Casting a Wide Net: Technical Challenges of Podcasting Within a "Standard Operating Environment"

The attractiveness of podcasting as an alternative form of lecture delivery is immediately apparent to any end user of the technology. The students using client-based software to access the information face the “simple‿ part of RSS (Really Simple Syndication), whereas the lecturer/producer often faces the more complex issues involved in making the material available in the first place. This paper will describe the experience of providing a podcast version of a lecture series under the restrictions of a University “Standard Operating Environment‿, which imposes structures, methods and tools, which may not be designed for the purpose in which they are now being used. An argument will be made for a more flexible structure to allow podcasting to become available to lecturing staff who possess fewer technical skills