Alex Iskold in a recent article in Read/Write Web suggests that podcasting has not really made it into our daily lives and that it is on the wane. The podcasting trend reached its peak in mid-2005, about 12 month after it first started to be popular, while podcasts themselves appear to have peaked around the end of 2005 and have plateaued out since then. Iskold cites a number of factors to explain these trends – competition from blogs and videos, the “professionalisation” of podcasting by big media such as TV and Radio stations, and the difficulty in making money from them.
However, one of the successes of podcasting has been that it has made us reconsider the whole idea of broadcasting – anyone can do it (user-generated content), you can decide what you listen to (user choice), and you can decide when you listen (on demand). I feel that it is these 3 characteristics still make podcasts a valuable and relevant tool for educators.
The other point worth noting is that Iskold assumes that podcasting refers only to audio broadcasts, when in fact video podcasts (or vodcasts) are just as important. Certainly, video podcasts are probably just as easy to create as audio ones are, and can be used very effectively in pretty much all subject areas. A look at the education podcast directory on iTunes shows a wide and increasing number of both audio and video podcasts.
3 responses so far ↓
1
Neil Currant
// Sep 10, 2007 at 3:42 pm
One of the points that came from a couple of ALT-C 2007 presentations was that to most users they still tend to download files and don’t subscribe. I wonder if it is the subscription model and concept that is the difficulty. I’m still struggling to decide how to organise my feeds and at the moment by blog / news (text based) feeds sit elsewhere from my audio / video feeds.
And I have to say navigating podcasts and finding stuff in iTunes is a nightmare!!!
2
remixeitak
// Oct 23, 2007 at 2:11 pm
I don’t think podcasts are dead, at least not yet. Recently in one of my classes I had to work with a friend to make a podcast using Garageband. We only had to make an audio podcast, but we ended making it enhanced and I thought it was a lot of fun. Sure sometimes I wanted to smash my iBook off the floor, but it happens.
Before we actually had to do our own podcasts we had to go listen to others through the iTunes Store. There are millions out there and they still have millions of listeners. I know some people who still download daily podcasts and listen to them more than regular radio. Yes, I would agree that podcasting’s popularity has slowed down from it’s 2005 peak, but I don’t think it has died yet. Maybe it will make a big comeback someday.
3
sumdy
// Oct 23, 2007 at 4:10 pm
I still listen to podcasts too and I think that there are plenty of interesting people out there putting together some great shows. Glad you had fun making yours.
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