[vip_students] Mini tutorials: All about podcasts!
- From: "Paul Traynor" <paul.traynor@xxxxxxx>
- To: <vip_students@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Fri, 6 Jul 2007 15:35:11 +0100
Hi All,
I came across some nice little tutorials on the net recently and wanted to
pass them along to you on the list. You can if you are adventurous minded
read up on them and if you l ike give them a go. The least you will get
from reading them is some understanding on what these items are all about
and in this tutorial what a "Podcast" is all about.
Paul.
[What are podcasts and how to create them]
Contents
Accessible Podcasting Schedule:
.................................................... 2
Overview of Podcasting
.................................................................... 3
Creating (and enhancing) Content for Podcasts
....................................................................3
Distributing Digital Content as a Podcast
............................................................................
.3
Accessing the Podcast
............................................................................
...............................4
Accessibility of Audio and Video Formats
...........................................................................4
iPod Overview
............................................................................
..........................................4
Format Considerations for iTunes
.................................................... 5
Know What You're Working With
............................................................................
............5
Audio File Formats
............................................................................
...................................6
Video File Formats
............................................................................
....................................6
RSS Feeds and Aggregators
............................................................ 7
RSS - What's in a
name?.......................................................................
................................7
Essential elements of an RSS feed
............................................................................
............7
Making an RSS Feed
............................................................................
................................8
Aggregators
............................................................................
...............................................9
More RSS Information:
............................................................................
.............................9
iTunes as an Alt Media Tool
............................................................... 10
Overview of iTunes Application
............................................................................
...............10
Getting Files into iTunes
............................................................................
...........................11
Organizing Files in iTunes
............................................................................
........................11
Enhancing Audio Files for Accessibility
............................................................................
...14
Enhancing Video Files for Accessibilty
............................................................................
....17
Using Playlists
............................................................................
..........................................17
Burning Files to a CD
............................................................................
...............................18
DAISY to iPod
............................................................................
......... 19
Extracting text and matching it to sound:
............................................................................
.19
............................................................................
................23
Converting to Audiobook Format
............................................................................
.............24
Using Notes
............................................................................
............. 26
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Accessible Podcasting Schedule:
10:00 - Intro
10:15 - History and Overview of Podcasting
11:15 - Using iTunes to Gather Podcasts
11:45 - Lunch
1:00 - File Management and Playlists
1:30 - Captioned Video Podcasts
2:00 - Break
2:15 - DAISY to Audiobook
4:30 - End
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Overview of Podcasting
The growing popularity of distributing information over the internet via RSS
feeds, commonly known as "Podcasting", has been around for many years, under
different names and accompanied by a few specialized terms. Whether
discussing the details of how one creates the content of the podcast, or how
one accesses the content itself, you may have heard terms being thrown
around such as "aggregator", "validator", "browser", "reader", "feeder",
"iTunes", "iTunes
Store", "iUniversity", and of course "iPod" with all of the variations
therein,
th
Generation" or "Video". the list goes on with many competing brand names of
both software and hardware.
reduced to three very simple categories: creation of digital content,
distributing digital content over the internet, and accessing this digital
content. The following information and exercises will provide the basic
information you need to know for using iTunes to create and enhance digital
content to maximize the accessibility of this digital content by people with
disabilities.
Creating (and enhancing) Content for Podcasts
The process of creating digital content is varied and can be equally simple
or complex. While you may be engaged in creating original content, it is
equally
the accessibility of the content.
The simplicity of creating an RSS feed and the popularity of Podcasting has
led to many different software applications featuring some sort of "export
to Podcast" functionality. This means that you will probably be dealing with
podacsts from a growing number of people, and podcasts that were created
with a wide range of applications. Fortunately, iTunes offers the ability to
manage
use other applications in the process of making podcasts accessible. At the
core
placed on a website. The same tools used to make accessible video and audio
Distributing Digital Content as a Podcast
At the most basic level, a podcast is simply digital content you place on
your website. The differentiating factor between a podcast and any other
digital content you link to is the RSS Feed. The RSS Feed is XML code that
describes the digital content of your podcast, and makes it available to
"aggregators"
programs that will check for updated content and download it.
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The RSS feed includes basic information about your digital content such as
other more detailed information. Together with the digital content being
linked to, this information makes up the actual "podcast" and is used by
people to organize and distribute the digital content over the internet.
Accessing the Podcast
By design, accessing podcasts is a simple thing to do, and there are several
applications that incorporate the ability to collect, or "aggregate"
podcasts and display their contents. There are many specialized software
applications used to organize and download different kinds of podcasts.
Known as "aggregators", "readers", "gatherers", and a variety of other
terms, these applications are
such as news, blogs, music, stock prices, and weather information, just to
name a few. Others are able to gather and display a wide range of digital
content.
With the growing popularity of the iPod devices and the free availability of
the iTunes application, we will be focusing on the iTunes application as a
tool to access and organize podcasts and other digital content. Even if you
don't distribute digital content over the internet, you can use iTunes to
package information with your digital content and load this information onto
an iPod.
Accessibility of Audio and Video Formats
There are some features of the iTunes application that lend themselves to
important to remember that both iTunes and iPods are inaccessible by their
design. Fortunately, the features built into iTunes that allow for the easy
editing of information for greater usability also lend themselves to
creating greater accessibility, even if it is an unintended use.
iPod Overview
There are many models of iPods, and some are more accessible than others. If
you have requests to put alt media on an iPod, it is very important to know
what model of iPod the student has before you begin.
Current iPod Models
Currently, there are three base models of the iPod available from Apple.
They are the iPod (5
th
of these models are available with differing amounts of storage capacity. It
is
available form Apple at www.apple.com. There is also an excellent iPod
Comparison of all the iPod models ever made, at Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.
org/wiki/IPod
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Format Considerations for iTunes
It is possible to play many media formats in iTunes and on the various iPod
devices, but which ones are the most accessible? It turns out that when
dealing with media formats in iTunes, most of them will allow you to enhance
the content for greater accessibility. Of course, there are exceptions and
some subtle
many applications used to create digital content, and while these tools
deliver
manufacture these tools inevitably want to add optional elements and slight
this inevitable fact, the consortiums of peope who develop and specify the
"standards" have allowed for extensibility in the media formats by providing
ways to embed extra information without compromising the core content of the
Using this extra information, manufacturers of hardware and software players
are able to include extra functionality into their products for playing
these
different authoring tools- all of which are supposedly of the same format or
"type", but they can offer different functionality when you try to play them
in different players.
Keeping track of which applications will deliver the format types best
suited for your needs can be a never ending task, considering the pace at
which new versions of authoring tools are released, and the ever-evolving
media format
types, as well as the fact that it is the only way to put music on the very
popular iPod devices.
Know What You're Working With
Due to the wide variability of media players, it is important to know as
much as
some variation in how different applications will export information to a
given
and they can all still be slightly different. This is especially true when
dealing
formats.
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Audio File Formats
1) directly from an audio CD
2) Directly from your hard disk
3) Download from the iTunes store or as a Podcast.
AIFF, Apple Lossless, MP3, and WAV. With the exception of the WAV and
email attachment, via a podcast, a thumbdrive, or directly across a network.
In the iTunes "File" menu there are commands to both "import." and "add
"Importing" tab of the "Advanced" tab within the "Preferences" dialogue for
iTunes.
Video File Formats
It is possible to import Quicktime MOV, MPEG4, and h264 format video into
be sized to 320 x 240. iTunes will allow you to embed the same information
a television show, or a movie. Music videos will appear in the Music
Library, whereas television shows and movies will be displayed under those
same headings in the Library.
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RSS Feeds and Aggregators
RSS - What's in a name?
RSS (Really Simple Syndication, Rich Site Summary, RDF<resource description
framework> Site Summary)
RSS Feed
: A convenient and simple method for delivering digital content via the
internet. Using XML to specify the media format, RSS allows for the delivery
of a wide range of digital content into a common viewer, known as an
aggregator. An aggregator allows you to select RSS feeds to monitor and
specify how frequently they should check for new content and how they should
proceed with downloading it. One powerful aspect of using RSS technology is
the ability to stop receiving content whenever you want, unlike email and
Instant
Messaging.
RSS Aggregator
: Software that manages content delivered via an RSS feed.
Sometimes called a news aggregator, feed reader, search aggregator, and news
reader, an aggregator is simply a tool that allows you to gather and manage
content distributed via RSS feeds.
Essential elements of an RSS feed
An RSS feed is basically a container for some sort of digital content, but
in addition to the content itself, information can be added that describes
the digital content, the website it came from, and the people who maintain
the content and website.
Every RSS feed contains at least one "item" (digital content) associated
with three primary pieces of information:
Title
Description
Link
There are many other types of information that can be associated with items
in an RSS feed, but the above three elements are required in every item of
an RSS
feed.
There can be up to 15 items in any particular feed, and these items are
contained in a "channel", which also contains at least three primary pieces
of information:
Title
Description
Link
In addition to the items contained in a channel, the RSS feed must contain
information about which version of XML and RSS is being used.
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It is possible to create a very simple RSS feed with only these basic
elements.
Just the same, it is also possible to create much more complex RSS feeds
that contain a wealth of extra information. Since the primary feature of XML
is its extensibility, the possibilities for expanding the content of your
RSS feed are primarily limited by your own imagination.
Making an RSS Feed
If you're not using an RSS Feed Creation Application or service, making an
RSS feed requires some ability with html coding. If you are not comfortable
with editing the html code of your website, please designate this task to
the appropriate individual or department.
Creating an RSS feed by hand is often described as an easy task by people
who are comfortable with entering HTML or XML code directly, but it may
prove to be more of a challenge for those who are not comfortable editing
their own code. If you are not comfortable entering and editing your own
code, you may want to explore some RSS management applications. See the end
of this section for more information on these resources.
For those of you who are comfortable with entering and editing your own
code, here is a sample of the simplest RSS feed:
<?xml version="1.0" ?>
<rss version="2.0">
<channel>
<title>Jayme's Podcast</title>
<description>Jayme creates a podcast with no theme or purpose, and updates
it with dead air every week.</description>
<link>http://www.htctu.net/ACT/podcasts.html</link>
<item>
<title>Dead Air for February 19, 2007</title>
<description>The latest installment of nothing</description>
<link> http://www.htctu.net/ACT/podcasts/02192007.html </link>
</item>
</channel>
</rss>
<title>
tag contents will be converted into the
ALT attribute of the
<img>
tag when rendered into HTML.
While it is true that you can potentially increase the accessibility of your
podcast by including extra information with the optional tags allowed in the
of the optional tags.
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Aggregators
Aggregators are tools that do exactly what their name implies: they
aggregate
RSS feeds. Some of the earliest uses of aggregators were in collecting news
use of RSS has grown to include every type of content imaginable, and many
browsers and email clients also offer some form of aggregator functionality.
More RSS Information:
RSS Feed Creation
List Garden: Free RSS Feed Generator - http://www.softwaregarden.com/
products/listgarden/index.html
http://
www.rssboard.org/
The RSS feed validator from World Wide Web Consortium -
http://validator.
w3.org
Windows XP Aggregators
Opera - This free web browser offers RSS aggregator tools in addition to
other tools for accessibility, web development, and other customization.
http://www.
opera.com/
http://www.sharpreader.net/
Mac OS Aggregators
feeds.
http://www.benkazez.com/newsreader.php
via your preferred web browser.
http://www.mulle-kybernetik.com/software/
/
iBlog - An application that allows you to create RSS-enhanced blogs as well
as subscribe to other RSS-enabled blogs and newsfeeds.
Products/iBlog/main.htm
Linux Aggregators
http://packages.debian.org/unstable/mail/rss2email
Akregator - An RSS aggregator for the KDE desktop, and works with the
Konqueror web browser.
http://akregator.kde.org/
types of feeds.
http://www.gnome.org/projects/straw/
Sage - An extension for the Mozilla Firefox browser that allows for
customization of results through style sheets.
http://sage.mozdev.org/
Liferea - An online news feed aggregator for the GTK\Gnome Desktop.
http://
liferea.sourceforge.net/
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iTunes as an Alt Media Tool
Despite it's inherent accessibility issues for people with visual
disabilities, iTunes offers some interesting features as an Alt Media tool.
With the ability to organize and enhance a variety of digital formats in one
application, the ability to create customized organization schemes to better
organize your production
produce, and being a free download, iTunes is a tool worth having and
knowing how to use.
Overview of iTunes Application iTunes is a free application that can be
downloaded from the Apple website
(
www.apple.com/itunes
ways that make them easier to organize and manage, as well as making them
more accessible for people with certain disabilities. Unfortunately, iTunes
is not a very useful or accessible program for people who are blind or have
low vision.
While this inaccessibility for people who are blind or have low vision is a
major issue, iTunes remains a popular application with many people seeking a
tool for organizing and accessing digital media.
The iTunes interface is very graphically based, with redundant icon controls
for many of the menu options. There are some keyboard commands available,
but not for every function. It is possible to customize the iTunes interface
to display
information.
iTunes Main Interface
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Getting Files into iTunes
USB, network, or internet connection).
Organizing Files in iTunes
imported into iTunes, it will be displayed in the iTunes main windor. The
library media selector is located in the upper part of the left-side control
frame:
are displayed in the main content window. You can quickly switch the main
window view between a detailed list and combinations of a detailed list and
iTunes, information about the song is displayed in the center of the top
frame
(the iTunes Status Display), or alternately, you can display the audio
frequency
from the available options. This will bring up the "Get Info" dialogue for
iTunes iTunes Library Media Selector
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Options
The Options tab provides the tools for creating custom volume and equalizer
settings, as well as controls for different timing settings.
playback on iPods.
iTunes Information Dialogue
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Artwork
You can search all information displayed in the iTunes library, by using the
Search window in the upper right corner of the iTunes main interface.
Converting File Formats
specify the format you want to convert to by using the iTunes Preferences
dialogue. You can access the import settings by opening the iTunes
Preferences dialogue and selecting the "Advanced" tab, and then selecting
the "Importing"
tab.
Import Options in iTunes Preferences Dialogue
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One of the useful features of iTunes is the ability to create custom genres.
You can specify a custom genre through the "Info" tab of the iTunes "Info"
dialogue,
Enhancing Audio Files for Accessibility
viewed during playback, and they can be converted to an audiobook format.
through.
be viewed with the iTunes application as well as the newer iPods with
digital displays. There are two audio formats that do not support this
capability in iTunes: WAV and Quicktime Audio. Unfortunately, iTunes limits
the amount
accordingly.
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First copy the text transcript to your clipboard, using your word processor
of choice.
Open the Information dialogue, either through the File menu (File\Get Info),
available options.
Once the Information dialogue is open, select the "Lyrics" tab.
Click inside the text window and press CTRL+V to paste the text transcript
into the window.
Click "OK" at the bottom of the Information dialogue.
Creating Audiobooks in iTunes
The audiobook format is built on the ACC format, which means you must begin
use iTunes to convert them to AAC.
import format from your iTunes Preferences dialogue.
From the "Advanced" tab of your iTunes Preferences dialogue, select the sub-
tab labeled "Importing".
Select "AAC" from the "Import Using:" pull-down menu, and click "OK".
Setting the Import Options to AAC
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will begin the conversion process, and you can view the progress in the
iTunes status window.
will open, displaying the directory on your hard drive that contains the AAC
to process them all at once.
Using the Command Line
on the Windows START button and select "Run.". In the window that appears,
line window will open.
Navigate to the Folder
navigated to the correct directory.
Changing the Extension
following command: "ren *.m4a *.m4b" (There is a space after "ren" and after
and then type "exit" to close the command line window.
Cleaning Up
key.
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library through iTunes.
Go to the "File" menu of iTunes and select "Add Folder to Library.".
Library.
that they can be easily accessed. iPods don't offer the ability to manage
the
begin with the name of the book for more convenient use on the iPod devices.
properly organized.
Enhancing Video Files for Accessibilty iTunes will allow you to play
Quicktime MOV format videos as well as MPEG4
However, if you want to add synchronized captions, you're going to have to
do it outside of iTunes.
Quicktime Pro, though you can use a variety of other tools to perform
digital captioning. When using Quicktime Pro, choose to export as MPEG4 in
order to retain the captions, exporting as iPod movie strips out the
captions.
that some people may choose to watch the video on their iPod, so be sure to
use a font size that is easily readable. Size 18 to 20 font on a 48 pt
background generally works well.
Using Playlists
and on the iPod devices. There are two basic types of playlists, "Smart"
playlists and regular playlists. The primary difference between a Smart
Playlist and any other playlist is that Smart Playlists can be automated to
keep themselves up to date and otherwise properly managed whereas regular
playlists require manual intervention in order to be changed or updated.
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Playlist". A new playlist will appear at the bottom of the Library, with the
text
"untitled playlist" highlighted in blue. Type the name for the playlist and
press
Smart Playlists can be used to organize information by using Genres to
multiple selection criteria to create a variety of different playlists that
will keep themselves updated with any new media you add to the library
matching their
Burning Files to a CD
You can use iTunes to burn media to a CD if your computer has a recordable
Alternatively, you can click the "Burn to Disc" icon that appears in the
lower right corner of iTunes when you insert a blank disc into the
recordable CD
drive.
Creating a Smart Playlist in iTunes
Burn to Disc Icon
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DAISY to iPod
even make Audiobooks that allow you to adjust the playback rate in addition
to
browser such as Firefox or Internet Explorer, and iTunes. You will obtain
the
Extracting text and matching it to sound:
Details" from the "View" menu.
"content.html" and "ncc.html".
DAISY Files by Type
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The data in content.html is separated into sections that begin with text
formatted
DAISY book, named "pageXXXX.MP3", where "XXXX" represents a number.
MP3", and the second section corresponds to "page0002.MP3", and so on till
the end of the DAISY book.
Page Numbers
You will notice that occasionally a single number will appear with a blank
line above and below it. These numbers that are separated from the rest of
the text with blank lines are the page numbers, corresponding to the page
numbers of the original print book. There is no special marker to identify
them that you can see in your html browser, but the pattern of blank lines
is distinctive enough to
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allow for quick selection of data by page(s).
a blank line, and the number 1 followed by another blank line. The next line
of text begins page 2, which will end with a blank line and a number 2
followed by another blank line, and then page 3 begins and continue on to a
number 4
separated by blank lines, and it continues on in this fashion.
this indicates the beginning of a new section of the DAISY book, meaning
If you are comfortable examining the html code, there is a unique tag that
normal". This can be helpful in situations where there are several numbers
together and it is unclear which number is the actual page number of the
DAISY
book.
only the headings of each section, followed by a list of the page numbers
for
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each section, and verify the last page number of text content for that
section.
Using iTunes, select "File" and then "add folder to library.".
iTunes.
information about the DAISY book to allow you to differentiate and manage
the
the end.
Freshly Imported DAISY Files
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"Page0001", "Page0002", "Page0003", etc.
basic information of the DAISY book. You may be asked if you really want to
information you want to use to sort and search the information. When you are
page number before the next heading. Copy this text to the clipboard, and
switch back to iTunes.
Open the "Get Info" dialogue (CTRL+I)
Select the "Lyrics" tab
tab
Pasted Text in the Lyrics Field
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Check the last line of the text to verify all text was copied over.
"OK".
be accessed by a variety of portable MP3 players and software applications.
<span class="page-normal">
Converting to Audiobook Format
There are two distinct advantages to using the audiobook format over the
general audio format of iTunes, the ability to keep your place in a song, as
well as the ability to decrease or increase the playback rate.
as the import format from your iTunes Preferences dialogue.
From the "Advanced" tab of your iTunes Preferences dialogue, select the sub
tab labeled "Importing", and select "AAC" from the "Import Using:" pull-down
menu.
iTunes will begin the conversion process, and you can view the progress in
the iTunes status window.
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will open, displaying the directory on your hard drive that contains the AAC
to process them all in one batch.
Using the Command Line
on the Windows START button and select "Run.". In the window that appears,
line window will open.
Navigate to the Folder
navigated to the correct directory.
Changing the Extension
following command: "ren *.m4a *.m4b" (There is a space after "ren" and after
and then type "exit" to close the command line window.
Cleaning Up
key.
your library through iTunes. Go to the "File" menu of iTunes and select "Add
Audiobooks Library.
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that they can be easily accessed. iPods don't offer the ability to manage
the
You might want to make each chapter title begin with the name of the book
for more convenient use on the iPod devices. Entering the correct data in
the "Track
Using Notes
functionality of iTunes and iPods.
Explorer (Disk Use must be enabled). Select the name of the iPod that
appears
to 1000 notes on the iPod.
must be displayed on a compatible iPod model.
iPod mini
iPod with color display (iPod photo)
iPod (Click Wheel)
iPod (with Dock Connector)
iPod nano
iPod with video
Notes Tags
tags don't follow the strict rules of html, so beware! Some of the available
tags include:
<p>
- paragraph tags
<br>
- line break tags
<Title> </Title>
- title element tag
<A HREF="/main.linx" POPALL> Exit </A>
- the anchor tag.
attached to the end of this manual.
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Linking to a Song
the appropriate songname for the text:
<a href="song=Page0001">Cha pter 1</a>.
<a href="ipod:music?playlist=DAISY Chapters">Play All
DAISY Chapters</a>.
Linking to a Folder
Using Queries to Filter Notes
If you are listening to more than one audio book at a time on your iPod,
chances
from which Album Chapter 1 will be playing.
<a href="ipod:music
?album=Sociology108!!&song=Chapter 1">Chapter 1</a>
<a href="ipod:audiobooks?album= Sociology108!!&song=Chap ter 1">Chapter
1</a>
Using images in Notes
Special Notes
they are:
Preferences note: Holds global settings for your presentation.
.linx note: A note used to specify a menu.
ERRORS note: A note used for debugging purposes.
http://
End of Tutorial.
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