Mix and Mashups - Assignment 5

I was quite looking forward to this weeks topic of podcasts, always fancied myself in broadcasting, So what did I discover about podcasts.
According to Rodney B Murray - Web 2.0 and Podcasting: Implications for Health Care. Podcasting involves the recording of audio programs that are then made available for download from a website.
This article then gave three scenarios.

Scenario 1 was about the student John who had to leave a lecture early but was able to catch up later by downloading the lecture and listening to it in his own time. I found this quite amusing, have we really reached the point where students no longer have to attend lectures, can learn when they want and with no consideration for planning and team work. And what abut the lecturers – can we begin to replace them with a video/podcast recorded at the beginning of a term that will suffice for the whole course. Education institutions of all sorts may be beginning to make course content available as podcasts and this may make sure everyone has access but this is really all that matters, when do social skills, respect and debate get practiced.

Scenario 2 - The clinician on the other hand has a valid reason for using podcasts for CME – I know the importance of CME and that a clinicians spare time is limited – so this seems an excellent way to keep up to date. Might be a little anti social but then who really wants to hold a conversation with fellow travelers.

Scenario 3 - The patient scenario I find a little unbelievable. Yes I agree that some patients might be quite averse with i-pod technology and might appreciate the information they are given but the people I know, the average patient still has trouble with talking to a person (doctor or nurse) surely giving them a piece of technology that they are probably phobic about anyway is only going to add to their stress levels and what about the personal touch, how can an i-pod vid cast help alleviate their anxiety – inform them of what is going to happen yes( providing they watch it and they want to know anyway) but answer their questions with compassion – no.

My dreams of being the next Fern Britton have now been quashed – I don’t want to broadcast information as a replacement for the personal touch, how can I be sure the viewer won’t just turn the sound down to ignore me.
Mashups on the other hand I find a little more difficult to get to grips with. In An Introduction to mashups for Health Librarians by Allan Choo his explanation is that mashups was a term used in pop music by artists and Disc Jockeys when two songs were remixed and played at the same time and that web experts have borrowed the term when two or more software tools are merged – is this a good comparison I ask, Have you heard some of those remixes? Can’t really get my head round the need to mix together 2 web applications – isn’t this already available as a link on a blog and if it’s different I’m afraid the difference has not yet registered with me.