The PGA New Media Council and The Emmy Awards Advanced Media Committee in cooperation with the New School Department of Media Studies and Film and the Parsons Department of Design and Technology, will host an evening of presentation, discussion and networking with PGA members and members of the New Media industry. This first monthly event of the 2005-2006 season will be a discussion about the future and impact of podcasting.
Podcasting is a method of publishing files via the Internet, allowing users to subscribe to a feed and receive new files automatically. It became popular in late 2004, intended largely for downloading audio files onto a portable audio player. However, listening to podcasts does not require a portable device and it is not traditional "broadcasting" to a mass audience at a fixed time.
Podcasting enables independent producers to create self-published, syndicated "radio shows" and gives broadcast radio programs a new distribution channel. Listeners may subscribe to feeds using "podcatching" software, which periodically checks for and downloads new content. Some podcatching software is also able to synchronize (copy) podcasts to portable music players. Any digital audio player or computer with audio-playing software can play podcasts. The same technique can deliver video files, and by 2005, some aggregators could play video as well as audio.
Speakers will include Jason McCabe Calacanis, chairman and co-founder, Weblogs Inc., and moderator Shelly Palmer, PGA East member and chairman, Advanced Media Committee of the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, New York.
Event is free and open to the public but reservations are mandatory. RSVP to pga-ny@producersguild.org. The event will take place from 7:00-9:00 pm at the The New School for Social Research, Swayduck Auditorium, 65 Fifth Ave., between 13th and 14th Street.
