I-Pod people?

Creating my own podcast is one of those things that doesn't much appeal to me. But, I dutifully watched Podcasting in Plain English and was quite impressed with how clear and easy to accomplish it makes podcasting seem. (But the work that went in to making the lesson seem clear, succinct, & easy to accomplish? Betcha it wasn't quite as simple as those little paper cut-outs make it look!)

I can certainly see the merits of using podcasting for instruction - quick bits & bites about a database or upcoming event would be (seemingly) a great way to get things out to patrons and potential patrons in a highly visual, attractive, and relatively inexpensive manner. The vodcast link was fascinating - there's talent out the somewhere... right?

Scanning over the images of the "Popular Today" vodcasts on Monday before the Presidential election, the vods seemed about evenly split between scantily clad beauties & politician/pundits' headshots.

I'm more than sure that somewhere out there there's a grad student madly researching the vodcast phenomena - and speculating on the juxtaposition of all the casts featuring either religion or sex. It's somewhat mind-boggling.

But today, sexy wins out - only one talking head's image remains, with the rest of the vods showing scantily clad ladies (and one pink, grinning cartoon character).

I moved on to YouTube

A location I try not to spend too much time :) But it's surprising how frequently it does come in handy for answering odd questions. I've located commercials, tracked down speakers, and forwarded on this handy little video series on the Periodic Table.

It's also a good tool for how to (or how not to) do library-related tasks. Case in point, this video from UTlibraryinstruction demonstrates quite clearly how to turn almost anyone OFF getting research assistance in the library.

What I learned this week

I'm still not a podcasting fan, and I can happily avoid YouTube without the loss bothering me too much. I have lots of other time-wasting habits that are probably damaging enough to my to-be-accomplished list. BUT.... the medium is popular (obviously) and growing. And with the major networks adding all sorts of bells & whistles like holograms (watch it on YouTube) the future is making history as we speak.

Keeping up, learning to use today's - and tomorrow's - tools right now is the best way to keep our profession up to date & relevant.