Chapter 21: In which the Pirates check out Podcasting

I'll be honest with you, I didn't listen to any of the podcasts I explored. I see very little point behind your average podcast. Like YouTube's video blogs, most of the podcasts out there are little more than blogs being read to you by the author. I did, however, do some searches for interesting Library-related podcasts, and came up with LibVibe. From the desciption of each 'episode', there was some good stuff being discussed on their podcast... I just would rather read about it than listen to someone talk about it.

Don't get me wrong, podcasts do have their uses! I feel more classes, especially online classes, should provide podcasts of each days' lesson so that students that missed a day, or would like to revisit a topic discussed that day, have access to the lecture. But when it comes to an interview with the 08-09 ALA president, I'd rather read about it than listen to it. Maybe because if I disagree with the person, yelling at a typed paragraph on a website looks slightly less silly than arguing with a pre-recorded voice (as if I would EVER do that...).

So did I see any podcast ideas worth trying? No. And even if I did, why bother? Studies suggest podcasts aren't nearly as popular as blogs, yet in this case they'd address the same issues. Podcasts are also more expensive, as they require additional bandwidth to host. Its not like a Story Time with Mr. Jim podcast would be nearly as impressive as seeing it live. Nor do I feel like the Bill Board needs to be read to me by Bill himself. So save some time and money and blog about library-related issues, but don't bother recording them. Not many people are listening. I know I'm not.