Find favorite Podcasts with social networks

Dale

digg Before you start creating your own podcast, I think it is important that you first listen to a few.

To get started I’d like to recommend one of my favorite tech sites: digg.com.

Digg is a user driven social content website. Ok, so what the heck does that mean? Well, everything on Digg is submitted by our community (that would be you). After you submit content, other people read your submission and Digg what they like best. If your story rocks and receives enough Diggs, it is promoted to the front page for the millions of visitors to see.

Digg is predominately a tech news website but it is moving into other areas such as politics and science. What I like best is it’s new podcast section. Digg makes it really easy to shop around for shows just for you. Watch this video to learn how.

Give Digg a try. (note: you’ll need to register to try out the podcast section. Don’t worry, it is safe and painless.)

Reading up on podcasting

Dale

Several of you have asked me about my podcasts. (here and here)

In the future, I hope to offer some specific steps explaining how I get my shows online. This will take a little more time to prepare. For now, I’m going to suggest some readings about podcasting.

Working together with del.icio.us

Dale

deliciousWhat is it?

del.icio.us is a social bookmarking website — the primary use of del.icio.us is to store your bookmarks online, which allows you to access the same bookmarks from any computer and add bookmarks from anywhere, too.

Big deal. I already have Favorites.

On del.icio.us, you can use tags to organize and remember your bookmarks, which is a much more flexible system than folders.

Tags? I don’t get.

Tags are one-word descriptors that you can assign to your bookmarks on del.icio.us to help you organize and remember them. Tags are a little bit like keywords, but they’re chosen by you, and they do not form a hierarchy. You can assign as many tags to a bookmark as you like and rename or delete the tags later. So, tagging can be a lot easier and more flexible than fitting your information into preconceived categories or folders.

Some neat ways to use tags

Could I use this with students?

Friends, coworkers, and other groups can use a shared account, special tag, or their del.icio.us networks to collect and organize bookmarks that are relevant — and useful — to the entire group.

Let’s say I wanted my students to work together to find information on light bulbs. Each student could tag links with the same tag, let’s say “EHS-lights”.

Now we have a way to share all the links when we visit: http://del.icio.us/tag/EHS-lights.

Get started with del.icio.us today

Convert a CD holder into TP dispenser

Dale

Okay, this really isn’t tech but it is clever.

AASD doesn’t provide facial tissue for the classroom but they do provide toilet tissue.

Here’s a neat way to convert an old CD holder into a tissue dispenser.

  1. tissue TP of any kind
  2. Empty CD Holder (after CD’s have all been used)
  3. Cut the center of the top of the empty CD Holder (or unscrew spindle) with an exacto knife
  4. Take out cardboard center of the TP roll
  5. Place TP roll into CD holder and pull center of roll through the top

Add colored/patterned paper to the inside of holder for added effect and to conceal the TP

Students: not so savvy

Dale

How many times have you heard someone say “your students already know how to do this” when referring to Internet related tasks? A study from the Educational Testing Service will make you think differently.

The findings show that students don’t know how to judge the authoritativeness or objectivity of web sites, can’t narrow down an overly broad search, and can’t tailor a message to a particular audience.

[full story]

Level your audio with The Levelator

Dale

Over the past few months Brian Bartel and I have been producing a weekly podcast for our science teacher organization. On our show we’ve done phone interviews with various guests. Often our guests are much quieter that Brian and I. I’ve tried tweaking the audio in Audacity but it takes a long time to adjust a 25 minute show.

Tweak no more! I just found out about a new tool called The Levelator from GigaVox Media. This free tool levels out the audio automatically. The quiet gets louder, the loud gets quieter—all in mere seconds with The Levelator.

Check out this example:

Before Levelator:

After Levelator: 

This program is a dream come true and a huge timesaver in podcasting postproduction. Give it a try.

Tabblo: wiki for photos

Dale

tabloTabblo lets you import your photos from places like Flickr so you can add text to create “large collage-like posters, called Tabblos.”

Even better– You can let others edit your Tabblo. A teacher could create a Tabblo with photos from a field trip. All the students could contribute making this a truly collaborative project. It’s like a wiki for photos!

Give it a try.

Search for text in a podcast

Dale

Let’s say you heard a great podcast about a museum opening in Milwaukee called “Discovery World”. However, you can’t remember which podcast talked about it.

Try Podzinger.

PODZINGER is a podcast search engine that lets you search the full audio of both audio and video podcasts just like you search for any other information on the web.

PODZINGER creates a text index of the audio data from audio and video files, using the industry’s leading speech-to-text technology from BBN Technologies, to enable search within a podcast, not just within the metadata.

Give it a try.

UPDATE: Podzinger.com is now EveryZing.com

Mix your video with the community

Dale

eyespotIn a hurry to edit your video clips? Try EyeSpot. Similar to the online video sharing services that I reviewed a few weeks back, EyeSpot has the following unique features:

  • editing— trim and mix clips; add titles, transitions and effects
  • use other people’s clips in your video
  • download your final video

The service was a little slow. It took a while to upload files and trim clips. However, the ability to use other people’s clips is really neat. For example, I don’t have any clips of an explosion but the EyeSpot community had several.

EyeSpot is a fun tool and worth a look.

Net Neutrality: who’s for it, who’s against it

Dale

On June 28th the Senate rejected the Net Neutrality provision.

Who’s for Net Neutrality?

  • Tim Berners-Lee writes, “When I invented the Web, I didn’t have to ask anyone’s permission. Now, hundreds of millions of people are using it freely. I am worried that that is going end in the USA.” [full story]
  • Watch a quick video from Rocketboom.
  • Craig Newmark, from Craigslist.com, speaks on NPR (listen now)
  • Listen to Senator Barak Obama’s podcast
  • me (hence the lopsided comparison)

Who’s against Net Neutrality?

  • Telecom representative Scott Cleland speaks on NPR (listen now)
  • Hear Senator Ted Stevens (R-AK) talk against net neutrality

Without Net Neutrality could access to services like United Streaming and Cosmeo be restricted in the future? As educators, many of us understand how access affects the digital divide.