It's week two of the blogging and things are finally starting to synthesize. I'm sitting on top of the Carnival Legend, trying to stay out of the misting rain and the 25-30 knot winds, the perfect time to get some work done on vacation. Due to my extensive sleeping and general dislike of schedules, I have missed both the ship tour and the shore excursion information session. In light of growing expertise in this area of technology, I found myself thinking, "Why the heck don't they just have a podcast for these things?"
In my research, I have learned how many places such as libraries and museums have turned to podcasts to allow people to take tours and obtain information at their own time and place. I have learned how podcasting has allowed students to listen to missed lectures or relisten to go over information they may have missed. I have learned how podcasting has become a new way for people to communicate without time and place constraints. So why hasn't Carnival Cruises caught on yet?
Now, although I am paying money to utilize their wireless internet, Carnival allows you to surf their site for free. It would be the perfect place to post informational podcasts for guests to download and listen to at their own convenience. Instead of meeting a large group of travelers in the lounge to take a tour and listen to a guide that you can hardly hear due to the number of people and the number of drinks they have had, I could just through own my iPod and take the tour whenever the heck I wanted to. No large herds of people. No time schedule. No missing information that I could not hear or had to go to the bathroom for. How much more convenient is that?
It's funny how it how learning can just hit you like that. Three weeks ago, I might had thought, "Darn...I missed the ship tour". Now I am annoyed that they don't offer podcasts that provide a similar and arguably better experience. It seems I have become a proponent of podcasting as a means to make communication and information sharing more accessible.
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4 comments:
I have taken numerous tours that use podcasts, and I agree, it is much more enjoyable to listen as I go and be able to stop and enjoy the scenery before moving on or being herded by a tour guide. I just recently went to the King Tut exhibit, and I found the podcast tour to be much more informative than listening to a guide who has to remember everything.
Hi Mary, this is Joe (TA)
I fondly recall walking through museum exhibits with headphones and walkman. What are the advantages of a podcast over the old walkman+tape approach?
Hi Joe!
I think there are numerous advantages to using podcasts over the walkman/tape.
1. Hold more information
2. Catalog information into chapters/tracks
3. Show visual cues
4. Take information with you
5. Listen at home/not on location
6. Cost/time (creating and copying tapes versus publishing one podcast)
That's what I can think of for now, but I'm sure there's more!
Oh yeah, who still has a walkman+tape?
It is funny to me how being introduced to a new concept that you never thought of before which makes your much easer, makes you have an instant disdain for the old way of doing things. I remember having to use my cell phone without a blue-tooth headset. Not it seems dumb to me to actually have to talk into a phone any phone. It is almost uncomfortable for me to talk on my regular land line at home. To the point that i want to buy a headset for my phone at home.
Renaldo
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