A podcast is an audio file (usually an MP3) that is available for downloading online. You can download it to your computer using special software that plays podcasts, or download it to your personal digital audio player (iPod, iriver, Creative Zen Touch, etc.).

If you subscribe to a podcast, your computer software or your digital audio player will automatically update the podcast so you always have the most recent version.

How do I listen to a podcast?

There are two ways to listen to a podcast:

1. Download the individual MP3 files to your desktop or audio player.
2. Subscribe to the podcast and receive new updates automatically.

To subscribe, you copy and paste the podcast URL into your podcast subscription software, such as Apple's iTunes, iPodder, or Odeo.

How do I create my own podcast?

There are five basic steps to creating your own podcast

1. Record your audio
2. Edit your audio (you can use free software to do this!)
3. Upload your audio file to a web server
4. Create an RSS feed for your podcast. If you want an example RSS feed to copy then why not use the Raw Canvas one. You can find it here:
   http://www.tate.org.uk/learning/youngtate/artlookers/feed.xml
5. List your podcast in iTunes and other podcasting directories

There’s more information on the following web pages:

http://www.archimuse.com/mw2006/papers/dickson/dickson.html

http://radio.about.com/od/podcastin1/a/aa030805a.htm