Who said radio was dead?

Podcasts! My favourite!

I'm a big audio book fan - I spend up to two hours in the car every day, so it's a great way to get some reading in when I would otherwise just be wasting time. Plus, I find, early in the morning, listening to something that requires my concentration is a much better way at making sure I stay alert.

Podcasts, for me, are a similar concept. At home, I subscribe to a number of different ones, which iTunes helpfully downloads and organises for me, so that when I plug my iPod in, they get loaded on, ready for me to listen to on my way to and from work.

That's not the only way I use podcasts, though. The SciFi channel in the US, for example, has made available audio commentaries for episodes of Battlestar Galactica, via podcast. So I can download these and play them concurrently with episodes, much like I would with an audio commentary included on a DVD. For a movie/TV buff like me, this is awesome: I love hearing all of that, and I love that it just arrives on my computer, like magic, ready for listening to.

In a library context, I think podcasts are much more useful than videos, at least for training purposes. Videos are great for showing things (like an author talk - though that could also work as a podcast), but not so good for letting people learn things hands on. With a podcast, you could have someone listen as they follow the instructions offered, thereby connecting them with the learning process. And, of course, they could always pause, or go back, if they needed more time to get the concept. I'm far too impatient to sit and watch video clips unless I'm really interested in the subject; I'd far rather figure something out for myself, through trial and error. But I'd probably listen to something, as I tried things out.

So I guess that would work for both staff and patrons. And yes, author talks could also be presented that way (and they'd certainly need less bandwidth as podcasts, which has certainly been a problem with YouTube... it's very slow for us, here at work). I know audio from Council meetings are put on our Council's website, though I can't see any library meetings needing that kind of attention. Still, I like the concept of making things available this way.

I imagine this is also useful for reference. Not so much that we would create our own - but OEDb list is an excellent resource, for example. I'm a big fan of making this information freely available, so anyone can have a listen.

Who said radio was dead! We just... evolved a bit, I guess.

On happier subjects...

Let's have some uplifting political demonstration! I love this video. It's an excellent example of how YouTube can be used to spread a message (though admittedly, this particular video originated elsewhere, and in better quality).



I like how easy YouTube makes it to share these things - just copy the code, paste it in, and you're set. It's instantly possible to see exactly how incredible a tool this is for the sharing of video information.

I don't actually have a television at home (or, rather, I have a television, but it doesn't have any kind of antenna): we watch everything off the internet, or on DVD. One of the great things about the internet is the increasing ability to not miss out on things, just because you don't generally watch 'the box'. Last Federal Election, here in Australia? I watched the results all night, straight off my computer. It wasn't perfect - it lagged sometimes, and the quality wasn't great - but it did the job.

While I do like the idea of videoing author talks and presentations in the library, as Mosman has done, I'm not sure how many other applications this kind of technology could have for the libraries. I don't really feel like tutorials, for example, would be worth the time. Most of the people who might be inclined to look at them are the kind of people who either don't have an internet connection at home, or have dial-up, and thus would find it incredibly painful to try and get the thing to load. It is possible to view these things in the library, but our net here is not much faster (all of these videos took FOREVER). And given the staff time, and set up costs (video cameras are getting cheaper, but they're still pretty expensive, and you'll need a decent mic as well), I just don't see it happening for us.

To finish off, I'll share another video. This is not a hugely popular thing, spread everywhere, but it's another example of what can be done. It's a trailer for a short film called Jumpcut, by Rohan Harris. (In retrospect, this is a little embarrassing, because the quality is terrible, and that's not just because YouTube compresses things badly, but there you go). Bonus points for anyone who can pick me out of it... (Now that really is embarrassing).