Podcasting: Multimedia Syndication OISE Lunchtime Series March 29, 2007 Julie Hannaford, jhannaford@oise.utoronto.ca Neil Tinker, ntinker@oise.utoronto.ca

What is RSS? In a nutshell, RSS is “automated web surfing” – Dave Winer (http://www.scripting.com/2005/09/11.html) RSS variously stands for: Really Simple Syndication, RDF Site Summary or Rich Site Summary For a little RSS history, link here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RSS_(file_format) There are multiple RSS formats; all are XML files that syndicate; they allow you to subscribe to locate new content Subscribing to an RSS feed means that you can easily track changes and additions; it’s a great way to stay current To subscribe to podcasts, use RSS 2.0: http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss or ATOM: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atom_(standard)

What Do You Need? RSS newsfeed(s) RSS feed reader or aggregator On Web pages, look for “subscribe” links, an orange rectangle: an XML symbol: or an RSS symbol: RSS feed reader or aggregator A reader will store all of your feeds, automatically check for feed updates and allow you to read or hear the new content

Example MERLOT RSS Feeds

Example RSS Feed RSS URL http://www.merlot.org/merlot/materials.xml?community=3028&hasPeerReviews=true&sort.property=datePeerReviewed&rssTitle=Most%20Recent%20Peer%20Reviewed%20Materials%20In%20MERLOT%20Teaching%20and%20Technology

Aggregator Example: Bloglines (http://www.bloglines.com)

Aggregator Example: Google Reader (http://www.google.com/reader/)

Podcasts Podcast: a multimedia file distributed over the Internet, using syndication feeds, for playback on mobile devices and personal computers (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Podcasting) A podcast is different from other digital audio or video formats because it can be downloaded automatically using software capable of reading feed formats such as RSS To podcast, the RSS feed must support ‘enclosures’: attached media objects Examples: CBC, PBS, ESPN, Comedy Central, OISE/UT’s ‘Ask the Experts’

Why Use Podcasts? Subscribe to podcasts as an easy way to stay current: Hear/see others’ presentations, demos. and talks on topics of interest to you Listen/watch when it is convenient for you

OISE/UT ‘Ask the Experts’

‘Ask the Experts’ Feed

Subscribing Using Bloglines http://www.bloglines.com

Adding the Newsfeed

Ask the Experts

iTunes Search for the RSS feed in iTunes’ Podcasts Subscribe to the feed once you have found it

‘Ask the Experts’ Podcast

Changing the Settings

Manually Subscribing to iTunes The podcast that you would like to subscribe to may not be part of the iTunes library. To subscribe manually: Click on the ‘Advanced’ menu, then click on ‘Subscribe to podcast…’ You will then see a small box where you can paste your podcast feed’s URL.

Finding Podcasts Use podcast directories: The Podcast Directory: http://www.podcast.net/ iPodder Podcast Directory: http://www.ipodder.org/ Yahoo Podcasts: http://podcasts.yahoo.com/ Search iTunes podcasts in the Music Store

Other Aggregators: Doppler: http://www.dopplerradio.net/ Juice: http://juicereceiver.sourceforge.net/

Why Create a Podcast? You can use it for course-related activities: podcast your lectures, for example Students can listen to a lecture again – useful for exam preparation Students can hear a lecture that they might have missed ESL students can listen to them and increase their comprehension Instructors can listen to their own lectures to improve their presentations (Purdue University)

Why Create a Podcast? A university may use podcasting to make their activities more widely available: lectures series, special events,etc. Example: http://webcast.berkeley.edu Academic Libraries: library instruction, library tours: http://www.abdn.ac.uk/library/podcasts.shtml Reach a broader audience; engage students and faculty

Educational Podcasts on iTunes

An OISE Example… Comparative International and Development Education Database has the ability to podcast search results In this way, you can subscribe and find out what new multimedia resources have been added to the database

Creating a Quality Podcast QuickTime 7: http://www.apple.com/quicktime/download/mac.html iLife 6: http://www.apple.com/ilife/ (which includes Garageband) MovieWorks Deluxe: http://www.movieworks.com/

Creating the RSS Feed Once you have your media file, you need the RSS file (the following are links you may wish to tryout): iTunes Podcast Technical Specifications If you already have a blog and are storing your media files there, you may wish to consider using: Feedburner Some other options: Manually creating an RSS feed: FeedForAll Feeder iWeb

Support at OISE Technical support to create media content is available in the Student Production Labs for iLife '06 and QuickTime 7 Pro, see: Student Production Labs Production support: Production Services Support for the RSS component: contact Julie Hannaford: jhannaford@oise.utoronto.ca

Suggested Resources/Readings “Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms – Will Richardson http://main.library.utoronto.ca/webcat/goto_catalogue_url.cfm?where=ckey&what=5816488 Tutorials: Apple iLife 6: http://main.library.utoronto.ca/webcat/goto_catalogue_url.cfm?where=ckey&what=6084957 GarageBand 3: http://main.library.utoronto.ca/webcat/goto_catalogue_url.cfm?where=ckey&what=6085135