Edupodder Weblog

Virginia on my mind

2007-04-16T22:15:00.001-07:00

My Opinion: We need to do what we can to reduce stress and tension
I don't think we do enough to reduce stress at SJSU and tension is often unnecessarily high on our campus. A campus does not have to be as tense as ours is. With a little effort we could make it much more pleasant and less stressful for students to get an education at SJSU. It seems to me that reducing student frustration, stress and anxiety is not a high enough priority on our campus.

For example:

I believe the hassles students have to go through to get enrolled at SJSU are incredible and inexcusable.
When students at SJSU have problems it is not clear to students where to go to get their problems resolved. Getting solutions at our campus can be like navigating a maze of disconnected groups that do not talk to each other. For example, today students at SJSU had to pay fees. Many of them created tickets in our "Help Desk" ticketing system asking to get their fee paying issues resolved. Since the university does not have one ticketing system for the entire campus the only resolution we could give our students was to point them in the direction of another help desk who we thought could help them.
In our computer lab in Clark Hall there is a print station. You have to pay for prints when you use the computers with a card that you have to add value to. But, there is no place in the lab to add money to the card. Try telling that to a student who is in a rush to print a paper before a class.

At the time I am writing this I do not know what set this guy off in Virginia
But, in my heart, I think there is a lot we could be doing to reduce stress at SJSU. It may cost a little bit to fix these stress points. But, it is worth the cost. Life is so short, and so precious.

Podcast: Uhrmacher, Kemp, Text 100, Second Life

2006-10-25T20:07:00.000-07:00

Podcast: 48:05 duration, 44 MB MP3 - Posted October 25, 2006
Audio, recorded October 24, 2006.
To listen to audio, click here –> MP3 File Here

Kemp-Uhrmacher Skype conversation in and about Second Life
This is the presentation SJSU Educator Jeremy Kemp did last night with Aaron Uhrmacher, Senior Account Executive at Text 100. Kemp was in the class, Uhrmacher was in another part of the country. Despite being thousands of miles apart, they both presented to the class in real time side by side on the screen from within the virtual world called Second Life. The tool Uhrmacher used to talk to the class was Skype. It was a wonderful immersive experience.

Listening Notes
I will be the first to admit, the audio here is lacking in parts. It is much better than the first podcast I did of a Skype conversation. Sometimes I learn as much by what goes wrong as by what goes right. Next time I will have a wireless mic on the speaker. Please, the audio is worth the fuss I think! The presentation was great. Kemp and Uhrmacher were superb. I used Ecamm's Skype Call Recorder to capture the conversation, Quicktime Pro to convert it to WAV, Levelator to bring up the low points and to moderate the peaks and Audacity to do final prep and, with the LAME encoder, to convert it to MP3.

Next Podcast: Student Reaction
In the next podcast we will listen to a conversation by the students about the Second Life Presentation.

Podcast: Students talk about their podcasts

2006-10-20T20:52:00.000-07:00

Podcast: 24:32 duration, 22.47 MB MP3 - Posted October 20, 2006
Audio, recorded October 17, 2006.
To listen to high quality audio, click here –> MP3 File Here

Great Ideas for Podcasts!
Journalism 163 Mid-term discussion
Students in Journalism 163 discuss the mid-term assignment, which is to do a podcast. In this in-class conversation they are talking about the ideas they have for their podcasts. The students discuss the format of their podcasts, the subjects of their podcasts and who their audiences are.

Podcast: My JACC sesssion on podcasting

2006-10-16T22:54:00.000-07:00

Podcast: 42.54 duration, 39.2 MB MP3 - Posted October 16, 2006
Audio, recorded October 14, 2006.
To listen to high quality audio, click here –> MP3 File Here

My Podcast Session at JACC
This is the session I did at the Journalism Association of Community Colleges Northern California Conference at SJSU on October 14. The topic is Journalism is a Conversation, Podcasting and Journalism. In the audience are students from junior colleges and from SJSU.

Update: Tue Oct 17 06:53:53 PDT 2006

Here is the PowerPoint that was shown along with the presentation. Note: the videos included in the original version have been removed from this PowerPoint download to simplify download.
Correction (1) - In the audio you will hear me use the term "horse and buggy" what I meant to say and what was displayed in the PowerPoint was "horseless carriage."
Correction (2) The person's named in the credits were individuals whose input to me through conversations helped me put together this presentation. They were not involved directly with production of this podcast or the associated PowerPoint.

Podcast: Conversation with Steve Greene

2006-10-09T22:08:00.000-07:00

Podcast 31: 27:04 duration, 24.7 MB MP3 - Posted October 09, 2006
Raw audio, recorded October 06, 2006.
To listen to high quality audio, click here –> MP3 File Here

After a casual lunch Steve Sloan and Professor Steve Greene discuss "new journalism"
Included in this discussion is the ethics of anonymous blogging as it relates to journalism, objectivity verses transparency and how new journalism may in fact be very much like very old journalism from 100 years ago.

Edupodder Podcast: Phil Wolff speaks to Journalism 163

2006-10-01T12:28:00.000-07:00

Podcast 30: 01:21:46 duration, 74.9 MB MP3 - First Posted Sep. 27, 2006 Raw audio, recorded September 26, 2006.
To listen to high quality audio, click here –> MP3 File Here
Here you can hear the unedited presentation to our Journalism 163 class at San Jose State University by Phil Wolff, the Managing Editor for the online magazine Skype Journal. Wolff speaks here about Skype, the recent events surrounding the proposed ban of Skype at SJSU and the world of Web 2.0 technologies. Here is his post in Skype Journal about the talk. As always, all opinions given are those of the speakers.

Scoble speaks to our class

2006-09-19T06:29:00.000-07:00

Podcast 29, 1:35:57 duration, 87.85 MB MP3 - Posted Sep. 18, 2006
Scoble's Class Presentation, recorded September 12, 2006.
To listen to high quality audio, click here --> MP3 File Here
This presentation by Robert Scoble was recorded during the third meeting of our class, Journalism 163. This unedited presentation is targeted toward journalism and mass communications students. It is presented here just as it happened. Scoble talks about his days at SJSU, how he got into blogging, the impact of blogging and how the worlds of journalism, business and advertising have been changed by blogs. He gives a lot of advice to the students in the class and answers their questions. For an excellent analysis of this presentation please see this post by SJSU Professor Cynthia McCune.

Podcast Note: All opinions given, as always in our podcasts, are those of the speakers, not of SJSU or The School of Journalism and Mass Communications.

Burgers and Beer with Scoble

2006-09-13T16:50:00.000-07:00

Edupodder Podcast 28: 42:51 duration, 39.22 MB MP3 - Posted Sep. 13, 2006
Candid conversation, recorded September 12, 2006.
To listen to high quality audio, click here --> MP3 File Here
This conversation with Robert Scoble was recorded before the third meeting of our class, Journalism 163. This unedited conversation happened before our class. Present in this podcast is Professor Lilly Buchwitz, Journalism Student Mark Powell, Professor Cynthia McCune and myself.

Remembering

2006-09-11T20:50:00.000-07:00

JMC163 Podcast: Class August 29, 2006

2006-09-04T17:03:00.000-07:00

JMC 163 Fall 2006 Podcast 02, 01:07:31 duration, 61.82 MB MP3 - Posted Sep. 04, 2006
Session of Journalism 163 class, recorded August 29, 2006.
To listen to high quality audio, click here --> MP3 File Here
This is the first meeting of our class, Journalism 163. This recording is pretty much raw audio of most of the class and is posted here to enhance student's learning experiences. Special in this podcast, guest speaker Stephanie Quilao, who blogs at Back in Skinny Jeans, tells J163 students that the growth of blogs and other new media technologies makes this a good time to start a media career.

Edupodder Podcast: Introduction to Journalism 163

2006-08-26T13:43:00.000-07:00

Edupodder Podcast 27, 07:11 duration, 6.6 MB MP3 - Posted Aug. 21, 2006
Cynthia McCune and Steve Sloan discuss "JMC163".
To listen to high quality audio, click here --> MP3 File Here
An introduction to Journalism 163. This is a multi-media journalism course in The School of Journalism and Mass Communications at SJSU. We will be focusing on Web 2.0 technologies including blogging and podcasting. This podcast was recorded on Aug 21, 2006, at San Jose State. The first meeting of the class is 6pm on Tuesday, August 29, in Dwight Bentel Hall, room 224, at SJSU. If you are an SJSU student interested in taking the course, please show up!

Journalism 163 Syllabus Is Here

2006-08-26T13:42:00.000-07:00

Journalism 163 - New Media in Journalism
Fall 2006, Section 1, Tues. 6:00 - 8:45 p.m., DBH 226

Thanks principally to the work of Cynthia McCune, the course syllabus is here:

Computers make lousy recorders for podcasting

2006-08-14T18:53:00.000-07:00

A computer is a lousy camera and also a lousy tape recorder
If you are planning to do field recording you should have equipment designed for the job. No serious photographer would attach a webcam to a laptop computer and take it outside expecting to do serious photography with it. Will it work? yes. But, quality will suffer and so will usability and reliability. Serious photographers use serious digital cameras to take their pictures and then upload the pictures to do post production using programs like PhotoShop.

Yet folks all the time are doing audio recording right into their computers. Folks kludge mics onto their laptops and use Garageband to grab audio. Will it work? yes. But again I believe quality will suffer and so will usability and reliability. Where computers shine is not in capturing content in the field. By this I mean the recording of good pictures, or the recording of good audio. That type of recording is best left to dedicated devices like digital cameras and digital recording devices. If you do your audio recording direct into a computer and that computer crashes you have lost your whole show!

I have found using a serious recording device has caused the audio quality of my podcasts to take a huge jump forward. Would I take a step backwards? No way! I started off recording into a mic attached to my computer, I moved to a mic attached to an iPod and have graduated to a real quality field recorder. This has worked to me and I am no audiophile.

Here is my field kit list of equipment for doing good quality audio podcasting. Some of this I have, some I am saving up to buy:

Shure PG14/PG185 Wireless Lavalier System on instructor
Marantz PMD 660 Recorder, run automatic level control on the recorder
Floor Stand
Wired Floor Mike (optional wireless mike) like a Shure SM58 Dynamic Handheld Microphone
Both audio channels going into the two channels on the recorder or into a mixer
Mix both tracks to mono in post production on the computer using Audacity

Edupodder Podcast: BlogHer 2006

2006-08-06T20:38:00.000-07:00

Edublogging from BlogHer 2006
Edupodder Podcast 26, 37:19 duration, 34 MB MP3 - Posted Aug. 6, 2006
Educators from all levels discus edublogging and Web 2.0 at BlogHer 2006:
To listen to high quality audio, click here --> MP3 File Here
Recorded on July 29, 2006, day two of BlogHer, educators from all levels discus edublogging and Web 2.0 technologies. This podcast includes a break out session that occured that day during a room of your own session entitled EduBlogging. Barbara Ganley from Middlebury College, Laura Blankenship from Bryn Mawr and Barbara Sawhill from Oberlin led this session.

UCSC solution for web archiving rocks!

2006-07-31T17:06:00.000-07:00

Sheryl Martin-Schultz Demo of Web Archiving Tool
I just got back from UC Santa Cruz where I saw a great demo by Sheryl Martin-Schultz, Manager of Instructional Development at U. C. Santa Cruz. She showed about 15 of us a system they have created at UCSC for automating the creation of streaming media and podcast files for faculty members at that university. I think this solution has great potential for application at SJSU. The system makes extensive use of Applescripts and lower end hardware. It really is low on cost and high on elegance. It is totally automated and the professor just has to do what he or she would normally do to present to his or her class. Henry J. Burnett, the UCSC Director of Media Services, led a spirited conversation on how we can move forward with improving the adoption of streaming and podcasting technology in the classroom. Folks from other UC campuses, Stanford, several of the area community colleges and us were in attendance. Plans were put in place to continue the conversation. I was very impressed and hope that does happen.

Edupodder Podcast: Perspective of an Indian Student

2006-07-18T22:41:00.000-07:00

Perspective of a SJSU student from India

Edupodder Podcast 25
21:17 duration, 19.4 MB MP3
Posted July 18, 2006

Conversation with Kamlesh Kudchadkar:
To listen to high quality audio, click here --> MP3 File Here
Kamlesh and I had a conversation about what it is like to be an Indian student at San Jose State University. Kamlesh Kudchadkar is a Computer Engineering graduate student in the SJSU College of Engineering. He came to SJSU from Bombay. He shares his experiences, opinions and perspectives in this podcast recorded on June 6, 2006 in downtown San Jose.

Eric Rice and Robert Scoble on podcasting and iPods

2006-07-14T15:41:00.000-07:00

Eric Rice (of hipcast, aka audioblog) and Robert Scoble (of Podtec) on Podcasting and iPods
This is a short great podcast on the power of podcasting and how iPods can be used to extend the reach of the Internet and deliver targeted content for folks with one-time specific needs. I wish I heard this before last night's meetup. It would have been great to have been able to talk to them about this. This is great stuff and is well worth the time to hear!

Surprise meetup

2006-07-14T09:56:00.000-07:00

Unexpected meetup with Scoble
Yesterday evening I went to the Silicon Valley Podcasting Meetup group for the first time. Most of the meetups I have been to have been very casual events. I almost didn't go to this one. I had not been feeling well yesterday. I was still stunned and in a daze after learning of a friend's unexpected apparent suicide the night before. I went expecting the meetup to be what most of the former ones were, just a bunch of folks sitting around talking tech. I thought also it would be a way to get my mind off the terrible news of the day. I was wearing a t-shirt, shorts and sandals, the day being a hot day.

The event was very organized. The folks from Podtech were there in force. I felt under dressed. I met uber geek Eric Rice and heard him talk about podcasting, vblogging, Second Life and more. He seemed to have several threads of conversation going in parallel. The big treat was seeing Scoble. I heard somebody say he was coming. I said wow, it will be great seeing him again. The person who told me said, "do you know him?" I said yes, "he used to work for me and Bob is a friend." Then he said, "I am his new boss." Bob and Maryam had driven down from Seattle. It was good catching up.

Pizzacast 2.0: Geek Dinner Conversation on New Media Class

2006-06-04T23:09:00.000-07:00

Planning a new media journalism class at SJSU, Pizzacast 2.0
Edupodder Podcast twentyfour, 1:00:43 duration, 55.4 MB MP3 - Posted June 04, 2006
The second of two podcasts recorded May 23, 2006:
To listen to high quality audio, click here --> MP3 File Here
At a geek dinner in San Jose, students, faculty, staff and Gabe Rivera of memeorandum fame continue a conversation about a new media class, Journalism 163, planned at SJSU. Speaking, besides Gabe, are Keith Callenberg, Evan Luine, Andrew Venegas, Joshua Marx, Cynthia McCune, Ryan Sholin, Lambert Lum, and Steve Sloan.

Edupodder Podcast: Geek Dinner Conversation on New Media Class

2006-05-24T00:28:00.000-07:00

Planning a new media journalism class at SJSU, Pizzacast 1.0

Edupodder Podcast twentythree, 27:55 minutes, 26.5 MB MP3 - Posted May 23, 2006
First of two podcasts recorded May 23, 2006:
To listen to high quality audio, click here --> MP3 File Here

At a geek dinner in San Jose, students, faculty, staff and Gabe Rivera (of memeorandum/techmeme fame) have a conversation about a new media class, Journalism 163, planned at SJSU. Speaking are Keith Callenberg, Evan Luine, Andrew Venegas, Joshua Marx, Cynthia McCune, Ryan Sholin, Lambert Lum, Gabe Rivera and Steve Sloan. This is the first of two conversations recorded at a San Jose Pizzeria on May 23, 2006, 27:55 min, 26.5 MB.

Links: Keith Callenberg | Evan Luine | Andrew Venegas | Joshua Marx | Cynthia McCune | Ryan Sholin | Lambert Lum | Gabe Rivera | Steve Sloan

Geek dinner details

2006-05-23T08:02:00.000-07:00

Geek dinner today at 6pm is a mashup!
This evening Cynthia McCune, JMC webmaster and I are having a Geek Dinner at Tony Sopranos on San Fernando Street in San Jose. This dinner is a mashup with students, faculty and staff from the School of Journalism and Mass Communications at San Jose State University mixing with folks from other departments at SJSU and hopefully the area blogging community being invited. In other words, if you can read these words you are invited.

There is a topic for the event. We are planning to be teaching a new course, J132, in the Fall focusing on new media in journalism. By this we mean using new technologies like blogging, podcasting, videocasting to report the news. I don't want to say much more than that for fear that it will taint the conversation.

Following the meal there will be an extended conversation which we intend to record and release as a podcast. Professor McCune and I have drawn up some questions to get the conversation rolling. Here they are:

What is your vision of what a new media class is?
- What would you like it to be when it grows up?
- What are you looking and hoping for?
- What are you hoping will be the outcomes of the class?
- What are you hoping to get out of the class?
- What do you think the class should not cover?
What specific concepts and technologies do you think the course should cover or not cover?
- Print and/or traditional mass media
- HTML
- Web Design
- Web 2.0 and Ajax
- XML
- RSS
- Blogging
- Audio and/or video podcasting
- OPML
- Disruptive Technology
- Mobile devices, cell phone cameras and Moblogging
Who would you like to see as guest speakers in the course?

The items in the above are presented for the sake of getting the conversation started. While they certainly reflect some of the issues Professor McCune and I have been discussing, their inclusion in this list does not mean these will all be included in the curriculum. That is what this conversation is all about. Folks there will be invited to pose other questions and present ideas. This is intended to be an open conversation.

Revolution from the edge: students posting class recordings

2006-05-16T20:55:00.000-07:00

Classes put on the web by students
The power of Cluetrain [Link], as delivered via Web 2.0 technologies, is that the Internet empowers individuals to engage in a global conversation. Now normal citizens can be accessable as networks, media houses, corporations, governments and universities in delivering information about products, goods, services and ideas. On the Internet all URLs are equal.

In the past it was just well funded institutions that controlled the media and thus the conduits of information. In the past there was only direct dial up one-to-one phone communication between ordinary citizens. Ordinary citizens, as frustrated customers, could call their friends on the phone, or perhaps go to their window and yell out "I am mad as hell, and I am not going to take it anymore." But, their angry voices would only carry so far. The mass media was controlled by institutions who provided monologues of information and controlled and spun the message. A monologue is not a conversation.

Not any more! Here is an example as relates to education. Educational content is reaching the Internet not just by the institution and faculty putting it there. Students with small portable devices are now able to record and post lectures. They are doing it [Andrew Venegas recording Link.] Students are pushing the envelope. If we, as the institutions, strive to control content and the message, perhaps we are wasting our time fighting against the tide.

The nature of the Internet, and Internet enabled individuals, is that it (and they) route around obstacles. Maybe our time would be better spent learning how Cluetrain can be remixed to relate to education [Scott Adams, Cluetrain for Education Link.] Maybe working together with our customers, the students, we can help education content become more open. Perhaps we can spark a real open conversation, and not a series of monologues, by tearing down the walls to learning.

Recommended Listening: Craigslist Podcast(s)

2006-04-25T10:24:00.000-07:00

Jim Buckmaster and Craig Newmark of Craigslist Speak of Nerd Value's
You cannot talk about the dilemma of print newspapers and their profit model without talking about Craigslist [Link]. This Internet company of 20 employees has totally changed the profit/loss landscape for newspapers. According to Alan Rusbridger, editor of The Guardian, "Craigslist is almost single handedly destroying the American newspaper industry" [Link to "Great Room" lecture where statement was made.] What are the values of the folks who started and run this company? Follow this link [Link] to find out. This is from the Web 2.0 conference of October 2004 and is part of the ITConversations [Link] series. To find more podcasts on this resource about Craig's List, follow this Google Search String [Search Link].

Edupodder Podcast: Linux on Campus

2006-04-20T22:55:00.000-07:00

The SJSU Linux Users Group
Keith Callenberg, Evan Luine and Casey Miller; SJSU students and members of the SJSU Linux Users Group [Link] have a conversation with Steve Sloan about their user group, Linux and open source software. This users group is a recognized student group at SJSU. They discuss Linux, its use and its potential use on the campus. Recorded April 20, 2006, 25:50 min, 23.7 MB. To hear this podcast click on button below:

Other Options:

Technorati Tags: San Jose State University, SJSU, CSU, San Jose, California State University, Linux, Open Source, ssloansjca

Edupodder Podcast: Who needs ink?

2006-03-31T16:09:00.000-08:00

The Future of Newspapers
On March 30th 2006 the Commonwealth Club in San Jose put on a forum entitled Who Needs Ink? The Future of Newspapers. This was a timely forum given the recent sale of the Knight Ridder newspaper chain, which includes the Mercury News to McClatchy. Many employees of the Mercury News were in the audience. Students were admitted free.

Jim Bettinger, Director of the Knight Fellowships Program, was the moderator. Speakers at the forum were Peter P. Appert, Publishing/Information Services Analyst, Goldman, Sachs; Jerry Ceppos, Former Vice President, Knight Ridder; Dan Gillmor, Director, Center For Citizen Media; Joan Walsh, Editor-In-Chief of Salon, After the forum I asked them some questions directed at Journalism education. Finally Zach Davis, an eighteen year old high school journalism student, offered his perspective. Link to podcast on button below:

For great in-depth coverage
Ryan Sholin has a great post [Link] and several subsequent posts on his blog [Link]. Ryan did a fantastic job covering this event.

Technorati Tags: Peter Appert, Jerry Ceppos, Dan Gillmor, Joan Walsh, Ryan Sholin, Jim Bettinger