Podcasting and Youtube

Angelina Jolie by Gage Skidmore

An even easier task this time, requiring only that you sit at your desk, plug headphones into the computer (we should set a silent example to the students - even when they're not here to see it) and watch/listen. This was easier said than done as I had a picture but no sound. I was given a new computer recently and am still trying to find my way around it. After consulting our computer personnel I was given a cable to plug in which gave me sound at last.

The Plain English video about podcasting was easy to understand and informative. I clicked on the link to British Library podcasts but it came up with University of Aberdeen, the next one on the list, instead. I viewed a vodcast about searching the Library catalogues. It was a step-by-step guide to finding a book and it showed all of the clicks and searches used as the narrative progressed. There were also vodcasts on finding books and journals and using electronic databases. I thought these were a really good idea for students who are away from the Library, rather like having a member of library staff available whenever and wherever. The Goldsmith library tour was also interesting and I have been to tourist attractions that use the same principle of an audio tour with numbered points to match the commentary. These work well in larger libraries like the University Library but we are fairly small and besides, I would miss doing my air hostess impression every year when giving our library tours (the computers are located here, here and here).

Youtube is an amateur actor's/director's paradise. You can upload a video which will potentially be seen by millions of people. Susan Boyle found national fame on Britain's Got Talent but when the video of her audition was uploaded to Youtube and mentioned on Twitter by Demi Moore that fame became global and the video has now had over 95,000,000 views. My favourites among the library videos were The romance of the living book because it was a fun demonstration of classification, Librarians do Gaga as it tries to dispel the image of stuffy librarians and Ninja Librarian because it should be shown to all students at the beginning of term as a deterrent to noisy mobile phone users. I would be nervous about appearing in a video myself but I could be portrayed by an actress resembling me. Only someone less like Angelina Jolie and more like Olive from On the Buses should apply.