We like SharePoint (although we do have our bad days with it) and we like podcasting/vodcasting/blogs. We have established blogs in SharePoint and I have mentioned how impressed I was with the integration of MS Word as the editor and the ease of publishing content to a SharePoint blog.

We had discussed integrating the beta version of the SharePoint Podcasting Kit into our schools environment and although we really want to do it, we needed to make sure that whereever these files are stored we have indexed them, provided enough computer power to deliver them and ensured they have both the quality and clearance for delivery via our networks. This blog entry is a revisitation of this request and options available.

For those who have been following this blog, here is a partial summary of some of the observations regarding our environment that were taken into consideration.
 
·         We identified moodle is not a good storage location for big media files
·         We confirmed that Adobe Connect is a good place for storing and casting video (created in Adobe Connect)
·         We initiated a project to explore the commissioning of an interim media server of some 700 gigabytes to cater for:
o   Licensed DVDs with FLV flash video formats
o   Large media files created in non-adobe connect solutions
o   Any other large streaming media files
·         We were invited to participate in Sharepoint 14 or Uluru (Feb 2010) which we believe has some of these podcasting features in place (although they may not be referred to as podcasting specifically)
·         The non-microsoft podcasting solution has a known integration problem with the new version of sharepoint http://www.codeplex.com/pks so I am not sure if it will pass QA testing on an install into a live environment.
·         We discovered Livestream which offers small class vodcasting options where copyright clearance or student / teacher image clearance is not required www.livestream.com

SharePoint 2010 

To get a flavour of what is coming in Sharepoint 2010, read http://blogs.msdn.com/sharepoint/archive/2009/10/19/sharepoint-2010.aspx
 
In relation to podcasts – here are some extracts from the piece on the new SharePoint solution...
·         Collaborative Content – Building on the new SharePoint user experience, we made it much easier to create and find content in SharePoint sites. This includes not only improved blogs and wikis (both simple and enterprise) but also calendars, discussions, tasks, contacts, pictures, video, presence and much more. With Office 2010, multiple people can simultaneously author content on a SharePoint site.
 
·         Social Feedback and Organization – With SharePoint 2010, we are introducing a consistent experience for organizing, finding and staying connected to information and people including bookmarks, tagging and ratings. We have taken a holistic approach across search, navigation, profiles, feeds and more. We are bringing together informal social tagging with formal taxonomy described below so you can choose the right approach for a given set of content. We have been using these features internally for a while and I think you will find the not only useful but fun.
 
·         Web Publishing including Digital Asset Management – We made a number of key improvements to make it easier to publish rich sites on the intranet or internet. We used the new browser ribbon and editor experience to speed site customization, content authoring and publishing tasks. We added digital asset management features like thumbnails, metadata and ratings for images as well as video streaming from SharePoint. Finally, we improved content deployment robustness from authoring to production for larger scale sites.

Mixing and Mashing content and feeds

For example if you looking at podcasting (mp3 audio) and you have a limit of 50 meg per file (SharePoint) you will be able to create a podcast of just under 30 minutes and put that into a document library – the link of which in turn can be included into a blog entry describing and tagging the podcast which can then be consumed by outlook or some other rss feed reader... By using the blog tool in Sharepoint you can also incorporate mp3s from other sites or even flv files from adobe connect. 
 
This is an inspirational video regarding the podcast kit and I think if we take the essence of the video and relate it to what we have already with Adobe Connect, blogs and the upcoming SharePoint, we can start the most important part of the podcasting journey – creating the content.
 
 
It is in YouTube which means that it is blocked in some environments which is another good reason for having locally delivered mp3 podcasts.
 

Bits and Pieces we need for the voice part of podcasting

Considering that podcasting is traditionally about audio narration, here are some links to firstly a narration guy’s experience with microphones and his own little sound booth which I really like
 
 
The MXL Studio 1 USB could be a cost effective podcasting microphone
 
Although not completely relevant to the educational narrator... here is a whitepaper on getting started in voice overs
 
 
Audacity is the sound editor recommended by http://www.voices.com for those starting out in voice narration. Of course that program is part of our Standard Operating Environment image for schools.
 
If you are looking for some music or stings to add into your podcast, download these guiltfree and royalty free pieces (but don't forget to attribute) http://incompetech.com/m/c/royalty-free/index.html 
 
If you are interested in consuming podcasts (a bit like programming your VCR to record programs but much easier) consider downloading Juice http://juicereceiver.sourceforge.net/index.php the podcaster receiver to choose, download and manage your podcasts. http://www.abc.net.au/rn/podcast/help.htm provides some nice general overviews of what podcasting is all about and seeing as they have been doing it for a while, they should know what they are on about.

Naming conventions and information management

One of the tips mentioned in another web entry is naming your podcasts. Date-Series-Topic is one option for a naming convention (without the detail that would go into an xml file) but here is an example of what the ABC does http://www.abc.net.au/science/podcast/starstuff.xml
 
 
The XML that is the basis for the RSS feed contains some of the detail that would be dear to the heart of any record/information management professional... It provides wrappers which act as containers or categories for information about the show series and each episode (only one episode is show below)
 
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<?xml-stylesheet type="text/css" href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/stylesheets/rss.css" ?>
<rss xmlns:itunes="http://www.itunes.com/dtds/podcast-1.0.dtd" version="2.0">
<channel>
<language>en-au</language>
<title>StarStuff with Stuart Gary</title>
<description>Hosted by Stuart Gary, StarStuff takes us on a weekly journey across the universe to see the death of stars and the birth of new worlds. StarStuff's tour of the cosmos examines those ultimate questions: where do we come from?; and are we alone? From Einstein's relativity theory to quantum mechanics, StarStuff reports on the latest news and discoveries in science, with a special focus on astronomy, space sciences and cosmology.</description>
<link>http://www.abc.net.au/science/starstuff/</link>
<pubDate>Wed, 16 Dec 2009 15:53:00 +1100</pubDate>
<copyright>Copyright Australian Broadcasting Corporation.</copyright>
<managingEditor>nospam@your.abc.net.au (No Spam)</managingEditor>
<webMaster>nospam@your.abc.net.au (No Spam)</webMaster>
<image>
                <title>StarStuff with Stuart Gary</title>
                <link>http://www.abc.net.au/science/starstuff/</link>
                <url>http://www.abc.net.au/science/podcast/starstuff.jpg</url>
</image>
<itunes:image href="http://www.abc.net.au/science/podcast/starstuff.jpg" />
<itunes:author><![CDATA[ABC Science]]></itunes:author>
<itunes:summary><![CDATA[Hosted by Stuart Gary, StarStuff takes us on a weekly journey across the universe to see the death of stars and the birth of new worlds. StarStuff's tour of the cosmos examines those ultimate questions: where do we come from?; and are we alone? From Einstein's relativity theory to quantum mechanics, StarStuff reports on the latest news and discoveries in science, with a special focus on astronomy, space sciences and cosmology.]]></itunes:summary>
<itunes:explicit>no</itunes:explicit>
<itunes:category text="Science &amp; Medicine" />
               
 
<item>
                <title>Space tourism to lift off at $88,000 per hour</title>
                <description><![CDATA[Virgin Galactic unveils new spaceship; Yin-Yang moon explained; and the discovery of four planets orbiting two distant stars.]]></description>
                <link>http://www.abc.net.au/science/starstuff/</link>
                <pubDate>Wed, 16 Dec 2009 15:40:00 +1100</pubDate>
                <guid>2773697</guid>
                <enclosure url="http://mpegmedia.abc.net.au/science/podcast/starstuff/starstuff20091216.mp3" length="17481728" type="audio/mp3" />
                <itunes:duration>1956</itunes:duration>
</item>
 
So, although the filename can follow a simple but unique structure, the detail contained in the feed should and can satisfy any content categorisation requirements we may have... thus adding weight to the argument of allowing podcasts to be consumed as RSS feeds.

Unrelated but a good read (or listen)

and while we are at it, if you are interested in listening to some classic books in audio format – visit  http://librivox.org/ where you can download many great classics as audio books along with the text – all for free and in the public domain.

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