Using PDFs as Podcasts: The Audio Version

2008-06-23T23:41:46Z

This audio-only podcast is designed to compliment the PDF podcast on the same topic. Before listening to this podcast, I would recommend that you download and read the PDF podcast in yesterday's post (June 22, 2008): Using PDFs as Podcasts: The PDF Version. After you have read that PDF podcast, then listen to this podcast, which goes into a little more detail.

A third podcast, a screencast actually, is in the production pipeline now that will provide a demonstration of the actual publishing process using Feeder, the program I use to write my RSS feed file. I talk about Feeder in this audio podcast and in the PDF podcast published on June 22, 2008.

This podcast episode is rather long (22 minutes and 49 seconds) and is intended to provide the non-techie type with a good, understandable overview of:

publishing a PDF as a podcast
writing an RSS feed in general
using Feeder to write your RSS feed

The podcast uses this outline (approximate location in the time lilne in minutes.seconds in parenthesis):

Welcome (0.0)
Introduction (0.29)
Why Publish PDFs As Podcasts (1.46)
Podcasting--a General Concept Overview (3.58)
PDFs in the Podcast Feed (5.24)
Advantages of PDF Podcasts in Education (6.40)
Creating a PDF (8.29)
The Podcast Distribution Process in General (10.24)
The RSS Feed File (11.33)
Feeder (13.05)
What's Required to Write the RSS Feed (15.49)
Organization: It Matters! (16.57)
Publishing (20.37)
Exit (22.28)

I had to teach myself all of this when it was new and people had to use terminal scripts to create podcasts. Today, it's so much easier but still requires a foundational knowledge base. Hopefully, this series of podcasts will assist you in building your basic understanding of this powerful publication process so you can use it with your students next year.

To listen to this audio podcast, Using PDFs as Podcasts: The Audio Version, simply click the image above.

Using PDFs As Podcasts: The PDF Version

2008-06-22T21:04:10Z

Welcome to the first issue, I mean episode, I mean issue... of Podcasts in Print. So which is it, a podcast episode or a print issue? You see this is a special series, Podcasts in Print, within my podcast series, iUpgrade. It's sort of confusing. Using a regular podcast RSS feed, we can actually broadcast PDFs just like we broadcast audio and video podcasts.

This special series, Podcasts in Print, is just that: a podcast series of printed material: PDFs to be exact. Each episode in this podcast series will be a print issue, a PDF. I will frequently create an audio podcast that will compliment many of the Podcast in Print episodes, I mean issues... I suppose I will just use the two terms interchangeably, because Podcasts in Print is both: podcast episodes that are print issues. Pretty cool, really.

In this very first episode of Podcasts in Print you will receive the print version of Special Delivery: The PDF Podcast. This issue is designed to introduce the whole notion of publishing PDFs as podcasts to your subscribing audience. These articles are included in this six page issue:

The PDF Podcast
Creating a PDF on a Mac
Creating a PDF of a Keynote Presentation
RSS and Your PDF
Your Podcast Blog
Organization Matters

This print version podcast discusses a number of reasons why you, as an educator, would want to publish a PDF as a podcast, whets your imagination with several ways PDFs as podcasts can be used in education, and describes the steps involved in connecting a PDF to a podcast RSS feed so the PDF is pushed out, special delivery, to your subscribing podcast audience.

Yes, all of the PDF documents associated with the courses you teach could be neatly filed away in iTunes by course title along with your course's accompanying audio, enhanced, screencast, and video podcasts. This will quickly become a rich and growing resource as you plan lessons next year, and the next...

Also included in this episode of iUpgrade's Podcasts in Print are some suggested strategies for keeping your podcast server organized, the step-by-step instructions for creating a PDF in any application on a Mac, considerations for setting up a blog associated with your podcast series, and some suggestions for writing that RSS feed that magically makes all of this happen through iTunes, Bloglines, etc.

Resources cited in this issue of Podcasts in Print, Special Delivery: The PDF Podcast, include:

If you do not already subscribe to iUpgrade (if you do, you automatically receive these) and wish to download this Podcasts in Print episode, Special Delivery: The PDF Podcast, just click on the icon below. The PDF will open in your browser window. You can then save it to your computer.

If you wish to subscribe to the iUpgrade podcast series in iTunes, simply click on the green and blue button at the top of the main iUpgrade page or on the bottom left of every page at drTimTyson.com.

Happy Upgrading!