Telling Stories
Early on in this class, we talked about how to make blogs more interesting, and one of the ways to do that was by using narrative. I used my podcast to tell a story...and I thought it was an interesting one at least! I was thinking that I could use podcasts to do a short series on some of the interesting things that we do have in our special collections, and get creative by maybe including some short interviews with the professors who have used the collections. I'm sort of just thinking through writing here... I would definintely want to keep these podcasts short.
I shy away from listening to audio because I am a very fast reader. I can get through a transcript in about half the time as I could listen to it. In fact, I'll often just read TV show recaps or transcripts because then I can find out what's going on without all the commercials and the dramatic pauses (and there are SO many of those). However, I do also realize that some people have difficulty reading on a computer screen, and that many people enjoy listening and learning through audio. It is very rare that a topic presented in audio captures my attention enough for me to want to listen. Most of the time, these podcasts contain interviews with interesting people.
I think podcasting can be used to share narratives, give the librarians a voice, provide another way for discourse to take place. I think podcasting could be used to market the library and its resources. I feel like that was maybe just a little bit of the focus of my podcast... come to the library and see this awesome painting that we have here! The patrons won't necessarily stay, but it will maybe get them in the door.
