Gators get campus news via podcast

Podcasting


Posted on Wed, Jul. 27, 2005

UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA
Gators get campus news via podcastUniversity of Florida students and staff can now download news podcasts from a school website. UF is Florida's first public university to offer the service.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/living/education/12230989.htm

GAINESVILLE - (AP) -- The University of Florida, wanting to reach the rapidly growing number of people using MP3 players such as Apple Computer's popular iPod, has begun offering podcasts on the university's news website.
UF is the first state university in Florida, and one of a handful of schools nationwide, to offer the new broadcasting format for university news, said Joe Hice, the school's associate vice president for marketing and public relations.
''On a large campus like ours, it is important to provide as many options as possible to our students, faculty and staff to receive university news,'' Hice said.
Podcasting allows people to download audio files from the Internet and listen to them on an MP3 player wherever and whenever they like.
UF's podcasts are available at UF's recently revamped news Web site, http://news.ufl.edu/, under the link labeled ``Audio.''
Podcasts currently posted there include excerpts from a forum held on campus last week by former U.S. Sen. Bob Graham, and interviews with UF experts on hurricanes and orthodontic braces.
Beginning with the fall semester, UF will begin podcasting weekly updates of campus events.
According to a study released in April by the Pew Internet & American Life Project, more than 22 million American adults own iPods or MP3 players, and 29 percent of them have downloaded podcasts.
Last month, Apple gave podcasting a major boost by adding a podcast subscription service to the newest version of its iTunes music service directory.
The university's podcasts also are available on iTunes, as well as at odeo.com, another podcast directory, or aggregator.