Frequently Asked Questions
We attract a lot of questions and queries from around the UK and the world. Answers to all these an much more can be found throughout our Community Wiki and via our project Outputs and Outcomes as well as our Podcasts.
Getting Started with Institutional Podcasting
How would you summarise your institutional approach to podcasting? Is it a centralised activity or localised to departmental activity? How do people find online audio-visual material at your institution? Do you have a central web page or through Google? It may help you to start to create an overview of your setup and situation, list institutional priorities and start to note down the the overall processes for material being created and the different types of material that might be created - outreach, teaching, research etc.
The following FAQs will help answer some of these queries.
Institutional Podcasting
- How do I make a case for the benefits of podcasting?
- How do I get senior management buy-in?
- What are the usual team roles in the podcasting process?
- How much time is dedicated to different podcasting tasks?
- Who has overall management/responsibility for podcasting?
- What steering groups are usually involved and where do they draw their membership from?
- What are the major costs ?
- What areas do you see as having opportunities for cost savings and efficiencies?
- What technical areas are currently problematic?
Legal
- What legal responsibilities are involved in podcasting?
- How do you ensure those responsibilities are met?
- What release and consent forms do you use?
- How do you administer the legal processes?
- What problems to you encounter administering these processes?
- What is your take down policy?
Content Editing and Processing
This section looks at content issues from post digitisation to final published outputs.
- What academic material is suitable for making public?
- Who is responsible for sourcing the material?
- How do you capture the material?
- What editing work is done to the original material and who usually does the editing?
- How much time is spent on editing?
- What are the costs in time?
- Do you need guidelines for editing (e.g. times, focus, styling, titles)?
- What output formats do you support, and why?
- How do you represent institutional branding?
Content Publishing
This section is concerned with the practicalities of distribution and syndication methods.
- What online systems are there?
- The University web site?
- The VLE?
- iTunesU?
- YouTube?
- How do I get started with systems like iTunesU and YouTube?
- Who hosts the online published material?
- How much online space do you need?
- What are the costs?
- With iTunes U how can you provide the required RSS feeds?
- How do you catalogue your material for these systems?
- What aspects of the podcasting process can be managed centrally?
- Should there be a central authority for quality assurance?
- How might an institution plan and schedule content for release?
- How can you track the status/progress of podcasts within a service?
- Do you have an system for content management?
- Who is responsible for maintaining your iTunes U/YouTube interface?
- How do you update your iTunes U/YouTube interface, and how often?
Storage
- How long do you store the material for?
- How do you manage your archive?
Marketing
- Who is your target audience ?
- Have you considered a press release or discussed a communication plan ?
- Have you any example press releases?
- What channels do you have to communicate with your key audiences ?
- How will you track usage?
- How will you evaluate wether your marketing strategy is working?
Training material
- Where can I find training material for recording and editing ?
- Are there any reports on launching instituional services available?
- Are there any sample legal documents available ?
- What equipment should I buy?
Answers to all these an much more can be found throughout our Community Wiki and via our project Outputs and Outcomes.