Preconference David Lee King/David Free
David Lee King and David Free are both dynamic speakers. They turned what could have been a very boring presentation into a lively animated one, eagerly answering questions that were thrown their way and allowing the audience to participate in hands on demonstrations of how to actually make a podcast and videocast.
The workshop began with a very lively discussion on why should we podcast or videocast? I know I was caught a bit off guard with the person that thought that they didn't have much value. The individual pointed out, correctly, that they weren't great for getting that quick information that so many of our users sought and that you had to wait for it to come to you. However, it was quickly pointed out where they do have their value: oral histories, story times, demonstrations of services offered, commercials for libraries, etc.
David Free was first up to discuss podcasting (slides from presentation)
We began with watching Ask a ninja: What is podcasting?
Then David launched into his slides. What makes a podcast a podcast? Its MP3+RSS=podcast. A podcast is a podcast because you can have access to in anywhere and have the content delivered to you.
There are various websites and search engines that you can find podcasts at such as: Google Podcast Pickle, podCast 411--which tells if a podcast is dead or not (which is cool, I didn't know that). And of course iTunes. You can find and upload your own podcasts here.
What are podcasts good for? Their good for all sorts of things. From everything from teen clubs to what books to read to oral histories. Libraries have even used them to record programs, so those not able to attend are still able to share in the content. There are even libraries letting their users create the content for them.
At this point there was the question of if you record an author speaking what of copyright? David Free said there are a lot of variables. Does the author own the content from which their reading? What does the author want to happen? What's the libraries policies? etc. David recommended checking with the authors before putting things up on podcasts. Put it in the contract they sign. In some cases if its behind a firewall or password protected and is being used for a class, then it could be fair use. You can also check the Creative Commons Podcast Legal Guide. Best advice, check with the experts if your unsure, such as your library or Universities legal consul.
There's just so much that you can do with podcasting! David shared a lot of different examples, some in other languages, some that was user generated. A few to highlight:
Pitzer Military Library
Princeton, NJ Public Library--Poetry podcasts!
Cheshire Public Library--Teen Driven, with content created by teens
Pierce County Library System--Story time for grownups
Take a look at his slides for more examples.
When doing a podcast thats explaining something, such as a database, don't cover every little detail. Don't tell them where to click. Cover the "meat" of the product, what does it do? What's it good for?
Slide number 20 has some good podcasting tips such as:
remember your voice
be passionate and entreating
outline/script--but don't read from it. Use more of an outline. So you don’t sound like you’re reading from a piece of paper. Do a couple takes.
find a quiet place. Remember your mike may pick up the HVAC, so beware.
remember your listeners
Where can you get music for your podcasts? Don't pay for it! There are a number of free sites such as CCmixter, Podsafe Music Network, Creative Commons Audio.
Record/editing
Get a usb mike. Sound quality with other mikes are not as good as USB mike. You can use a digital recorder, iPods. Belkin makes a product to convert this Record skype calls through USB headset.
Audacity for editing. Easy and free! Download LAME MP3 encoder to encode files into MP3 format
Listen before you put online. Make sure everything sounds like you want it too.
Hosting--Where are you going to put the audio for others to access? Blip.tv hosts video and podcasting. And of course theirs always iTunes.
Posting/Feeding How are you going to get the content to your users? RSS obviously!
Promote the podcast
Evaluate and repeat—surveys, focus group, what do they think
David Lee King was up next with Videocasting! (slides from presentation)
What is Videocasting? It's a way of sharing thoughts and can be considered "half a conversation," you're just missing the other person responding. It's just like a blog, except its live and you're talking to a camera.
What are some examples of videocasting?
There are many different types ranging from professionally created to the average person
They cover such things as news, tv shows, web shows, screen casting, and so on
Steve Garfield with I can't open it
The Topkea and Shawnee County Public Library: What if Barbie had a bookclub
How do you find them? Just like with podcasting there are search engines that can help you find the content that you're looking for. Some places would be blinkx, clipblast, Google, and iTunes.
How do you watch them? Just click one, but broadband is a must! Very difficult to watch even short clips if you're still on dial up.
How do you create them?
Having time helps. But you also need a video camera. Any type will work, even the video on your phone. Cameras with one big button to press are great and relatively inexpensive. The Flip video camera, one big red button, is one such example.
You need video editing software
If you have a Mac, you're covered! Apple's iMovie is free.
For those of that are PC based, you can try Windows Movie Maker, Avid Free DV, Quicktime Pro, or Power Director, which are all free. As with everything there are always programs that you can purchase, such as Adobe's video suite.
You can also edit your video online! At such place as VideoEgg, eyespot, etc.
You need a blog, someplace that you can display the videos, and RSS feed. Both can be had for free at such places as Blogger and Feedburner. While you can upload your videos to such places as youtube, embed them back on to your site so your users can find them quickly and easily.
Think about what type of format that you want to use. What's best for your users as they are multiple different types. Flash…many video sites use flash, but its hard to download for later viewing. Quicktime.mov isn't used much.
You need an idea!
All different types!
Book talk
Bibliographic instruction
PR for the library
Tutorials—how to use the catalog
Cultural memory history
Collaborative—video contests You need some place to store them. While you can store them yourself on your own server...why would you? There are places that do it for free! Such as blip.tv, Internet Archive, and Youtube for starters.
Just like with podcasting, you can let your users create the content. Let them show off their musical talents or how they would advertise the library.
There was a hands on demo of how to do podcasting and videocasting...I think I got distracted so didn't take notes...
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