Vodcasting via iTunes 4.9

I discovered last night that the recently released version of iTunes (4.9) would download video automatically as an RSS enclosure and play it within the area that normally is used for the album cover image (or the image for a podcast) … so I suspect the next gen of iPods will deal with video/vodcasting.

In iTunes, just click on Advanced -> Podcasts in the menu and add in a feed that has video incorporated into it's RSS 2.0.

Gnomedex, Microsoft and RSS

I must admit to chuckling a little when I listened and read about MS's announcement at Gnomedex of RSS being built in to the upcoming IE7 (as part of MS's next OS). Why am I chuckling? Coz I have both Mac and Win machines. It's on the Mac already within Safari (the Mac browser) since OS X 10.4 but I've also had it in both IE6 and Firefox courtesy of YouSoftware - a great company with some great Mac and Win apps.

So if you have a Win XP box, go download and install the beta of YouSubscribe: RSS. I've had one-click subscription in Firefox and IE for a while (it integrates wth Outlook) and it deals with podcasts really neatly.

If you have a Mac, install their product You Control: Desktops. And no, I don't have any connection with the company except as a user of their software.

Worldbridges EdTech Talk Webcast - Interview via Skype

I was interviewed last Sun (26 Jun) by Jeff Lebow as part of the Worldbridges webcast. My thanks to Jeff for inviting me ... it was fun! I'd encourage others to attend these. You can download the mp3 here and there is also a feed you can subscribe to.

The interview covered Electronic Portfolios, Digital Storytellying, and other aspects of networked learning and new media. We also spoke about the New Media Consortium’s Summer Conference.

Digital Storytelling

After just listening to Julie Leung's "Blogging as a Social Tool" presentation from Gnomedex 2005, I've been debating with myself about linking this .... but here it is (in very reduced quality), the digital story I created during the 3-day workshop at the NMC conference.

NMC 2005 initial thoughts

The New Media Consortium's Summer Conference was great ... well organized, a range of conceptual to practial sessions, fantastic venue and most of all ... an enthusiastic, grounded and exceptional group of people!

The opening and closing keynotes, by Henry Jenkins and Stephanie Barish respectively, were both related to new media literacy and were an excellent frame for the conference; focusing us all on learning in the 21st Century. The presentations are now going online and most are being linked from within the conference website.

The highlight for me was attending the 3-day, pre-conference digital storytelling workshop run by Joe Lambert and Emily Paulos, the co-directors of the Center for Digital Storytelling at Berkeley. I cannot recommend this workshop strongly enough. If you'd like to sign up for one of these, see their 2005 schedule. And if you want to know more, download their free cookbook (pdf).

I'll post later about one or two of the sessions I attended.

Finally, thanks to Larry, Nancy, Rachel and Adam from the NMC, and also the hosts from the Digital Media Center at the University of Hawaii for a brill event!