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Podcasting Symposium at Duke Sept. 27-28

Scholars, journalists and podcasting practitioners to discuss how technology intersections with business, law, journalism and Internet culture.

On Sept. 27-28, Duke University's Information Science + Information Studies (ISIS) program is holding what organizers believe to be the first-ever academic podcasting symposium.

Podcasting is the process by which digital audio recordings are automatically broadcast over the Internet to listeners who sign up to receive them. It combines the web posting mechanism of blogs, the distribution system of Really Simple Syndication (RSS) and the desktop software that organizes downloaded audio files and automatically loads them onto portable digital music. Its name is a contraction of "broadcasting" and "iPod," the portable digital music player from Apple Computer, Inc.

The symposium brings together scholars, journalists and podcasting practitioners to discuss how this new technology is shaping -- and being shaped by -- business, law, journalism and Internet culture. A schedule of speakers is available at here.

The symposium is free and open to the public, with all events being held in the Fitzpatrick Center for Interdisciplinary Engineering, Medicine, and Applied Sciences auditorium. However, registration has already been closed since the auditorium is filled to capacity. For those unable to attend, all symposium proceedings will be podcast and webcast.

"Podcasting, or any technology, doesn't just happen in a vacuum," said Cathy Davidson, vice provost for interdisciplinary studies at Duke and a leader of the Humanities, Arts, Science, and Technology Advanced Collaboratory (HASTAC), a national consortium of scholars examining the cultural implications of technologies. "It's part of a whole complex of social relationships; legal issues, like intellectual property -- what you can use or can't use; and social issues, like privacy, security and who can afford it and who can't."

Casey Alt is the symposium coordinator and ISIS administrative director. He explained why the group chose to hold the symposium this semester. "By having this symposium now -- while podcasting is still in its infancy -- academics have a chance to be a part of the discussions that shape how it is used, the rules that govern it and what kind of culture grows up around it," he said. "Podcasting is still malleable."

Duke computer science professor Richard Lucic will moderate the panel discussion on the business of podcasting. "Economics have brought podcasting to a crossroads," he said. "What was once a hobby for a few techie-types is now being pressed into service by big businesses like IBM and CBS, and that's bound to affect the culture of creativity and independence that originally surrounded podcasting."

Lynne O'Brien, director of Duke's Center for Instructional Technology, which has overseen Duke University's iPod experiment since it began last year, will moderate the panel discussion on podcasting in the classroom. "Students already use podcasts to review lectures, listen to audio materials and share their own reports, field notes and music compositions," she said. "It's part of a trend in higher education toward delivering class materials that are more timely, customized and engaging."

The symposium is part of the Duke Digital Initiative, which promotes effective educational use of technologies, such as digital audio and video, as well as tablet PCs and collaborative software. Duke co-sponsors of the symposium are listed on the symposium website.