Making an Accessible Podcast, Part 1
Note: This is a script from a podcast
With your help, we can create greater accessibility for all
students at Eastern Kentucky University. This is a podcast from Eastern
Kentucky University the web accessibility office. This broadcast is intended
for EKU faculty and staff but the information can be used by anyone. The skill
level needed for understanding and implementing the instructions of the podcast
is advanced beginner. We'll keep it simple, but you need to be able to do
certain things like plug a microphone into your computer, and download and
install software for editing.
Today's topic is “How to create an accessible podcast, part 1.”
Today we'll talk about what makes a podcast accessible and
how to get started, listening to other people's podcasts, getting your tools
together, which includes hardware software and other items like image and music
files, and speech recognition setup. Why would you need it? And how to set it
up.
First part, what makes a podcast accessible?
- Be extremely organized, and stay on topic.
- Explain what the podcast is, and the intended audience.
- Give short blocks of information.
- No big words, no slang, no made up terms, and if you use
acronyms or some kind of abbreviations, you might want to explain those as
you go.
- A transcript
A transcript is different than a script. A script is
something that you put together before you actually record your podcast and it
doesn't have to spell out every single word. What you're looking for is just a
basic outline that's organized and helps you keep on track. A transcript on the
other hand, is something that you do after the podcast has been created. You
complete it, and then you're going to run your podcast through your speech
recognition and you're going to let the computer decipher all of your voice
into a transcript. Later, you'll probably go through the text file and get rid
of all your ums and ahs and anything else weird in there you don't want. You
also might want to go through and edit it, make your speech into sentences, put
periods in there because a lot of times when we talk, we just run on and on.
We're not making complete sentences. The other thing you might want to do when
you get to that point is make sure that your document is structured correctly
for somebody that cannot see. Use proper headings,
lists, and anything else that provides a structure.
You might be asking, why does it need to be accessible anyway?
It's true that it is an extra step, and your audience may
not have a lot of people that are deaf or hard of hearing, but, at EKU and
other universities, you are required by law to provide equal access to learning
materials. If the podcast is required for a class lecture or other items that
students access, then it needs to be accessible. Keep in mind this helps other
groups as well. It might help students from another country that don't have English
as their first language. If they can listen to it and also read it, it helps
them figure out exactly what's being said.
Go and listen to some podcasts.
To do this you don't need an Ipod. A lot of people think
that because they don't have an Ipod, or an MP3 player and they don't really understand
how to download podcasts, that they can't listen to them, but that isn't really
true. All you need is a computer, and chances are you're sitting in front of one
every day. The processor doesn't have to be real extreme, a 266 megahertz Intel
Pentium 2 processor will work. As far as memory, 64MB RAM will work because all
you're going to be doing is downloading files and listening to them. Keep in
mind some of these files are going to be kind big, so any extra storage you
might have is great. They also might take awhile to download so if you have a
broadband connection it's going to be a little faster. If you're on a modem it
may not be worth it to download them. It might take a little bit too long. You're
also going to need some kind of a sound card and speakers or headphones. And of
course you need software so that you can actually play the podcast on your
computer. This will work with Windows Media Player, Real Player and probably
some other things as well. There's lots of applications you can download on the
Internet that are free.
Operating systems can be Windows XP, 2000, 98, NT, and Mac
operating systems. Listening to podcasts really doesn't require anything that
special. You probably will need to also download a free podcast aggregator or,
as it is commonly called, a podcatcher. By that we're talking about ITunes, for
instance or Juice. ITunes can be downloaded from www.apple.com/itunes/download.
Juice is at juicereceiver.sourceforge.net.
Why do you want to go ahead and download some podcasts
to listen to them? You just want to see what other people are doing
and what kind of options there are. You're going to find that a lot of them have
musical interludes at the beginning and the end. That seems to work pretty well
to get you in the mood for the podcast, and it gives it a definite beginning
and ending. A lot of times, I fast forward through some of that stuff at
the beginning and end, but the point is that I always know it's there, it is very
consistent and it's a standard. You want to give people what they're used
to hearing, so in order to find out what people are used to hearing, you've got
to listen to some podcasts.
Create the podcast
The minimum requirements for creating a podcast using a PC
are the following: you probably want to be running Windows XP but you can also
do it on Windows 2000. Of course, Vista will work and that's not quite out yet
because it's a few months off, but by the time you listen to this it may
already be out. You need 512MB of RAM or more and you need quite a bit hard
drive space. The reason for that is that audio files and video files (if you
take that next step) will take up a lot of space. So you need to think about
that a little bit. There are some options for adding more hard drive space. For
instance, flash drives, and that might be a worthwhile purchase if you are
going to be doing this a lot. The other thing you can do is create your files,
upload them, and then delete. You're going to need a sound card, and you are going
to need some kind of microphone and headphones. Extra things that you might
need include a broadband Internet connection and that's basically just to speed
up your uploads to your podcast server. I go ahead and mention podcast server as
if that's something that you've already got lined up. If you are at a
university, like here at EKU, we have a podcast server, we just have to ask for
permission to be on it and to get those connection details. Other places, you
may not have that, and you can actually upload to a regular web site. The
advantage to the streaming server is that things can partially download while
people listen to them and they can continue downloading while the file starts
to play.
A headset microphone is probably a pretty good idea, but of
course that's not going to work for interviews. By headset/mic I mean you're
wearing headphones and there's a little arm that comes out with microphone that
keeps it about 2in. away from your mouth and when you're wearing it like that,
once you train your voice and everything, it just keeps everything really
consistent so that's a great idea.
Another recommendation is a pop filter and basically that is
so if you are talking in front of a microphone and you're spitting a little bit
as you talk (probably what I'm doing), it will keep all those mouth noises out of
the podcast. This is something that you can buy but it can also be handmade. You
just need some hosiery (women's hose) and you know just take some and stretch
it over a frame of some sort and then the microphone is behind the frame with
the hosiery, and you are speaking toward the hose.
As far as software you will need, you will need audacity and
this is free software and that's why I'm telling you this brand because what
we're trying to do is a bare bones low-budget podcast. You can get that at
audacity.sourceforge.net. You're also going to need a program called Lame. The
Audacity is for editing and mixing sound. To create an MP3 file you are going
to need Lame, which is a free MP3 encoder. You can download it at
lame.sourceforge.net/index.php.
All of these URLs I'm giving during the podcast can also be
found on the web site, and I'll give that information at the end.
Turn the podcast into a MP3
Once you create your podcast you need to convert it to an MP3
format before you upload it to the Internet. Converting your audio to MP3 makes
the file sizes smaller and easier for others to download and listen to.
Another way to record is by using the sound recorder program
in Windows and to get to that, go to start programs accessories entertainment sound
recorder. Hit the red button to record. Of course, if you are using this, you
still have to have a microphone and a podcast aggregator. You know, again Juice
or Itunes or something like that so you can pull down your podcast and make
sure they are okay.
Speech Recognition Options
You will need speech recognition software. Now you can go
ahead and get the Dragon Naturally Speaking you can also get Viavoice, but be
aware if you're on a budget, you might just go ahead and use the speech recognition
software that's included in XP and Vista. To use it (in XP), you have to have XP
Service Pack 1 installed. You also have to install a speech recognition engine
which is called the SRE if MS Office is not installed. If you've installed in
MS Office Suite, then you've got it.
Here are some additional items you might need before
creating your podcast and these can wait until your podcast reporting is
finished. If you're like me, sometimes it's nice to be able to ease into these
things and it feels good to get all these things together before you create your
podcast.
Image file
You're going to need an image file no larger than 300 x 300
pixels and JPEG format you can create that in Photoshop or Photoshop Elements
and probably a wide variety of different graphic programs. Usually it's a logo with
the name of the podcast, but it could be a photo of yourself or some kind of
graphic which represents your topic.
Music file
You're going to need a music file and an MP3 is fine. You
may be wondering how to get free music to put in your podcast. Well, there is a
way! If you go to royaltyfreemusic.com and click on the Free music link and you
can listen to music samples. They have all kinds of music – jazz, hip-hop,
things like that. They also have sounds and parts of music. You can right-click
on the link if you are on a PC, and that will pop up a little menu allowing you
to save the file to your computer.
Podcast server
If you are an EKU listener, you need to contact ITDS to get
an account on the podcast server. Others might need to find a low cost podcast
server. You can use a free service online or some might use the phone. Some of
those free services give you a phone number and you just call in. You might
want to investigate that first because you may not need a microphone if you're
doing something by phone.
Free Podcast Hosts
www.podshow.com
www.podcrust.com
www.ourmedia.com
www.gcast.com - phone
www.odeo.com
www.bigcontact.com
www.blogamp.com
www.clickcaster.com –
record directly to their servers
www.talkshoe.com – interactive podcasts
Speech recognition setup
Why do you need it? To create your transcript. This is
different than a script. A transcript is a text version of your podcast in a
simple file format like a txt or rtf. A script is what you intend to say in
your podcast, and may not be what actually ends up in your broadcast. For
instance, it could just be an outline and you could just wing it as you go
along. In the transcript, you'll probably make some changes, for instance
you'll want to get rid of all the ahs and ums. You can also choose to make
proper sentences and clean up any grammar mistakes.
To use a speech recognition setup, you've got to train your
speech. To do this, you go to start > control panel > sound, speech, and audio
devices > speech.
You'll want to configure your microphone first, and that'll
let you know if everything's working correctly, and then you are going to train
your profile. It's going to give you some options of different text segments
that you can read, and it really doesn't take that long. It'll show you
something on the screen you'll read it, and then you'll just go on to the next
segment.
I would recommend that you go ahead and go through as many
text segments as you possibly can. The more time you spend training your profile,
the better results you're going to get when your computer tries to recognize
your speech. Now once you're done, you can go ahead and open MS word if you
have it on your machine and you can hit the microphone on the floating language
bar just to see if it works. Depending on the amount of RAM on your computer
the delay in the computer interpreting your narration may be long. You may
prefer not to watch the screen when you speak, because it can be really distracting.
When I do this, I'll say something and then a series of little dots will show
up on the screen and then it will interpret it and it's not always correct. So I
know I have to go back and fix it. As far as the fixing, I'll have to put in
periods and start new sentences. Once you have your speech recognition set up,
you can also dictate into Microsoft Word and you can use phrases like ‘period,'
‘next sentence,' things like that and it will actually do that stuff for you. Since
I've done a podcast and I'm not saying ‘period,' ‘next sentence' as I go, that kind
of detail is going to be left out.
This is the end of our broadcast on how to make a podcast
accessible. In part two of this series, we'll do an overview of:
- structuring your podcast
- mixing and editing audio files
- uploading files
- creating your accessible transcript
- creating an RSS feed
- submitting to podcast directories and
- creating a web site archived with subscription
instructions.
I hope you've enjoyed our time together The EKU web
accessibility podcast covers information on tools, techniques, awareness, and
concepts. The EKU web accessibility office can be reached by e-mail at parker.owens@eku.edu or by phone (859) 622-2743. Our web site is located at www.accessibility.eku.edu.
Parker Owens, Web Accessibility Coordinator, EKU, 254 Case Annex, Richmond, KY
(859) 622-2743,
parker.owens@eku.edu
