Podcasting is really starting to become a phenom in the library world. If you’re not sure what a podcast is, you should really check out Pod101, or even this free online workshop on podcasting in libraries tomorrow, December 8, 2pm. If you’re not sure that such a technology can really apply to the library world, you’ll think twice when you listen to Greg Schwartz’s podcasts on Open Stacks.
It seems that there are a group of researchers looking to take casting to a new and exciting level. I was listening to NPR’s Morning Edition on the way to work, and heard a nifty story on roadcasting, a little peer-to-peer, a little social netowrking, a little relief from the idiotic drone that tends to be morning radio (outside of, say, NPR). I haven’t seen the link to the audio on the site quite yet, but I did find an excellent iChat interview transcript on Om Malik’s blog with the folks from the Roadcasting project at Carnegie Mellon.
Roadcasting is like podcasting in that one peer is sharing their preferred radio content (via MP3 player on a car radio hookup, satellite radio, or something like that) with another peer through a wireless connection between cars (or homes, or offices, according to the project site).
Granted, there are many issues and obstacles to successful implementation, seeing as wireless connectivity currently has range issues, and, like peer-to-peer networks, common hardware/software needs to be involved. And there’s always the music industry to contend with, as it continues to gnash and flail against the growing tide of consumers customizing and sharing their own environments via content, royalties be damned. However, it is a nifty concept, and it shows that people are really thinking outside of the (computer) box when it comes to technology advancement.
So, wait, why should librarians care, right? Well, think of the opportunities, and set aside the notion that the concept is far from mass market implementation (although if you want to give building it a shot, the source code is available for free from the project site). Librarians are certainly all over the podcasting thing, and even the screencasting thing. Can you imagine a roadcast from a library? Information on hours, the weekly newsletter, or highlights thereof, read out loud, recordings of visiting author talks, guests, book reviews, book excerpts to encourage folks to borrow the book. The list is endless.
People on the road (with the right hardware, of course, but we’re thinking more about concept here), either local residents or travelling passers through, can instantly have access to information about your library (while they are within range), which you will naturally portray as an endlessly interesting place, and suddenly there’s an influx of “I just heard it on the roadcast radio” visitors. It might even be a beginning of a solution to the “How do we recruit the non-patron?” question.
This totally fits in with the conversation started by K. Matt over at CopyCense about multimedia information centers (MICs), which you’ll *definitely* be hearing more from me about (since that’s a lot of what I talk about already), and a discussion I hope becomes ongoing in the library world, inside and outside of the library blog world.
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