Kree!

Podcasts are one of those things that I like the idea of very much but never seem to get around to using!   I think it's mainly because I've never got on well with things I just have to listen to (other than music) - I don't like spoken radio, don't like audiobooks, and therefore also struggle with podcasts.   I find my attention wanders and I start doing other things and then miss half of what is said so I never usually bother.   Which is a shame because there's some fantastic stuff out there to listen to, but I guess it's just not my medium.

Anyway, personal foibles aside, podcasting is a great way to get audio content out, and as with all these web 2.0 tools there are so many different ways you can make use of the technology.   From a library point of view I think they are great for user education, obviously, but also for things like audio tours - I heard a good talk at the OULS Exchange of Experience day in 2008 about the podcasted induction tour for Oxford Brookes library, for example.   But where I think podcasts are really great is for more interesting things like talks and lectures - at the Rothermere American Institute we've been starting to record some of the talks and seminars that take place in order to reach a wider audience (our podcast of Professor Robin Kelley's Harmsworth Lecture in November was in the popular downloads section for a while), and this is of course where Oxford's venture into iTunesU is so fantastic.   I was also particularly excited to discover that Oxford is now releasing a lot of podcasts with creative commons licences, which I think is brilliant and highly commendable.

Being a non-audio-fan-type-person I haven't ever really subscribed to podcasts much, but for this Thing I've made myself overcome my reticence and looked some out.   I subscribed to the RAI's podcasts via iTunes and my Google Reader, and mooched about some of the other material on iTunesU - some really fantastic stuff and, if you're so minded, you can follow entire courses and lecture series from many universities.   It's an awesome resource - I really should try and get over my dislike of just listening someday!