Starting a Podcast, Part 3

I now have a microphone connected to my mixer, and the whole shebang is linked to my laptop through an RCA-to-1/8 cord. Here is a pic of the cord:

The black end connects to the laptop, and the red/white end connects to the mixer.

As luck would have it, someone here at CMU was disposing of a microphone stand simply because the plastic clip that holds the mic in place was broken. As my mics came packaged with their own clips that fit perfectly on the unwanted stand, I turned someone's trash into my treasure.

This is a picture of my desk-turned-recording-studio:

Note my beautifully salvaged microphone stand. Also note the Technology in the Arts Web site on my monitor. (Plug, plug, plug.)

Maybe it was annoying, but I walked around the office most of the day on Friday describing my mini podcast studio as "totally awesome." Not everyone shared my enthusiasm. I try to be professional about things, and what happens?

1) The guy that works across the hall from me leans into my office, notices the equipment, and says, "I have to ask." Yes, but I don't have to answer.

2) Jerry Coltin, CAMT's former executive director, tells me the USB mic that came with my computer will work just fine for podcasting. While this may be true, it won't look like I'm getting ready to produce the new Boyz II Men comeback album, which is exactly the look I'm going for.

3) Cary McQueen-Morrow, CAMT's current executive director, says I'm the biggest geek at CMU -- and that is like calling someone the ugliest person at the University of Pittsburgh. (By the way, that is ONLY a joke. As a West Virginia University fan, I'm obligated to say horrible things about Pitt.)

Next Week: Audio Interviews with CAMT Staff

(Art) World Here I Come!

As a graduate student, I don't have a lot of free time to experience the arts in Pittsburgh. However, when I came across this program offered by the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust, I vowed to make time for the arts this school year. Keeping accessibility in mind, the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust developed a program called ARTSpassport. As a member, students are eligible to purchase $10 tickets to selected performances - a great deal when most tickets on the schedule are $30 and up!

To sweeten the deal, local restaurants agreed to offer discounts on meal tickets so hungry students can grab a bite before the show. I think this is a great way to get young people to venture into Downtown Pittsburgh and make an evening out of it.

Find out more about the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust's ARTSpassport by clicking on the following link:

http://www.pgharts.org/education/ArtsPassport.aspx

And if you have a similar program you are especially proud of, please share by commenting to this entry.

Starting a Podcast, Part 2

Not much to report for now, but I wanted to update on the arrival of our podcasting equipment! Very exciting... it's almost like having a newborn baby. (Well, the podcast equipment doesn't spit up on me or make frequent stinkies.) Here is our mixer:

And here is our microphone:

Note that there are inputs for two microphones, which is the setup we'll be using during the conference. Also note the cleanliness of my desk. I use Lysol wipes every day because I am a germophobic freak of nature. Am I sharing too much?

Now comes the experimentation stage. In the coming days, I will be testing different connections to my laptop to determine what gives me the best sound quality. My research indicates that two cables with RCA (red and white) plugs at one end and a 1/8" plug at the other will work well, so I plan to try that first.

Wiki what?

Wiki is a new term for me, and the following article was very helpful in providing insight to one of many mysterious internet terms: http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,71733-0.html?tw=wn_culture_3

If you, too, have not yet decoded this and other internet terms, join us in Pittsburgh this Fall! Erika Block will present the session, "Demystifying Technology Buzz Words", on Saturday, October 21 at 4PM on the Carnegie Mellon University campus.

Please continue to visit our Web site, www.TechnologyInTheArts.org to view the updated schedule of events and speakers.

Starting a Podcast, Part 1

During the conference, I will be strategically located at a table or booth with a laptop and a couple microphones. If you're attending the conference, I may just grab you for a 10-15 minute interview. I plan to then offer up a series of 20-30 minute podcasts in the weeks following the conference. I will also be documenting the development of the podcast on this blog site as a basic guide for arts organizations interested in using the technology for further engaging their audiences.

To find the best podcasting software and hardware to meet my needs, I decided to do some online research. By Googling terms like "podcast," "podcast software," "podcast hardware," and "podcast microphones," I was able to find countless product reviews and general podcast articles.

What most people don't realize is that an individual with a decent computer can start a podcast for next to nothing, because most of the best software is open source (aka free) and a basic laptop or desktop microphone will serve a lone podcaster with no real audio quality demands.

For the TitA podcast, I decided to go with Audacity, a free podcast recording and mixing software. Audacity lets you record multiple tracks and then overlap them creatively. In order to convert the audio files recorded with Audacity to podcast-ready MP3 files, you will need to set up LAME MP3 according to these instructions.

Once you have Audacity with the LAME MP3 encoder properly installed and configured, you will be ready to record your first "podcast." I use the term podcast loosely here, because an effective podcast requires planning. Click below for my first test podcast, for which I broke my own rule and refused to plan. This is simply to prove that podcasting can be extremely cheap.

Click to hear me rambling while a presumably deceased man sings the blues in the background.

If this were a real podcast, I wouldn't simply link to it; I would also submit it as an RSS (see my recent post about RSS feeds) so people could subscribe. But I'll discuss that process in a later edition of my podcast blog series.

Because I want to set up my podcast area at the conference in an interview-friendly fashion, I decided to go with an external mixer and two standard microphones. The mixer and mic setup will provide higher sound quality and the ability to adjust interviewer/interviewee levels on the fly. Based on affordability and favorable online reviews, I opted for the Behringer UB802 mixer and two Shure PG48 microphones.

Let us not forget the artists...

As we concentrate on the many ways arts managers are using technology innovatively, we should not ignore the fact that artists are also taking advantage of technology. A recent 'Wired' article features the Edgetone Music Summit, a four-day San Fransisco Bay event dedicated to experimental sound.

This might be my inner old man talking, but I'm wondering if a lot of technology-based "music" isn't just noise.

Read the full 'Wired' article.

Music Video for Net Neutrality

Do your part to spread the word about net neutrality! Visit www.wearetheweb.org.

What exactly is RSS?

Often when people talk about RSS, others simply nod knowingly but have no real idea what they're nodding about. I've discovered that a great deal of people are lost when it comes to RSS and how the technology works. It's actually quite simple (and very cool), so I thought I'd break down the barrier by providing some info and a few helpful links. RSS - or Rich Site Summary - is an easy way to distribute news and other content on the Web.

For instance, if you have eight blogs and three news sites you follow regularly, you can download an aggregator to follow all your favorite content from one convenient digital location.

Getting started:

1. Download a news aggregator. Most are free, and here is the one I use and like for its simplicity.

2. Visit your favorite blogs and/or news sites and find their RSS addresses. For instance, here is CNN's RSS page.

3. Subscribe to the RSS URL by following the instructions provided by your aggregator.

Here is a very helpful page with a nice overview of RSS and aggregators.

You can use the Technology in the Arts blog RSS URL to test yourself. The URL is: "http://technologyinthearts.org/?feed=rss2." Copy the link and subscribe to our blog using your new RSS reader.

Online Art Communities- Sales or Support?

Interact with Other Artists / Buy & Sell Artwork Like Never Before The Vision Grove is more than an online art gallery. Here you can also get involved in a vibrant art community and interact with artists and buyers from all over the world.

It begins with the above subheading... emphasizing the community aspect of the site, but then the release continues to inflate the sales potential of an online gallery. Although I understand the that the E.D. is directing his business to attract people interested in sales, the mission on his website seems to suggest the opposite:

From the press release: "The reasoning behind using art communities is fairly obvious: absolutely no pressure, gorgeous original art for sale, and instant connections with top-quality buyers and sellers."

From "Our Philosophy," it doesn't mention the sales opportunities once... It references an idea of growth.

I think this person is making the mistake of focusing on sales. The sales will happen through networking... but I doubt online. Art is about a tranformative experience. I cannot fathom the idea of buying a piece of art without having it in front of my face. Moreover, lots of artists like to establish relationships with the people they sell to, and vice versa. Art enthusiasts bask in a glory of superstarness when they can say they "know" the artist. Will this be accomplished over a web portal? I doubt it.

The website is sophisticated and clean... a rendition of a visual artist MySpace. The E.D. should generate enthusiasm about the aspect of networking and community and let the sales happen on their own. Web art communities are great and I think tech-saavy artists would really embrace this type of support. If it develops organically and with integrity, website advertisers will find their niche as it's represented on the site- not as it's projected.

What other web art communities are out there? Could we do something like this locally, with each arts agency acting as a host... beyond artist rosters?Š

Online social networking...

The social networking site MySpace.com was recently named the top single U.S. Web site in a report by the Internet traffic measurement firm Hitwise. The report states that MySpace accounted for 4.46 percent of all U.S. net traffic for the week ending July 8. The site reaches about 52 million unique visitors per month.

A lot of arts organizations are setting up MySpace pages, where they are able to post blog entries, upload photos, and develop friends lists that can be used for announcements about events, exhibitions and performances. With a very young user base, MySpace is the ideal place to connect with individuals years before they'll ever buy a ticket.

Another upside of MySpace is that it's completely free -- no strings attached. An organization can post schedules and streaming video previews at no cost, so it's almost senseless not to build a page and start cultivating your friends list just as you would a donor pool.

The only question about MySpace is its effectiveness. It's a relatively new concept for arts groups to use the site to build their audiences, so there isn't enough data available to prove that an organization can increase its attendance by X or Y percent.

Still, MySpace is free and easy to use, so there isn't much of a barrier to entry for arts managers that want to do their own evaluation.

For questions about setting up and updating your MySpace page, visit the MySpace help section.

For more information about customizing your MySpace page, visit ModMySpace.com, a site that features tutorials on everything from basic HTML to tweaking the MySpace layout.