Podcasting

There are 92 posts filed in Podcasting (this is page 4 of 10).

Adding podcast cover art to a WordPress podcast

When I decided to create the Georgia v. Trump podcast, I wanted to have a more professional look, with some cover art. In my previous podcasts, I did not do anything extra, so the title in the RSS feed was all that would appear in my podcast app.

I was going to use WordPress for the website and the podcast, since I have used WordPress for other podcasts. I looked at the settings for the site theme, but did not see anything that let me add an image to the feed, so I decided to look for a plugin to help.

Before that, I looked into ways to create the podcast cover art. I  tried Edit.org, and was able to create an initial image. Next, I looked at several WordPress plugins that supported podcasting features. The first I tried was Seriously Simple Podcasting, but it was not as simple as the plugin title. I  also had some problems with post settings and image settings, so I  decided to look for another plugin, and went with Simple Podcasting. With this plugin, I was able to add an image for the podcast feed, add a podcast block within a post, and use the regular post structure for podcast posts.

During testing, I wanted to update the podcast cover art. The previous graphics tool created images that were smaller than the minimum size for Apple Podcasts,  so I went with Canva. I still had to use Microsoft Paint 3D to resize from 3000 to 2000 pixels to get the image to display properly in PocketCasts. My final test was to make sure that the post text would show up in PocketCasts. It took 3 posts before I could see the text. if I had been more patient, the post text probably would have showed up on its own. I know from some previous WordPress troubleshooting that my hosting company Bluehost sometimes caches RSS feed updates.

I hope this helps future podcasters to see that WordPress provides an adequate platform for hosting a podcast – no need to use Libsyn or other podcast hosting services (at least until you have the audience of a Joe Rogan….)!

Podcast Announcement: GeorgiaVTrump.com

I have started a new website, GeorgiaVTrump.com, to cover the Georgia 2020 election interference trial in Fulton County, Georgia. Links to pertinent news coverage will be posted, as well as timeline information and court documents as they are made available. In addition, since the trial proceedings are being made available on YouTube, this site will host a podcast with the audio from those proceedings.

Comments and suggestions are welcome, they can be added to posts, or emailed to info@georgiavtrump.com.

DIY Television: A handbook

Community Media: A handbook for revolutions in DIY TV (via Frank Meeuwsen) – I read through this site today, it has a nice history of alternative television (my words) and suggestions on tools/methods on creating your own television (notice I am not using the word “videos”). The impression this handbook gives is that distribution is as important as production (if no one is watching, is it TV?). In today’s splintered landscape of news/information/entertainment in video form, I don’t know if this will take hold to any significant degree. However, it did make me want to make a video…

There was also some discussion of podcasting as a democratic new medium. As a podcast producer myself (Convocast, Thinking About Tools for Thought, In The Car Podcast), to me this might be the way to go to get your message out (and can still be done cheaply on WordPress.com or using my notes on self-hosted WordPress).

Via Ben Werdmuller, read this post about “Open Podcast Standards”, seems like an effort to promote new “tags” within a feed. I hope that their “new” feeds are still compliant RSS 2.0 feeds…

Dave Winer writes today about his Morning Coffee Notes podcast as a place that documents the history of podcasting. In my links zettlekasten, I also have a section on podcasting history (go to Podcasting, then History).

Using podcasting as a teaching tool

Earlier this month, John Johnston wrote about his experience with student podcasting:

We are trying to give our class motivation to practise their talking, listening, reading and writing. Communication with their peers and an audience. For me simple podcasting provides a great opportunity for that.

via John Johnston

I think this is terrific – more teachers should use podcasting as a technique to increase literacy skills.

The historical record of podcasting

As I was working on my Podcasting category in my zettelkasten file, I realized that I did not have a link to the history of podcasting. I started doing some searching, and decided that I should try to collect “original sources”, as they say in historical research. Here, then, is a start at a chronological collection of links to pages on podcasting from original sources and some versions of documenting the historical record. Feedback is welcome!

DaveNet – Initial description of early meeting with Adam Curry at a Scripting News meetup, includes description of “the last mile” (2000)

The Two-Way Web – Payloads for RSS – Initial description of podcasting technology (January 2001)

Grateful Dead Podcast Feed – Creation date of May 18, 2001

Adam Curry – Description of podcasting for a session at BloggerCon in 2004

Scripting News – More info on early podcasting (people/timeline) (2005)

Scripting News – The origin of podcasting (2010)

References the meeting with Adam Curry, and also this post on “virtual bandwidth”, which has more detail on the Adam Curry meeting in 2001

Harvard/Berkman Center – Essay on Dave Winer/Chris Lydon collaboration (2010)

Scripting News – No silos – comments on the rise of podcasting companies trying to lock in users (2017)

Scripting News – An addendum to the creation story of podcasting (2017)

Mentions Adam Curry, Doug Kaye, Chris Lydon among others

Scripting News – Podcasts are feeds. If there is no feed, it’s not a podcast (2018)

Scripting News – CBC podcast on the origin of podcasting (2017)

Andy Sylvester – Comments on “Alternate Histories of Podcasting” podcast (Radio Survivor), pointing out that Andrew Bottomley’s research on audio file usage on the Internet was not podcasting (no RSS feed! see Podcasts Are Feeds item) (2018)

Scripting News – Twenty years ago in podcasting (2021)

Dave Winer’s side of the story in how podcasting got started, also references Podnews story on first podcast feed

Podnews – The story of the first podcast feed (2021)

Covers first meeting between Dave Winer and Adam Curry in 2001 and first feed using Grateful Dead songs

PocketCasts is open source

I have used PocketCasts as my podcast client for several years, and I think it is a nice thing that Automattic is making it open source. I also agree with Dave Winer’s feature request that a OPML subscription list should be able to be imported via a URL (OPML file hosted somewhere on the web) instead of having it be a file local to the app (on your phone or in Google Drive).

After finding out about it on Scripting News, I have started listening to the podcast “The History of Rock and Roll in 500 Songs”. Episode 2 had some neat history on labor disputes during World War 2 that greatly affected the music industry – I really enjoyed it! 2 down, 153 to go (the podcast is planned to take 5 years to get to 500 songs).