Welcome! Click on the title above to listen to this podcast episode. The transcript is provided below.

:: Transcript ::

Welcome to this episode of the faculty development media training series in which we'll be taking a look at how to create a web presence for a podcast using a blog. There are certainly many different ways to create an audio or video file capable of being syndicated to students or colleagues using a podcast. The NIU Faculty Development & Instructional Design Center offers workshops on how to record and edit media which could be deployed through a podcast. Checkout www.facdev.niu.edu for a listing of current workshops for NIU faculty and staff. But, after creating the necessary audio file, what are the steps necessary to creating the podcast and making it available to users?

This will be the first of a series of episodes in which we'll explore the various steps to creating and deploying a podcast. The steps outlined deal specifically with strategies for using a PC along with free software tools running on a PC. If you happen to have a Mac, you will find the concepts discussed universal and applicable to the Mac platform, while you may find a few streamlined processes on the Mac.

Ok….so the question we will address during this episode is, "How do I create a web presence for a podcast using a blog?" Remember that a podcast is comprised of an audio or video file that resides on a web server somewhere and then an XML file which points to the location of the media file or files which make up the podcast. Remember that an episode is a segment of the podcast. Think of a podcast like a television show. The podcast is like the encompassing show, which the episodes of the podcast are like the weekly shows that you tune into when watching your favorite television show.

We'll be addressing the creation of the XML file in a future episode. But to start with, you need to have a web presence where people will be able to find the link to your podcast and subscribe to it in order to receive the new episodes automatically. The easiest way to create a web presence is to use a blog. There are many great free blog available for you to choose from. Visit the accompanying blog for this podcast at facdevmedia.blogspot.com and click on the handout entitled "Creating & Using Blogs" for links to some free blog services.

One free and easy-to-use blogging service is blogger, available at www.blogger.com. For the sake of these "How-To" episodes, we'll be discussing specifics of setting up and customizing a blog and corresponding podcast using a blogger blog as an example. You are by no means limited to using blogger, as any blog will work.

So go ahead….setup a blog for your podcast! After you have created your blog, proceed to the next episode to learn more about creating the XML file for your podcast.