Simplify Enhanced Podcasting on #iPad - Sonic Pics

Sonic Pics ($2.99)

Over the last week, I've been working hard to create podcasts featuring some of the neat things my colleagues are involved in, as well as capturing their wisdom about this or that. Working with audio has always been pretty easy (I love Audacity as a Windows, Mac, and Linux cross-platform tool), but it wasn't until today that I found myself wanting to make an enhanced podcast. Per Wikipedia, an enhanced podcast:

An enhanced podcast can display images simultaneously with audio. These can contain chapter markers, hyperlinks, and artwork; all of which is synced to a specific program or device. When an enhanced podcast is played within its specific program or device, all the appropriate information should be displayed at the same time and in the same window, making it easier to display materials. Enhanced podcasting is considered to be a very practical way to present information. This new technological phenomenon is becoming more prominent in schools, universities and businesses; as it is an efficient way to present school and university lectures, slide shows, video clips, and other presentation materials of the like.

The 4 step process is pretty easy:

1. Gather photos/images you want to speak about.
2. Write a script (or not and just ad-lib...which is easy since you can tell a story just by looking at the pictures, which serve as your cue).
3. Match the audio to the picture so that what you see on the screen is what the speaker is sharing about (this is the hard part depending on what software you're using)
4. Share the video file online

That process can be unnecessarily complex (just check out this blog post and it will have you thinking twice about beginning it). Thankfully, there are a lot of tools that make the enhanced podcast creation process as easy as 1-2-3-4.

Some of the enhanced podcasting tools I've used in the past include VoiceThread.com, ShowBeyond.com (now defunct), MovieMaker (Windows only), MS PhotoStory (Windows), OpenShot Video Editor (Linux only), iTunes (yuck), and Garageband (double yuck). Believe it or not, it's a heck of a lot easier to make enhanced podcasts on the iPad than on a computer, IMHO.

Modern Learning Environment from Link Learning ICTPD Cluster

via AllanahK and Modern Learning Environment

You snap a few pictures that are automatically saved into your Camera Roll or Library. You just need to get the right tool. In the past, I might have used Pinnacle Studio (multiple audio tracks if you want to add music) or iMovie on the iPad, or even easier, ExplainEverything or Educreations.com. Thanks to a tweet from AllanahKearlier today, I'm now up to date on a pretty easy tool-- Sonic Pics is great for an iPad version of enhanced podcasts

Wes Fryer (Playing with Media and SpeedofCreativity.org) refers to the sort of enhanced podcast I wanted to create as "narrated art." He writes,

A image, which can be a drawing or photo, shared with accompanying audio narration.

This is different from a narrated slideshow (which is also an enhanced podcast):

A screencast is a digital recording of a computer screen, usually including audio narration. Screencasts can optionally include video (like ‘talking head video’ of the presenter) and/or telestrator (‘John Madden pen’) annotations.
Narrated slideshows include audio recordings synchronized to images, but do not include hand-drawn annotations.

Admittedly, Wes is distinguishing between different types of enhanced podcasts that are now made easy with mobile devices. I was delighted to play around with Sonic Pics ($2.99). You can see it in action via their web site.

The Send to My Computer screen you see via your web site.

I recorded the narrated art podcast sitting in a rocking chair at home and it was very different process than sitting in front of a computer...the workflow was simply easier and closer to a comfortable "conversation" with an unseen audience (it was either that comfy chair or I was just tuckered out at the end of the day!). Here's the enhanced podcast of my first creation.

The export options--how you get your enhanced podcast out of Sonic Pics and somewhere you can share it--include the following:

• Send to My Computer - This allows your iPad to set itself up as a server you can connect to via a local IP address so you can save a copy from your web browser. It's a cinch to do and other programs are increasingly allowing you to do this. The file you download is a m4v, which I found a pain to share with other folks.
• YouTube - Although publishing to YouTube is nice, it's not my favorite option.
• Email - Great for smaller creations.
• Save to Library - This is my favorite since I can save it to my iPad, then transfer it via iFiles or WebDavNav to a server. More importantly, the video file is compressed to an MOV. 

Some examples of creations with Sonic Pics:

• The Beach (via Wes Fryer's Playing with Media)
• Teaching Old Stuff with New Tricks
• iPad App Organization (2nd video)
• Lisa Johnson (TechChef4u) on Digital Artifacts with Sonic Pics
• Writing Example (removed)
• TechTool of the Week

Thanks to AllanahK for the tip about Sonic Pics ($2.99)!