podcast did not go directly to this podcast but another one. There was not a way from what shown on the screen so I signed back into the RSS feed on Google Reader. While using it, I learned a little more about how Google Reader works. You cannot use the find/search under edit to locate items that are not displayed below the scroll down limit. Only 20 items are displayed at a time and since this podcast was older it took awhile to relocate it.

What I learned is that I still need to learn more. Fancy that. That is the whole point of lifelong learning. I have seen how podcasts have been made a part of this 23 Things training but I was not able to embed one into my blog. I do not know if it is my lack of technological experience or the podcast I chose did not allow me to do what I wanted, but I will pursue this with my children who are into Facebook and they should be able to help me to determine where the problem lies. Usefulness of personally podcasting is something I do not think I will pursue but the idea of using it in programming or for online book reviews is something that is worth considering. System buy in? That will have to be discovered as the completion rate of MCPL staff of 23 Things is greater and we have an opportunity to apply this training in a larger library venue.