"[The] question is how to be ready for a new world of reporting and commentary by Internet rules."
Christopher Lydon
The first decade of the twenty-first century has seen a proliferation in new communications technology. It is now possible to watch a favorite television show on a laptop, read a newspaper on a cell phone, or listen to a radio broadcast on an MP3 player. The evolution of the podcast is one more important development.
A podcast is a digital audio or video file, distributed automatically to a subscribed user. That user can then listen to or view the file on a mobile device such as a personal computer, MP3 player, or cell phone. The podcaster first creates a "show"—usually a video or MP3 audio file—and then an RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feed file that points to where the podcast can be found. The receiver uses "aggregator" software to subscribe; this periodically checks the RSS feed to see if content exists or new content has been added, and then downloads that content automatically.
The term itself was coined by British technology writer Ben Hammersley in 2004, from the words "iPod" and "broadcast." Although former New York Times reporter and radio broadcaster Christopher Lydon (b. 1940) is often cited as creating the first true podcasts, much credit also belongs to background innovators such as Dave Winer (b. 1955), who developed the RSS syndication feed that enabled Lydon's blogs—a series of cutting-edge interviews— to achieve automated widespread distribution.
