Northern Voice 2007 happened a little over a week ago, and we were happy to be there podcasting the sessions. When all was said and done we had posted 36 episodes, including two interviews with Darren Barefoot from the organizing team. We learned a lot from the experience, including:

• Getting video from the camera to the web is still relatively difficult (especially with just a laptop), despite tools like Windows Movie Maker.
• Material to supplement the audio (such as a slide deck) would have been nice in a lot of cases.
• Always have a schedule worked out in advance.
• You can always improve the quality of your recordings!

Despite these and other lessons, it seems most people were pretty pleased with the podcast. We've received a bunch of comments from attendees and others, thanking us for making the recordings available. It was our pleasure!

Finally, I'll leave you with some stats about the podcast:

• We posted 36 episodes
• Combined, the episodes take up 7.83 GB of storage space (including all the conversions)
• If you were to listen to every episode, it would take 26 hours, 7 minutes, and 13 seconds
• The average episode length is 43 minutes, 32 seconds

We're hard at work on a number of new features for Podcast Spot, including complete download statistics. We are planning to release the update very soon, which makes the current discussion about complete downloads extremely appropriate.

First, read Jason Van Orden's first and second posts on the subject. Next, take a look at my take on complete downloads. Finally, tell us what you think!

BlogMatrix has a post up today about podcasting university lectures - particularly appropriate since I start classes again for the Fall semester bright and early tomorrow morning. While I fully intend to go to at least the first week of classes, all bets are off after that. And no, it's not because I am lazy, or going shopping or anything like that, I simply have a business to run. Sometimes business and school conflict, and you need to make a decision - which is more important, this meeting, or a lecture? Most times, for better or for worse, I choose the meeting.

I wouldn't miss anything though if the lecture was being recorded and made available as a podcast.

While the BlogMatrix post is more a point-form plan for how to implement such a thing, and how it would work, it touches on a few important points that deserve to be highlighted.

Podcasting a lecture is for the students in attendance too!
Of course there will be people like me who skip the lecture to do something else and simply want to listen to the podcast later. More importantly though, podcasting a lecture is useful for the students in attendance, as BlogMatrix points out: "students, instead of taking notes (or only notes), would record the time of a particular interesting or salient comment". That would be incredibly useful. This point needs to be made very clear to the decision makers in a University, as they will most certainly protest the idea initially, citing fears that no one will go to class. I think such fears are baseless - there is value in attending the lecture, such as being able to participate in the conversation.

(As an aside, if the lecture contains no interaction and is just the professor standing at the front talking, then I'd be GLAD if podcasting it made attendance drop to zero. It's ridiculous that students pay $500 for something like that, because you know most of the fees go to paying the professor anyway. It's examples like this that show just how antiquated and bureaucratic the university system can be.)

The Wisdom of Crowds
Or in this case, the wisdom of students in the class. Let's assume students can bookmark parts of the lecture - perhaps the most important or interesting parts. As noted in the BlogMatrix post, this is powerful stuff: "Collecting all these bookmarks across all students (and potentially across time) will provide collective intelligence/data mining/insight into what is really import in the lecture". The ability to tag lectures and specific segments would further this collective wisdom.

Is security really an issue?
I don't think so. The University doesn't want people getting the lectures for free - I understand that. But how is making an MP3 file available any different than having some random person walk in off the street, sit in the class for an hour with a recorder, and put it online later? Especially in a lecture with 400+ students, I am surprised this doesn't happen more actually. As long as sensitive or personal information is not included in the podcast, I don't see security being much of an issue. I do agree with BlogMatrix though: "I don't believe it's the place of the vendor (i.e. me) to dictate requirements to a client". If a university really wanted to integrate security, it shouldn't be that difficult, as all universities have pretty extensive systems in place already.

Now, let's look at this from the perspective of Podcast Spot (if you want a test account, email me). Could our technology support such a thing? With a few tweaks here and there, I believe so. We've got all the basics covered (like tags and comments), as well as a few of the more interesting requirements (such as random access). And there's a bunch more features on the way too (such as improved methods of working with segments). It's not going to happen (because I better graduate in April) but it sure would be cool to see Podcast Spot being used in my school. Maybe I'll see it as an alumni ;)

I think podcasting will catch on in schools and other similar institutions, but it will take time. People inside the education world need to grok the benefits of podcasting, and still more have to lose their fear of the technology. When that happens, I think everyone will benefit.

Just thought I'd share here a couple of podcasting related posts I wrote on my blog recently:

• Podcasting or Text?
• Communication with Podcasting

The first one takes a look at where podcasting can be useful in addition to simple text. Sometimes blogs work great, but other times, it would be nice to have a podcast. The second post gives an overview of how we see podcasting fitting into the overall communications picture.

Enjoy!

After some random discussion over the last couple months, and some serious discussion in the last week or so, we have decided to change our podcasting solutions logo. The egg man (or potato as many thought at first) we had been using is now gone, replaced by this:

The new logo is simple and easily recognizable, both of which are pretty important. Furthermore, we still have our egg shape! We might use the egg guy for some special things, but this new logo is the main one moving forward. We're pretty happy with it.

What do you think?

No disrespect to Peter Chen or the Diffusion Group or anyone else that has done podcasting research thus far, but I was pleased to see a research report from Forrester. Finally something from a widely respected and referenced research group. Also refreshing is the fact that the report doesn't make podcasting out to be an amazingly fast growing technology (though it is growing pretty quickly and will probably grow faster over the next couple years). In the new report, titled "Podcasting Hits The Charts", Forrester shows that only 1% of North American households regularly download and listen to podcasts:

Podcasting will get easier and the content will get better, but it will all take time.

So should companies be putting podcasting on the backburner? Hardly. Content that already exists – such as earning calls, training updates, and executive presentations are all excellent fodder for podcasts. Think of us poor analysts who must listen to streamed quarterly calls while chained to our laptops! My caution is that companies shouldn’t be dashing out to create expensive original content for a small audience – unless they gain value from being seen as innovative.

That first sentence is incredibly important, I think. Podcasting still isn't easy enough for most people! And yes, these things take time, but hopefully we can help solve that problem in a couple months. The goal of our podcasting solution is to first of all make it easy.

The second bit of stuff I quoted there is important too. We're doing a lot of our own research on the business sector of podcasting right now, and we really agree - there's a huge market. Podcasting is an excellent way to solve some communication problems that have always existed.

More at Charlene Li's Blog

Everything is public now, so it's time for an update on our business plan competitions! As you may recall, Dickson and I entered Paramagnus into two business plan competitions - VenturePrize and Wes Nicol. We had back to back presentations in February, and have been waiting patiently to find out how we did. We've known for a couple days now, but it was announced today that we're a finalist in the VenturePrize competition, and we won first place in the local portion of the Wes Nicol! Congratulations especially to our fellow finalists in VenturePrize, and indeed to all of the competitors we've met thus far. We've learned so much already!

We're now preparing for the final VenturePrize showdown which takes place at the annual EEDC luncheon on March 22nd. We'll be among the first people to see the brand new extension to the Shaw Conference Centre. The following day we need to be in Ottawa for the national component of the Wes Nicol competition, so it'll be a very busy two days! We're looking forward to it.

Actually the next few weeks will be busy. We did a brief interview tonight that will air on CBC Radio tomorrow morning. Tomorrow afternoon we're filming our three minute video that will be shown at the luncheon on the 22nd. We're presenting to a class at the University next Friday. Over the next two weeks we'll be putting together an "insider's blog" for our experience in VenturePrize. And of course we've got to update our business plan, prepare our second presentations, and keep our business running (not to mention school, volunteering, etc). And it won't stop there - we've already got interviews and the like lined up into April. Definitely good for the business!

We've met a lot of people lately, and while it was nice to meet all of you, sometimes it's hard to get down contact information or remember everyone. If you'd like to get in touch, you can reach me via email or at 780.619.3864. Or of course you can simply subscribe :)

paramagnus ventureprize business plan wes nicol competitions edmonton

I am really pleased to announce that Paramagnus Developments Inc. has been selected as one of six semi-finalists in this year's VenturePrize Fast-Growth Enterprise Award category. As some of you may know, Dickson and I have been working on a business plan for Paramagnus for the last four or five months, and we submitted it to the VenturePrize business plan competition at the end of January. From the press release:

These six semifinalists will present their concepts to a judging panel who will announce the final three contenders at a March 6 special reception. These three finalists will then make a final pitch to judges and a sold-out audience at the Edmonton Economic Development Corporation (EEDC) Annual Luncheon on March 22, 2006, where the grand prize winner will be crowned.

“This is an exciting group of contestants representing a range of innovative business opportunities,” said Jay Krysler, VenturePrize Program Manager for TEC Edmonton. “The business plan screening panel, who are business and finance industry professionals, certainly had a difficult time selecting only six from so many great business concepts. Alberta will be well-served when all these plans move forward.”

It feels very good to have your business receive validation and recognition from some very smart people. We've learned a lot throughout the process so far, and I know there's far more learning ahead.

We're really excited about making it this far in the competition, and we're going to do our best to blow the judges away with our presentation. If all goes well, I'll be posting again on March 3rd that we made it to the final three! No matter what happens, I'm proud of what we've accomplished already, and I am eager to see the feedback on our business plan.

I also can't wait to get our products and services launched!

Wired has a new article up today which talks about one of the down sides to podcasting, known as podfading. Ryan and Jen Ozawa, former producers of the popular Lost-themed podcast The Transmission are the latest example of podfading:

Podcasting has drawn thousands on the premise that anyone can create an audio program, build an audience online and even vault to stardom. Less celebrated is the fact that untold numbers of shows just wink out just as suddenly as they started.

The phenomenon has earned its own label, "podfading," coined by podcaster Scott Fletcher in February 2005 when he gave up on two podcasts of his own.

Podfaders' motives vary wildly, from those discouraged by their lack of listenership to, in the Ozawas' case, a success that overwhelmed them.

This story both saddens and motivates me. Podfading will always exist, but there's no reason it should be any different than blogging, where millions of blogs are abandoned. The difference is that the effort it took to create those blogs in the first place was negligable - not so with a podcast, at least not yet. Brian Reid sums it up:

"There was no money in it and it did nothing to push my career forward. I've got a lot of other things in my life, paying work being one and my family is another. It's not like blogging, where you can do it for 15 minutes at a time and get away with it."

I know it varies quite a bit, but one survey found that the average time spent producing an episode was just over four and half hours! That's a long way from fifteen minutes.

At Paramagnus we don't expect to cut the amount of production time to fifteen minutes, but we do hope to significantly reduce it. The reason we started working on tools and services for podcasters was precisely this problem - the pain involved in creation right now is too great. Too much time, too much effort, too many requirements.

I really wish I had some numbers to share, but we're not quite there yet. We've obviously been doing our own testing, and we've found that it's a lot less work to produce an episode than it used to be (when I was doing BlogosphereRadio "by hand", for example). Podcast Spot really goes a long way to reducing the pain of publishing audio to the web, adding appropriate metadata, generating an RSS feed, promoting the episode, and gathering feedback and statistics. We're working hard on Podcast Wizard too, which we hope will reduce the pain of actually planning, recording, and mixing an episode.

I feel sorry for the Ozawa's - it sounds like they had a great show going (I'm not much of a Lost fan, so I never came across it). Maybe after we've launched they'll find it easier to podcast and who knows, maybe they'll even decide give it another go!

Dickson and I registered for Northern Voice 2006 tonight. We figured it was about time, since the conference is less than a month away (February 10th and 11th). We'll be in Vancouver from the 9th until the 12th, hopefully learning a lot and sharing the stuff we've been working on! We'll post an update when we've decided what exactly we'll have ready for the conference.

There's still time to register if you want to join us. See you there!

If you're a podcaster in Canada you might be interested in Tod Maffin's "A Dummies Guide to Podcasting Music in Canada":

Why can’t I play commercial music in my podcast in Canada?

Good question. It’s the question most most podcasters have been asking me at these meetups I’ve been doing across the country. Let me try to provide some answers. (First the disclaimer: I am not a lawyer. If you want real legal advice you should actually talk to someone who studies this stuff for a living. And then buy them a drink because God knows, they probably need it.)

Tod does an excellent job of debunking some common myths, and telling you exactly what you'd need to do to play music on your podcast.

I haven't paid too much attention to playing commercial music on podcasts, for two reasons. One, we have things like the Podsafe Music Network that contain a very large collection of audio you can use. Second, too much commercial music could turn podcasting back into radio! I figure if you want commercial music, there's satellite radio or iTunes or something. That's just my personal opinion though, and I know there are lots of people who want to play music.

Having said all that, things are still in the very early stages. A year from now there might be really simple licenses for podcasters to purchase, who knows!

Have you heard about Squidoo? It's a new website from Seth Godin that enables you to share information on a topic with others very easily, through what is called a lens (as in your view on the topic). To test it out, I have created a lens called MasterMaq on Podcasting. I think it's a pretty useful page for anyone interested in podcasting, so check it out!

I have written quite a bit about what I call "Average Joe Podcasting", or podcasting for normal people who don't want to turn it into a business. I have also mentioned that I think the most common form of podcasting will indeed be this kind of hobby podcasting, not radio-style business podcasting. Unfortunately, it seems rare that someone else understands this, but today I found another person who does:

Rob Walch, a podcasting consultant and host of the popular 411 interview podcast, says he's bombarded with questions from people looking to strike gold with podcasts. His advice? "I tell people that over 80% of podcasters will never even break even," he says. "This is a hobby. You don't expect to make money from flying model airplanes, and chances are you aren't going to make money from podcasting." Still, for trailblazers like Curry who are quickly forging links to one another, it won't be for a lack of trying.

Well said, and in a way that I think a lot of people will be able to understand. Not that it's bad for people like Curry to try and make some money from it, every industry needs that, I just feel that it won't overshadow the rest of podcasting for very much longer.

BusinessWeek   podcasting averagejoe media audio advertising radio

First of all, a big thanks to Tim and everyone at TNC New Media for putting on a great show this past weekend in Ontario, California. Plans are underway for next year too:

The next Expo will be September 29-30, 2006 back in Ontario, California at the Ontario Convention Center with larger rooms for the conference sessions and improvements suggested by all of you.

My main suggestion is wireless Internet! Aside from that, the expo was great both for Paramagnus and for podcasting in general, and we'd be happy to participate again next year. Thanks to everyone who came by the booth and spoke to us, and everyone who attended the presentation Saturday morning. We look forward to helping all of you with podcasting! If you weren't able to attend the Expo, don't worry! We're going to be making some new stuff available very soon.

We have discovered a couple of issues with Podcast Spot, but we're working on them. Currently we're planning to roll out a couple new features this week too. I'll post an update on that later.

We're very pleased to announce the first (and very early) beta of our podcasting products! Of the four applications and services on our roadmap, two are now available for public testing. You can now tag episodes at Podcast Tags, and you can create your own podcast and upload episodes at Podcast Spot. We anticipate releasing beta versions of Podcast Basket and Podcast Wizard sometime next month. For more information on all four products, visit the Paramagnus Podcasting site.

Although we had previously released a version of Podcast Tags, it was more of a test for us than anything. We've worked hard to fix the issues we had with the previous version, and we've added a few things too!

• The website is now http://www.podcasttags.com, instead of the awkward http://podcasttag.com.
• We have ping interfaces in both SOAP and XML-RPC (including ExtendedPing support).
• In addition to looking for tags in your podcast, we also look for categories! That means almost every podcast can immediately take advantage of Podcast Tags.
• We're still working on the API, but it should be available soon. The API project will allow you to tap into Podcast Tags from your own applications and services.

Podcast Spot is our podcast hosting service. The first ever release is now available for you to play with and take a look at. There is still lots of work to be done, but for now you can:

• Create an account (register here)
• Add episodes and categories
• Select a Creative Commons license for your podcast

Additionally, these features are currently working:

• If you upload in MP3, we'll automatically convert it to WMA (and vice versa)
• You can download segments of audio files in MP3 format
• Users can subscribe to a dynamic, general feed for your podcast or more specific MP3 and WMA feeds

We're really pleased that we were able to release the first "beta" in time for the Podcast & Portable Media Expo! There is still lots of work to do, but we're looking forward to getting some initial feedback on what we've done. If you're going to be at the Expo this weekend, come see us in booth #312!

paramagnus podcasting podcast tags podcast spot portable media expo