Creating Content

Creating content is not old hat. In about four weeks time, my two classes went from 0 to light speed in the blogosphere (without violating any relevant theories of relativity) focusing mainly on curating content. This is important in the brave new world. But what about content creation?

We have spent quite a bit of time on the importance of writing a good lede and how it is even more important on the web. It is my firm belief that lede writing is the #1 skill any new media journalist needs to learn. But the web is more than words. It is a rich world of rich media.

It is here than many of my students have an untapped resource. They are, for the most part, students of media production. They shoot documentaries, have radio shows, and work in traditional broadcast studios. So let’s get this stuff out there.

We talked about RSS last time. That happens to be the same stuff that makes podcasting work. You produce content and people subscribe.

For podcasting noobs, I strongly recommend sticking to audio. Why? Because it is easier and cheaper. You don’t have to worry about lighting and the editing software for audio is lighter weight than a video editing suite. 

There are many good resources to learn about creating audio, what microphones to use and all the tech stuff. Over the next few posts, we will look at some fairly high-level prosumer methods of audio creation.

The great part of content creation nowadays is a lot could be done with a little. Think this is just some more tech evangelist BS? Well, I co-produce Sustainable Times, a weekly “radio” show available exclusively on the web and on iTunes. That show has three producers–one in Albany, NY, one in New Paltz, NY and myself in Edison, NJ. I use Apple’s Soundtrack Pro, but the NY producers use a free program called Audacity,a laptop and an USB microphone.

The technological barrier to content creation has greatly been lowered over the past few years. Check out some of the resources mentioned in this article and produce some audio. In my next few posts, I’ll show how you can turn your audio into a bona fide podcast with validated RSS.