[MACEP] School Internet radio stations

[Greg Lund-Chaix]

Paul Nelson wrote:
> http://orvsd.org/
> So Greg, can you give the macep group a podcasting update?

Aah! Ambushed! ;-)  I'd be happy to talk a bit more about it.

As part of the Oregon Virtual School District suite of tools we are 
developing a phone to podcast system that allows a teacher (or student) 
to call a phone number and record a podcast - no computer or Internet 
connection required.

One of the goals of the OVSD project is to lower barriers and make using 
the technology easier.  We want to get the technology out of the way so 
educators can get on with doing what they're best at - educating - 
instead of fighting with the technology.  With that in mind, we looked 
at how to simplify the recording and publishing of audio podcasts. 
While we will still offer technically-minded users a way to record, 
upload, and manage their podcasts from their computers, we also decided 
to offer a way for users new to podcasting to use an ubiquitous audio 
tool that everyone already knows how to use - the telephone.

Here's how it works:

Users who have an account on the podcasting server call into a specified 
telephone number from any touch-tone telephone.  They will be prompted 
to punch in their ID number and PIN.  Once the PIN has been entered, the 
system will tell the educator what podcasts they can record to and 
prompt them to select one.  After selecting a podcast, the educator can 
record, play back, and approve a new podcast episode exactly the same 
way one would leave a voice mail.  Once approved by the educator, the 
recording is automatically published and is immediately available to 
their audience.  Each educator will have their own subdomain - 
http://educator_name.podcast.orvsd.org - where their podcasts will be 
visible.  The system provides a single snippet of HTML that educators 
can insert into any web page that dynamically lists their available 
podcasts (and episodes within each podcast).  Once on the page, the list 
is automatically updated every time new podcast recordings are available.

So an educator could call in, record a podcast episode, and have it 
automatically published the their course or home page using nothing but 
a cell phone under a palm tree on a tropical beach somewhere in the 
South Pacific. (Hey, we can dream of a tropical vacation can't we?)

Questions?  Comments?  Suggestions?  I love feedback (positive *and* 
negative) so please don't hesitate in dropping me a line.

Oh, and before you ask ... no, the system is not quite not available 
yet.  We've written the code, but we need to get some hardware and phone 
lines installed before we can turn it loose on the world.  Stay tuned!

-Greg
-- 
Greg Lund-Chaix
OVSD Lead Developer ~ OSU Open Source Lab
gchaix at osuosl.org ~ (541) 740-8996