Podcasts and Philip Adams

Finally, I have got to Podcasts. Ever since Late night live went to Podcasting I have been interested in the technology. Hence my RSS feed. Podcasting has been a great innovation particularly as it allows for people to catch up on programmes they have missed without having to rely on transcripts. Its future in libraries? I can see their use as an instructional aid although I have doubts about whether people would choose to use them. I could, however, see a future for cataloguing links to Podcasts which could have a research or public interest aspect.
As for e audio books while I envisage them replacing the traditional Talking Books they will still, I believe, only appeal to a limited market.

So there we have it. The end of Web 2.0. How much will I remember? As much as I use. Technology is like that.

Podcasts etc.

Well, I have finally got to Week Nine. I can see the finish line but I feel a little like those marathon runners who have become dehydrated and are zig-zagging all over the place wasting the precious little remaining energy. Anyway YouTube - yes I found it sort of interesting or at least parts of it but to be quite honest I found it a little worrying looking at what people are supposedly looking at RIGHT NOW. I mean why do they bother??? As to the video I have added to my blog - well I chose it because how some people choose to use their creative talents fascinates me. Besides I am hoping someone who reads Japanese will be able to tell me the punchline.

Zoho and Odeo

I have had another look at Zoho having had an earlier attempt to use it frustrated by IT problems. The theory behind Zoho is great and I can see the potential for those undertaking collaborative writing tasks or those library patrons or students who often have to use a number of computers. I am sure we have all had experience with people trying to access their work in the library only to find that they cannot access it because of software incompatibility. One of my reservations with Zoho is that it seems to have a very cluttered interface and there is probably a need for less of a sales pitch and more "Help" advice.

I then decided to try using Odeo one of the Web 2.0 winners. Although Odeo boasts a large number of free podcasts I found this site difficult to navigate because of the large amount of advertising and subscription requests. The methods for searching was also not particularly useful. This seems to be mainly aimed at the youth market with an emphasis on music and entertainment.