Podcast

2019-09-11

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This one has to be done if not for anything, the meta aspect of things. Podcast - "iPod" and "Broadcast"... Or is it? Ben Hammersley original accidentally coined the term podcasting in an article as he explains on the BBC program Radio Four in 4. So where do we get the portmanteau of iPod and Broadcasting from a made up word? It is a backronym - another portmanteau - and the meaning is under some dispute. A little history. In 2000 Dave Winer drafted the Real Simple S...

This one has to be done if not for anything, the meta aspect of things.

Podcast - "iPod" and "Broadcast"... Or is it?

Ben Hammersley original accidentally coined the term podcasting in an article as he explains on the BBC program Radio Four in 4.

So where do we get the portmanteau of iPod and Broadcasting from a made up word? It is a backronym - another portmanteau - and the meaning is under some dispute.

A little history. In 2000 Dave Winer drafted the Real Simple Syndication (RSS) standard to .92 and added the "enclosure" element that passes along a path to a media file. This ultimately led to different podcasts but most credit Adam Curry of putting together all of the elements needed - RSS, scripting, and actual audio content for his show Daily Source Code. He is commonly referred to as the "Podfather" - another portmanteau. Adam Curry also created RSS-to-iPod in 2003 which enabled transfer of MP3 files from Userland Radio - a blogging platform - to iTunes.

Then in June 2005 iTunes 4.9 included podcast subscription support bringing them mainstream.

But the name and the meaning. What is that? The common accepted definition is iPod + broadcasting.

However, there is another option given by Tee Morris and Evo Terra in their 2005 book, Podcasting for Dummies. This is Personal-On-Demand Narrowcasting. Evo added "because I don't even own an iPod, yet am quite obviously a podcaster, I see no reason for the association to continue to be made."

The controversy seems especially fitting for podcasting as they are all about creativity and can be anything to anyone, so why not the word itself? Whatever you think Podcasting means, I think it is here to stay and I hope you continue to enjoy this one.

Resources

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Podcast

https://create.blubrry.com/manual/about-podcasting/history-of-podcasting-new/technical-history-of-podcasting/

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p038m811

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2004/feb/12/broadcasting.digitalmedia

https://books.google.com/books?id=6YOV4I-hslYC&pg=PA13&lpg=PA13&dq=Ben+Hammersley+evo+terra&source=bl&ots=dWMGw5cxNQ&sig=ACfU3U1FQmfqTQvVLHCMZz2O_Rw9c0Jr-Q&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiPoI6P4NrjAhVlUt8KHYw8BIgQ6AEwDnoECAkQAQ#v=onepage&q=Ben%20Hammersley%20evo%20terra&f=false

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