I’ve seen many variations on the Learning 2.0 - 23 Things theme, but I’ve been particularly impressed with Project Play, which comes from a collaboration of three library systems in Wisconsin. The author of much of the learning content, Beth Carpenter, does an outstanding job explaining the technologies. She definitely gets it. And I say that not just because she linked to Uncontrolled Vocabulary in her fantastic lesson on podcasts. Well, OK, that’s at least partially why.

And since you’re here, let me point you in the direction of Uncontrolled Vocabulary #34. You’ll find some interesting conversations about, amongst other things, the librarian who called police to report a child pornography consumer and was subsequently fired, the drug testing of library job applicants and the SWIFT platform that’s being tested for Computers in Libraries.

Immediately after the recording of episode 33 of Uncontrolled Vocabulary (another great one, by the way), a few members of the panel were interviewed by Stephen Kellat about their reasons for being involved in podcasting. That impromptu interview is now available as part of LISTen episode 13.

I spent a substantial portion of Saturday (the part where I wasn’t shoveling) updating the Podcasting 101 wiki. I’d created it a few years ago to serve as a basic presentation template, so I wouldn’t have to reinvent the wheel every time someone requested a talk about podcasting. It hadn’t been touched in almost two years and, let me tell you, much has changed in the podcasting arena.

In updating links, I discovered the trend is not positive for the average podcast consumer. Many of the compelling applications, search tools and recommendation engines developed in the swell of enthusiasm for podcasting have either disappeared, moved a different direction or moved into the enterprise app business, leaving people like me with far fewer options for discovering the rich content available in podcasts. The redirections taken by both Loomia and Podzinger are particularly striking.

Much of the momentum has moved into videocasting. Blinkx seems to have dropped any efforts at indexing audio content. It’s a logical move forward, but people thought radio would die with the advent of television and it never happened. I feel the same way about audio podcasting. There will continue to be a market for it and money to be made for someone with the right approach to making it stupid-easy for newcomers to get involved (and the wits to take on Apple).

Fortunately, there have been positive developments in podcasting, including, most notably for me, the introduction of TalkShoe, the platform that makes Uncontrolled Vocabulary possible. Although not without its share of issues, TalkShoe makes it pretty easy for the average webizen to put together and record (and distribute via podcast) a live interactive audio program.

Anyway, the wiki page has been updated sufficiently that I’m no longer embarassed by its outdatedness.

Andrea Mercado points us in the direction of Books for Ears, a site devoted to audio book reviews. This is something I’ve always felt there was a need for and even considered doing something about, when I was more of an audio book consumer. (I can no longer handle the sustained consumption of complex texts. Or so I’m told.)

But I’d always imagined it as an audio program, a natural interlude in the book listener’s audio stream. So Jeanne, when you decide to go that route, let’s talk.

And while you’re here, I may as well point you in the direction of Uncontrolled Vocabulary #32, entitled “Cranky people make good audio.” The discussion really gets going when we turn to the topic of sex offenders and Internet predators. Enjoy!

That’s what I always imagined my final post on this blog would be titled. But I should have recognized that others would get there first: Closed Stacks

Honestly, I’m still trying to figure out what the authors of the blog meant to imply by choosing that name.

Hey, while you’re here, why not check out episode 31 of Uncontrolled Vocabulary? Good discussions this week about the perturbing situations in Boston, Memphis, Wisconsin and on LITA-L.

Just letting you know that episode 30 of Uncontrolled Vocabulary is now available for download. If you want to get automatic downloads, use http://feeds.feedburner.com/uncontrolledvocabulary as your podcast feed (as well as your blog feed for show notes and reminders).

It was a small group tonight, which forced me to talk a bit more than I like. I blathered on a few times and sound like I’d had a beer or two before the show. But I hadn’t. No really.

But the topics were good and the conversation felt informal. The best conversation starter proved to be the story I’d made a last-second decision to squeeze in: the Library of Congress and their new arrangement with Microsoft. Nice how that works out sometimes.

Howdy everyone. I’m stunned by how many people still subscribe to this feed. I guess RSS makes that fairly painless. In fact, it’s probably less annoying to stay subscribed to people with no content than people who send out empty, content-deficient updates every once in a while, eh?

And so let this not be content-deficient. As I think most of you know, I’ve been running a weekly live interactive internet audio program called Uncontrolled Vocabulary. Every Wednesday night at 10 PM Eastern time, an ever-changing group of librarians, info pros and the occasional outlier get together using TalkShoe to chat about news and hot topics of the week in libraryland. Anyone is invited to participate in the live conversation. I’ll come back to how in a bit.

So far, we’ve done 29 episodes. Typically, somewhere between 5-10 people are on the call from a pool of 30+ people who’ve participated at one time or another. It’s usually a lively conversation that meanders through a variety of topics in an hour’s time.

In Episode 29, recorded two days ago, we talked about Amazon’s purchase of Audible, the DRM protest at Boston Public Library, the Microsoft-Yahoo!-AOL-News Corp activity, and the intersection of personal ethics and professional research. And that’s only half of it.

It’s really, really good stuff and I encourage you to check it out, if you haven’t already (or haven’t since the early days). Better yet, I encourage you to join in the fun. Over time, TalkShoe has made this easier and easier to do. Here’s how:

1. Dial 1-724-444-7444

2. Enter the show ID: 38665

3. Dial 1#

Dialing 1# will bring you into the call as a guest. If you want a username of your own, you can go to TalkShoe and sign up for an account. You’ll create a 10-digit PIN that you would use in place of 1# to come into the call under your username.

There’s also a chat interface that lets you listen live without calling in, as well as see who else is on the call (which is where the guest/username thing comes into play). TalkShoe has released a web version of this interface, so that a download is no longer necessary. Just go to our TalkShoe page at show time (anytime after 9:45 PM) and the link to jump into the chat will be available.

Of course, not everyone is available to participate in the live conversation, so recorded episodes are available for download. Our show page at TalkShoe has the most convenient list of mp3 links for download, but you’ll need to visit the blog for the accompanying show notes.

And of course, you can subscribe to the show’s Feedburner feed. It will work as both a blog feed (mostly show notes and reminders of upcoming shows) and as a podcast feed (for the mp3s, of course).

Those of you who don’t do the RSS thing can also subscribe and get blog updates sent via email. You’ll need to visit the sidebar of the show blog to find the email subscription service.

OK, enough already. If you haven’t checked out the show yet, I implore you to do so. It’s a consistent highlight of my week. If you have any questions about the show, drop me a line. And seriously, all are welcome to join in the fun.

Just wanted to invite everyone who hasn’t already to come over to the Uncontrolled Vocabulary blog and take a listen to the show. It’s a weekly live roundtable discussion of various events, articles and topics of interest in the library field. We just wrapped up our eleventh episode and I’m really, really happy with what we’re doing.

Check it out and, if the feeling moves you, join us next Thursday at 10 PM Eastern for the live show. See the blog for details on how to join in the fun.

The second episode of Uncontrolled Vocabulary tapes tonight at 10 PM EDT. I do hope you’ll consider joining us. See this post for instructions on how to participate live.