Podcasting
A beginner's guide
What is a podcast
Creating digital audio (MP3) files.
Using Audacity Basic Introduction
Uploading the MP3 files to some Web space
Broadcasting - Creating the podcast feed (A type of RSS feed)
Subscribing - Receiving the podcast.
What is a podcast?
The word podcasting is derived from iPod and broadcasting.
The important feature of podcasting is that the user subscribes to a Podcast feed and then any new MP3s that are added to the feed automatically informs the subscribers computer so that they can be downloaded at a convenient time. For example, if the podcast feed belongs to a weekly radio programme then every week a new MP3 (show) gets added to the feed and each time the information is sent to all of the subscribers. This is significantly different to conventional broadcasting in that the end user does not have to either be listening when the broadcast goes out (i.e. be sat listening to the radio at a pre-published time), or make a conscious physical effort to record each episode for listening to at a later time.
How are people using podcasting? There are several thousand podcasts out there on the Internet. You can hear broadcasts of music, recipes, gardening hints and lots more. You could also tune into the regular broadcast of the Year 6 pupils at Downs School (http://www.downs.kent.sch.uk/default.shtml) or Radio Sandaig from Sandaig Primary School (http://www.sandaigprimary.co.uk/). Also why not listen to the first broadcast of Year 6 at Prince Albert Primary School (http://feeds.feedburner.com/ThePrinceAlbertPodcasts).
In the examples above podcasting is being used to as a news and entertainment medium. The schools are displaying their excellence. The children are broadcasting to a world wide audience. This is linked to a huge variety of hidden learning outcomes. Podcasting is however also being used directly as a teaching and learning tool as teachers podcast teaching material that the pupils can listen to anytime anywhere.
Creating and receiving podcasts requires: -
1. One or more digital audio files MP3 files that are sometimes referred to as shows to be recorded. These may be songs, poems news items jokes etc. Initially the podcast will consist of just one show (MP3).
2. The shows need to be uploaded to some suitable Web space.
3. Broadcasting the shows. This is done by creating a podcast feed which is a type of RSS feed.
4. Listeners subscribing to the podcast feed.
5. Listeners either listening to the shows on their PCs or downloading them to a portable music player (e.g. iPod) for listening to anytime anywhere.
The production of podcasts is in the near future going to change dramatically. At the moment it is still seems to be in the hands of a group which have special knowledge . We hope that the notes below help in overcoming this barrier. We have tried to write it in an un-jargonised language.
| Creating digital audio (MP3) files. | |
- You could use the recording facility on your computer. Go to Control Panel, Sounds and Audio Devices then Advanced. This will show you if the microphone is activated. If you have not got a Microphone control panel go to Options and make sure the Microphone box has a cross in it. This allows you to set the volume levels of the microphone. This is however not a very good option for creating sound files that somebody else might like to listen to. The files are also difficult to edit.
- A better option is to get some free software called Audacity. This will allow you to record and edit the shows for your podcast and put in special features like fades. You will also need a microphone. A £2 Pan Stand microphone would be adequate for your first attempts. After that a more expensive microphone like the Samson CO1U USB microphone at around £54 would be ideal.
Audacity can be downloaded from http://audacity.sourceforge.net/download/windows. On this web page you have access to two downloads : Audacity 1.2.4 installer and LAME MP3 encoder.
The LAME software is important as it allows you to save the Audacity files as MP3 files. The sequence of operations is:
1. Click on Audacity 1.2.4. Choose somewhere local to download it from like Kent. It seems best that after you have clicked on the Kent download, click on the blue link at the top of the page. This then opens a download window.
After the download has finished you can click on Run the program. Then click on the various Next buttons.
2. Now go back to the link above and click on the LAME MP3 encoder button. You then receive a set of instructions on how to download the file. Please read them.
3. Run Audacity. The first time you use the Export as MP3 command from the File menu you will be asked where lame_enc.dll is saved. This is a one off operation and thereafter Audacity will produce MP3 files.
| Using Audacity Basic Introduction | |
Recording
Before you start doing any recording using Audacity you need to save the Project that you are working on.
Go to the File Button and click on Save Project As. Save the empty project with an appropriate file name. It is important that you save your project before starting the recording. If you don't do this you will not be able to do any editing.
If you want to record in stereo you need to go to the Edit button. Go to Preferences and then Audio I/O (the first page) this allows you to control the number of recording Channels option to 2.
Start recording:
Click on the red Record button | - to begin recording. |
Click on the blue Pause button | - to pause the recording.
- Press it again to continue |
Click on the yellow Stop button | - to cease recording. The cursor will return to its previous position, before the recording was started |
Audacity always records to a new track. So if you were not satisfied with the first recording you have three options. Firstly you can delete the first recording (not advised), secondly you can start a new project and re-record the work. Finally you can use the same instance of Audacity and it will simply start on a new track underneath the original one. The last option is probably the best because when it comes to editing you can cut and paste bits of the recordings together.
It does however mess up playback because all the tracks play back at the same time.
Editing
An important tool if you have multiple tracks is the time shift tool . If this is selected you can move the entire audio clip around inside its track. It means that if you want to hear a particular track in a multi track project you can move one track to the end of another.
The selection tool is the main tool you use to select bits of your audio track. Click in a track to position the cursor, or click and drag to select a range of audio. You can select multiple tracks. If you don t want that part of the track click your delete button.
The zoom tool allows you to zoom in and out and therefore edit very small parts of the audio. To zoom out right click to zoom in left click.
The envelope tool give you detailed control on how tracks fade in and fade out. When this is selected an amplitude envelope is opened over each track. Click on the envelope outline. You get a control point and you can make the envelope larger or smaller from that point. You can get some great shapes!
For detailed tutorials go to http://audacity.sourceforge.net/manual-1.2/tutorials.html or http://audacityteam.org/wiki/index.php?title=Main_Page
| Uploading the MP3 files to some Web space | |
This is an essential element and there are several ways of doing it. You could upload it to your schools web page. Ask whoever is responsible for it to upload it and also ask them for the web address.
If you are in a Birmingham school you will have access to your own home page on the Birmingham VLE (BGfL PLUS). You go to the Home Pages button on the left hand menu and then to Home Page Uploader. Use the uploader to load the file onto the site then find it again in the Files and Directory box. Right click on the file. Go to
Properties and then look for the web address in the Properties box. (See diagram below) Copy and save the address somewhere.
1. The address of the first Prince Albert show was http://www.btir.bham.org.uk/final_project.mp3 . Another alternative way is to try to find a Blog where you can upload files to. Edublogs at http://www.edublogs.org/ allows you create a blog and upload files of up to 1 Mb (a seven minute podcast is about 5Mb) although there is talk of upping it to 10Mb.
| Broadcasting - Creating the podcast feed (A type of RSS feed) | |
Lets assume that you have managed to upload the MP3 file to the Internet and have its web address safely tucked away somewhere. We now have to make it available to anybody who would like to subscribe to it. In Internet jargon we have to create a RSS feed.
A way which works reasonably easily is to use some software called Feedburner. This worked. It means that you need to create a Blog account which in itself is not a bad thing because it allows the people who hear the podcast to go to the account and feedback their thoughts on the podcast.
Create a Blogger Account. (A blog is short for a web log).
Go to http://www.blogger.com/start. This is a free blogging service and creating a blog is a simple three-stage process. Alternatively you could create one in http://www.edublogs.org. In both you create an account, name the blog and choose a template. A blog was created in http://www.blogger.com named The Prince Albert's Podcasts with a description. This is the Prince Albert podcast channel.
When you have created the blog you start posting. It's important that you set up the posting correctly because this influences the way in which the podcast is eventually displayed in iTunes. (This is the podcast receiver -more about that later). Create a title for the posting ... in this instance it s Podcast 1. In the posting area you then type the brief description of the podcast. Select it all and then hyperlink the description to the place where you have placed the podcast. In this instance it was:
http://www.btir.bham.org.uk/final_project.mp3. So far so good.
We now need to create the RSS feed which is a small piece of software linked to the Blog which will broadcast the MP3 file and therefore turn it into a podcast. To do this we need another piece of software called Feedburner which is again free. Go to Feedburner at http://www.feedburner.com and create an account.
When you go into Feedburner you are asked for your blog's address. The address of the Prince Albert blog is:
http://princealbertpodcasts.blogspot.com
Put it in and then click Next. You are then asked to create your account.
After that you have some details to fill in. Look at them carefully. At one point you are asked for details of your podcast. These details will appear in iTunes alongside the podcast title. Why careful? There seems no way back to edit these details. For example do not miss the section 'Add here a detailed description.....' .
Final a feed is created. In this instance it is:
http://feeds.feedburner.com/ThePrinceAlbertPodcasts
If you want to edit your feed and find out more about who is accessing it Feedburner comes into its own. It gives you information on who has subscribed to your podcast.
There are other ways to create the feed. There is some software called Podifier at http://www.podifier.com which can be downloaded to help you through the process. This is really a route for somebody who is truly familiar with web terminology.
There are even simpler methods but these rely upon you being able to upload your MP3 file to your blog.
| Subscribing - Receiving the podcast. | |
To become a receiver of the podcast i.e. a subscriber you need to download iTunes. This can be done by going to:
http://www.apple.com/uk/itunes/download/
and clicking on the Download iTunes Free button. iTunes is a media player which gives you the capability of subscribing, downloading and playing podcasts. You can add a new podcast by pasting the feed URL into the Advanced menu option and then Subscribe to Podcast. The URL for the Prince Albert podcast is:
http://feeds.feedburner.com/ThePrinceAlbertPodcasts
Other sites of interest
If you want to find out how they do it at Downs.
http://www.downs.kent.sch.uk/downsfm/_aboutdownsfm.htm
or more about the educational potential of podcasting
http://www.teachingideas.co.uk/ict/podcasting.htm
or how about introducing your pupils to blogging at
http://learnerblogs.org/
