Pacific West Region Hosts Podcast Training

On the week of April 19th, interpreters participated in a podcast training course at Pacific West Regional Office in Oakland.

The course began with a group discussion lead by members of the media, interpretation and technology committee on standards, accessibility and interpretation versus information content as they relate to podcasting. The instructors for the course – podcaster Chuck Tomasi, co-author of Podcasting for Dummies, and Neal Herbert, visual information specialist, Canyonlands National Park – lead participants through the basics of pre-production, production, post production and equipment for both podcasts (audio only) and vidcasts (video with audio).

Participants worked in teams to develop and produce short products, working through the process from storyboarding to recording to editing audio and video. The teams spent a day at San Francisco Maritime NHP videographing the historic ships and scenery and recording audio of interviews, Peter Kasin’s chantey songs, and ambient audio sounds associated with the park. The screening of the final products illustrated the skills and creativity of the class and the success of the training.

The class represented most of the PWR networks, had a large spectrum of experience from low to higher, and sought ways to tell the stories in an interpretive way, not just providing information.  Parks represented at the training include Canyonlands NP, Colorado NM, Death Valley NP, Fort Vancouver NHS, Golden Gate NRA, Grand Canyon NP, John Day Fossil Beds NM, Haleakala NP, Hawai’i Volcanoes NP, Mojave NPreserve, Mount Rainier NP, Nez Perce NHP, North Cascades NP, Olympic NP, Point Reyes NS, San Francisco Maritime NHP, San Juan Island NHP, Santa Monica Mountains NRA, Sequoia & Kings Canyon NP, and the Rivers and Trails Conservation Assistance program.

The training was planned by the media, interpretation and technology subcommittee of the PWR interpretive ranger advisory committee with support from the regional office of interpretation end Education. Click here to listen to and view some examples of the class audio and video products.