podCALGARY

That’s simple, when it is Streaming Audio. Well, it’s simple for those of us swimming in the web 2.0 soup, but not for everyone. To put it simply, a podcast is a media file with a RSS feed (or is it an RSS feed, grammar isn’t my strong suit) pointing to it. The RSS feed is what tells the podcatcher or aggregator where the … Blah Blah Blah Blah ipod Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah CBC Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah

That’s how many people here the explanation. Okay enough with linking, what’s my point.
A couple of times this week while I was engaged in my real life, and while I working on some stuff for amuk.ca I encounter two listings for podcasts that interested me. Actually, they really excited me because they were both tied to my other passions. After searching for quite awhile for a feed link I contacted the groups producing these podcasts and one got back to me. After a very pleasant conversation (yes I used a phone) I realized that the RSS feed may not be as understood as I had assumed. In both of these cases I volunteered to help get the feed set up. (This was self serving because I really want to listen to this content on my mp3 player, not my computer but it also fits the mission of podCALGARY)
You can find examples throughout the tubes where people use the term “Podcast” when what they have is Streaming Audio. This can be a problem not just because we can’t subscribe like we like to, but also because it confuses people about what a podcast really is.

My question to you is, is this a real problem? Do we need to guard the term “Podcast” and work (gently) towards its correct use?

Daryl Cognito

A little while back I took a run through the directory and cleaned it up a bit. I notice the listing for a fun little music podcast hosted by DJ Jeff, it was called Confessions of a DJ. Reluctantly I deleted the listing because the DJ had hung up his microphone.  But, wait just a minute, do I her the siren call of of a Gibson Flying V, or the soul shaking sound of a stack of Marshalls? Why, I think I do. In fact my head is being filled with ROCK! That can only me one thing, yep, Mr. Rock and Roll himself DJ Jeff is back with a new Podcast. High Voltage Rock has just dropped it first show. Welcome back Jeff we’ve missed you.
I am starting to think Calgary might be leading the way in Music podcast.

Regards

 Daryl Cognito

The Calgary Social and New Media Meet Up group held its second official meet up on Saturday. I have to say it was a huge success, with three new people attending. Sadly, Ajay and Jeff could not make but we got by. I am hoping that the March meet up will include a few more new people. To entice you to attend we are hoping that Ajay will give us an update on his trip to PodCamp Toronto.

The whole point of these meet ups it to give people an outlet to talk about podcasting and new media and hopefully encourage people not yet podcasting to get started. So if you are in or near Calgary and have an interest in the web 2.0 soup feel free to drop by Chilies on March 12 at 2:30

Daryl Cognito 

I finally got around to adding the one click links for the Zune Marketplace and Google Reader. I realize that the Zune ain’t available in Canada (poor, poor us, guess were stuck with the ipod) but I added the links to make it easier for people outside of Canada to subscribe to the shows listed in the directory. When I added the Zune one click to the Atomic Suburbia site I saw a 50% increase in subscribers. So it can’t hurt.

I’ve go through and checked everything and I believe the all work. (let me know if you find one that doesn’t) Feel free to add the code to your own site, but please link to your own image.

Daryl Cognito