Podcast Module-Reflections

WHEW! I had an interesting time creating my Podcast for this assignment. At first, I felt intimidated when I first looked at Audacity and attempted to figure out the program. However, the PDF with Audacity basics was very helpful. One of the first problems I ran into when I did my first test track in Audacity was dealing with the horrible noise my laptop's hard drive has been making lately. After many frustrating attempts, I went to Staples and invested in a set of Logitech headphones that I really like. They did a great job canceling out the background noise of my laptop, cats, fan, and all of the other noise that came across as racket while trying to record my Podcast. I will definitely use these headphones when doing audio recording in the future. They will also be great for Skype.

Once I was able to record, I did several test versions of my brief informational blurb about the USF Tampa Library. The commercial includes a quick overview of the library's collections, amenities (for lack of a better word), location, and hours. I chose the best of 3 trials and added some light jazz in the background. I turned the volume of the music way down so that it would not distract listeners from my voice. It was a bit tricky cutting down a 4 minute song to match my 1 minute 48 second commercial. I used a fade effect in the last few seconds to end the song without it seeming too abrupt. I found that I would like to experiment some more with this sort of thing and see what creating an informational video might be like. The library at FMHI here on the main campus has some great short introductory videos with information about the library and its collections. I'm not certain if my library (the USF main library) has something similar. If so, they are not very visible on our web site. Of course, I need a lot more practice before I create something that would be suitable for putting online.

Below is a link to the MP3 file that contains my Podcast, where it is stored online. Click on the icon to be taken to Windows Live. Click on the icon again to either save the file or choose a program (Windows Media Player) to play the MP3 in.