I recently created a podcast for people to Experience the Mountain View Public Library. This was my first podcast creation and the whole process was very daunting, but after reflecting on the whole experience made me want to do it all over again.

I chose my local public library because I felt like perhaps people are not utilizing library resources as much as they should since practically everything can be accessed on the Internet. So I did a sound scene tour of the surrounding area near the Mountain View Public Library. I recorded my voice with a digital audio recording device. That was neat because you could pick up on cars driving past me, birds chirping above me, a train coming through downtown Mountain View, and people murmuring at the library. I did feel awkward as I recorded what I saw walking through a library where you’re supposed to be quiet, but I got more comfortable in asking library employees about facets of the library.

Editing the audio was very complicated for me. I used Audacity. The program itself was easy to use, but the process of editing was challenging. I re-listened to everything I recorded and tried to put together all the audio pieces I felt flowed in a logical sequence (like an essay). There were some aspects that I enjoyed listening to (a description of Pioneer Park), but decided to cut out because it didn’t feel truly relevant to my topic of the library itself. In retrospect, I feel that I could have improved my audio with music. Everything is just me speaking and some people I heard/spoke to at the library.

There is a hypertext component to my podcast. I wrote about technology, art, and seminars at Mountain View’s library because I thought they were informative and touched upon the ideas that there’s so much more information that can be accessed at a brick-and-mortar library than can be through the Internet. The process of writing these ideas was kind of like “a fish out of water.” I know that I wanted to make these topics into a research/issue-based writing piece, but since it is an online entity I didn’t feel like I could approach it like a traditional essay.

I believe I am a strong writer when it comes to impromptu essays, research, argumentative, etc. That being said I’m actually disappointed in what I created mainly because I don’t feel the hypertext ended up flowing the way I had originally envisioned.

This overall process has barely scratched the surface of a portion of my brain. This realm (creating podcasts/tackling real world issues) isn’t something that I’ve really ever looked into, but I’m intrigued. It was fun and I would do it again. Maybe my next topic could be on something like a rally in Sacramento that would lobby for California’s politicians to keep Cal Grant funding in tact.