Internet Activity #3

When podcasts first came out I tried to download some just to see what everyone was talking about, but they didn't seem that amazing to me. That was over 5 years ago so evaluating them now was a different experience for me. I watched 2 podcasts, first one was called The Totally Rad Show by Alex Albrecht, Dan Tranchtenberg and Jeff Cannata. It was basically movie and game reviews by these three guys. This podcast was okay, a little boring at some points because it seemed like they were talking to each other the majority of the time, and not the people. The second one was Friday Night Comedy by BBC Radio 4. This I did not find very funny but the podcast itself was very good and some people would probably find it funny. The overall podcast experience was very easy in my eyes. It was easy to find ones I liked and listen to them. The whole idea of a podcast to me is a little silly because I believe thats what we have radio for, but I can see it being very entertaining to some people and its free so its not a bad thing in the long run. I myself probably won't do podcasting again just because I prefer old fashion radio or television but I like this form of sharing information and it is accessible to all which I also like a lot.

Audio books are basically just books that someone has read out loud and recored. Now, this coming from someone in university who HATES reading, I would like to say I love the idea of audio books. Even not just for me but for people who are illiterate or can't read as fast as some of the other kids. This invention is great for letting some kids experience the world of books, without feeling left out or incapable. Some bad things I would say about audio books is it doesn't challenge people as much as reading does. When you read you learn to spell new words and expand your vocabulary and when you just listen you don't get that bonus.

The video podcasts I choose to watch are Absolute Radio which was an interview with the man who made Avatar, all about what he thought of the movie and things by Christian O'Connell. The second one was Man and Wife TV by Fatman Scoop and Shandas which is a man and a wife talking about important "relationship" things or real life events and in this particular one they were talking about Tiger Woods. Both these video's were very informative and fun to watch, it just showed the different and fun ways technology made to get information out there. I don't think, however, I would do the video podcasts again just because I found it hard to find ones I would enjoy to watch and found Youtube and Google Video's easier to use. I believe this is a good way to provide information but I don't think its the best way. Magazines and news papers and other forms are more assessable and easier to navigate.

I have used Youtube a lot for different kinds of research and find it very helpful and easy to use. The reason I believe it is so popular is because basically anyone can use it or anyone can upload there video's for free and get the information out there as easy as possible. Also it is great publicity for some people because a lot of business use this site and "discover" people threw it. All these method's of providing information are good but it comes down to how the person wants to find the information and what they prefer to use.