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COPYRIGHT 2005 Information Today, Inc.
The twin advantages of information and communication helped fuel the Internet s rise in popularity. While most librarians focus on Web searching and the information resources available on the Net, it is the communication side that has made the Net so important to end users, who spend far more time with e-mail, instant messaging, chat, discussion forums, blogs, and social networking than with Web searching.
Broadcasting on the Net is one important confluence of information and communication. Two specific types of online broadcasting increasing in popularity are podcasting and screencasting. Podcasting has become one of the latest Internet buzzwords and a hot technology on the Web. Frequently mentioned at conferences and on blogs, podcasts are available on a wide variety of topics. Meanwhile, the less-well-known technology of screencasting is attracting attention for its use in online instruction and tutorial creation.
Both of these online technologies are a means of broadcasting information to an online community. Personally and in my work environment, podcasting is not yet a very compelling technology, while screencasting has many uses. Other information professionals may find the exact opposite.
PODCASTING
Much more can be written and explored about podcasting that I will cover here. For the uninitiated, a podcast is an Internet-broadcast audio file. The "pod" part of the term comes from the popularity of iPods as a listening device. Podcasts can be downloaded onto an iPod or other portable digital audio player, but can also be played on any computer with sound capabilities.
While podcasts are often available as clickable and downloadable MP3 audio files, an important aspect is the possibility of syndication. In other words, podcasts can be sent as an enclosure via an RSS feed. You then automatically download them for later listening.
The content of a podcast can be any type of audio file. It...
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