Back to the Drawing Board

I have been researching how podcasts are utilized outside of BCPS. My approach was to create and send surveys about iPod use to corporations that are familiar to me. As many of you know, I come from private industry and thought that it would be useful to know how podcasts are being used outside of an educational setting. I sent the survey along with a personal note to a few departments in several companies. I chose communications, training and development, marketing and IT.

I asked the following questions:

• Are you using podcasts as a method of communication in this business? If so, how?
• For those using podcasts have you distributed iPods to your employees?
• How are they viewing the Podcasts? iPod? computer?
• In your opinion, what elements make a successful podcast?
• Do you have any data about the success of your podcasts to share?

The results were abysmal. I received very few answers and the ones I did receive were short with little or no useful information. I thought of starting again, but would there be enough time? As I look over my questions for my research, I realize that they are perfectly good questions. It was my method of research that was misdirected. So, back to the drawing board. I have collected quite a number of articles and a white paper about corporate podcasting. I am going to wade through the information to see if my questions can be answered or if I will need to change the direction of my questions.