Cast Your Pod Upon the Waters
by Benjamin Ross
The Wikipedia defines a podcast as:
“… a multimedia file distributed over the Internet using syndication feeds, for playback on mobile devices and personal computers.” This, however, is a boring, technical explanation that completely fails to sound interesting or appealing. On the other end of the spectrum is Ask A Ninja, which defines a podcast as: ‘An apple pie for whales.’ This may, perhaps, be a bit too simplified. So what is this dubious entity called ‘podcast?’
In its most basic form, podcasts are sound and/or video files automatically delivered to your computer every time the content creator makes a new file available. That’s like having every new issue of X-Men delivered to your door as soon as it’s finished. Just in case that doesn’t explain it for you, I offer the following:
This is very cool.
This means that the everyone from the average Joe to the corporate behemoth can offer whatever is on their mind to anyone who wants to listen.
Podcasting has grabbed the public forum of the Internet by the throat as a way to distribute information, tell stories, and reach out to people in a whole new way. It represents an opportunity to speak your mind, say whatever it is you have to say, and let the audience come to you. Not only come to you, but subscribe to your cast and have it automatically delivered to them however often you publish new content.
So now that we understand that pies are for eating, what is it that makes this whole thing work? That is the glory and privilege of our friend the RSS feed. RSS stands for ‘Real Simple Syndication.’ In other words, it’s supposed to be easier than publishing a newspaper and less messy than putting together a magazine. And so it is. That is not to say that it is easy.
Well, actually … it is!
There are myriad applications to help make the process of podcasting as simple as humanly possible. If you can use a webcam, you can make a podcast. Even if you can’t use a webcam, you can make a podcast. You may only want to send audio. That is how the whole thing got started after all. Send your voice out to the masses and whisper in the ears of the people. Pull out your soapbox and start a revolution. In a word: Podcast.
