http://podcasting-for-lta.blogspot.com/2008/02/production-values-keep-it-lofi.
I may have written something similar before so excuse me if I am repeating myself. One of the most exciting things about educational podcasting is that anyone can do it. They may not know it, but I know it - anyone in HE can podcast. They have access to the technology and the technology is simple. OK, for those who haven't tried it the barrier may seem insurmountable, but for those who have, the main challenge quickly becomes how they are going to use it rather than how it should be made.So it was slightly bizarre to be jolted into a reality that I have not had on my own horizon for a long time. I heard a professional educational podcasting consultant from the US being interviewed on an ed tech podcast that comes out of a US HE institution. In this interview the consultant said that he knew production value is important because if you listen to the top 100 podcasts in iTunes the audio quality and production values are high on all of them.
If podcasting has potential in education it is because of its ease of production. This offers accessibility therefore to any would-be producer, whether they are staff or student. Furthermore, as with blogging and other Read/Write Web activities, one of the beauties of podcasting is that it lives at the thinnest tip of the 'long tail' - it is an activity that is economic to extreme niches!
If you are looking for valuable and effective educational podcasting I suggest you don't look in the top 100 of iTunes where production has been designed to engage the masses. Instead seek recommendations or use your academic search skills to unearth the obscure podcasts recorded using hand-held recorders in the corner of a shared office after hours and instantly released.
Forget high production values. Do what you can to get it sounding OK, but above all just hit record and capture and immediately share what is important.
