PDFs as Podcasts; Summer, 2008 Creative Commons License by Dr. Tim Tyson at drTimTyson.com page 1 of 6

At this point everyone is fairly familiar with the PDF, a document type that is pervasively

used in business and education. So, let’s begin by exploring answers to our fundamental

question.

Why would you want to publish a PDF as a podcast?

• PDFs will look the very same on any computer on which they are viewed. Even when

the end user doesn’t have the same fonts on his or her machine, the fonts will look

exactly like the ones you used.  For example:  In this document I am using the

Helvetica Neue font, which you may not have installed in your system.  But you still see

the font perfectly.  The layout of the document also appears the same on any machine,

Mac or Windows.

• The end user, the reader, does not have to have the same program you used to create

the document on his/her machine in order to open and read the document just as you

created it.  I used the latest version of Pages to create this document, but you do not

have to have the latest version of Pages on your computer to read this PDF.  The end

user only needs to have the free Adobe Acrobat Reader, Mac or Windows, for the

computer being used to view the document.  Old and new computers both almost

always come with Adobe Acrobat Reader already installed on them.  In fact, I’ve never

seen a computer that didn’t have Acrobat Reader already on it.  But, if the machine you

are using doesn’t already have Acrobat Reader installed, you can download the

program for free at this link (click to visit): http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/

• Creating a PDF of any document that can be printed is incredibly easy on a Mac.  The

next section will present a step-by-step, how-to for Mac users.

• Unlike audio or video podcasts, a PDF can be quickly and easily searched for specific

content.

The PDF PodcastAn overview of publishing PDFs, a common rich document type, as

syndicated podcasts to which users may subscribe

InsideCreating a PDF...

Step-by-step directions on how to

create a PDF from any application

on a Mac

Pg. 2

Creating a PDF of a Keynote

Presentation

Step-by-step directions on how to

create a PDF from Keynote, Apple’s

version of PowerPoint

Pg. 3

RSS and Your PDF

How to include the PDF in your

podcast RSS feed so the PDF you

have created will automatically be

delivered to your subscribers

Pg. 4

Your Podcast Blog

Reasons you should have a

podcast blog and special

considerations for the podcast blog

Pg. 4

Organization Matters

Some important thoughts on how

to organize your podcast server

folders

Pg. 5

PDFs as Podcasts Issue; Summer, 2008

Special Delivery

PDFs as Podcasts; Summer, 2008 Creative Commons License by Dr. Tim Tyson at drTimTyson.com page 2 of 6

The PDF Podcast (cont.)

• Podcasts are basically content that you are pushing

out (publishing) to your audience through an RSS

feed.  Now, in addition to publishing audio and video

content that automatically goes to those who have

subscribed to your content, you can publish printed

material in PDF format that is automatically delivered to

your subscribing audience.

• You do not bear the cost of printing the PDF before

distributing the document.  Therefore, you can create

beautiful, full color layouts with little concern about post

production cost. 

• PDF podcasts can be stored and organized in iTunes, a “filing

system” your students already know and understand.  By using the same

album name for all of your related PDF podcasts, for example:  Calculus

101, or The Mighty Marching Band, iTunes will group those related PDF

podcasts together and make them easy for your students, parents, and staff

to find.

- For example:  If I taught three subjects, I could use the field for the

album name for each subject’s name and use my name as the artist’s

name.  If a student searches iTunes by artist name, all of my subjects’

PDFs will be found.  If a student searches by album name, just the

PDFs for a specific course I teach will be found.

- Performing arts teachers could do the same for audio and PDF

podcasts of concerts.  The album name could be each concert’s name: 

Fall Jamboree, Winter Holidays, Spring Festival.  The artist name could

be the name of each performance group.  The grouping field could be

the school’s name.  And the year would reflect the performance date or

school year.  This structure creates a comprehensive archive of your

students’ performances, including “liner notes” and photos from

concerts throughout your teaching career.

• I hope your imagination is running wild with ways to use this in your work. 

Below is a short list of examples you might want to consider for PDF

podcasts:

- You could publish a school magazine or newsletter that is automatically

“mailed” (through RSS syndication, not email) to your subscribers all

around the world.

- You can include your complete course syllabus, the staff handbook,

board policy manual, or standard reference materials you have created

Creating a PDF...

is really easy on a Mac:

• To create a PDF of a document, no matter what program you are using, you will always begin by clicking on “File” in the menu bar at the top (left) of the screen.

• Select “Print…”

• At the bottom left side of the Print dialogue sheet (pictured above), click on “PDF”

• Click on “Save as PDF…”

- Advanced users (über geeks) will notice you have a number of interesting options in this drop down list! Play with them to see what they do.

• In the next window, you will:

- Name your document

- Choose a location where the document will be saved. (Remember to take just a moment to use your routine digital organization strategy so you can quickly and easily find this file at any time in the future.)

• Add any keywords that will help you and your audience search for the file later, even after it is published.

• Click on “Save”. That’s all.

Your print dialogue sheet will probably look a little different from the one pictured above as you probably have a different printer. But the overall look of the dialogue sheet will be very similar.

PDFs as Podcasts; Summer, 2008 Creative Commons License by Dr. Tim Tyson at drTimTyson.com page 3 of 6

The PDF Podcast (cont.)

as a PDF podcast.  Not only does everyone now know

exactly where to find them, your RSS feed, you can also

create an audio podcast to accompany the PDF so you

can personalize and stress various items you feel are

important.  “Be sure you look carefully at the attendance

policy on page sixty-three.  Notice specifically that…”

- You could have a PDF version of the concert program

handed out at the event or performance notes or the “CD

booklet or insert” that accompanies an audio podcast of a

school concert.  You could publish song lyrics, album art,

album notes, photos of the concert event, guitar tabs…

just about anything you can imagine.  If you can print it or

display it as a still image on a computer screen, you can

publish it as a PDF podcast.

- You could provide step-by-step instructions for a lab

experiment or complex math solution.  In an

accompanying audio podcast, the listener can follow along

visually while listening to the audio description in which you

may expand on various steps or, conversely, only provide

an overview to the detailed printed material.

- You can provide more detailed support information in a

PDF, including links to websites or other pages in the PDF

as I have done in this document.

- You can create PDF podcasts of PowerPoint or Keynote

presentations from class.

Creating a PDF of a Keynote Presentation

(Keynote is Apple’s version of PowerPoint)

• First method: Follow the steps listed in

the sidebar on page 2. As you can see,

this is really easy.

• Second method: If you want some

additional control over the finished PDF, for

example, if you wanted a separate page as

each bullet point in your presentation build

appears, you would:

- Click on “File” in the top left menu of Keynote

- Click on “Export…”

- Click on “PDF” in the list across the top of the window as pictured below.

- Select the options you want.

- Click “Next…”

- Select a location for the PDF file.

- Click on “Export”

• You have additional export options as well. Explore these.

They appear under the “File” menu when you click on

“Export…” as pictured below.

Creating a Podcast of a Keynote Presentation

You have several options for creating a podcast from a Keynote

presentation or a PowerPoint. These are presented in the

Podcasting workshop. But, for the over achievers in this session,

click on “Images” from the Export dialogue sheet pictured below.

Use these images in GarageBand to create your podcast. Or, you

could make a ScreenFlow while you actually give the presentation

and export that document in any number of video formats to

upload to the web as a podcast.

PDFs as Podcasts; Summer, 2008 Creative Commons License by Dr. Tim Tyson at drTimTyson.com page 4 of 6

RSS and Your PDFHow do you include the PDF in your podcast RSS feed so

the PDF you have created will automatically be delivered to

your subscribers anywhere in the world?

The power of the RSS feed: anyone in the world can subscribe to your

content. When a user decides to subscribe, every time you publish new

content, a blog post or a podcast for example, that content is automatically

sent to the subscriber. In the case of podcasts, the podcast file can be

automatically downloaded onto the subscriber’s computer and mp3 player,

iPod, or iPhone. PDF podcasts can be downloaded and viewed on a

computer, an iPod Touch, and the iPhone.

This process will require a bit of “geeky stuff” but is really not that difficult,

especially if you use a little program to write the RSS file for you. Listed below

is an overview of the steps, which will be presented in more detail later:

1. Create the PDF (as described on page 3).

2. Upload your PDF to your server.

- Some important advice on staying organized: I strongly recommend

keeping your server very organized. Personally, I would have a specific

“pdf” folder for all of my PDF podcast files. I would create this folder

inside of a folder named “podcast_enclosures”. In addition to the “pdf”

folder, I would also have these folders in the “podcast_enclosures”

folder: “audio”, “enhanced”, “screencast”, and “video” for each of the

other types of podcast files. This organization structure may seem a bit

tedious as you begin, but trust me, as you collect hundreds of podcast

files of all different kinds over the years, the organization begins to pay

off quickly when you want to find a specific podcast file months after

you created it. One additional organization hint: always use consistent

naming conventions. For example: “2007_Algebra_Syllabus”,

“2008_Algebra_Syllabus”, “2007_Algebra_DistributiveProperty”,

“2007_Algebra_OrderOperations”.

- Remember, you can not go back and create these folders after you

have already begun publishing your podcast RSS feed without having to

correct all of the links associated with every single file you relocate on

your server! Decide on your organization strategy before you publish

your first podcast.

Your Podcast Blog

Consider creating and consistently using a blog

that is specifically reserved for your podcasts.

Having a dedicated podcast blog not only gives

you a central place to showcase your work and the

work of your students, but such a central blog

builds a sense of identity and user community. In

Web 2.0, the sense of social community is

important to users. In education we value the

learning community.

Design your podcast blog to positively emotionally

connect your learners to your curriculum. Not only

is this easy to do with little effort, it is fun for you,

too!

Additionally, having consumers create and share

their products in the social community adds value

to the knowledge-based economic model of Web

2.0. For example: Think flickr! The flickr users are

the ones creating the value for that company, not

Yahoo! Think about appropriate ways you, as an

educator, can allow your students to contribute to

the value of your learning community, for example:

post exemplary student podcasts that promote

learning objectives, allow students to submit pre-

approved posts you publish to the blog about your

podcast series.

And finally, don’t overlook using your dedicated

podcast series blog to provide information about

each lesson, each podcast: links to sites

mentioned in the podcast, support material, related

podcasts or blogs.

PDFs as Podcasts; Summer, 2008 Creative Commons License by Dr. Tim Tyson at drTimTyson.com page 5 of 6

RSS and Your PDF (cont.)

3. Create your RSS feed file (or edit it each time you publish a podcast so the

RSS feed file will include all of the required information about the new

podcast you are adding to your podcast series).

4. Upload your new or newly edited RSS feed file.

You Will Need These Tools:

• Permission (space on the server, a UserID and Password) from the server

administrator to access the server and upload files to the space (folder) you

are given on the server

• An FTP program to upload your files to your server

• A text editor to write the RSS feed file

- For Mac users, I highly recommend Feeder* (http://

reinventedsoftware.com/feeder/).  The program is very inexpensive for

what it does.  Feeder will do the last two things listed above for you: 

work as your FTP program to upload your PDF podcasts (and any type

of podcast files) and your RSS feed file.  It will even write the RSS feed

file for you (and a whole lot more–like placing your feed on iTunes, for

example!).  All you need to do is fill in the information it requests. 

Writing an RSS feed file is not an easy task for the mere mortal.  Unlike

HTML, XML, the language used for the RSS feed file, will not work if you

make a single, tiny mistake.  Unless you are comfortable writing

computer code, you will probably need a program that will make writing

this file error-free and as easy as possible.

• The final “tool” you will need will be patience as you learn some new and

initially foreign terms and concepts.

The Process Using Feeder:After downloading Feeder, you must work with your server administrator to

configure the program to run in conjunction with your server.  You cannot do

this yourself unless you are the server administrator.  Configuring Feeder (or

any such utility) to work with your server is the most complicated part of this

entire process.  But, the good news is that you only have to configure Feeder

one time.  For that point forward, using the program is very easy and fast.  And

configuring Feeder will not be difficult for your server administrator.  Server

administrators know and understand these server-related things.

I recommend organizing your server space neatly so as your collection of

podcasts grows, you always know where everything is.  I use a separate folder

for all of my images, which I just simply name “i”; and a second folder for all of

my podcast enclosures (the actual podcast files such as PDF podcasts, audio-

Organization Matters Staying organized is among the most important things you can do. Over time you and your students will be creating more and more digital assets that will be uploaded to your server space. If you are creating a screencast, for example, of your daily classroom instruction, which is really very easy to do and requires only a couple of extra minutes of your time each day (literally), you could easily have over 150 screencast by the end of the first year alone! Being organized before you start will become critically important! If you move your podcasts, PDFs, and screencast files on your server after you have already posted them, you will have to change every web address that refers to each of those moved files–if not impossible, certainly a tedious and time consuming task at best. Perhaps you will want to consider organizing your server space as below:

• Your Podcasts Folder on the Server

• index.xml (your RSS Feed file located here at the root level of your server space)

• teacher_podcasts (FOLDER)

• audio_podcasts (FOLDER)

• enhanced_podcasts (FOLDER)

• pdfs (FOLDER)

• screencasts (FOLDER)

• video_podcasts (FOLDER)

• student_podcasts (FOLDER)

• audio_podcasts (FOLDER)

• enhanced_podcasts (FOLDER)

• pdfs (FOLDER)

• screencasts (FOLDER)

• video_podcasts (FOLDER)

• i (FOLDER for all image files)

Within each folder consider consistently using a file naming convention that will best help you stay organized. As an example:

YEAR-LESSON NUMBER-TOPIC:2008_Lesson008_SubjectVerbAgreement

By using preceding zeros, as shown above, the lessons will stay in numeric order in your folder. If you do not use preceding zeros Lesson8 would probably appear after Lesson79 and not after Lesson7!

The system you design must work for you. Once you start, just be consistent.

PDFs as Podcasts; Summer, 2008 Creative Commons License by Dr. Tim Tyson at drTimTyson.com page 6 of 6

*As of the time of this writing, I am in no way affiliated with any of the products (or the companies who make them) I am recommending. I do not receive any benefit from anyone purchasing or using any of these products. My recommendations are solely based on my experience as a paying user of these products.

In all probability, similar products may exist that may provide a similar user experience to my experiences with the products I have recommended. If you have related products you highly recommend, (Windows or Mac) feel free to email me about them at tim@drtimtyson.com. I may well include them in any future updates of this document.

Finally, beyond the information in this document, I do not provide any form of support for your using any of these products or related products.

This work is provided under a Creative Commons, Attribution, Noncommercial, 3.0 Unported License. All use of content from this work must be credited to Dr. Tim Tyson at drTimTyson.com.

RSS and Your PDF (cont.)

only podcasts, enhanced podcasts, and video podcasts) which I name “podcast_enclosures”.  I place my RSS feed file, which many people

name “index.xml” at the root level of the space given to me by the server administrator.

So if you looked in the folder on the server that is given to me by the server administrator for my “stuff,” you would see three things:  a file

called “index.xml,” and two folders:  “i” for my picture files, and “podcast_enclosures” for all of the podcast files.  Using this structure, when

you work with your server administrator to configure Feeder, among other things, you will tell Feeder to put all of your pictures in “i” and all

of your podcast files in “podcast_enclosures.”  You will also tell Feeder to put your RSS feed file at the root level.  Don’t worry, if you don’t

understand this, your server administrator will.

After configuring Feeder, simply follow the instructions provided with Feeder to write your first RSS feed file and upload your first podcast. 

Each time you create a new podcast of any kind, you will add it to Feeder and publish.  When you publish, Feeder will upload your podcast

and update your RSS feed file so all of your subscribers can download the new podcast automatically.  The first time or two you may need

the moral support of your server administrator or tech support person, but you will quickly become very comfortable uploading new

podcasts and updating your RSS feed file.  Again, once the configuration is completed, the process becomes really easy.

The Process Without Using Feeder:

Even if you do not plan to use Feeder, I would recommend downloading it (free trial) and using it to create and save your first feed file on

your desktop. Then, using your text editor from that point on, “reverse engineer” your feed as you add podcasts. Using this process, you

will need a text editor (word processors will not work) and an FTP program. If you don’t know what those are, use Feeder!

drTimTyson.comPDFs as Podcasts Issue; Summer, 2008

send your feedback to: tim@drTimTyson.com

Don’t forget to

host your podcast

series at the

iTunes Store. It’s

free! It’s easy. In

fact, with Feeder,

it’s only one

additional click

when you create a

new feed!