Standard analogue recording methods are still in use in many contexts and their products are important and versatile media for the distribution of educational content, see Alternative Methods of Communicating Voter Eduction. However, the emergence of digital recording means that an entirely new world of production, editing and distribution has emerged.
As with many new innovations, costs of entry and production have come down, and in some cases materials can be produced or reproduced adequately for educational use in individual and small group settings on office or home computers equipped with the necessary peripherals such as microphones, digital cameras and digital recorders. The ability to sample professionally produced materials – clips of films, stills, music excerpts and so on - editing these into productions developed in one or other digital format – from the ubiquitous power point (or similar presentation software) through to the various sound and moving image formats – has liberated the means of production from production houses.
Educators have to be aware however of copyright and software licence issues; of mistakenly thinking that an adequate production can be done by untrained people - owning desktop publishing software does not make a person capable of designing a publication – and of underestimating the costs of software support and staff time for inhouse production. Nevertheless, a new world is opening up.
Having acquired or developed digital materials for use as supporting educational materials in a larger curriculum, or relying on them as the primary educational tool, there are new opportunities for distribution.
Audio materials
There has been a boom in personal audio devices. The most successfully marketed is the Ipod, but it is only one of a number of devices designed for storing and playing audio material at the user’s discretion. Made for music, these devices are now doubling as storage devices for large files, and there is an increasing trend towards users downloading material specially prepared and made available on websites. Known as podcasting – although not confined necessarily to this particular brand – materials have now been produced in the form of weekly radio magazines, museum guides, and audio blogs or diaries on current events.
As these devices become more generally available, or can be given at low cost to travelling educators, they can be plugged into public address systems and provide a relatively seamless interface between those producing material, loading it onto a website, having it downloaded at any remote location and then having the material played to an audience of one or more people at a time of their choosing.
Video materials
Similar devices are arriving on the market capable of displaying still or moving images. However, these are more expensive. More appropriate for the distribution of video materials is the increasingly available DVD. Recording equipment for digital video disks is now readily available.
Cellphones / mobile telephones
Manufacturers of mobile telephones are using the combination of software and hardware developments to enable their telephones to double as digital devices, and to act as radio receivers. However, commercial imperatives have meant that their development is driven in favour of encouraging users to download material directly through wireless connections and to stay connected while listening, viewing or sending.
For the educator, this means creating separate (at the moment) arrangements for distributing materials to those who use mobile telephones.
