1. Podcasting Overview

A podcast is a series of related audio or video files, placed online with a public URL and linked to via an RSS feed, accessed by free download subscription over the internet using digital media players.

Creating your own podcast is a straight-forward process but does rely on you having the right equipment and software available first. The workflow you need to follow is outlined below. The free Steeple Podcasting Booklet offers more detailed information and guidance. Also see the later sections Record and Publish.

The following document contains the contribution form or 'speaker release' that speakers are required to sign if they wish to publish your material on the University's podcasting web portal or iTunes U site: http://www.ox.ac.uk/itunes_u/contribute.html

We always recommend the following short training session for anyone involved in podcasting at Oxford: http://www.oucs.ox.ac.uk/itlp/courses/detail/TIMV

Step 1: Familiarise yourself with podcasting guidance notes and contribution form

If you are a member of staff at the University of Oxford and wish to discuss how you can contribute a podcast from your department, college, or faculty, then please contact podcasts@oucs.ox.ac.uk. For the most part you will be required to do your own recording, but in some cases - such as high profile public speakers - some assistance may be available. Any podcast made available through the iTunes portal for the University of Oxford has to have a signed contributor form and will also be vetted to make sure it adheres to our legal obligations concerning copyrighted material, etc.

The following guidance document contains the contribution form that you will be required to sign if you wish to publish your material on the University's podcasting web portal or iTunes U site: http://www.ox.ac.uk/itunes_u/contribute.html

The Steeple Podcasting Booklet also contains a section about Copyright and permissions

We always recommend the following short training session for anyone involved in podcasting at Oxford: http://www.oucs.ox.ac.uk/itlp/courses/detail/TIMV

Step 2: Create the content
Podcast media are not special files. Any traditional MP3 audio file or MPEG4 video file (two of the most common multimedia formats) can be used as a podcast.

Simply record your lecture, keynote speech or other content in a digital format and save it to a computer. You may need to trim the file in editing software such as the free software Audacity. More information in the Recording Requirements section.

You may find these video tutorials helpful:

We always recommend the following short training session for anyone involved in podcasting at Oxford: http://www.oucs.ox.ac.uk/itlp/courses/detail/TIMV

Step 3: Place the content online
Before a podcast can be downloaded it must be accessible via the internet. As long as you place your multimedia file on publicly accessible web space it can become a podcast.

More information is available in the Publishing a podcast section.

Step 4: Add an entry into an OXITEMS podcast aware RSS feed
OXITEMS creates RSS newsfeeds for members of the University. Many colleges, departments and faculties already have multiple newsfeeds available. A podcast RSS feed is a normal RSS feed with one key exception; it includes the web address of a multimedia file and some basic information about this podcast. Check with your IT officer to see if there is already a suitable feed available. If not, they can create one for you.

More information about OXITEMS and how to use it with podcasts can be found in the section on OXITEMS RSS System.

2. Recording Requirements

To create a podcast the following are necessary:

  • A relatively modern computer with speakers, and internet connection.
  • A microphone. Some computers have a in-built mic, but a more expensive external mic will create better quality audio recordings.
  • Digital recording software (such as Audacity) to create the audio files. However, there are software packages (such as ProfCast on the Apple Mac) designed specifically for audio and video podcasting that may now be more suitable.

Audio podcasts (usually MP3s) are easier to create and the filesize is more manageable for upload and download, but nevertheless it is now simple to create video podcasts using podcasting software. In addition to the requirements above, video needs:

  • A video camera. This can be a simple USB webcam or a more expensive digital video camera connected to the computer.

It is possible to record audio podcasts into portable media players (such as an iPod with a mic attachment) but the quality is not necessarily high and this requires the extra step of transferring the audio file from the media player to the computer.

The Steeple Podcasting Booklet contains more information in its Recording a podcast section.

We always recommend the following short training session for anyone involved in podcasting at Oxford: http://www.oucs.ox.ac.uk/itlp/courses/detail/TIMV

2.1. Possible Hardware Options

There are many means of recording audio and video for podcasts, with varying levels of expensive and complexity.

By far the simplest method is to record directly into a computer using it's own internal mic, but the audio quality will not be exceptional and the mic is likely to pick up background noise (from the computer's fan, for example). Using an external microphone produces a cleaner signal.

Regardless of the means by which podcasts are recorded, to publish them it is usually required to transfer the recording from the recording device to a computer with access to the internet. In general, the fewer steps required to generate the final podcast file on a computer, the better.

Other options for recording include:

  • An iPod, with Apple's proprietary mic attachment plugged into the top. There are different microphone products with varying performance, some examples can be seen here: http://www.welovemacs.com/ipmire.html
  • A portable recorder, such as a Marantz PMD 661 Solid State MP3 Recorder, can be a relatively inexpensive and yet high quality option for audio recording. Many of these portable recorders make use of SD cards and other modern storage cards.
  • Expensive external USB (not analogue) microphones (such as a Samson CO1U USB mic) can be plugged directly into a computer and provide very high quality audio recordings. Additional attachments to isolate background noise can increase the quality.
  • Digital video cameras can be used for audio and video input for use in podcasts, and these can record onto DV tape (which would then have to be transferred to the computer using a separate piece of hardware) or can be plugged directly into a computer (commonly via FireWire). These usually provide high-quality audio and video recordings.

The Steeple Podcasting Booklet contains more information in its Baseline audio kit section.

2.2. List of Recording Software

Simple and free

Advanced

Information about sound editing is available in the Steeple Podcasting Booklet, sections Introduction to editing and Audacity training.

3. Publishing a podcast

Before users can listen to your podcast it requires some means of publication. The most common way to publish a podcast is by using an RSS feed, which is a special file that points to the podcast (the MP3, MPEG4 etc.) and contains your description of the podcast's content.

To publish a podcast the author needs the following:

  1. Web space to store the podcast (MP3s etc.) online.
  2. An RSS generator, such as Oxford University's OXITEMS newsfeed to point to the content.
  3. A medium to view the podcast (commonly iTunes but also other digital media players and modern web browsers, such as Firefox).

Promoting a podcast

To avoid podcasting in a void, podcasts are promoted (advertised, and listed in searches) using Really Simple Syndication (RSS) for news feeds. Each feed is a simple XML file containing textual information about e.g. podcasts it links to. The information about each item not only includes the title, author and description of each individual podcast, but also whether it belongs in a series, and what number in the series it is. Software like iTunes picks up the RSS information and displays it to the user so they can view, subscribe and download the podcast in the easiest way possible. Software that can pick up and view RSS feeds are known as aggregators.

For more information about publishing and promoting podcasts, see the Steeple Podcasting Booklet, for example the sections on Publishing, Encoding mp3 with iTunes , and RSSformats.

We always recommend the following short training session for anyone involved in podcasting at Oxford: http://www.oucs.ox.ac.uk/itlp/courses/detail/TIMV

3.1. OXITEMS RSS System

OXITEMS is an RSS newsfeed system developed here at Oxford by OUCS. It allows users to add and maintain news items (announcements, news, events, podcasts etc.). These feeds can be subscribed to by digital media players allowing the end user to receive news updates, podcasts ect. without the need to visit the originating web site themselves.

The first step the author has to make is to upload the podcast to their web space, e.g. a college server, their users web space or to a course area on the WebLearn VLE. You cannot upload files to OXITEMS as it is not a filestore, nor are other RSS feeds; they merely link a news item in a newsfeed to an assocated file (called a enclosure) and contain textual information about this linked file. Once the location of the podcast is known, follow the instructions below:

Adding your podcast to OXITEMS

  1. Go to the OXITEMS web site. Accessing the OXITEMS system requires authentication as a member of Oxford University through WebAuth.
    Part of the OXITEMS home page
    Figure 1. Part of the OXITEMS home page
  2. In the side menu find the [Podcasting Newsfeed] section which is under the [Operations for Authors] menu.
    Podcasting newsfeed section under operations for authors menu
    Figure 2. Location of Podcasting Newsfeed section
  3. From the [Podcasting Newsfeed] menu, click on [Add a Media Item]
  4. You will now see a list of the podcasting feeds that you are eligible to add new items to. If you do not see any lists you need to contact your IT officier to create one for you.
    List of feeds for which you are authorised
    Figure 3. List of feeds that you can access
  5. Select the podcast feed you wish to add to and click the Add Item to Selected Newsfeed button.
  6. You will now see the Add an Item screen. This is composed of various boxes where you need to add in information about your new podcast. This must include the URL (location on the web) of your podcast file. Complete the form as instructed. Explanations for each box are given along side them. When complete click the Preview the Items With the Above values button.
    Add podcast information form
    Figure 4. Add form
  7. You will now see a summary of your entries. If these are all correct, click the Now Add the Above Item to the Newsfeed button. If you need to make any changes to the form entries, click the Make Changes to the Values of the Above Item button instead. You will be returned to the form where you can make edits to your entries.
    Summary of your entered details
    Figure 5. Add Summary screen
  8. Once you have submitted your item, OXITEMS will show you a new page showing all the items in the feed. Your new item should be at the top of this list. You will also be give the URL of the RSS feed into which you have added your podcast item.
    Item now added to the feed
    Figure 6. Added item screen

We always recommend the following short training session for anyone involved in podcasting at Oxford: http://www.oucs.ox.ac.uk/itlp/courses/detail/TIMV

3.2. Accessing your podcast feed

In order to check whether your podcast feed and files work on the web you need to subscribe to the feed and download the file(s) in question. These instructions relate to using iTunes to check the feed. If you do not have iTunes already, visit http://www.apple.com/itunes/ to download the program. Install this onto your computer. If you do not want to install iTunes onto your system, you can also check the url of the feed using modern web browsers such as Firefox and Opera. For instructions on using Firefox to add a Live Bookmark to the feed see: Subscribing to RSS Feeds. Alternatively there are other digital media players available that you can use instead. See the Links section for a selection of other players.

  1. Open iTunes and click on [Advanced] found on the top most menu.
    Advanced button
    Figure 7. Opening the Advanced options
  2. From the dropdown menu select [Subscribe to podcast] option. A new dialogue box will appear.
    Subscribing to a podcast, type URL here
    Figure 8. URL Subscription box
  3. Enter the address of your podcast feed i.e the URL given to you via OXITEMS. Click on OK
  4. iTunes will now access the RSS feed and list any items it finds in the main iTunes podcast screen.
    Podcast shown in iTunes podcast
    Figure 9. Podcast shown in iTunes
  5. Each item in the feed can now be downloaded either individually by clicking the Get button by each one, or by clicking on Get All next to the name of the feed itself.
  6. Click the Get button next to your new item. iTunes will access and download the file to your machine.
  7. Once your file is downloaded, the podcast title will change to black text and the Get button will disappear. You will now be able to play the podcast in iTunes.