Tag: trends

How can a company use podcasting?

Post ImageI came across this post from Karl Long today, titled “Uncommon Uses: Podcasting” in which he suggests some interesting ways that podcasting might be used. The basic idea is that we tend to use new technologies in similar ways as the old ones (using a podcast like a radio or TV show) because it seems natural, but that there are far more creative ways to take advantage of the new tech.

Karl focused mainly on individual scenarios, like learning a language or taking an audio tour, so I thought it would be interesting to come up with some company-focused ideas:

  • The most obvious use is public relations…audio-visual press releases!
  • Replacing a conference call with a podcast (IBM has already done this, for example)
  • And a related item…use a weekly podcast to cut down the number of emails that are sent, by summarizing the important things in audio form
  • Keeping your customers up-to-date on new product releases
  • Setup a podcast (or ability to track podcasts) so that potential job candidates could post audio-visual resumes
  • Keeping project members up-to-date on recent developments
  • Company training materials could be turned into podcasts, with the idea that all employees subscribe and information is added and updated over time
  • Certain meetings could be podcasted, like an AGM or shareholder’s meeting
  • In larger companies, new employees could be required to add an “introduction” to the internal “new hires” podcast – great way for people to find out about “the new guy/gal”
  • In a company like Google, employees could post a “pitch” for an idea they came up with or project they have in mind to an internal podcast

You’re limited only by your creativity! Any scenario in which information might be distributed over time is probably a good candidate for podcasting. Can you think of any other ways?

Podcasting more popular than beer?

Post ImageYou may have heard the recent story about iPods and how they are more popular than beer among US students according to a biannual study. It’s apparently the first time since 1997 than beer has been knocked from the top of the list. Naturally, one wonders why the iPod is so popular? Managing partner of Student Monitor Eric Weil thinks he knows why:

Part of the explosion in its popularity may be due to the iPod’s use as a learning tool in the form of “podcasting”, technology that allows students to download lectures directly into their handheld devices to be listened to and viewed at their convenience, suggested Weil.

“Professors are using whatever way they can to jam information into students’ brains,” said Weil.

Wishful thinking Eric! I don’t seem to recall any colleges or universities making a big deal out of podcasting just yet. Sure there’s a few professors who have started using the technology, but hardly enough to cause students to give up beer!

A more likely reason is that there are simply more students who like music than who like beer. I also wouldn’t be surprised if there are a bunch of students who call their MP3 players “iPods” even if they aren’t. I’m expecting beer to be back on top again next year.

Read: Yahoo News

The Digital Baby

Post ImageMere hours after I wrote about the digital family I came across an article at the New York Times talking about the “brave new electronic baby“, or the digital baby as I will call him/her. I thought my family was digital, but we’ve got nothing on young Carter Kohl and his family:

Dispatch from the future:

FROM: Carter Kohl, 34 inches, 30 pounds, 17 months.
TO: Friends and family.

MESSAGE: Feel free to contact me. Even though I cannot read just yet, you can still send me e-mail. My parents will read it to me and will help me respond to all your messages. In advance, thanks for getting in touch. I’ll be reading and replying back to you before you know it!

Apparently the latest technobaby craze is buying domains and email addresses for your newborn. Or in the case of Luke Seeley, before the baby is even born:

Luke Seeley, 22 months, has two Web sites of his own, including lukeseeley.com, a domain his father purchased soon after an ultrasound showed that his first child was a boy, four months before the baby was born. Given his more advanced age, Luke, who like Carter also has an e-mail address (luke@lukeseeley.com), possesses a slightly larger vocabulary, which includes computer, mouse and Google, said Gordon Seeley, his father. Luke “knows his animals,” Mr. Seeley added, and understands that mouse has two different meanings: something small that moves things on a bright computer screen and something small that devours cheese and lives in terror of cats.

That’s pretty amazing if you ask me! The article is very well written at least at the beginning, outlining why it’s the new craze, who’s involved, and even those who are annoyed:

“Why would anyone do that?” asked Donna M. Stewart, an aspiring artist who lives in Seattle and heard about the baby e-mail fad from a friend. “That’s like getting e-mail for your dog.”

(She confessed, though, that she sometimes sends e-mail messages to friends from the point of view of her dog, a mixed-breed shepherd, whom she declined to name.)

That one made me laugh! The article then wanders a bit, taking time to mention that people want a personalized e-mail address (instead of a generic Hotmail or AOL one) for credibility. The closing paragraph is perfect though:

So if a baby has an e-mail address, and people do write to him, he has a virtual time capsule waiting, messages from future friends and family, bulletins from the past written long before he even knew he was reachable online.

Pretty intriguing concept I’d say. I wonder what it would have been like to have such a time capsule when I was younger. Considering I’m so into technology now, I think I would probably have found it very cool. On the other hand, would I have felt obligated to reply to everyone? And if every child had a capsule, would I still have found it so neat? Maybe my kids will be able to answer such questions one day.

When I talk about a family embracing technology, this digital baby concept is spot on. Not only do the parents take pictures and video to share with friends and family, they’ve made the baby welcome in the digital world. I’d be willing to bet that a digital baby will better understand the dangers and benefits of the Internet than a non-digital baby (an analog baby?) and that they’ll become more digitally literate sooner.

Digital babies, who knew?!

(The baby pictured is Andy, my friend’s new baby boy, and yes, Andy has his own website.)

Read: NYTimes.com