Week 9 #21

I finally bought a new computer. The downside to the new computer is that I didn't have access to Quick Time. I did an online purchase but I don't appear to have success with the download because I wasn't able to open any podcasts until I finally had success with the podcast on Book Reviews. I know it is an older post from 2001 but I still found it interesting how newspapers are dealing with all of the online publications.

I think the podcasts could be very beneficial to class discussions. The podcast was not very long and yet it provides food for thought. Podcasts combined with a wiki could really open up a chance for students to comment and share feedback on anything from music, books or political events.

In the podcast I viewed the moderator was Terrance Smith and he interviewed Matthew Storin from the Boston Globe, Jason Epstein an author and book editor and Deidre Donahue from USA Today. Interestly, USA Today is the only newspaper not cutting their book review section. I thought that Jason Epstein brought up an interesting point that all of the book review chat rooms, Library Thing website and posting by the everyday reader will not replace the in-depth review a professional book review provides. I do believe we need both and I hope he is correct in his thinking as I do believe we need the professional book reviewers.

The following is the podcast I previewed Online News Hour with Jim Lehrer:

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/media/jan-june01/book_6-20.html#