Podcast Production has been busy over the last few months recording podcasts with specialist software solutions company Questionmark.

Questionmark provides technologies and services for online testing and assessment to wide range of educational institutions, corporations, government agencies and awarding bodies all over the world. Their blog includes tips on best practices, case studies and commentary. Podcasts on the blog offer insights from users of the Questionmark Perception assessment management system as well as learning industry thought leaders.

Each month, Podcast Production's recording engineer joins hosts Joan Phaup and Sarah Elkins from Questionmark to record an audio podcast. The global nature and diversity of Questionmark's business means that their guests can be dialing in via landlines or Internet telecommunications from all over the world. Once we have tapped in and recorded the podcast in the best audio quality possible, we edit any slips that may have occured and once everyone is happy with the content it is produced with its distinctive "sting" and published on the Questionmark blog.

In podcast 6 Sarah spoke to David Lewis about formative assesement. I'm sure to those such as myself that are new to the subject, this podcast could make a good introduction:

David Lewis of Glamorgan University has extensive experience with Questionmark Perception. I spoke with him recently about the large scale implementation he has been working on at Glamorgan, where they use Questionmark for formative assessment, summative assessment and module evaluation. David also spoke about the training programs that have been developed within the University, the collaboration with other higher education institutions in Wales, and provided some great advice for anyone working with online assessments

Tune in to this podcast with David Lewis

We're sure their podcast is up to the mark!

In recent years many companies, particularly within the financial sector, have used streamed video to provide information about their products and services. This video information is streamed and viewed within a webpage. Once upon a time this was an effective way of communicating with stake holders but I would argue that this is no longer the case.

The problem with streamed media is that it cannot easily be saved to disk. As a result, the user has to be connected to the web to view the steamed video content. In addition, that streamed video content is effectively “blind” to search engines apart from basic tag information. All of the valuable audio content within the streamed video is not indexed by search engines, which offers no benefit to the website owner in terms of web visibility.

With the advent of Podcasts or Vodcasts (video Podcasts), that has all changed. Putting aside the fact that in general terms a video Podcast can be produced more cost effectively than a streamed video, and ignoring that that streamed video uses significant charged bandwidth, the video Podcast is unique in several ways.

Firstly, the compression algorithm that is used ensures that the size of the file is reduced and therefore can be downloaded quickly; second the fact that it can be downloaded means that the file can be viewed at anytime with or without an Internet connection. Thirdly - and this is the really interesting part - the audio content of the Podcast can be indexed using sophisticated voice recognition software. Couple this with the fact that the user can listen to or view the content on an mp3 player and you start to wonder why on earth are companies still using streamed video content?

Companies can reduce the cost of production and hosting, at the same time benefiting from web indexing that makes their content visible to search engines. So why do companies remain wedded to streamed video - is it ignorance, apathy or just video production companies trying to protect their income?

Rant over.

How many times have I heard the uniformed claim that an mp3 file is the same as a Podcast? An mp3 file is not a Podcast; it is an audio file that has been compressed using an mp3 algorithm.

In order to convert and mp3 file into a Podcast, additional information has to be attached to the audio file using iTunes tags. These tags refer
to the information contained within the Podcast that are recognised by the mp3 player.

Next, the appropriate xml code must be written to produce an RSS feed. It is this RSS feed that structures a series of episodes into a Podcast series and tells the Podcast subscription software and Podcast directories that the Podcast exists. It is only after inserting these tags into the mp3 file and writing the xml code for the RSS feed that the Podcast episode can be published to your listeners and the Podcast directories. Only then will the Podcast become visible within the World Wide Web.

Getting the information right is not as easy as you might expect. So to all those who feel that Podcast production is a straightforward exercise, be warned it is not!