Thing 16: Podcasts & Vodcasts

Hi all!

This Thing investigates the world of Pod/Vodcasts.  Videos and audio recordings can be an excellent way to engage your users and to create interest in the collections of a repository.  As you can see from my hackneyed first attempt, I rarely find myself in front of the camera.  But, like anything else, practice does wonders to alleviate fears and encourage development.  If, in the future, I find myself at a repository where I afforded the opportunity to showcase bits of collections internationally via Podcast/Vodcast, I would certainly accept the challenge enthusiastically.

Below is a video clip that I made as a brief introduction a project I am working on in the Wellesley Historical Society, in the affluent Massachusetts community whose name it bears.  Like many archivists before me, I've been trapped in the basement for quite a while.  Despite the preliminary stages of occupationally-induced asthma with which we are all so familiar, I have enjoyed having nearly-free reign over one of the largest storage spaces at the WHS.  Under the supervision of the curator, I have been revamping the collection storage space, weeding, mitigating threats (pests, mold, temperature controls), and doing a lot of preservation work on town records, books, and volumes from personal collections and corporate bodies.  Here's a glimpse:

Logistically, the inclusion of video material is relatively simple.  If the primary target for a Vodcast is a blog on Blogger, the tools to embed the video in a particular post are accessible right from the "Compose" page.  Videos can be created via webcam (this one was made using a laptop), or similar functionality on almost any standard digital camera.  There are, of course, video cameras made expressly for that purpose, but, if your repository is planning only low-key presentations, there does not seem to be much call to invest in the heavier machinery.  File conversion is likely necessary, especially for those working from PCs, and, specifically, those working in Windows.  Videos created with Windows Media Player (probably the default for PC webcams) are not immediately compatible with Blogger, YouTube, and probably WordPress as well, though I have spent far less time working there, admittedly.  The trickiest part of this extremely low-budg video, then, was file conversion.  I went with a tool called WinFX Free Video Converter, which seems to have done the job quite nicely.  I went through Geeky Dads Software.  It's here, if anyone is interested:
WinFX Video Converter from Geeky Dads Software.

The creation of video material made on a weekly basis could rob an already-busy archivist of valuable time, true.  The above video required multiple takes due to ringing phones and other distractions.  It is also unedited.  A repository establishing a video presence on Youtube or on its Blog would need to keep up regular posts to maintain interest and profile currency.  Time for preparation and editing would also be required.  It could turn out to be a major undertaking, especially if adopted as a series.  The marketing value might trump the time requirement, though, if videos are used effectively.  Perhaps a video series could be used to alleviate time spent on repetitive reference requests, for example, and would be well worth time spent developing it.  I would certainly consider this as a regular undertaking in the future, given the opportunity!