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©2007, Community IT Innovators, Inc. White Paper: Audio Podcasting Community IT Innovators (CITI) Scott Williams, swilliams@citidc.com, 202-234-1600 ext. 386 March 2007 This white paper focuses on audio podcasts, and how organizations are using them to fulfill their missions. We also look at some inexpensive recording and editing options, with an overview of the technical production of podcasts. Syndication will be touched on only briefly (for more information on syndication, reference our RSS white paper). Basic definition “Podcasting,” in the strictest sense, describes audio or video content distributed using syndication, such as RSS or Atom feeds. The term is a blended word combining “broadcasting” and “pod” from the Apple iPod. The term “podcasting” is misleading, since an iPod or other mp3 player isn’t necessary to access the content, and some studies have shown that most podcasts are listened to via computers, rather than portable devices. Dave Van Dyke of Bridge Ratings, quoted at MarketWatch.com said that, in September 2006, less than 20% of podcast content was being listened to via iPods and other portable devices. (http://www.marketwatch.com/News/Story/Story.aspx?guid=2ac72a0b-8a77-4a48-b8fa-427cbc1ac51b) On the other hand, The Arbitron/Edison Internet and Multimedia Study 2007 has 54% of “podcast” audio content being listened to via portable devices. (http://www.edisonresearch.com/2007%20Podcast%20Presentation.pdf) The Arbitron/Edison Internet and Multimedia Study 2007 has broader numbers on podcasting use and awareness, finding that while awareness of podcasts had expanded from 22% to 37% from 2006 to 2007, the number of people who had actually listened to a podcast rose only from 11% to 13%. Recording and Production Most of the recording and production section is from my notes of John Wall’s session at the 2007 NTEN conference. John is from The M Show, and the slides are available at www.themshow.com/ntc. Steps in creating your podcast: • Create a website (if you don’t already have one), or you can use a service like Liberated Syndication, which does not charge based on bandwidth usage, and can help you accommodate spikes in listenership without facing a huge, surprising bill in the process. • Get the recording equipment: In general, one can spend any amount of money from nearly nothing to tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars on professional recording equipment. ©2007, Community IT Innovators, Inc. You can record with an inexpensive, low-end microphone plugged directly into a PC using Windows’ standard “sound recorder.” Handheld digital recorders with the capacity to dump to a computer start at about $45. John recommends the iRiver for low-end recording. Professional reporters often use the durable Marantz, which runs about $500 and will require more expensive microphones with balanced inputs. You may also want to invest in a pre-amp that can accept and balance multiple mics. • Software: o Recording: CastBlaster is available in a free beta version, or for $50 for a stable release. It allows you to cue music or other sound files during your recording. Handheld devices will often have their own software for transferring their recordings to your PC. o Editing: Audacity is a highly regarded editing program that you can download for free. Goldwave or Garage Band are some commercial options – GarageBand allows you to mix multiple tracks. SoundForge is Sony’s professional editing program. o Post-production: Gigavox’s The Levelator is a free, easy, drag and drop program that compresses your recording and does noise reduction. • Record your intro, outro, and other effects for a more consistent and professional sound • Conduct live or phone interviews, as appropriate • Edit: Editing time is likely to be about 3 times the length of the final product, once you are comfortable with the editing tools and process. • Post-production: Can be as easy as dragging and dropping in The Levelator. When saving, 96 kbps will give you AM-radio type quality; 128 kbps gives you a higher quality recording without sacrificing too much in terms of file size/download time. • Show notes: you can add description, keyword, and even artwork using the properties feature in iTunes. • Syndication o Syndication of audio or video content using RSS uses the element of RSS. An example can be found here: http://www.podcastingnews.com/articles/Understanding_RSS_Feeds.html o The specs for syndication to iTunes can be found here: http://www.apple.com/itunes/store/podcaststechspecs.html o For more general information on RSS feeds, see my CEWTR whitepaper from February 2007. Best Practices/Lessons Learned: • Record a few shows before releasing anything. Your style and comfort will evolve through your early efforts. • Normal conversation involves a good deal of non-verbal communication. In providing a stimulating audio-only experience, you need to exaggerate your intonation a bit. Not to the point of a total over-the-top radio voice, but what feels cheesy and over-the-top in making the recording will not sound as ridiculous in the final listen. Experiment a little. ©2007, Community IT Innovators, Inc. • Always record 5 seconds of ambient room noise at the beginning of your recording, so that noise reduction can key on this sample in pulling the noise out of your recording. • iTunes will pull the last entry in your XML file when users double-click to hear a sample of your podcast. Point this last entry to a 30-second “ad” describing your podcast. Podcasting in the nonprofit real world When I set out to research this paper, I was surprised at the difficulty I had in finding organizations who were actively involved in producing podcasts. There has been a lot of buzz around podcasting for several years, and given that nonprofit organizations often have a lot of young, and presumably technologically tuned-in staff, I expected to find more use of the medium. As it was, I had to ask in a lot of places before I found much original content. What you find more frequently than the production of podcast-specific content is the repurposing of other content. Some organizations, such as World Vision and the Sierra Club, have radio shows that they also make available online. Other organizations are making their lectures and other events available as online audio. Though this second case would bear at least some costing out and examination of return on investment, I was more interested in finding organizations that were doing web-specific recordings. One other repurposing is the Friends Committee on National Legislation podcast (FCNL), which is their weekly action message, which they have been recording and making available by answering machine and then voice mail for years (a proto-podcast?). When they switched to a digital phone system, they found that they could offer the same recording as web content. And, as FCNL Communications Director Alicia McBride said, the interns find making the recording to be much more exciting if you call it a podcast. In the end, I spoke to representatives of three organizations doing regular audio podcasting: Planned Parenthood of Western Washington, the Central North Carolina chapter of the Multiple Sclerosis Society, and First Book. The cases are quite disparate, with each having its own rationale, aesthetic and measures of success. They don’t offer an easy summary, or a recipe for who might succeed in with a podcast, but taken as a whole they serve as good examples of sustaining rationales for nonprofit audio podcasts. One common element is that none of these efforts is grant funded. I wonder if podcasts (and by extension, outreach via other new technologies) lack the concrete outcomes that would make them competitive at many foundations. Indeed, a little googling shows that there remains contention about the metrics of podcasting on the commercial side, and advertisers have not agreed on a formula for underwriting commercial podcasts. It is also interesting that in two of the cases, the podcasts were initiated by people with traditional media backgrounds, who see the podcast as a way to extend more traditional radio techniques, rather than the initiative coming from a more “new media” direction. Brian Cutler at Planned Parenthood of Western Washington has a background in radio, and the Central North Carolina chapter of the MS Society’s podcast is produced for them by an advertising agency. There is a feeling in some circles that audio content is already obsolete, given the ease of distributing video over the internet. Video certainly has some advantages over audio in certain settings and for certain types of storytelling. At the same time, podcasting seems to face hurdles in getting the content to the places where people are currently listening to talk radio. Some of the studies cited above indicate that people can find getting podcasts onto their portable mp3 players to be daunting. Getting podcasts into your car has similar challenges, and so podcasting may well be waiting for its breakout technological advances, despite the competition from online video. A large potential application for podcasting that is not profiled in my case studies is in providing training to a dispersed (and perhaps self-identifying) audience. ©2007, Community IT Innovators, Inc. PROFILES of podcasting in the nonprofit real world: Planned Parenthood of Western Washington, “Speaking of Sex” http://www.plannedparenthood.org/westernwashington/speaking-of-sex.htm I spoke with Brian Cutler, Development Officer--Community Relations for Planned Parenthood of Western Washington (PPWW), about their “Speaking of Sex” podcast. “Speaking of Sex” is a 20 or so minute podcast produced “about twice a month.” Nathan and Malaika are its male and female co-hosts. They bring a natural chemistry and comfort with the topic from having worked together as educators for PPWW. The podcast offers a variety of topics and types of content: “person on the street” interviews; on location recordings; phone interviews with celebrities or others; and music from both Creative Commons and local artists who have volunteered their music. “Speaking of Sex” does aim for a more produced, professional radio sort of sound, though not “too slick.” Each show starts with a 90 second newsbreak, to help get any current issues that might require action to all listeners when they are most attentive. It is spoken of as a 90 second news break so that listeners know how long they’ll have to wait for the promised thematic content. “Speaking of Sex” is intended to be an inexpensive way to get education and advocacy out to those who need it most, and so entertainment is also key. From the beginning, their sights were aimed beyond their region to a national audience. Their research suggested that the core podcast-listening age group was 18-30, and they have tried to tailor their content to that age group. The Edison/Arbitron study shows, on the other hand, a more even distribution across age groups, at least in terms of those who have ever listened to a podcast. In particular, PPWW has found the podcast medium to be particularly suited to their subject, since they can use frank, natural language about sex without the intervention of any media conglomerate that might want to alter the message. According to Cutler, this is what people want and need. They have seen their numbers of downloads growing considerably – from 44 in October 2006, to 500-some during each of November and December, to 1000 in January 2006 and 1500 in February. They have recently started getting links from the national Planned Parenthood federation, and are seeing even stronger numbers, though they lack sure metrics of how many people are actually listening. The ability to launch the PPWW podcast was supported by the national Planned Parenthood Federation’s strategic plan, Vision 2025, which set out a goal of having a media channel up and running. The PPWW vice president of education and training used this strategic goal to help leverage the podcast launch. A committee to study the possibility of podcasting was set up in July 2005, and the first podcast went up in August, 2006. “Speaking of Sex” is a high input podcast. PPWW invested about $2500 to buy software, microphones, a mixer, a flash recorder, and so forth (they already had the computers they are using for editing the show.) Cutler estimates that each show takes 25 hours, on average, to produce. This includes having an approval panel with representatives from their medical, public affairs, and marketing departments look at an outline and listen to the final show. So far, this has been primarily funded by one major donor who has given about $80,000 in support of the podcast, and she is recognized by name at the end of each show. The national federation is now also providing some financial support and promoting the show. They are looking for more individual donors to help fund the show. PPWW is going to receive an “affiliate excellence” award in media affairs from the national federation for “Speaking of Sex.” Best Practices/Lessons Learned: • Cutler says that nonprofits are too print-centric (or text-centric in their web efforts), and fail to understand podcasting as a “serious media channel.” ©2007, Community IT Innovators, Inc. • “In any media effort you will find that there are style and taste issues to be addressed. . . there will be disagreements.” Expect these conflicts and be ready to work through them. • They are considering video, though it would not replace “Speaking of Sex” as an audio program. It would be shorter, probably 5 minutes. Central North Carolina Chapter, Multiple Sclerosis Society http://www.cncmschapternews.com/wordpress/I spoke to John Mims, vice president of communications for Altyris Advertising. Altyris provides Public Relation/outreach services for the Central North Carolina Chapter, Multiple Sclerosis Society (CNCMSS), and the podcast is part of those services. These services were initially pro bono, and remain essentially pro bono, though the chapter has begun paying a small fee voluntarily from a grant they received. CNCMSS covers a pretty large geographic area in central North Carolina, and their constituency is generally those affected by MS, which can cause problems with vision and/or mobility. They saw podcasting as a way to make their work accessible to more of their core constituency. At the same time, they felt that they were doing a good job of reaching older audiences with their events, but wanted a way to appeal to more people under the age of 40, and saw podcasting as a tool for that outreach. In accordance with their goals, CNCMSS is happy with their current metrics: with each podcast, they see 50-100 downloads almost immediately, with an eventual total of downloads/listens of 150-200. Their live programs usually draw 25-50 people, and the podcast numbers represent a considerable broadening of their reach with a low investment. The CNCMSS podcast is usually 10-12 minutes long, and offers a variety of content, from newsletter items to interviews with researchers to a “Voices of MS” series of casual interviews with people living with MS. The advertising agency has a studio in-house where most of the podcasts are recorded, though Mims says that they make a conscious effort to try to keep the podcasts sounding informal and not overly produced. He feels that too slick a sound would repel listeners. Mims said that his agency’s work on the podcast would cost the chapter about $300 per if they were paying the full cost of production. The chapter does do some of the work – scheduling the interviews, for instance. CNCMSS was the first MS Society chapter to offer a podcast. Best Practices/Lessons Learned: • Mims suggests that other organizations look for ad agencies that may be willing to donate some or all of the recording and production time, for practice and portfolio building • Mims feels that in pitching the idea to the chapter, the term “podcast” was a barrier, because of the association with iPods. Once he explained that the content was available to anyone with a computer, the chapter was more receptive. • The CNCMSS podcast is 10-12 minutes because that’s the length of time between commercials on television, and Mims felt like that was a span of attention that the audience was accustomed to. ©2007, Community IT Innovators, Inc. First Book, Author Interviews http://blog.firstbook.org/category/podcast/I spoke with Clarissa Peterson, web manager for First Book. First Book has a blog where they offer where they offer updates about First Book activities, thoughts, synopses of children’s books, and sometimes guest posts from published authors. First Book’s podcasting takes the form of occasional audio content offered through the blog. Peterson says they see an uptick in the blog traffic for podcasts. According to Peterson, podcasting allows First Book to make use of content which would be difficult to use in any other fashion. Their podcasts are always telephone interviews with authors. They post these interviews essentially as they are recorded, with only the informal beginning and end edited out, along with any technical glitches that might occur during the call. They do spend some time prior to the calls making arrangements with the authors and/or their publishers, and preparing questions, but the time is not accounted for separately, and the podcast time is part of general time put towards the website. Best Practices/Lessons Learned: • First Book uses the recording feature of conference calling services as an inexpensive way to create their digital recordings for the podcast. • By making the podcast part of their blog, First Book has avoided committing to a regular schedule, and can take advantage of good opportunities for recording with being tied to a set schedule for producing interviews or other content. • First Book tried a call-in format, scheduling bloggers to call in and ask the questions in the interview, but found this not worth the trouble • First Book promotes their podcast in part by emailing bloggers about new podcasts. They built a list of interested bloggers by doing research and inviting relevant bloggers to receive information about First Book’s blog and podcasts. • They have found affordable, accurate transcription to be an ongoing challenge. They have not offered transcripts for all of their interviews, though they would like to have the content available for those who cannot listen to the recordings. Scott Williams, Consultant and Senior Developer, swilliams@citidc.com, 202-234-1600 ext. 386, www.citidc.com Community IT Innovators (CITI) is an employee-owned company committed to helping socially responsible organizations. We provide objective consulting for software selection, end-to-end implementation services, online engagement strategies, relationship-driven technology support, website and database development and a complete range of network support solutions. Community IT Innovators ~ 1330 U Street, NW Suite 200 ~ Washington, DC 20009 ~ www.citidc.com

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