NASA has reported (Aug. 7) that Mission Specialist Steve Robinson sent this podcast from space. The podcast was recorded as the Shuttle flew over the southeast tip of Indonesia.
NASA specifically calls the recording a podcast. This further legitimises podcasting as a medium for publishing material. It makes podcasting more interesting and puts it on the radar of more punters. It will also increase coverage of the new medium by mainstream media. It makes podcasting more mainstream.
That podcasting is barely a year old and already it has a NASA seal of approval is phenomenal. I was talking with someone just a few months ago who said pod what? Today they’re playing, downloading music and news shows to their taste from around the globe.
The Age carried the story with this opening paragraph:
Technology experts who predicted that podcasting would “take off” have been proven right, literally, with a Discovery shuttle astronaut transmitting a message from space.
This is the story to me. The coverage in mainstream media of the NASA podcast. Especially when it is mainstream media (like Australian newspapers) which has been (for the most part) slow to play with the medium.
Podcasting is changing the way people consume news and information in addition to music. Indeed, music was a no brainer. It’s the use of the medium for news and information which interests me the most. The NASA podcast, while done for publicity I am sure, underscores the importance of the medium and can only strengthen its future.