some new Internet applications coming now to a computer near you.

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Author: Clyde, Laurel A.

Podcasting … webcasting … mobcasting … VoIP … IP telephony … skype … blogging … blogging … PodTV … screencasting. How many of these terms do you recognize? New Internet tools and applications are emerging all the time. Some are truly new; others are Internet versions of older technologies, or new versions of older Internet technologies. This article discusses some new Internet applications that appear to have implications for education and particularly for school libraries. The first is VoIP or Internet telephony, and the second is podcasting or webcasting.

This application is now seen in Internet cafes everywhere. Backpackers and other tourists are sitting and apparently talking at computers, but in reality they are conducting phone conversations with people all over the world. Internet telephony or IP (Internet protocol) telephony is also known as VoIP (Voice-over Internet Protocol). A number of companies are now offering VoIP services via the Internet. The user normally has to buy a handset for the computer (to record the user's voice and convert it to digital form) and install VoIP software provided by the company. A broadband Internet connection is essential. Generally speaking, calls to other VoIP users are free, but you pay for calls from your computer to people on mobile or fixed-phone services. VoIP can be used along with voice mail, call forwarding, and other services via a web page; in addition, voice mail messages can be received as e-mail attachments.

Probably the best-known service at present is Skype; like blogging, it has already become a verb (as in, "I skyped with Jane Klobas on Sunday"). Go to http://www.skype.com/ for more information or to sign up. On February 7, 2005, National Public Radio reported that "a growing number of people are making cheap long-distance calls using the Internet and special telephone adapters.… Skype has become hugely popular with college kids and their parents who like to stay in touch without running up a bill."

In 2004, eSchool News Online produced a report on voice and data integration for school networks--basically a discussion of the potential of VoIP for schools. It highlighted "a growing number of school systems" in the United States that were "tapping into voice-over-internet-protocol technology to reap what could add up to substantial long-term savings on their telecommunications systems." One thousand school districts were said to have registered for a free web-based VoIP service; in Ohio, the Shelby City Schools were reported to be enjoying considerable cost savings as a result of their use of VoIP. While "a switch to Internet telephony can require a significant investment up front, it has already led to hundreds of thousands of dollars in annual savings in places like Appleton, Wisconsin, where the local school district cut its phone network from 900 analogue phone lines to just 300 after taking the IP telephony plunge," says eSchool News. Suddenly it becomes possible to consider multiple telephone connections in a classroom or the school library--assuming that there are computers available with Internet access.

Of course, no new system is problem free, though the reports from early adopters of VoIP do seem to be mostly positive. However, the 2004 VoIP World Asia Pacific Conference flagged some emerging issues, including the need for a universal service, provision for emergency call services, and access for people with disabilities ("Now for a team effort," 2004), while the magazine ComputerWorld (2004) called for better security for VoIP. In its October-November 2004 issue, Information Age magazine carried an article about "the promise and the pain" of moving to VoIP but saw such a move as inevitable in the long term for most organizations (Erlanger, 2004).

The following resources will be useful for people who need more information about VoIP and related applications:

What is VoIP Telephony?
http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/1/
Internet_telephony.html

Federal Communications
Commission (FCC) Consumer and
Governmental Affairs Bureau, VoIP/
Internet Voice: FCC Consumer Facts
http://www.fcc.gov/voip/

Voice on the Net (VON) Coalition
http://www.von.org/

MIT Internet Telephony Consortium
http://itel.mit.edu/

More than 22 million American adults own an iPod or an MP3 player, and of those, more than six million have listened to podcasts or downloaded web broadcasts "to enjoy at their leisure," according to a Pew Internet report (2005,p. 1). Podcasting began as a way of "broadcasting" audiovisual programs to Apple's popular handheld iPod computers, hence the name. It is related to the MP3 technology that caused so much fuss in the music industry in 2002-2003--the kids in your school were probably using MP3 to share music files via the net. Now that the podcast broadcasts can also be received by desktop and laptop computers, the medium is becoming more commonly known as webcasting or screencasting. Adding to the number of new terms, we also have PodTV, audiocasting, and any number of other niche technologies. Just this year, we have seen the emergence of mobcasting, mobile audio podcasting using a mobile phone to receive the programming. Distance-learning materials for continuing professional development of teachers, nurses, and business people, based on mobcasting, are already in the production stages, while other potential uses of mobcasting are under consideration.

Not everyone is a believer. Earlier this year, one blog carried a much-quoted article titled "Why I'm Not Smoking the Podcasting Dope" (Barefoot, 2005). Podcasting and its relatives are certainly not suitable for all kinds of broadcasting, nor are they likely to usurp large portions of the audience of the main stream broadcast networks. However, they do allow people to select specific audio and video programming related to their needs and interests, independently of scheduled mainstream broadcast media, and so can be expected to attract the kind of Internet-savvy audience that responded to the development of blogging (see my "InfoTech" articles of September 2002, and January 2005, for information about blogging).

As was the case with VoIP, a broadband Internet connection really is necessary to handle applications like podcasting or webcasting. In addition, the computer will need a sound card, speakers or headphones, and software such as RealPlayer, iMovie, iPodder, or other audiovisual or "podding" software. Webcasts can be a one-way medium with the audience watching or listening to a presentation. Alternatively, some webcasts are interactive, allowing members of the audience to participate. In this case, all participants must be logged on at the same time.

Podcast directories have begun to emerge to help people find the programs they want, whether the program is "The Paris Hilton Podcast" or the "Language Learning Podcast" or the "Visions of the Future" podcast. One of the better-known directories is ipodder.org (http://www.ipodder.org/). Another isPodcastdirectory.com (http://www.podcastdirectory.com/). In April 2005, the company TVEyes announced a new search engine called Podscope that enables users to "keyword search every word spoken in a podcast" (Price, 2005, p. 1); it is likely that this search facility will be incorporated into the major Inter net search engines such as Yahoo! within the next year or so.

Meanwhile, examples of podcasting or webcasting sites themselves include the following:

Meet the Author http://www.meettheauthor.com/

This site has a collection of 548 (as of April 15, 2005) videos of authors talking about their works. Among the authors are some who write for young people and some authors of popular current fiction and nonfiction.

Earthcore, a podcast novel http://www.scottsigler.net/earthcore/

Written by Scott Sigler and subtitled "Fortune, Mayhem and Death Three Miles Below the Surface," this is a free, suspense-filled novel in audio form made available in weekly installments. Readers can either subscribe to a RSS (Real Simple Syndication) feed to get updates on their own computer desktop, or they can download the chapters by clicking on the links on a web page.

Content, Services, and the Yin-Yang of Intermediation http://weblog.infoworld.com/udell/ 2005/04/03.html#a1206

Jon Udell provides several "screencasts" about aspects of web site development, including this 4-minute program about developing content and services for web sites with information about some tools and services that will assist the library webmaster.

The following resources will be useful for people who need more information about podcasting and webcasting and their variants:

A Podcasting Primer http://handheldlib.blogspot.com/2005 _03_01_handheldlib_archive.html

Pew Internet and American Life Project: Podcasting http://www.pewinternet.org/PPF/p/ 1071/pipcomments.asp Public Radio Podcasts http://www.publicradiofan.com/ podcasts.html

How will school libraries deal with applications like VoIP, PodTV, webcasts, and other new Internet-based technologies? Already, these media are carrying content and services that are relevant to schools or providing competitive services from which schools might benefit. These developments are likely to continue. Since all are also linked in some way to blogging, they provide an argument for school library involvement in blogging, too.

??? Answering the call for secure VoIP. (2004, December 13). ComputerWorld, 27-28.

??? Now for a team effort. (2004, October 26). Australian, IP Telephony section, 1.

??? Barefoot, D. (2005). Why I'm not smoking the podcasting dope. Retrieved April 7, 2005, from www.darrenbarefoot.com/archives/ 002518.html

??? Erlanger, L. (2004, October-November). VoIP: The promise and the pain. Information Age, 37-42.

??? Voice and data integration for school networks. (2004). eSchool News. Retrieved May 11, 2004, from www.eschoolnews.com/ resources/reports/integration/index.cfm

??? National Public Radio. (2005). Can you hear me now-for free? Retrieved February 8, 2005, from www.npr.org/templates/story/ story.php?storyld=4488307

??? Pew Internet. (2005). Pew Internet and American life project: Podcasting. Retrieved April 8, 2005, from www.pewinternet.org/ PPF/p/1071/pipcomments.asp

??? Price, G. (2005). Podscope: New search engine will allow you to keyword search every word spoken in a podcast. Search Engine Watch. Retrieved April 11, 2005, from blog.searchenginewatch.com/blog/050411-104336

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By Laurel A. Clyde