EOTO Technology Presentation Response

All of the EOTO presentations taught me things about certain technologies that I tend to rely on. However, the one that stood out to me the most was about podcasts. As time has passed in college, my schedule has gotten busier year by year. Because of this, I rarely have time to do some of the leisurely things like reading or watching tv or. Due to this, I have turned to podcasts. Podcasts are an effective way to obtain information while multitasking. I tend to listen to podcasts when driving, walking to class, or doing homework. Podcasting has risen in popularity in the recent years and has expanded in theme and topic, and subject matter can range from news topics to comedy or entertainment. 

            When watching the presentation of one of my classmates, I learned several key facts about the origins and progress of podcasting. First, I learned about podcasting’s increase in popularity in just the last month (over 115 million Americans have listened to a podcast in the past month). I was aware of the popularity, but I was surprised by just how much of an increase it was. Secondly, I learned what constitutes a podcast to be deemed as such. I was surprised to find out that the media used in a podcast must be formatted a specific way to be readable on a computer and therefor, considered a podcast. Lastly, I learned the etymology of the word “podcast”. This may seem minor, but I was surprised to learn that the word is a combination of the words “iPod” and “broadcast”. This, in my opinion makes perfect sense as the podcast came to fruition in the early 2000s when the iPod was a product in high demand. Overall, it was nice to learn key facts about a technology that I am fond of.