Podcasting as Disruptive Transmediation
eLearn 2005 World Conference on eLearning in Corporate, Government, Healthcare, & Higher Education
Wesley A. Fryer
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 License.
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Podcasting: A Hot Topic

Podcasting: Faculty Perceptions
Texas Tech Daily Toreador, 14 Oct 2005: TTU Classics professor Dr. David Larmour: "Attendance is not required in my class, but I can see more students staying home instead of coming to class if podcasting were available at Tech." - Larmour said his biggest concern is having his own material out there for everyone to get. "I would not want my own precious material out there for everybody," he said. "That is the main problem I have with the idea."
Podcasting: Parent Perceptions
Chicago Sun Times, 20 Oct 2005: "I would be rather upset with that," said Elizabeth Tenison, who said she is not worried about her daughter skipping class. "Part of going to a university is hearing alternate points of view... and that would be lost in large part if students did not attend. They would hear it, but they would not be participating."
Podcasting: Student Perceptions
The Stanford Daily, 25 Oct 2005: "I find podcasting most effective and intriguing when people sounded honest in front of the microphone," [Stanford senior Kevin] Systrom says. "Overly-produced and sound-rich podcasts are simply missing the point... Podcasting just happens to be a great medium for informal communication and ad-hoc content recording. Think of it as democratizing of the media."
My Contention
As a potentially disruptive technology capable of constructively promoting transmediation, educators have both an opportunity and responsibility to embrace podcasting. Under certain circumstances, podcasting can fundamentally transform the perceptions of students about school, their roles in the learning process, and the value of their daily activities shared via podcasts with a global as well as local audience.
Defining Terms / Exploring Impacts
- Podcasting and Podcatching
- Disruptive Technology
- Transmediation
Definition: Podcasting
The above definition of broadcasting is from Dr. Jonathan Sterne in his presentation, "From Broad to Pod?: Histories of Transmission for the Digital Age" at the Duke University Podcasting Symposium, September 27 - 28, 2005. This presentation is available as a 1 hour, 5 minute podcast.
Definition: Podcatching
- Subscribing: Saving the RSS feed address in podcatching software
- Downloading: Transferring enclosure files from an Internet server to a PC
- Transferring: Copying saved audio enclosure files to a portable digital music device
- Listening: Via headphones, or speakers (computer, car, classroom, office or home)
- iPodder and iTunes are 2 free, popular podcatchers
Definition: Disruptive Technology
- "A disruptive technology is a new technological innovation, product, or service that eventually overturns the existing dominant technology in the market" (Wikipedia)
- A "sustaining technology refers to the successive incremental improvements to performance that market incumbents incorporate into their existing product." (Wikipedia)
- In educational contexts: Disruptive technologies fundamentally alter the teaching and learning landscape
- "RSS: Disruptive Technology Hiding in Plain Sight" by F. Andy Seidl
Sustaining Technology: So What?!
- PowerPoint
- Keyboarding
- Basic Internet Research
- Linear content-centered CAI
- Electronic Grades
- Static webpage access
Creative Commons Attribution Only licensed image from http://flickr.com/photos/greggoconnell/36973681/
Definition: Transmediation
- "Transmediation refers to the process of "responding to cultural texts in a range of sign systems -- art, movement, sculpture, dance, music, and so on -- as well as in words." (Wikipedia)
- "Digital information comes in multiple forms, and students must learn to tell stories not just with words and numbers but also through images, graphics, color, sound, music, and dance. There is a grammar and literacy to each of these forms of communication. Bombarded with a wide variety of images regularly, students need sharp visual-interpretation skills to interact with the media analytically. Each form of communication has its own rules and grammar and should be taught in ways that lead students to be more specific and concise in communicating." ("Visually Speaking" by Leonard Shlain)
Consumers and Producers
- Transmediation: Engaging in multimedia consumption and production
- Vast majority of classrooms: CONSUMPTION oriented
- 21st Century Need: Digital literacy acquired through frequent and critical transmediation
Creative Commons Attribution Only licensed image from http://flickr.com/photos/partsnpieces/28555138/
Web 2.0 Characteristics
- Internet-based Tools
- Free - Open Source
- Empowers anyone to publish
- Distributed, Decentralized, Organic
- Interactive, not one way broadcast
- Inherently Disruptive
Web 2.0 Examples
Educational Uses of Podcasts
- Tool for the Teacher: 1 way broadcast
- Content Source: Whole class or individualized
- Classroom Publishing
- Student Projects
- Professional Development
- Platform for Digital Storytelling
What Makes Podcasting Powerful?
- Powerful: Combination of RSS and MP3 (12% of CD audio)
- Ability to TIME and PLACE shift
- Growing ubiquity of Internet access
- Availability of free Web 2.0 and open source tools
- Popularity of portable digital music devices (like iPods)
Creative Commons Attribution Only licensed image from http://flickr.com/photos/baston/51239337/
What Makes Podcasting Disruptive?
- Ability to publish audio at will
- Dramatic expansion of potential and authentic audience
- Disintermediation of the traditional "RCA-casting" means of production
- Authentic audience
- Potential for interactive communication
Implications of Podcasting
- Statists will oppose it
- Lecturers fear students will not attend class
- Old media lose marketshare and advertising revenue
- A multitude of diverse voices can broadcast and interact
- Incredible access to authentic content
- Increased student motivation to write and communicate
Can We Afford This?
Global Discourse
Preparation for the Future
"With the advent of democracy and modern industrial conditions, it is impossible to foretell definitely just what civilization will be twenty years from now. Hence it is impossible to prepare the child for any precise set of conditions. To prepare him for the future life means to give him command of himself; it means so to train him that he will have the full and ready use of all his capacities; that his eye and ear and hand may be tools ready to command, that his judgment may be capable of grasping the conditions under which it has to work, and the executive forces be trained to act economically and efficiently. It is impossible to reach this sort of adjustment save as constant regard is had to the individual's own powers, tastes, and interests-say, that is, as education is continually converted into psychological terms."
(John Dewey, 1897)