During our workshops, I have shared with you my belief that podcasting and RSS technology in general is going to redefine the way we share information; if for no other reason than giving the viewer a way to deal with information overload, and allowing an orgainized, efficient way of gathering information you wish to keep track of on a regular basis.

I thought I would explore data to support my belief and I offer the following for your consideration on how big podcasting is becoming and its rate of growth over a period of time.

I used a tool in Google called “Google Trends” that allows you to look at the trends over time of searches on that search engine. I have created a graphic of the World vs. The State of Ohio.

If the searches for the term are any of indication of interest on the topic, you can see that Ohio caught the “podcasting wave” over a year later than the rest of the world; further investigation of the data shows that the largest interests center on the area of the US where the major technology centers or government are.

We also discssed the RSS (Really Simple Syndication), RSS feeds allow the subscription ability that impowers this technology. When you compare the searches of RSS vs Podcast we find that coastal population centers are still adopting this technology before the central parts of the US.

If you compare RSS vs podcasting in the US, you can see that searches for podcating have started to outstrip the searches for RSS. I think this can be attributed to the influence that Apple’s IPOD has had on the marketplace, and this makes sense as the portable players add a whole new demension of personal use to the RSS feeds. Also consider that purchasing an IPOD leads to a rather tangable, currently fashionable, product that you can do something with, whereas RSS can be obtained for free in most cases and is rather intangable on its concepts at first. You really have to live with the concept of RSS for a little while before the scope of ability that it allows comes fully into focus.

Podcasting is in its infancy and the automation of RSS has allowed many more people to start and begin to use the technology without having to be able to code the feeds. This allows people to begin to communicate on a topical or subject level and not just on a geographic level. People of all ages can begin to communicate directly with other like minded people all over the world in a media rich environment.

As the podcasting and RSS trend continues to grow the quality of content will begin to define what messages are heard and what messages are ignored. We discussed the concept that “Content is King” in the workshop. If a producer makes a program that does not interest an audence there is a wider selection of programming on all levels now for the listener and they can choose to ignore that content and search for something that does interest him on a global scale!

If you would like to see one way I am using RSS, follow this link and click on “menu” to see all the sites that are put at your finger tips. Click on the feed to select it and you will be presented with the most recent items. Best part is that if you wish to follow that feed, you can click on the RSS icon and follow all those materials yourself!!

Teacher who have taken the podcasting workshop or academy are invited to submit their feedback using the following survey. Please take a moment and take the survey. Results will be shared at the end of May!.