GOOD PODCASTS are like good blogs in that they have feedback loops. In Tipperary Institute, we use podcasts in several courses. Our PR course integrates podcasts directly into lecture materials, like today's on "embedding messages" in various media. While the process of embedding information (not to be confused with embedding journalists) is telling, some of the feedback from students is more striking. Here are some examples:
ROBERT SCOBLE was caught looking down on me during a lecture in Tipperary Institute. The PR class in which Scoble appeared as a ghost lecturer examined the growing impact of podcasts, hand-rolled videos and weblogs. In our classroom, students who listened to a rapid-fire delivery of Channel 9 Videos, Scobleizer musings and developer podcasts concluded that Scoble's technology evangelism leads the pack in connecting people to the human side of Microsoft corporation.
Image snapped by Sean Barry -- "Bernie checks out Scoble"
Bonus Image from Chris Pirillo of Maryam and Robert Scoble.
DUKE UNIVERSITY'S experiment with iPods now includes a deal with Public Radio International to provide digital audio files for classroom use. Duke professors will use portions of public radio shows "This American Life" and "Studio 360" for no charge. Students will be able to download the shows into their portable MP3 players--they won't need an iPod.
SPAM ASSASSIN has killed several press releases sent via email during the past month. Here are the reasons for the kills:
I avoid all these things in mailings that I generate.
TIPPINST -- Over the past three years, we have discovered that a vibrant e-learning environment nurtures the art of reading. Some of this occurs as a result of set pieces on the curriculum such as book reports, open mic sessions and classroom discussions. After all, a book offers one of the least expensive forms of content for students. Books have unlimited battery life with easy to read pages. That's not the case with expensive, power-limited e-book readers.
TRIBUNE -- The first column in the Sunday Tribune magazine opens with a salvo against PR professionals who are engaged by the health services sector in Ireland. "That our hospitals even see fit to employ public relations staff, from public money, is an absolute scandal."
OJR -- JD Lasica raises some interesting points about full disclosure in the context of blogging. If you are paid a company to write about a topic, should you disclose this fact to readers? What if you receive a product or a junket from the company--does that need to be disclosed to readers as well? Lasica explores these topics in a well-written essay for Online Journalism Review.
SMART MOBS -- We revisit Howard Rheingold's Smart Mobs [ISBN 0738208612] during our Public Relations seminar session today. This year, we will unpack the book through first sentences in each chapter.
INDEPENDENT -- One of the effects of a well-oiled spin campaign is the effect it has on the accuracy of the message. This is happening to the British government's chief scientific adviser who claims American lobbyists are trying to discredit his view that man-made pollution is being global warming.
NATTERJACKPR -- As Tom Murphy points out, the basics of PR are "concerned with the most effective means of reaching and communicating with relevant audiences. Along with traditional avenues from townhall meetings to flyers, press releases, editorial and analyst meetings, new outlets such as search engines and blogs are providing additional channels for a growing number of companies." But what if those new channels are noisy, prompting readers to filter them?
