Category: ClassCaster

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Announcing Classcaster.net: BYO Classcaster System

After fiddling with Classcaster for a year and a half, I’ve finally gotten around to launching Classcaster.net as a site for Classcaster developers and those interested in building their own Classcaster system. The site includes detailed instructions for putting Classcaster together, links to info about Classcaster and a forum to discuss the deployment and use of Classcaster.

Please note that this is not intended to be an end user support site, but rather a site for those interested in deploying their own Classcaster system or learning more about how Classcaster works.

So, if your interested in running your own blogging, podcasting empire, this is a good place to start.

Classcaster is a course blogging system that provides faculty, librarians, and staff with a new way to interact with students and communities. A Classcaster blog provides authors with tools for posting not only traditional blog articles but also tools for podcasting and sharing any documents and/or files with students and communities.

CALI‘s implementation of Classcaster is here. It is a thriving blogging and podcasting network and community with over 50 active bloggers and almost 2000 hours of podcasts that cover a wide range of subjects taught in law schools across the country.

John Mayer and I will be giving a presentation on Classcaster at Educause on 10/11/06, so if you’re in Dallas, do drop by.

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U of Chicago Admissions Blog: More Schools Needs These

It’s on the Web at http://uchicagolaw.typepad.com/adayinthelife/.”Ninety percent of our applications last year were filed electronically,” said Ann K. Perry, assistant dean for admis-sions. “These applicants are just online all the time.”So the new blog is a recruiting tool, “another way for us to communicate with the prospective students in a way that they like and enjoy.”

University of Chicago Law School > News 09.22.2006: More on the New Admissions Blog

More and more schools need to be doing this sort of thing.  Yes, you can use Classcaster for an admissions blog.  Since law students and future law students are spending more and more time online, all facets of your law school better have a live and dynamic presence online too.  The old updated once a year by changing 2005 to 2006 approach to websites is just not going to work very much longer.  You need to be out there, putting fresh material on the site weekly if not more often, using RSS, podcasts, forums, even chat sessions to connect with students and future students.  Classcaster can provide a platform for lots of this.  Or use some other solution.  It doesn’t really matter what hammer you use, just drive that nail:)  You law school will be better for it.

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Is Flash Getting VOIP Extentions?

And now Adobe Systems wants to replicate its success in video space in the Voice over the Internet (VoIP) arena, making it easy to embed voice into web applications. GigaOM has learnt of a secret start-up project currently being incubated by the $1.9 billion in annual sales software giant. Some members of this startup come from the Macromedia Breeze (now called Acrobat Connect Professional) conferencing group. (Breeze is a Flash based web-conferencing system, much like WebEx.) Though less than a year old, the start-up has started to attract some serious VoIP talent.

GigaOM » Flash In The VoIP Pan

Man, if htis is true, the implications for Classcaster could be incredible. I’ve really wanted to add the capabilty to record and podcast over the web in a reliable fashion. Right now I think that using Asterisk as the base for podcastiong would be a key, but recording SIP or any other VOIP over the web is not for the faint-hearted.

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Even Deans Blog on Classcaster

DeanWuBlog – Dean Frank Wu of Wayne State University Law School has been gearing up for the new law school academic year with his own Classcaster blog. No podcasts yet, but we are hopeful. It is refreshing to here from a Dean directly on matters such as faculty appointments. I do hope that other Deans round and about take notice and cruise on over to Classcaster setup their own blogs.

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CA Western SOL Debuts Weekly Podcast

“Although a handful of other law schools use podcasts for lectures and speaker events, we believe California Western is the first law school to offer a weekly news commentary,” said David Bowers

California Western Podcast: Law in 10, Your Weekly Legal Analysis, Debuts

Well, Classcaster has podcasts from about 3 dozen law faculty representing some 30 schools.  The Classcaster podcast network includes over 1250 podcasts totaling nearly 1500 hours of lecture and commentary from law faculty and librarians.  Not bad since Classcaster turns 1 year old this week.

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Dave Discovers Writely’s Metaweblog API Support

Scripting News: 8/26/2006 – It’s been there from early on, I first tried it in pre-Google days. However there is an issue about how it handles the post date information which is to say not very well. I have not been able to get it successfully post correct info either to WordPress or Lifetype blogs. It actually shares this in common with MSFT Live Writer which exhibits the same date mangling feature. I can’t say for sure what the probelm is, but having written a number of client implementations using the Metaweblog API in PHP and Perl I can say I haven’t had any problems with dates when I just follow the spec. I hope that at some point both products fix this issue since I would love to recommend either or both as alternative editors for the growing Classcaster system.

BTW, this post is being written with Flock, which gets the dates right.

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Is Classcaster CLE Worthy?

I recently received the latest update from West LegalEdcenter regarding the recent additions to their online CLE (continuing legal education) programs. The message featured the following:

Award Winning ‘Justice Talking’ Programs
from NPR Now Available on West LegalEdcenter

NPR’s award-winning ‘Justice Talking’ programs are now available for CLE credit at West LegalEdcenter! Created by the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania, and hosted by veteran NPR reporter Margot Adler, the series features an entertaining and educational mix of voices and opinions from the nation’s leading advocates, legal scholars, and policymakers.

Select from a list of more than 25 recent ‘Justice Talking’ programs or choose our featured program, recorded earlier this month.

Of course I followed the link.  It took me a page offering to sell me downloadable versions of NPR’s Justice Talking series for $60 a piece.  $60!  Just listen to this and receive CLE credit in 19 states.  Wow!  I then decided to delve a bit.  I surfed over to the Justice Talking site and found the very same episodes available for free download.  Of course just downloading them doesn’t mean you can get the credit:)  That would be too easy.

Anyway, I gave a listen to the free NPR downloads and it occured to me that there is not a lot of difference between Justice Talking and some of the podcasts on Classcaster.  So what if we licensed the podcasts on Classcaster to awest for use in CLE?  Of course only with permission of the authors.  Something to think about.

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Classcaster: What's the Catch?

At this year’s CALI Conference for Law School Computing® and as a result of John’s talks at SubTech 2005 and AALS I’ve been fielding a lot of questions about Classcaster. Most take the form of something like “I’ve tried Classcaster and it really seems to work great but what about…” and then I’m asked about things like “is it really free”, “will it keep running”, “does the telephone interface always work”, “is this something CALI will continue to support”, “is there a limit on disk space” and so forth. I’m going to answer these questions and more in this post and then spread it around so folks have something to reference.

The format will be a sort of mini FAQ. There is a support FAQ for Classcaster here, but it doesn’t clearly address some of these basic questions. Here goes.

  • Is Classcaster really free? Will it stay that way?
  • Yes, Classcaster is available as a free service to the faculty, librarians, and staff of over 200 CALI member schools. Classcaster has quickly become a core service of CALI and as such will remain free of charge to members for the foreseeable future.
  • Will Classcaster continue to be supported by CALI?
    • Yes. As I mentioned above Classcaster is key part of our plans for the future and is a central service provided by CALI to our members. As such we will continue to support Classcaster into the future.
  • Is there a limit on disk space a person or school can use on Classcaster?
    • No, at this time we are not limiting disk an author or school can use on Classcaster. We monitor disk space closely and the system is expandable enough that we can easily add disk space as it is needed. Podcasts, posts, and other documents stored on Classcaster will be available there into the future.
  • Does the telephone recording to podcasting feature really work consistently?
    • Yes. Most of John’s interviews with the faculty podcasters of the Legal Education Podcasting Project were recorded using the telephone recording and auto-podcasting features of Classcaster. For the most part the system performed well. Of course there is only one phone line at the moment, so you may get a busy signal, but you can just try again later. We are looking into expanding the number of available phone lines on the system.
  • I would really like all of the faculty at my school to use Classcaster. Will the system support all X faculty (where X is some number)?
    • Sure. The Classcaster blogging system should easily support several hundred bloggers and podcasters. As the system grows we will expand its storage and processing capabilities to make sure that it will provide your communities with access. The telephone to podcast part of the system has only one phone line at the moment, so you may get a busy signal, but you can just try again later. We are looking into expanding the number of available phone lines on the system.
  • Can I customize Classcaster’s look and feel, invite colleagues to contribute to the blog, and have more than one blog?
    • Yes, yes, and yes. All of these features are available. Please review the Classcaster FAQ for details.
  • Can I create a blog for our Library? Admissions Office? Career Services?
    • Yes. Folks from member schools are free to create blogs so long as the blogs are related to the function of the law school. Blogs of a personal nature are beyond the scope of Classcaster.
  • I’m not really interested in podcasting, but would like to have blog, may I use Classcaster?
    • Yes. We know not everyone is interested in podcasting, but may like to try blogging. By all means, try Classcaster.

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    Dave's Podcasting Directory is Reborn

    podcasting.opml.org – Dave Winer has announced the rebirth of his OPML-based podcasting directory.  It occurs to me that we need to create a directory to capture the ever increasing number ofpodcasters using Classcaster.  The challenge we face with Classcaster is creating a meaningful taxonomy that allows folks to find the podcasts and podcasters they are looking for.

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    Gizmo + Asterisk = SIP Classcaster for All?

    Now with new Asterisk support, Gizmo Project allows you to simultaneously log in to your Gizmo Project account, and another SIP-based server such as the popular Asterisk PBX, Switchvox, epygi, or others. You can then receive incoming calls or make outgoing calls through either service.

    Gizmo – A free phone for your computer -Advanced Features – Dual Login

    The theory here wuld be that you could use the Gizmo SIPphone to call Classcaster and record a podcast.  THis may provide an interesting angle to get some notice for Classcaster.

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