Learning by doing – podcasting for dummies

31 October 2008 0 By Viv McWaters

It’s really the only way for me – I’m your classic concrete experimenter – just have to get in there and get my hands dirty. And I’ll do just about anything to avoid reading a manual! 

Geoff Brown and I started a dedicated podcast website called Winkipod a few months ago. The first thing I had to learn was how to record a podcast. I bought a little hand-held recorder that has a built-in USB port so I can transfer files directly to my computer. Problem is those files are .wav (whatever that means) and have to be converted to mp3. Even more software was required to convert the audio files. I learnt, from Geoff, how to transfer the mp3 files to Winkipod and then it was over to him to post the podcast. Not really fair, I thought. I should really learn how to do that. So after a couple of false starts, I’ve managed to record, edit, upload and publish a podcast. Yay! 

It’s also true of other web tools as well. If you haven’t used Twitter, it’s hard to understand what it offers. Same of social networking, blogging etc etc. Some of these adventures end in dead ends, others open up whole new worlds. It’s those new worlds and their possibilities that excite me.

If you haven’t yet visited Winkipod, cruise on over to hear some cool people speaking about all things facilitation related. From the latest to the earliest you can listen to:

15 participants reflect on this year’s Applied Improv Conference in Chicago

Simo Routarinne on Status

Podcast from the Asia Facilitation Conference in Taiwan

Patti Digh on 37 Days, verbs and The Circle Project

Johnnie Moore ‘Live at Winkipop’ World First!

Chris Corrigan, Larry Peterson and Viv on Open Space

‘Whatever happens…’ explained: Chris Corrigan @ WOsonOS

Harrison Owen’s Book Launch speech

Anne Pattillo and Facilitation

Podcasting the Unexpected – we chat with Matt Moore

And if you’re wondering what the heck a podcast is, you can’t go past this description from Commoncraft: Podcasts in Plain English

We describe why we started this venture in our first ever Winki-podcast!

And the podcast that inspired us: Johnnie, Rob and Chris talking about un-conferencing