Speaking of Podcasting...

I thought that you might be interested to know that, on the advice and urging of Paul Levinson, I've started a podcast, well, just one podcast, so far.  So, you can find my profile at http://lancestrate.mevio.com, which is separate from my podcast page, it just seems like every site nowadays has to have a profile page, as part of the social media trend.  As you can see, I set it up at Mevio.com, a site that Levinson recommends, and over there they call your podcast a show, a term I find amusing (as in, somewhere up there Neil Postman is laughing, I know).  And I had to come up with a name for the show, so I named it, Ear Relevance.  Maybe it's a bad pun, but the pun itself is a play on the spoken word.  So, I also decided to keep the title consistent with the name of my two blogs, and call it Lance Strate's Ear Relevance.  I figure it would be a loose and open-ended educational program, at least, that's how I tried to describe it.  I'm not sure how far I'll go with it, at least a few episodes though.

So, in setting up the show, they asked for a picture to represent the show, and rather than use another picture of me (one, which was already there from my profile page, is more than enough), I asked an outstanding artist I know from MySpace, David Arshawsky, if he would do something up for me, and gave him an idea of what I was looking for, and here's what he came up with:

So with that image, all I needed was the actual podcast itself, which took a lot more time than I thought it would, but I finally got my first episode completed and uploaded last month.  I recorded and edited it on my Macintosh laptop, using the GarageBand program, and I had two options, so I first uploaded the episode in the better quality MP4a format.  But I learned that older devices can't play it, and when accessed online it plays more slowly than the more universal, lower bandwidth MP3 format, so I uploaded a second version in MP3, and I'll stick to that format from now on.


So, here is the URL for my podcast page:  http://earrelevance.mevio.com.  If you go there, you can "become a fan" and get email updates from Mevio whenever there's a new episode, and there are also links so you can subscribe via RSS feed, Zune, or iTunes--the URL for the iTunes subscription is http://itunes.apple.com/podcast/lance-strates-ear-relevance/id355714984.  Mevio also gives embed codes, much like you can get for YouTube videos, so I'll give that a go now.

Before you listen, let me acknowledge that it's amateurish, my recording expertise is limited and my equipment far from professional (for example, you may need to push the volume all the way up, depending on the system...  oh, and let me warn you that the episode is about forty minutes long).  But that is part of the whole point, isn't it?  Anyway, here it is:











I'm getting a better microphone and pop filter, so the quality should better next time. I don't have any specific podcasting schedule, it'll just be whenever I can get them done, and whenever I want to get them done.  If you subscribe, you'll get them automatically, if not, well, I'll be posting them on my blog, and tweeting them too.

Multitasking – Am I Done?

Hello class:

The endless media with which we surround ourselves seem to have taken over the traditional sense of time.

As we mentioned during our first class this “semester” the intrusive nature of each tool we use reveals another dimension of new and new new media.

Most of us have been “accused” of multitasking – taking upon a variety of tasks while engaging in a series of other activities.

The younger generations seem to not have a problem executing multiple tasks at once; however, it is difficult to accept that one’s attention and dedication is committed fully to each activity.

Having a conversation on the phone and in person while driving or doing homework while watching television and listening to the radio and keeping an eye on the stove, are only a few examples of the actions in which we engage frequently.

How accurate is it to assume that each task competed does not reflect the best of our abilities?

People adapt easily to change; multitasking is the path we are have embraced. The sense of time, however, seems to be getting lost. The consequences of engaging in multiple activities seem to center on the fact that we lose track of time.

The easiness of doing work from home leads simply to no private time. We use machines/tools to make our life easier and in the end we end up working like them, 24/7.

Margaret Maria Roidi