Podcasting for e-learning,communication, and delivery

J.P. Shim and Jordan ShropshireMississippi State University, Starkville, Mississippi, USA

Sungmin Park and Howard HarrisDepartment of Information Systems, Computing of Maths,

Brunel University, Uxbridge, UK, and

Natalie CampbellMississippi State University, Starkville, Mississippi, USA

Abstract

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of podcasting and webcasting, and toexamine student preferences between the different delivery richness of communication media.

Design/methodology/approach – Background information regarding podcasting and webcastingis discussed. A conceptual model, based on media richness theory, is developed to explain student’sperceptions. For the testing of the model, a survey metric is introduced, and a research methodology isexplained. Finally, a conclusion and research limitations are discussed.

Findings – The conceptual model of the motivations to use podcasting was adopted frommedia richness theory. It was proposed that six factors are related to future media use; immediacyof feedback, personal focus, transmission of cues, functionality, usability, and ease of use.The methodology relied heavily on logistic regression analysis for testing the various hypotheses. Theauthors collected data for hypothesis testing. The results of the study were inconclusive. This maybe due to the lack of user experience with podcasting.

Research limitations/implications – Some instructors have even adopted such techniques astheir primary means (within the classroom or outside classroom) of communicating to students.However, the selection of appropriate communication media requires an understanding of thestudents’ perceptions, preferences and receptiveness of these new technologies.

Practical implications – The findings from this exploratory research will be valuable forpodcasting users.

Originality/value – This study is the first kind of empirical research in this area. With this study,the authors examined the perceived value of podcasting.

Keywords E-learning, Information media, Communication

Paper type Research paper

1. IntroductionThe delivery of information and instruction has been improved by technologicaldevelopments. Past studies (Callahan et al., 2000) prove that traditional lectures can beone of the least effective methods of teaching. Studies suggest a multimedia repetition,combined with instructor-led guidance would improve learning retention and

The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at

www.emeraldinsight.com/0263-5577.htm

This paper is based on partial portion of a manuscript: “Perceived Value of Podcasting: StudentCommunication – Medium Preferences” by J.P. Shim, Jordan Shropshire, Sungmin Park, HowardHarris, Natalie Campbell, which was presented at the Americas Conference on InformationSystems, 2006.

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Industrial Management & DataSystems

Vol. 107 No. 4, 2007pp. 587-600

q Emerald Group Publishing Limited0263-5577

DOI 10.1108/02635570710740715

acquisition (Braun, 2002; Garcia-Morales and Llorens-Montes, 2006; Littman, 1995;Pagell, 1996; Smagt, 2000).

Recently, the internet has provided an ideal medium to deliver learning material, asdigital content that exists in databases can be manipulated by a range of programmingservices. However, web development has been hampered by bandwidth and difficultiesof “back end integration”. Consequently, the impact of the web to date has concentratedupon the presentational aspects of data and user interfaces (Yang and Tang, 2005).These technical impediments are slowly dissolving, resulting in the opportunity ofhaving interacting software components that allow non-technical users to author,create and publish materials. Therefore, these technical advances facilitate theemergence of new media such as podcasting, webcasting, videostreaming, blogging,and SMIL technologies (Shim, 2002). These new media streams can be integrated intotraditional lectures, thus enhancing the educational environment (McLaughlin, 2006).

Podcasting has become one of the fastest growing technologies over the past severalyears. A convergence of broadcast and internet service, podcasting, along withwebcasting, is an exemplary case of the pervasive computing technology era. The term“podcasting” emerged from the combination of the words “broadcasting” and “iPod”.Podcasting is differentiated from webcasting with the use of an aggregating RSS (ReallySimple Syndication) web feed, or the ability to download and save from a URL (Holtjanaand Fiona, 2004). A podcast has a persistent site, capable of synchronizing with aportable multimedia device, such as an MP3 player or iPod, whereas webcasting isstreamed from the internet and requires the user to be connected to the internet whileplaying or viewing the webcast files. The current understanding of podcasting is strictlyrelated to audio content and differentiates from video format by introducing terms suchas “vodcasting” or “video podcasting” (Wikipedia, 2006). However, podcasting can referto both audio and video output for a comprehensive understanding.

Among the latest trends in information technology, podcasting has emerged astechnology of keen interest to academics, practitioners, and other technologists(McLaughlin, 2006) as both a trend in communication technology and a new paradigm(Anderson, 2006; Bourges-Waldegg and Hoertnagl, 2005). Many universities are currentlyevaluating podcasting, and some have launched a variety of programs which utilize thetechnology. The implications of the podcasting technology are beginning to be realized.For example, the most common current university podcast usage is providing universityor department news to staff and students using RSS feed to supplement the traditionalpaper versions of newsletters. Universities are also utilizing podcasting technology tomake guest lectures available to wider audiences, such as staff, students, and alumni whowere unable to attend the lectures (http://itunes.stanford.edu, accessed April 12, 2006).

Webcasting has been utilized in academia in distance learning, particularly associatedwith the traditional media production channels. For example, NASA’s (2005) DigitalLearning Network (DLN) aims to deliver content “sharing the knowledge and expertise ofNASA scientists, engineers, and researchers with the students in today’s classrooms”(http://education.nasa.gov/divisions/techprodoffice/programs/dln.html, accessed April12, 2006).

Unlike webcasting, which generally requires a producer to define and providecontent, podcasting has additional means of providing the “bottom-up” approach,where the media content is localized and defined by a known two-way relationship,

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i.e. that which exists between students on a course and a particular instructor; therelationship has an aspect of personalization (Peng et al., 2004).

This research will investigate the perceived value of podcasting and webcastingamong students. Specifically, one major question is addressed: which factors motivatean individual to adopt podcasts as a communication medium? For this research,this paper will:

. describe the podcasting technology;

. discuss current status of podcasting technology and application in the USA,the UK, and Asia Pacific;

. develop a research model on the motivational factors which drive individuals touse podcasting over webcasting; and

. empirically test the conceptual model and the hypotheses.

2. Podcasting and webcasting: overview and current status2.1 Concepts and overviewAs an instantiation of web 2.0, podcasting is a program that marks the convergence ofbroadcast and internet services. The emerging phenomenon cannot be properly evaluatedyet, since its impact and significance upon media usage and production process are still inits infancy. Therefore, defining podcasting is a challenge. A study in October 2005,conducted by Yahoo, suggested that only 28 percent of internet users were aware ofpodcasting and only 2 percent subscribed to podcasts (Grossnickle, 2005). However, therehave been observations that a transformation phenomenon is occurring in media usageand its growth is difficult to ignore. A podcast is an enabling personalization oftechnology, characteristically driven by incremental subject feeds via the web. Owing tothe nature of the podcasting format (MP3 or MP4 downloads), the downloadable programcould reach audiences in a way that traditional broadcasting could not.

It is critical to identify the characteristics of podcasting, and differentiate it from itspredecessor, webcasting. Podcasting can be seen as a part of webcasting, since bothuse internet technology to broadcast both audio and video contents. However, it mustbe noted that podcasting’s associated qualities and characteristics differentiate itfrom webcasting (Keliher, 2005). The terminology of podcasting may eventuallydisappear and be categorized in a broader sense of webcasting or even “mediacasting”.The authors acknowledge this trend but use the term “podcasting” in this paper toexplain the emerging phenomenon and analyze its implications. The term, podcastingmay be changed but the phenomenon of the pervasive computing is here to stay.

2.2 Characteristics of podcasting and webcastingThe universally accepted commercial success of Apple’s iPod is closely linked to thedevelopment of the term “podcast”. The term podcasting is gaining its popularity asthe broadcasters start adopting and using it widely. However, the assessment ofcurrent definitions of podcasting demonstrates that it is inadequate and incomplete;differing usage of the term raises questions about the exact boundaries and the natureof the phenomenon (Keliher, 2005). For example, BBC explains “podcasting is a way to‘subscribe’ to radio programs and have them delivered to your personal computer”(www.bbc.co.uk/radio/downloadtrial/, accessed April 12, 2006). Their explanation

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continues to state that podcasting has the ability to provide a subscription to the userseven though not every podcasting programs offer such service.

Before identifying the characteristics of podcasting, it must be differentiated fromthe previously widely used term, webcasting. Although some use the termssynonymously, each technology has distinguishing characteristics (Table I).

Webcasting is closely related to real-time downloading and synchronousbroadcasting. Some of the recent examples of webcasting are:

. a 12-hour live webcast of “Beyond Einstein”; and

. webcasts of council meetings.

It is clear that podcasting is the next stage of webcasting in the continuum of aninteractive media development. Podcasting adds spatial flexibility to the temporalflexibility which webcasting offers to create a personally-customizable mediaenvironment. Temporal and spatial restrictions are increasingly lifted as podcastingmoves further away from the traditional broadcasting environment, which dictates theaudience’s schedule and timetabling activities. It offers the added control andflexibility of “when” and “where” in that the consumer can now download and listenand/or watch the program anytime anywhere, ultimately changing the mediaexperience. The implications of such flexibility have offered the educationalenvironment with “interactive” communication between instructors and students.

One of the main characteristics of podcasting is RSS. It “lets online users freely subscribeto their choice of content sources across the web. Aggregation tools (e.g. personalized startpages) display summaries of these subscriptions, which update automatically when newinformation is available. RSS reduces the need for users to visit many individual web-sites”(Grossnickle, 2005). There are also RSS aggregate feeds of audio and video contentfacilitating users to search the latest services (e.g. Blinkx’s new SmartFeed service).Personalization-enabling RSS provides companies with the customer profiling that canlead to direct marketing strategies. Personalization is considered to be one of the keymarketing aspects to “further develop customer relationships and heighten brandmanagement” (Agarwal and Sambamurthy, 2002). This personalization characteristic ofpodcast is considered particularly important for its usage in educational environmentswhere building and maintaining the communication channel between instructors andstudents is vital. Table II shows widely used definitions of podcasting.

3. Current status of podcasting3.1 The United StatesOne of the leading causes of the adoption of podcasting among academic institutions inthe USA is that non-traditional students and those enrolled in distance learning are

Sources Definitions

A dictionary of business(www.oxfordreference.com,accessed April 12, 2006)

A process in which an online marketer of a product or servicesends advertisements or information over the internet, directlyto the desktops of target customers. Companies can also sign onwith a webcasting service provider

A dictionary of the internet(www.oxfordreference.com)

The use of the WWW for broadcasting material regularly tosubscribers

Table I.Definitions of webcasting

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able to have a more personalized connection with the instructor. This allowsthe instructor to emphasize the information which they feel is most critical for thestudents to understand. According to the University of Washington faculty and staffnewspaper (http://uwnews.org/uweekarticle.asp?articleID ¼ 12921), podcastinghas recently been introduced to augment classroom support, which allowsinstructors direct control over their podcasts without engaging in the intensivepost-production workload that video taping involves. A number of universities arecurrently using the technology, or are in the late stages of pilot testing. StanfordUniversity is already podcasting approximately 400 audio program channels. Stanfordplans to include video files for those with video viewing capabilities. Some salientdisadvantages associated with the additional video files would be the additional costsin technical infrastructure, faculty overload, assessments and grades, and copyrightissues.

3.2 The United KingdomFollowing the trend in North America, the UK has a history of distance learningexemplified by the Open University (OU) with over 210,000 students, 100,000 OUstudents network from their homes or work places. Students access a library of 390,000audio CDs which provides study aids and resource material (www.open.ac.uk/elearning/p2_2.shtml). This provides a rich resource of content resembling thehalf-way house between webcasting and podcasting. Recently, the OU has begun tointroduce the podcast technology to utilize their rich content to cater for students whorequire flexibility. The main advantage here is that the rich media focus is wellintegrated into the methods used in the production of the courses, and the media richexperience is anticipated by the students. Other UK universities, like the USA, haveembraced podcast technology afresh. In recent months they have demonstrated adiversified podcast usage that has the potential to propel the medium into new forms ofintercommunication. Universities are piloting podcast usage to support a universitynews service and provide coverage of guest lectures. The University of Winchester forinstance adopted a podcast technology to help dyslexia as a part of dyslexia supportand the University of Sheffield produces updates of the changes in the Law for its Lawstudents.

Sources Definitions

Wikipedia(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page)

Podcasting is the publishing or distribution ofradio-style programs on the internet. Podcastsare in MP3 or a similar file format. Podcastproducers make their programs available withRSS feeds

BBC (www.bbc.co.uk/dna/collective/A3847737,accessed April 12, 2006)

Broadcasters publish digital recordings of radioprograms on the internet, which can then bedownloaded onto PCs and transferred to portabledigital music plays (such as the iPod)

The Oxford Dictionary of English A digital recording of a radio broadcast or similarprogram, made available on the internet fordownloading to a personal audio player

Table II.Definitions of podcasting

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3.3 Asia PacificAsian countries such as Japan, Korea, and Hong Kong once lagged behind the West ininformation technology (Shim et al., 2006a). Despite late development and entry into themarket, Asian and Pacific wireless operators have been able to become global leaders.Currently, Korea is the leading digital mobile TV market, especially with its ownstandard, digital multimedia broadcasting (DMB). As of July 2005, DMB has beenapproved by WorldDAB as a standard. Driven by user demand and the changes in theculture of technological usage, Korean DMB market will be important for validation ofnew DMB technologies (Shim et al., 2006b). Podcasting is no exception in this regard.Podcasting is already highly utilized within the education and business environmentsin Asia and Pacific.

4. Conceptual framework and hypotheses developmentThis section presents a conceptual model in explaining student’s perceptions ofwebcasting and podcasting (Figure 1). The model relies on a combination of mediarichness theory, and media selection theory, as well as several other research streams(Gonzalez-Alveraz and Nieto-Antolin, 2005; Ju et al., 2006; Standing et al., 2006). Based ona model previously developed to compare student’s perceptions of e-mail and instantmessaging (Chen et al., 2004), the current model is configured to explain the relationshipbetween motivating factors and future usage of podcasting in the academia.

Media richness plays an important role in determining future media use. In additionto the richness of medium, there are multiple reasons why a given communicationmedium may be selected, such as availability, costs, or complexity (MaManus, 2002).Several motivations have been posited as determinants of future media use (Table III).These factors include immediacy, personal focus, transmission of cues, functionality,usability, and ease of use.

Based on prior research, the research model of intent to use podcasting is proposed.The research model is shown in Figure 2.

Figure 1.Motivational factorseffecting future media use

Usability

Functionality

Transmission

Personal focus

Media Experience Future Media Use

Immediacy

Motivating Factors

Source: Chen et al. (2004)

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4.1 Hypotheses developmentThe above research argument leads to the following eight hypotheses:

H1. Immediacy of feedback is significantly related to intention to use podcasting.

H2. Personal focus is significantly related to intention to use podcasting.

H3. Transmission of cues is significantly related to intention to use podcasting.

H4. Functionality is significantly related to intention to use podcasting.

H5. Usability is significantly related to intention to use podcasting.

H6. Ease of use is significantly related to intention to use podcasting.

Factor Source Description

Immediacy offeedback

Daft and Lengel (1986) The extent to which a medium enables users to givetimely feedback on the communications they receive

Personal focus Daft and Lengel (1986) The extent to which a medium is viewed as beingoriented towards the individual

Transmission of cues Daft and Lengel (1986) The extent to which a medium is able to transmitverbal, nonverbal, and para-verbal cues

Functionality El-Shinnawy andMarkus (1998)

The extent to which a medium allows a user to senda message that is accurate, comprehensive, andconcise

Usability El-Shinnawy andMarkus (1998)

The extent to which the medium allows a message tobe transferred in a “clear and readable format”

Ease of use El-Shinnawy andMarkus (1998)

The extent to which a medium is perceived to be easyto use

Table III.Motivating factors

Figure 2.Research model

Immediacy of Feedback

Personal Focus

Transmission of Cues

Functionality

Usability

Ease of Use

User Motivations

Future Use

Intention

Rich Communication

H2

H5

H3

H4

H8H6

H1

H7

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H7. User motivations are associated with future use intention.

H8. Users considering podcasting to be a better communication tool will usepodcasting rather than webcasting in general.

5. Methodology5.1 SampleTo test these research hypotheses, questionnaires were given to approximately 200students at two major universities in the USA. Of the 200 surveys that wereadministered, 17 were discarded for incomplete data, with a result of n ¼ 183. Thesample pool composed of both undergraduate and graduate students from the collegesof business and of the colleges of arts and sciences. Classes selected for inclusion intothe study were composed of students who had a fundamental understanding ofpodcasting (audio and video), and other communication media concepts. All classesthat participated in the survey were traditional lecture classes, with no incentives orbonus points issued to students for participation.

5.2 Research instrumentEach participant received a two-page questionnaire on the perceived value ofpodcasting and webcasting. The first page consisted of information on the survey,podcasting and webcasting definitions, and basic demographic questions.Additionally, three background questions on podcasting experience were alsoincluded on the first page. The second page consisted of 12 Likert-scalequestions/statements with five-point response scales. Participants were informedthat completion of the survey was voluntary and that their responses would remainanonymous. The survey instrument was adapted from comparative studies on e-mailand instant messaging (Chen et al., 2004), and e-mail and voice mail (El-Shinnawy andMarkus, 1998).

5.3 Data analysisStudents were asked to indicate the number of years in which they had been interactedwith podcasts. Results of the survey indicated that 43.7 percent of those surveyed hadnot used podcasting technology at all, 23.5 percent had used podcasting for less thanone year, 11.5 percent had used podcasting for one to two years, and 21.3 percent hadused podcasting for more than two years. Therefore, the average time that podcastinghad been used by those surveyed was less than one year. Similarly, students wereasked to indicate the number of years in which they had used webcasts. Results of thesurvey indicated that 47.5 percent of those surveyed had not used webcastingtechnology at all, 21.3 percent had used webcasting for less than one year, 10.4 percenthad used webcasting for one to two years, and 20.8 percent had used webcasting formore than two years. Therefore, the average time that webcasting had been used bythose surveyed was less than one year. The third question asked students to rank theuses for podcasts. Figure 3 shows that of those surveyed, 56.9 percent listed music astheir number one response, followed by educational lectures at 16.1 percent, news at10.3 percent, and sports at 13.8 percent.

The next step in the analysis was to perform a linear regression analysis using thedependent variable “intent to use podcasting technology”. Three of the eighthypotheses tested were supported in this analysis: H2, personal focus is significantly

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related to intention to use podcasts, supported at the 0.002 level of significance; H5,usability is significantly related to intention to use podcasting, supported by twomeasures at the 0.000 level of significance; and H7, user motivations are associatedwith future use intention, supported at the 0.006 level of significance. Table IV showsthe coefficients from the linear regression analysis, along with the levels ofsignificance.

Finally, the third phase in the analysis involved clustering responses into groupsbased on responses to the first two questions indicating podcasting and webcasting use.Dummy variables were created and coded as 0 for non-user and 1 for user. Respondentscould be categorized as podcast users, webcast users, both or neither. A logisticregression analysis was performed with “podcast use” as the dependent variable andthen again with “webcast use” as the dependent variable. The following results werefound at a 90 percent confidence interval. As one might expect, podcast users were foundto use podcast technology frequently and believe that podcasts assist with classroomassignments more than webcasts. Interestingly, webcast users were also found tobelieve that podcasts assist with classroom assignments more than webcasts and thatpodcasts convey large amounts of information faster than webcasts. Webcast userswere also found to believe that podcasts are more useful than webcasts and say that withfuture assignments, they intent to use podcasts more than webcasts. Therefore,H8: users considering podcasting to be a better communication tool will usepodcasting rather than webcasting general, is supported at the 0.100 level of significance.

Figure 3.Uses for podcasts

Uses for Podcasts

57%

16%

14%

10% 3% Music

Education/LecturesNews

Sports

Other

Dependent measures BStandard

error b t Significance

Podcasts are more useful for classassignments than webcasts 0.404 0.068 0.371 5.866 0.000I believe that podcasts would be helpful inimproving my course learning experience 0.284 0.057 0.306 4.946 0.000Podcasts feel more personal than webcasts 0.189 0.060 0.183 3.133 0.002On future assignments, I will use webcastsmore than podcasts 20.148 0.053 20.147 22.771 0.006I believe that podcasts will eventually replaceclass lectures in the future 0.100 0.049 0.114 2.015 0.045

Note: Linear regression performed with dependent variable – intent to use podcasts

Table IV.Coefficients table

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Table V shows the four hypotheses that were supported and the four that were notsupported from both the linear regression and logistic regression analyses.

6. ImplicationsThis paper examined student’s preferences of media delivery richness betweenpodcasting and webcasting, taking place at two major universities in the USA. Thestudent demographic is now leading the process associated with the pattern ofearly-adopters; as an example, the 14-24 year-old age bracket is a segmented key targetfor music-enabled phone companies (The Diffusion Group Newswire, 2005). Thefindings associated with this study guide the design and evaluation of content formobile devices, effecting software development and the mobile business process as awhole.

The authors draw attention to two key characteristics, personalization andusability, that affect the business concerns of consumer trends in media usage. Thegoal of personalization is to satisfy “one” user’s need to enjoy a personalized mediaexperience, contradicting the concept of mass-media, popularized “hit” mass-marketsegmented industrial approach, changing the profile of one-size fits all approach of themass-media market (Wen and Peng, 2002). This has been described as the “long tail”where Anderson (2006) argues that old-media economics, which are biasedtoward the hits at the “head” of this distribution, are being replaced by new-mediaeconomics, which allow creation and consumption along the entirety of a much longercontent tail.

Personalization is emerging as a key driver in consumer information acquisition inthe “long tail”. However, personalization of informational needs creates amore-complex environment. From a MIS perspective, personalization is based on acustomer’s selections, ratings, purchase and history downloads, creating a customerprofile of information of consumer taste (So and Sculli, 2002). From the userperspective, personalization is a self-service technology configured to accommodateuser preference (Schultze and Orlikowski, 2004). In a recent Gartner report, e-musicpersonalization has meant that users are twice as likely to commit to higher-pricedsubscription plans, are more loyal (remain subscribers 2.9 times longer) and download

Hypothesisnumber Hypothesis description Finding

H1 Immediacy of feedback is significantly related to intention to usepodcasting

Not supported

H2 Personal focus is significantly related to intention to usepodcasting

Supported

H3 Transmission of cues is significantly related to intention to usepodcasting

Not supported

H4 Functionality is significantly related to intention to use podcasting Not supportedH5 Usability is significantly related to intention to use podcasting SupportedH6 Ease of use is significantly related to intention to use podcasting Not supportedH7 User motivations are associated with future use intention SupportedH8 Users considering podcasting to be a better communication tool

will use podcasting rather than webcasting in generalSupportedTable V.

Research results

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3.5 times more per month than other subscribers (McGuire and Slater, 2005). Usabilityis also a key aspect of personalization. Traditionally, there has been a number ofheuristics classification schemes on offer, based upon two key attributes (Boehm et al.,1978); migrate-ability, the characteristic where the product can operate acrossplatforms and also integrate with other programs, and secondly, the aspects of theapplication or product that give, or shape clarity to the user interaction. With themodern characteristics of social software, usability equates to user experience, and inessence, simplicity. The ipod from apple is a good example of less-feature usability,where simplicity of use is the brand-marketing strategy.

The implication for business is that it needs to continually exploit the ever-changingnature of consumer preferences in usage of media, and develop appropriate marketingmodel. The technological development has always been a focal issue in businessenvironment in order to exploit to gain a competitive advantage (Chitty, 1996; Hsiehand Lin, 1998; Jemmeson, 1997). This study shows that personalization is one of thekey aspects of emerging social software technology, and McLaughlin (2006)acknowledged that podcasting has a potential to be a means of communication formedia and business industry as well as political sector. Thus, the business needs toaddress the changing market using the latest technology available and develop anindividually, personalized, catered marketing strategy in order to create a directcommunication channel between the business and consumer.

7. ConclusionAlthough podcasting is not without minor problems, it has many beneficial qualitiesincluding students’ familiarity with the new technology, and the cost effectiveness inthe long run. In other words, the benefits of adopting podcasting outweigh thedisadvantages and problems associated with the podcasting. The authors believe thatpodcasting technology should not be seen as a tool to replace traditional classroomteaching of fundamental principles. Rather, it should supplement class materials, sothat students can better understand concepts, theories, and applications that may nothave been available during the class. One of the most salient limitations identified inthe study is the narrow focus of questions included in the survey. There were not anyquestions on cost or availability included in the study, although these are potentiallysignificant variables.

Podcasting is a simple way for marketers to communicate with theirtarget customers. It is a unique PR tool for major corporations, and start-ups.Podcasting’s ease of use combined with the ever-increasing demands upon time andmoney will make its use continue to grow in academic, industry, and wider socialsettings.

The conceptual model of the motivations to use podcasting was adopted from mediarichness theory. It was proposed that six factors are related to future media use;immediacy of feedback, personal focus, transmission of cues, functionality, usability,and ease of use. The methodology relied heavily on logistic regression analysis fortesting the various hypotheses. The authors collected data for hypothesis testing.The results of the study were inconclusive. This may be due to the lack of userexperience with podcasting.

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Further reading

Andersen, C. (2006), The Long Tail: How Endless Choice Is Creating Unlimited Demand, RandomHouse Business Books, New York, NY.

Open University Policy Development Group (2006), Open University Policy Development Group:Learning & Teaching Office Web site, Facts and Figures, available at: www.open.ac.uk/elearning/p2_2.shtml (accessed April 12).

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Schmitz, J. and Fulk, J. (1991), “Organizational colleagues media richness, and electronic mail: atest of the social influence model of technology use”, Communication Research, Vol. 18No. 4, pp. 487-523.

The UW Faculty and Staff Newspaper (2006), available at: http://uwnews.org/uweekarticle.asp?articleID ¼ 12921 (accessed April 12, 2006).

Corresponding authorJ.P. Shim can be contacted at: jshim@cobilan.msstate.edu

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