Podcast : An Overview

About :

A podcast is a series of digital media files (either audio or video) that are released episodically and often downloaded through web syndication.

The mode of delivery differentiates podcasting from other means of accessing media files over the Internet, such as direct download, or streamed webcasting. A list of all the audio or video files currently associated with a given series is maintained centrally on the distributor's server as a web feed, and the listener or viewer employs special client application software known as a podcatcher that can access this web feed, check it for updates, and download any new files in the series. This process can be automated so that new files are downloaded automatically. Files are stored locally on the user's computer or other device ready for offline use, giving simple and convenient access to episodic content. Commonly used audio file formats are Ogg Vorbis and MP3.

Academics at the Community, Journalism & Communication Research group at the University of Texas at Austin in the USA are proposing a four-part definition of a podcast: A podcast is a digital audio or video file that is episodic; downloadable; programme-driven, mainly with a host and/or theme; and convenient, usually via an automated feed with computer software.

Examples of Podcast :


Podcast examples
List of websites with podcasts worth looking at.

Curtin university library: http://library.curtin.edu.au/podcast/index.html
Glasgow Met College: http://www.gcbp.ac.uk/library/libre.html
Talis are podcasting: http://talk.talis.com/ (these are long discussions)
Here's a podcast from higheredblogcon about podcasting in libraries: http://www.higheredblogcon.com/index.php/april-11-podcasting-in-libraries/ (this is a great website
Podcast creation outline: http://66.4.176.171/podcasts/project/Guidelines.html
BBC are getting into podcasting - worth a look and a listen http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/downloadtrial/
Ethical Corporation have a podcast, done as an interview (why didn't we think of this?) - look for the link under the magazine cover at http://www.ethicalcorp.com/content.asp?ContentID=3823
Did you know that we had our own?!? http://www.bath.ac.uk/podcast/

Relationship between various E-Learning tools and strategies in animation.

Below is a simple model to illustrate the relationships between the various e-Learning tools and strategies, both synchronous and asynchronous.

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Below is a simple model to illustrate the relationships between the various e-Learning tools and strategies, both synchronous and asynchronous.

LMS Overview : The Real Definition of LMS.

A learning management system (LMS) is a software application for the administration, documentation, tracking, and reporting of training programs, classroom and online events, e-learning programs, and training content.(Ellis 2009)

LMSs range from systems for managing training and educational records, to software for distributing courses over the Internet with features for online collaboration. Corporate training use LMSs to automate record-keeping and employee registration. Student self-service (e.g., self-registration on instructor-led training), training workflow (e.g., user notification, manager approval, wait-list management), the provision of on-line learning (e.g., Computer-Based Training, read & understand), on-line assessment, management of continuous professional education (CPE), collaborative learning (e.g., application sharing, discussion threads), and training resource management (e.g., instructors, facilities, equipment), are dimensions to Learning Management Systems.

Some LMSs are Web-based to facilitate access to learning content and administration. LMSs are used by regulated industries (e.g. financial services and biopharma) for compliance training. It is also used by educational institutions to enhance and support classroom teaching and offering courses to a larger population of learners across the globe.

Some LMS providers include "performance management systems", which encompass employee appraisals, competency management, skills-gap analysis, succession planning, and multi-rater assessments (i.e., 360 degree reviews).

For the commercial market, some Learning and Performance Management Systems include recruitment and reward functionality.

Netiquette - Right Way of Using Internet.

Netiquette


Netiquette (a portmanteau formed from "network etiquette") is a set of social conventions that facilitate interaction over networks, ranging from Usenet and mailing lists to blogs and forums. These rules were described in IETF RFC 1855. However, like many Internet phenomena, the concept and its application remain in a state of flux, and vary from community to community. The points most strongly emphasized about USENET netiquette often include using simple electronic signatures, and avoiding multiposting, cross-posting, off-topic posting, hijacking a discussion thread, and other techniques used to minimize the effort required to read a post or a thread. Netiquette guidelines posted by IBM for employees utilizing Second Life in an official capacity, however, focus on basic professionalism, maintaining a tenable work environment, and protecting IBM's intellectual property. Similarly, some Usenet guidelines call for use of unabbreviated English while users of online chat protocols like IRC and instant messaging protocols like SMS often encourage just the opposite, bolstering use of SMS language.


Common characteristics


Common rules for e-mail and USENET such as avoiding flamewars and spam are constant across most mediums and communities. Another rule is to avoid typing in all caps or grossly enlarging script for emphasis, which is considered to be the equivalent of shouting or yelling. Other commonly shared points, such as remembering that one's posts are (or can easily be made) public, are generally intuitively understood by publishers of Web pages and posters to USENET, although this rule is somewhat flexible depending on the environment. On more private protocols, however, such as e-mail and SMS, some users take the privacy of their posts for granted. One-on-one communications, such as private messages on chat forums and direct SMSs, may be considered more private than other such protocols, but infamous breaches surround even these relatively private media. For example, Paris Hilton's Sidekick PDA was cracked in 2005, resulting in the publication of her private photos, SMS history, address book, etc.

More substantially, a group email sent by Cerner CEO Neal Patterson to managers of a facility in Kansas City concerning "Cerner's declining work ethic" read, in part, "The parking lot is sparsely used at 8 A.M.; likewise at 5 P.M. As managers - you either do not know what your EMPLOYEES are doing; or YOU do not CARE ... In either case, you have a problem and you will fix it or I will replace you." After the email was forwarded to hundreds of other employees, it quickly leaked to the public. On the day that the email was posted to Yahoo!, Cerner's stock price fell by over 22%[10] from a high of $1.5 billion USD.


Beyond matters of basic courtesy and privacy, e-mail syntax (defined by RFC 2822) allows for different types of recipients. The primary recipient, defined by the To: line, can reasonably be expected to respond, but recipients of carbon copies cannot be, although they still might. Likewise, misuse of the CC: functions in lieu of traditional mailing lists can result in serious technical issues. In late 2007, employees of the United States Department of Homeland Security used large CC: lists in place of a mailing list to broadcast messages to several hundred users. Misuse of the "reply to all" caused the number of responses to that message to quickly expand to some two million messages, bringing down their mail server. In cases like this, rules of netiquette have to do with efficient sharing of resources and ensuring that the associated technology continues to function rather than more basic etiquette.
Variations in etiquette between communities using similar technologies can be seen when comparing standards governing wiki editors: IBM's Redwiki guidelines threaten the loss of editing privileges over factual mistakes, while Memory Alpha and other public wikis take the open-source-inspired line that "false or misleading
information" should simply be corrected, barring apparent malice. However, both projects urge editors not to permit themselves a sense of ownership over a given article, as does Wikipedia.Due to the large variation between acceptable behavior in various professional environments and between professional and social networks, codified internal manuals of style are key to enforcing acceptable limits to user behavior. For instance, failure to publish such a guide was cited among the reasons for a $17,000 NZD wrongful dismissal finding against a firm that fired a woman for misuse of all caps in company-wide email traffic.

Asynchronous & Synchronous Learning.

Asynchronous Learning.


Asynchronous learning is a student-centered teaching method that uses online learning resources to facilitate information sharing outside the constraints of time and place among a network of people[1]. Asynchronous learning is based on constructivist theory, a student-centered approach that emphasizes the importance of peer-to-peer interactions. This approach combines self-study with asynchronous interactions to promote learning, and it can be used to facilitate learning in traditional on-campus education, distance education, and continuing education. This combined network of learners and the electronic network in which they communicate are referred to as an asynchronous learning network


The online learning resources used to support asynchronous learning include email, electronic mailing lists, threaded conferencing systems, online discussion boards, wikis, and blogs. Course management systems such as Blackboard, WebCT, Moodle, and Sakai, have been developed to support online interaction, allowing users to organize discussions, post and reply to messages, and upload and access multimedia [3]. These asynchronous forms of communication are sometimes supplemented with synchronous components, including text and voice chat, telephone conversations, videoconferencing, and even meetings in virtual spaces such as Second Life, where discussions can be facilitated among groups of students.


Synchronous learning


Synchronous learning refers to a group of people learning the same things at the same time in the same place. This is the type of pedagogy practiced in most schools and undergraduate programs, but not in graduate programs. Lecture is an example of synchronous learning in a face-to-face environment and with the advent of web conferencing tools, people can learn at the same time in different places as well. For example, use of instant messaging or live chat, webinars and video conferencing allow for students and teachers to collaborate and learn in real time


Below are example video explaining asynchronous and synchronous learning:

Asynchronous Learning



Synchronous Learning

Internet Rules and Laws.

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Social Networking for Professional Purposes

I cant help to keep on noticing that the only matter that hold internet users; youngsters especially in facilitating internet nowadays are various types of social networking sites available in the cyber-realm. This issue were discussed through LMS not a long time ago, and Mdm Mon did arose the relativity within social networking and professionalism by exptessing her idea to imply the usage of Facebook in mentor mentee session.


Mentor-mentee session which in my point of view, considered as a professional meet up in keeping good relation between academic advisor and student, therefore it should be done professionally hence the objective of the session could be achieved without any problems.


After several researches done, i would like to share with the audience on how social networking can go professionals. With the rising numbers of professionals like Doctors, Salesmen, Executives Turn to New Sites to Consult, Commiserate With Peers,, hopefully we could understand more regarding the issue.

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Social Networking Goes Professional
Doctors, Salesmen, Executives Turn to New Sites to Consult, Commiserate With Peers; Weeding Out Impostors

By JESSICA E. VASCELLARO
When radiation oncologist Michael Tomblyn recently saw a 21-year-old patient whose eye was protruding from its socket, he turned to his fellow physicians for help. Dozens of doctors offered suggestions, including fungal infection, HIV-associated lymphoma or a cocaine-associated sinus problem, eventually steering him toward the correct answer: rhabdomyosarcoma, a fast-growing cancer most often observed in young children.

The diagnosis didn't take place in a doctor's lounge. It happened on Sermo.com, a social-networking site for licensed physicians, which Dr. Tomblyn and 25,000 doctors like him visit regularly to consult with colleagues specializing in areas from dermatology to psychiatry.

"It is a way for us to commiserate and know we are still talking to others like us," says 36-year-old Dr. Tomblyn, who works for the University of Minnesota Medical Center.


Online Schmoozing
Some DOs and DON'Ts for using professional social-networking sites:

DON'T:

Offer to do business with someone you meet immediately.Give away information specific to your company.DO:

Share your perspectives on news that's already public.Continue more intimate discussions over email and on the phone.Social networking, popularized by teens sharing information with their friends online on Web sites such as Facebook Inc., is now blooming in the business world, thanks to new social networks that enable professionals and executives in industries such as advertising and finance to rub virtual elbows with colleagues.

Millions of professionals already turn to broad-based networking sites like LinkedIn to swap job details and contact information, often for recruiting purposes. Business executives also have turned to online forums, email lists and message boards to sound off on information related to their industries.

Now, online services are trying to promote a more personal type of business networking. Unlike relatively simple message boards that are open to all, these new sites -- including Sermo.com for doctors and INmobile.org for the wireless industry -- have features such as profile pages showing professional credentials; personal blogs that function like a kind of online diary; links to "friends" online; electronic invitations to real or online events; and instant-messaging.

Social networking is just one of many consumer technologies, including blogs, wikis and virtual worlds, to cross over into the corporate world. It is happening as social networking is moving more into the mainstream. Leading consumer social-networking sites attracted more than 110 million unique monthly U.S. visitors in July, up more than 40% from the previous July, according to comScore Inc.

For a variety of reasons, social networking has been slower to take off in the business world. Employees are wary of disclosing too much to potential competitors, and loose-lipped executives can easily embarrass themselves and their companies online. Policing these services' memberships to weed out impostors can be difficult, and the sites are still in the early stages of turning their networks into sustainable businesses. Also, business users typically have less time to devote to socializing online and are willing to do so only if they believe they are getting a unique benefit from the site.

"Professionals are fairly protective about their social networks which they spend their whole lives to build," says Mikolaj Jan Piskorski, assistant professor of business administration at Harvard Business School. He adds that the appeal of social networking is limited largely to industries where workers are fairly isolated from their colleagues on a day-to-day basis, like medicine, construction and sales.

Many of the new services are free to members. Revenue comes from advertising or charging outside businesses access to data and member discussions. For example, Sermo Inc. of Cambridge, Mass., generally charges $100,000 to $150,000 a year to nonmedical businesses like hedge funds, which use it to research such things as how doctors feel about new drugs. They can monitor online discussions, with the doctors' names omitted, or see a tally of topics being discussed on the site -- like a new medical device or a controversial cancer treatment -- to determine what's rising or falling in popularity.

The site, founded by Daniel Palestrant while he was a surgical resident in Boston and launched last year, discloses its business model to users when they register. Members say they don't mind that their conversations are accessible to others, particularly since their identities are concealed. In this, Sermo is different from many other sites. Doctors are generally more interested in getting treatment advice and access to other doctors' experiences than in networking for new business partners. As a result, the site doesn't require users to use their real names, although Sermo itself verifies and holds the identities of everyone who registers.

INmobile.org -- a social network for the wireless industry launched last year by Adam Zawel, former director of the Yankee Group's Wireless US Research Program and the executive search firm IdealWave Solutions, based in Harvard, Mass. -- has a different business model. Its basic services are free to its members, about 730 high-level executives at cellphone makers, wireless operators and media companies. But members can choose to pay $2,000 a year to list promotions and ads in a special "marketplace" section.

Some of the new sites simply charge a membership fee. This fall, for example, Reuters Group PLC is planning to launch a new social-networking service, tentatively named "Reuters Space," for fund managers, traders and analysts. For a fee, which hasn't yet been set, they will be able to log on to create profiles with industry-relevant information like their "asset class" and "instruments," check financial news feeds and ruminate about the industry on personal blogs. However, the Reuters service will only allow employees to join if their companies are Reuters customers. It also plans to allow companies to block certain features like blogging and to archive employees' online activities for compliance purposes.

Online networking services are trying to broaden their appeal with new ways of making sure their members are who they say they are. For example, Sermo authenticates each of its members by checking their credentials against several of the 10,000 databases they have access to. The service also requires users to answer three verifiable personal questions, ranging from their phone number to where they got their medical degrees before they can sign up.

INmobile.org relies on member referrals and email confirmations, but says it is looking into stricter methods, like calling up the person or their colleagues, since emails can be easily faked. The service says it turns away more than half who apply, admitting only director-level employees and above from large companies, top-level executives from smaller companies and vice-president level and above from midsize businesses.

Even after these measures, it can be difficult getting business people to converse freely with each other online. Alexander Pigeon, vice president of international for MLB Advanced Media LP, the interactive media and Internet arm of Major League Baseball, is guarded about what he shares on INmobile.org, which he recently joined to stay on top of big trends in wireless. "I certainly wouldn't post something about my company that wasn't publicly released," says Mr. Pigeon, who instead sticks with "pontifications" on broad trends like the future of mobile music.

But taking a risk on an advertising social-network paid off for Angela Glenn of Long Beach, Calif. The 40-year-old graphic designer first joined a free social network created by the blog AdRants as a "lurker," reading but not contributing to the site. Before long, she gained the confidence to debate topics like Web-site design, and she and one sparring partner grew so fond of each other's styles that they eventually started an ad agency together, the GASP Company LLC. "You get to hear potential partners out and see how they think about things," she says. "It's the closest thing you get to a personal recommendation."

Write to Jessica E. Vascellaro at jessica.vascellaro@wsj.com

Chapter 2

Here we go again. So this week Mdm Monisa taught us about the second topic from the syllabus which is Virtual Vs Electronic.

First of all, she did a well done job in explaining about reinventing the universities, the factors that lead to the reinvention, factors which can be considered why some universities did not want to go virtual and coping strategies. She also made a brief explanation regarding virtual and electronic learning. Within these parameters of knowledge, we were given some examples of universities which deploy virtual learning as a method of educating.

There are also several factors which were briefly explained such as cost, lesson learned, impact etc. Then she asked our views on the implementation of e-learning in our college before she explained briefly about the definition, usage, pros and cons within the e learning process itself.

Frankly speaking, im a bit lost here and there however after went through the notes given im slowly getting the basic idea of behind electronic and virtual learning. During her lecture, she did propose a general idea on how to implement electronic campus here in Malaysia.