When I opened up Bloglines this evening, I saw a new tip on how to listen to podcasts via the aggregator:

Using Bloglines To Track Podcasts
Podcasts are audio blogs that people create as an alternate form of online expression. Think of them as pirate radio on the web, free from the restrictions of time and geography. Some are professionally produced, like talk shows and music broadcasts, while others are less formal daily diaries and running commentary between friends.

Experienced podcast listeners like to use Bloglines to monitor for updates and get notification when new podcasts are available, so they never miss episodes of their favorites.

Well, I guess that makes me an experienced podcast listener, since I subscribe to virtually all of my feeds in both my podcatcher (I use iPodder) and in Bloglines.

I have decidedly mixed emotions about the characterizations and descriptions of podcasting that Bloglines provides. So I'll pick them apart a little.

"Podcasts are audio blogs that people create as an alternate form of online expression." Wrong. Podcasts are XML feeds that people offer as an alternate form of online syndication.

"Think of them as pirate radio on the web, free from the restrictions of time and geography." BBC's In Our Time could not possibly be further from "pirate radio." I'll give them the unrestricted time and geography part.

"Some are professionally produced, like talk shows and music broadcasts, while others are less formal daily diaries and running commentary between friends." And many of them are neither nor. I'll say it again: podcasting is a method of audio syndication, not a description of the content itself. Sorry to be such an evangelist on this point, but this is a very limiting mischaracterization, as far as I'm concerned.

Still, I'm glad to see Bloglines promote the inherent connection between RSS feeds and podcasts and discuss the access to enclosures that's already available within their product.

However, using Bloglines to actually retrieve and/or play podcasted content loses some of the interesting functionality of "specialized podcasting software." The content will not be downloaded automatically and added to your media player library, nor will it be ready to bounce onto your player the next time you synch up, which is much of the true beauty of the podcast format.

But if you are interested in picking and choosing selected content from your favorite sources, rather than automatically downloading everything those content creators have to offer, then this makes for a viable alternative.

Now presenting: Open Stacks #8

Also available via the podcast feed.

Just about fourteen minutes. Not the most coherent fourteen minutes of recorded audio content ever, but there's some kernels of cohesion in there, I promise.

Show notes:
1. Jybe test drive
2. Are Public Libraries Criminalizing Poor People?
3. Bill seeking to open up children's patron records in Maine:
--Portland Press Herald piece
--Morning Sentinel piece
4. Belligerent IM Patrons

A day or two ago, I came across a site called Podcast Tags. After my experiences with Technorati tags, I was unimpressed to the point of having nothing to say about it. A discussion with Steven tonight gave rise to a thought or two.

The site's tagging approach works in much the same way as Technorati. In crafting a post that links to a podcast, the content creator also includes a link that includes the rel="tag" syntax. The creator then pings the Podcast Tags site, giving notice of the new content, and sometime later the content and associated tags are indexed on the Podcast Tags site.

It has potential. There's one problem I see right away. The site correctly ignores posts that do not contain enclosures. However, it has no ability (for the moment) to discern what type of enclosure is in the post (see Update). Therefore if your post has .jpg or .mov files and uses the rel="tag" attribute (as it might if you were also pinging Technorati with every post), then they will be indexing non-podcast tags as part of their database. Oops! So the onus is on the content creator to only ping Podcast Tags when there's a new podcast in the feed. While this is possible, it's inconvenient and unrealisitic. So that's something to be worked out.

But solutions like these need to be encouraged and explored as we examine ways to provide ongoing access to syndicated media content. And it forces us to examine larger questions of how we can effectively index audio and video content. Is creator-generated metadata a realistic possibility? Not sure. Can we bring user-generated tagging (folksonomies!) into this process? I'm inclined to say yes. Is this a space into which we information professionals need to be asserting ourselves? Absolutely.

Update: I got a nice email from Mack over at Podcast Tags who pointed out that, although at first they did not have the ability to distinguish between media file types inside of enclosures, that is no longer true. Therefore the issue I pointed out above with selective, manual pinging is a non-factor. That's great news for the functionality of the site.

CNN taped a segment on podcasting that has been pre-empted a number of times over the past two weeks. To satisfy the waiting masses, Michael Geoghegan of Reel Reviews has made it available for viewing.

Because that's how Library Journal has generously characterized me in this little piece of "breaking news." But why, oh why, would the blurb's author link to a category archive rather than link to the specific post?

Here's a concept that I had never heard of: autocasting.

From what I gather, you can use a piece of software (AutoCast is an example) to automatically generate mp3 files from a synthesized vocalization of your RSS feeds. These files can then be included in a podcast feed. Interesting. I know there are plenty of folks in the library blogosphere who'd like a program that did the opposite, providing an automated transcript of my shows. I wonder if there is really a market for machine readings of human-generated blog posts.

Two interesting librarianly posts related to podcasting:

Michael Stephens - Implications of Podcasting in Library Land

"A podcast created by staff should probably be reviewed by the marketing point person to insure it meets the standars (sic) that SHOULD HAVE BEEN SET UP for all library promotional materials. This is not just the duty of IT staff." True, true, true.

Meredith Farkas - Podcasting in education

"While there probably isn’t much we librarians can do directly with podcasting for our patrons, I am certain that we can assist many non-traditional learners by encouraging educators to use it." I don't necessarily agree with the premise that there isn't much we can do with podcasting, but I think, more importantly, it's a mistake to limit this discussion to audio content. The possibilities become much broader when you begin to look at videocasting and screencasting as content avenues. This is noted both by Michael and by docwolf in the comment on Meredith's post.

Here it is: CIL Recap Show

As always, the show is also available via the podcast feed.

Listen to how many times I use the word "space" in 15+ minutes. Rejoice when I edit out my coughing fit. It's can't-miss entertainment.

If I get a chance, I'll post some related links a bit later tonight.

I'm posting a short excerpt from Sarah Long's article on recruitment, as I suspect there are some people who will disagree strongly with the premise:

"The average age of librarians working today is between 46 and 50. It's easy to deduce that there will be a great number of retirements in the next few years.

There is much concern in library circles about what is going to happen as the retirements take place. Recruiting more people into librarianship seems to be the obvious answer."

I may talk about this issue in my next full show, but suffice it to say that this does not correspond to my experience either as a job seeker or as a person in an organization with plenty of retirement age staffers.

Look for more CiL audio commentary later tonight...

I just noticed that yesterday was the two-year anniversary of the existence of Open Stacks (originally entitled Planet Neutral). It's amazing how much has happened since then. I've been invited to write articles and speak at conferences. I've made friends and acquaintances that I value highly both on an emotional and intellectual level. The library blogosphere has exploded. It's been a great ride so far, and with the development of the show, new horizons await. Thanks for being a part of the journey.

I just wanted to make sure everyone has unsubscribed from any feeds that were generated by lisblogsource.net. We let the domain registration expire and it has been scooped up by a Stephane Grenier, who apparently is the president of LandlordMax. What the plan for this domain is, I couldn't say, but I'm sure it has nothing to do with the initial subject matter. Flee while you still can. You have been warned.

P3160046


Originally uploaded by planetneutral.

I'm sorry for the lack of audio content from the conference. I'm home safely and my sore throat has evolved into a full-fledged nastiness. In the meantime, be sure to check out all of the great photos from the conference at Flickr.com. Kudos to all who adopted the cil2005 tag.

Note: According to Flickr support, there is a known bug that prevents the basic search from providing complete results. You will get a slightly larger set of pics using the advanced search.

Looks like the next space for folksonomies will be in the music sphere. BBC Radio 6 is in a pre-alpha demo of Phonetags which will allow users to "bookmark" songs played on Radio 6 via text message and add keyword and rating tags. Tod Maffin of CBC notes that this could have interesting implications for the way both DJs and listeners interact with the music.

If you've ever wanted to get all of your bookmarks into del.icio.us, but didn't want to engage the tedium of doing it one bookmark at a time, then you might like the del.icio.us loader for Firefox. Disclaimer: I have not used this, so I can't assure you of its functionality. Seen at lifehacker.

Here it is: CIL Day 1 Recap

About 18 minutes in all. Sound quality is a bit rough between the recording set-up and my scratchy voice.

Some related links:
The CiL Blogdigger Group (great written recaps of Day 1)
Kansas City Public Library
KC Research
Andrea on presenting

Feedback is welcome.

OK, I've used my demo time to provide a very inept 3 minute explanation of how I go about recording my show. This post featuring a link to the audio file makes the audio syndication (that which is more commonly known as podcasting) happen.

Updated with one quick correction: In the audio, I equate encoding rate and sample rate. These terms do not typically refer to the same thing. The sample rate refers to the number of samples taken by the sound recorder as you are recording, as opposed to the encoding bitrate which affects the quality of the compression file put out by the sound editor. The higher both numbers are, the better quality end result and the larger the resultant files.

OK, I'm here at last. Had no problem finding the Blog People. And here's another quick test cast to make sure everything is working properly.

Lori Bell passed along a press release announcing that OPAL: Online Programming for All Libraries is now providing a podcast feed for its archived online programs.

Although I've only taken a brief sample of the offerings, the decision to offer a podcast feed means I will be taking far more advantage of this seemingly wonderful service. Excellent work!

Update: Lori gave me the go-ahead to post the entire press release, so here ya go.

OPAL BEGINS PODCASTING ITS AUDIO ARCHIVES

OPAL: Online Programming for All Libraries (http://www.opal-online.org) has begun podcasting audio recordings of archived OPAL online events. Now you can listen to OPAL events on a wide variety of portable MP3 players. You also can link to the RSS feed so that you are notified whenever a new podcast becomes available.

To experience an OPAL podcast, please visit http://feeds.feedburner.com/OpalPodcast. An RSS link also has been added to the OPAL homepage.

OPAL is a collaborative effort by libraries of all types to provide cooperative web-based programming and training for library users and library staff members. These live, online events are held in an online auditorium where participants can interact via voice-over-IP, text chatting, and synchronized browsing. Examples of OPAL public online programs include book discussion programs, interviews, library training, memoir writing workshops, and virtual tours of special digital library collections.

Digital audio recordings of OPAL programs are placed in the OPAL Archive (http://www.opal-online.org/archive.htm) so that interested patrons who missed the live online event can listen at a convenient time.

In a related development, digital audio recordings of OPAL programs will become available in the popular MP3 format. Until now, audio recordings were available only in WMA (Windows Media Audio) format. Offering both formats will extend the reach and usability of OPAL programs.

Tom Peters, OPAL Coordinator, noted, “OPAL is one of the first library programs in the nation to podcast audio content of public access programming. Individual pioneering librarians have demonstrated the value and usefulness of podcasting. OPAL is pleased to begin mainstreaming into OPAL’s overall mission this innovative method of disseminating information.�

More About OPAL: OPAL utilizes software from Talking Communities (http://www.talkingcommunities.com/) featuring voice-over-IP, text chatting, and synchronized browsing. OPAL is administered by the Alliance Library System (http://www.alliancelibrarysystem.com/), the Mid-Illinois Talking Book Center (http://www.mitbc.org/), and the Illinois State Library Talking Book and Braille Service.

Libraries of all types and sizes may join OPAL. For more information, please contact Tom Peters, OPAL Coordinator, at tpeters@tapinformation.com or 1-816-228-6406.

In celebrating the naming of good friends Michael Stephens and Aaron Schmidt (see y'all tonight!) as LJ Movers and Shakers, I should note that Tom Peters of the OPAL project, about which I just posted, was also awarded this honor. Congrats to all. And thanks to Steven for the pointer.

The enclosed transmission is only a test of the equipment that's coming with me to CiL this evening. I will probably run a similar test upon arrival in D.C. The sound quality is pretty poor, but it was worse with my other mic.

I forgot to list a few other non-"core" bloggers who will be at Computers in Libraries.

So there's a Blogdigger group set up for Computers in Libraries. A reasonable idea. It describes itself as "Core bloggers for the Computers in Libraries 2005 conference in Washington, DC." When the group first appeared, it only included the blogs linked to from the official ITI blog. It seems that a few more blogs have since been added, which is good news. I want to point out that there will be plenty of non-"core" bloggers at this conference as well, myself included. Not to take anything away from the great efforts of the "core" bloggers, but I believe these blogs are equally worthy of your time.

This highlights two reasons why I'd prefer a consensual tagging situation over an effort to aggregate individuals. First, you invariably miss people who are talking about the conference. Second, you're aggregating posts that potentially have nothing to do with the conference. This isn't really saving the end-user any time, especially if they subscribe to most of the "core" blogs already. That's not to say the group doesn't serve a very worthwhile purpose, just that I don't feel it provides the strongest return on investment of energy.

Updated: This post has been updated to reflect that the author of the Science Library Pad will not be in attendance at CiL2005.

Well, my great experiment in keyword tagging seems to have been a failure. I've contacted Technorati support twice this week with nary a peep, although I thank Dave Sifry for getting in touch with me and connecting me with Dick Costolo at FeedBurner. Dick tried his hardest to pinpoint the problem, but to no apparent avail. So here I am in an awkward position of having advocated for tagging that I can't even make work on my own (Flickr still rules - cil2005 tag all the way!!!). So much for early adoption. If anyone is successfully using Movable Type and Technorati tagging, please, please contact me as soon as possible. Thank you.

Pay no attention to the post devoid of content.

At long last: Open Stacks #7

Also available via the podcast feed.

I am extremely pleased to bring you an interview with Michael Stephens, best known in the blogosphere as the author of the Tame the Web blog. The topic of conversation is the forthcoming Computers in Libraries conference.

18 minutes in all, 16 of which is the interview. I'd love to get some feedback on the interviewing concept, a skill with which I have no experience. Apologies in advance for any volume inconsistencies.

Thanks to everyone who has been voting for the show over at Podcast Alley. The new one-vote-per-month system is much more equitable, but I'll need your continued (non-monetary) support to gain some presence in the rankings.

OK, after some digging, I've discovered that Feedburner was giving me a variety of problems, not the least of which was disabling any functionality of the Technorati tagging. It was also not updating very efficiently, even after pinging. Therefore, I have made the quick decision to delete that feed and resume regular syndication via the old RSS 2.0 and RSS 1.0 feeds. I truly apologize to anyone who made the transition already on my request. This post is yet another attempt at getting the Technorati tagging plugin to work.

Update 3/10/05: Since publishing this post, I've been contacted by both Dave Sifry of Technorati and Dick Costolo of FeedBurner. Both expressed deep concern about my user experience and have been helpful in trying to sort out my issues. At this point, I'm not going to ask you to switch feeds again, but I want to assure you that FeedBurner provides a quality service that I can safely recommend to those who will find value in its features (particularly the Blogger-using podcasters who can take advantage of SmartCast). Responsiveness always plays a role in my assessment of tech companies and Dick get a big thumbs-up from me. Sadly, the tagging issue remains unresolved, but I'm starting to think the issue is related to either the invalidity of my RSS feed or some problem with my pinging mechanism. Stay tuned...

Please pardon the test post. My attempt at Technorati tags didn't work, so I have to do some analysis.

After some reflection, I wanted to ramble a bit more about using an agreed-upon tag to collocate resources related to the upcoming Computers in Libraries conference. Writing this post also gives me the opportunity to test out the MT TechnoratiTags plugin, which couldn't be much easier to implement and use is proving to be more of a pain in my buttocks than I had imagined.

Anyway, I must admit to some frustration at the lack of feedback and discussion about using a common tag across the various folksonomical sites, such as Flickr or del.icio.us (sorry for the lack of hypertextuality, but it's late and I'm lazy). Still, I'm confident that this is a good idea and that, as information professionals, we need to insert ourselves into the folksonomies turf and show what we can do with our "Information Organization and Access" skills. We're already lagging behind other efforts in this domain. Exhibit A: the Northern Voice blogging conference. They had the complete package: a conference website built as a blog, updated before, during and after the conference; an aggregator featuring all of the participating bloggers at the conference; AND organized tagging. Granted, there was no discussion about the tags, just an edict from Ronald Tanglao declaring northernvoice to be the tag of choice, but the results are undeniable. Here are the aggregated results of the northernvoice tag in Technorati, Flickr (658 photos!) and del.icio.us.

Applying this to content related to Computers in Libraries seemed like such a commonsense idea to me, but I realize now that I may have been presumptuous on a few different levels.

First, in all likelihood, no one reads this blog anymore given my extended hiatus and lack of worthwhile content. Totally understandable, although those of you who kept me in your aggregator were immediately alerted to my return. There are also probably some who are only subscribed in their podcatcher and therefore miss any of the text content (any feed I subscribe to with my podcast aggregator, I also subscribe to in Bloglines).

Second, most people aren't going to this particular conference and therefore couldn't care less. OK, fair enough, but I'd still like to know what term you'd use to search for content related to the conference. I like to believe that we do this kind of collocation for the particular benefit of those who can't be there in person, making those perspectives essential.

Third, most people, even in the blogosphere, are not necessarily "early adopters" and therefore haven't really participated in any tagging-based sites. Thus some education might be in order, although I don't fancy myself the ideal candidate. Still, I'd be happy to guide anyone who expressed interest.

As the Northern Voice conference demonstrated, consensus tagging is only one part of the picture, but it's the part I've tried to motivate, however unsuccessfully. I'd love to see Information Today (or anyone with the skills/resources, for that matter) take up the reins and demonstrate that the LIS world is not going to be left in the dust when it comes to organizing digital resources.

Incidentally, with the publication of this post, there should be a Technorati tag page for cil2005.

I've decided to test out FeedBurner as part of my endeavor to keep better track of the number of subscribers to my feeds. So the new and preferred feed is here. It's based on the old 2.0 feed, so it handles enclosures if you're using a podcast aggregator, but will work just great for text in your regular old RSS reader. If you'd consider switching your current feed over to this new one, I'd be much obliged. If you don't, that's OK too. I anticipate no change in the functionality of any of the current feed offerings.

I had exactly one response to my request for feedback on a consensus tag to be used for the Computers in Libraries conference next week. Sad as that is, the one respondent voted for cil2005 and I concur, so allow our majority of two compel you to use cil2005 for any Technorati, del.icio.us or Flickr tagging you do in relation to the conference.

I have something a little different planned for this week, so I'm going to hold off on posting any audio until later in the week.

In other news, Chris over at Podcast Alley has changed the voting procedure to a one-vote-per-month approach. It's a much more sensible, equitable voting system. He's reset the vote tally, so if you've heard and liked the show, I would certainly appreciate your vote. I'm currently in the top 100 for the month, but we can do better than that, can't we? And if you haven't heard the show, what are you waiting for?

When I first designed the button, it read Blog People. On Karen Schneider's suggestion, I ended up going with Blog Person. But when I saw Blake's cobbled-together version of a Blog People button on LISNews, I figured I may as well offer up the original design for those who'd prefer it.

So here it is:

Michael posted some quotes/thoughts about podcasting today that elicited some opinions of my own.

First, a reiteration of my thoughts about the term podcast. I largely dislike the widespread application of the term podcast to describe content. In my mind, podcasting is a method of distribution for media content. An audioblog is just an audioblog until I provide a RSS 2.0 feed that handles enclosures. Then and only then do I have a podcast, or as I prefer to say, I have an audioblog that I make available via podcast.

However, the possibilities that are inherent to delivery of content via podcast have inspired many (count me amongst them) to create audio content of various forms. The vast majority of these productions refer to themselves as "podcasts". This appellation, while not necessarily inaccurate, tells you nothing about the actual format of the show. Each "cast" might be a one-minute audioblogger post recorded over a cell phone or it could be a two-hour slick production with commentary, live performances, and interviews. These are not the same animals, yet they are both podcasts. Thus, for lack of a better description, I prefer to refer to my audio content as simply a "show" or "audio program", which I make available via this blog and via the podcast feed.

Now on to other thoughts.

From Weblogs in Higher Education: "Most of the talk I've seen about podcasting has focused on ways the audio can resemble blogging done in a lively new medium, sound."

To which Michael then wrote: "I posted on TTW that for some of the librarian produced podcasts I felt something was missing: chapter stops, a TOC, a way to better "mentally index" the content. Maybe the technology will improve? �How can I search it? But maybe I was thinking of them as blogging and not as a "radio" show."

Well, first, the issues of indexing apply to any audio content in any context, don't they? How do you index a recorded speech or conference presentation? Is this really a technology issue or a metadata issue?

As for the audiobloggery vs. "radio" show concept, I can only speak about my own intentions in starting an audio program. Bear in mind that while Open Stacks is still a blog, I do not think of it as an audioblog, but rather as a blog that serves primarily to support the show.

And so, the backstory: I recently received a 4th gen iPod as a birthday gift (thanks sweetie!). I commute ten hours a week and knew the iPod would be a great provider of entertainment. As I was looking for content with which to fill my player, I discovered the realm of the podcasters. There was great content out there and I started grabbing a variety of stuff. I really loved the time-shifting possibilities of selecting my own audio programming for my commute. Who needs to be subject to the whims of program directors, when I can pick what I listen to and when I listen to it? I have heard the phrase "Tivo for Radio" and, while this might be a flawed analogy, it conveys some sense of why I love receiving audio content via my podcast aggregator.

Naturally, I thought it would be great if there was something LIS-related for me to consume. Finding nothing in my initial searches, I sensed the onus was on me to create it, on the assumption that there were others like me who were looking for this kind of content (and perhaps some who didn't know they were looking for it until it existed). As it turns out, there are plenty of people interested, even though I have no clear idea in what context they actually consume the show. Starting the show has since initiated numerous discussions and attempts at creating and syndicating audio content, which is very cool (although it is no doubt overly presumptuous to claim any credit whatever for any subsequent activity). And now we have the first LIS foray into syndicating video content, courtesy of David King.

"There is a niche here: one or two practioners who produce regularly scheduled audio broadcasts concerning LIS such as Mr. Greg Schwartz at Open Stacks."

Right, one can only consume so much audio content, and, although there IS also a limit to textual consumption, there is a much lower threshold for audio due to the "one minute=one minute" issue that Jessamyn discussed. I am not looking to promote a glut of LIS audio content. I do think that there are people out there who could do this better than me, so I await the emergence of another consistent participant. Until then, I'm doing my part to fill the niche.

So here's a distillation of my opinions (finally!!!!!), rendered in the ever-popular guideline format:

1. If you provide regularly-updated textual content, provide an RSS feed.
2. If you provide regularly-updated media content, audio/video/whatever, provide a podcast feed.
3. Don't provide regularly-updated textual content if it doesn't work for you or your organization.
4. Don't provide regularly-updated audio content if it doesn't work for you or your organization.
5. Only consume as much regularly-updated textual and/or media content as works for you.
6. And most importantly, don't let a crazy, non-sensical, rambling librarian tell you what works (or doesn't) for you.

If you read LISNews, than you probably came across a post yesterday related to David Faucheux's Blind Chance audio weblog. Well, naturally, I thought podcasting would be a great additional way to distribute his content. So I passed along the suggestion and less than twelve hours later, we have a podcast. Thanks to David Rothman for his help in the implementation. Here's a link to the podcast feed.

A few weeks ago, I proclaimed that NPR would be jumping on the podcast bandwagon. Today KCRW, the flagship NPR station in Santa Monica, begins distribution of a large chunk of its programming via podcast. Check out the wide variety of offerings.