Podcasts - An Emerging Form of Digital Publishing

Podcasting has recently emerged as an important information technology tool for health professionals and consumers around the world. Prestigious journals, international conferences, universities and government agencies among other entities are starting to publish digital information via audio and video podcasts. Podcasting is distinguished from other forms of digital audio-video content because it can be subscribed to (using Real Simple Syndication or RSS) and easily accessed from a personal computer. Further, it can be downloaded to a mobile device, such as an iPod where the user is able to listen to or watch it anywhere, anytime. Podcasting is used in new and evolving ways to publish information for healthcare education, patient care, professional continuing education, and in support of healthcare research. In addition to a description of what podcasting is, how podcasts are created, and how they are used, this paper addresses four critical issues that are emerging concerning podcasts. These issues are intellectual property and copyright, podcast preservation, podcast location, and podcast standards. As podcasting matures and new uses are discovered, we will see podcasting incorporated into our education, research and patient care publication paradigm. Keywords: podcasting, information technology, mobile technology, digital documentation