Audiocasting in the digital age
Part II: How to create and publish your podcast
by Gary Clites
Originally published in the Dow Jones Newspaper Fund's Adviser Update, Winter 2006
Podcasting is a still amazingly new portion of the media that is growing at an astronomical rate. When I wrote an introduction to the technology six months ago, I noted that there were roughly 2,600 podcasts listed on the then most popular podcast clearinghouse, and Apple’s ITunes Music Store had just listed their first podcast. As of this writing, ITunes lists over 25,000 active podcasts available, nearly a 1,000 percent increase in half a year.
The most exciting part for educators is that due to the democratic nature of the Internet and the technology, your students can now publish their work alongside the Wall Street Journal or National Public Radio, and they may be just as successful at appealing to their target audience for a quick download to the IPod.
The basic technology used for podcasting is nicknamed RSS, for Really Simple Syndication. It can be used to publish audio programming, “enhanced podcasts” which often contain graphics and photos to support the audio, and has recently begun to be used to publish video podcasts for use by newer video IPods. The vast majority of current podcasts are of the audio variety, and are essentially radio shows produced for MP-3 players like the IPod. There are currently a small number of student-produced podcasts listed in ITunes (Follow links to Podcasts>Education>K-12), but the technology offers exciting opportunities for student journalists to find new audiences for their work.
Producing and publishing a student-created program for the MP-3 player is not a terribly complicated endeavor. It really requires the mastery of only four simple steps.
Step 1: Come up with a program idea.
Podcasts are as various as are shows on conventional radio. Student journalists, however, have always written about and filmed events in their schools, in their communities and in their own lives. Why not look to those subjects to build a podcast interesting to your local audience? The professional media have focussed much energy on developing different media elements synergistically, why not do the same? How about creating a monthly podcast to accompany the publication of the school newspaper with reporters and sources interviewed about important stories in the print edition? How about a teen entertainment show in which the newspaper staff reviews hot new video games, television shows, movies and technologies? How about an audio version of your school’s television broadcast that can be accessed by parents and others in the community?
Step 2: Produce your program
To be uploadable as a podcast, your show must be recorded on a computer as a digital file (MP-3 files are most popular, but several other formats work). Recording and editing your program on the computer can be as simple or complex as you like, but most of us would like to create a cast with good, clean audio edited to sound at least somewhat professional. Most computers today include built in microphones which allow you to record directly to a digital file. Don’t use them. Built-in mics are generally of the lowest quality possible and will not produce usable audio. You can use a microphone connected directly to a computer, or you can buy a mixing board to input multiple audio sources to the computer. Some supply companies (like Full Compass [fullcompass.com]) are offering podcasting kits for sale with bundles as low as $159.
There are a number of digital audio software programs available to record, digitize and edit your program. Two of the most popular are Audacity and Garageband. Audacity is great because it is free and will probably do everything you’ll need to create your full podcast. It is downloadable at audacity.sourceforge.net and is available for Windows, Mac and Linux. Garageband is a primarily Mac program and is popular because it is often bundled free with Apple computers. It is a downright fun program to use and students seem to love it. Information on the program is available at www.apple.com/ilife/garageband.
I should also mention a fairly new program called ePodcast Producer which is getting a lot of press as a one-step easy solution to both creating and publishing podcasts to the web. It costs $250, but advertises that it makes podcasting effortless. I have no personal knowledge of it, but you can look into it at the publisher’s website, http://www.industrialaudiosoftware.com/.
There are literally dozens of articles available on the web about how to record a podcast. Try Glenn Fleishman’s at macdevcenter.com/pub/a/mac/2005/01/25/podcast.html.
Record your show, tighten it up in editing, and you’re ready to “publish” your cast to the world.
Step 3: Upload your program and create an RSS Feed File
Okay. This is the tricky part, and a hair too tricky to cover in full detail here. That said, RSS is called Really Simple Syndication for a reason. You’ll be able to do this.
Essentially, to be “published,” your program must be uploaded as an MP-3 or other acceptable digital file to a server connected to the Web. This can be a school server, a private server, whatever. Basically, anyplace you could post a web page could hold a digital audio file.
The podcast must be accompanied by an RSS file, which is simply a text file containing the right information to guide IPod-connected computers to your podcast. Writing an RSS file is a little complicated, but is really just a matter of following directions. There are a number of good guides on the Internet for creating them. One of the best is part of a great podcast tutorial by Corey Deitz on About.com. Access it at radio.about.com/od/podcastin1/a/aa030805a_2.htm. I recommend this article for anyone new to the subject. One key to remember is that the RSS file must be posted as pure text, not as a Microsoft Word file, or any other format of file. You can create it in a word processor, but you must save the output as a pure text file.
Once your RSS file is ready, upload it with the podcast using any FTP program. There are a number of FTP software programs available free on the ‘net. Then double check or “validate” your program by going to rss.scripting.com/ and typing in the address of your RSS file. If there is a problem, go back and double check the RSS script.
Step 4: List your podcast
You’ll want to make your podcast available to the widest number of listeners possible. To do this, you’ll need to post the address to all of the larger podcast clearing houses. By far, the largest is ITunes. They have a very simple interactive system that allows anyone to list a show free (podcast downloads through ITunes are also completely free, as is the software). For more information, visit their F.A.Q. page at www.apple.com/itunes/podcasts/faq.html. MasterNewMedia offers an extensive list of podcast clearinghouses at www.masternewmedia.org/news/2005/05/20/where_to_submit_your_podcasts.htm.
All you’ll really need to list your podcast is the web address, a name for the cast, and a simple description of the contents. The trick is that you need to visit each podcast search engine individually and register your cast. The neat thing about this, however, is that people “subscribe” to podcasts, so listing your link once will allow them to access all future episodes of your student’s show.
That’s it. Creating and uploading podcasts can be fairly easy and offers a unique new opportunity to journalism students and educators. Our goal is to create journalism experiences for our students, and podcasting is both the newest cutting edge of the media and a uniquely democratic place for student broadcasters to explore their talents.
© Gary Clites, 2006