Don't assume - it makes an ass.... or something...

I've recently been presenting and teaching the whole concepts of Web 2.0 and Social Media more and more, to wider and more varied audiences. On the one hand I'm always wary that many people now are on Facebook and Twitter constantly and I can teach them very little... but I am constantly surprised by the number of people who would, I would have thought, be obvious users of the technology and yet have still not even heard of it.

A case in point, Saturday night I was talking to a teacher. He teaches at a London secondary school which focuses heavily on performing arts.  Not quite 'Fame' but not hugely different apparently (they don't dance on tables every lunch time).

However, when I was talking to him about listening to podcasts in the car, he said "what's a podcast?"  This from somewhere that, I would have thought, would be creating Youtube videos of the pupils performing (whatever they perform) and at least through being around Generation Y people constantly, would have heard all the buzz words.

So, the moral?  Those of us that know, know. But those that don't, really have no idea at all! So let's not assume that everyone is on the same level.

And meanwhile, for those who are a bit unsure of what a podcast is, you have two options:

a. see the Wikipedia entry here

b. read my brief explanation: Podcasts are audio or video files that can be downloaded to the user's computer and transferred to an iPod or mp3 player for listening to at any time, as often as required.  Podcasts should be and usually are free.  They can be created by anyone with a computer ... and in effect are radio broadcasts by the public.  You can listen to audio or watch  video online (through 'streaming') which can be exactly the same content as a podcast, but isn't strictly a podcast in that you cannot download the file to enjoy later.  Some people call video podcasts 'vodcasts' but that, I think, is just silly.

I, for example, now download podcasts created by people such as the Guardian newspaper or the Economist, since I don't have time to read them every day and it allows me to listen in the car on the daily commute.