[Archived] City of Alexandria Offers Innovative Podcast Programs

City Press Release


	For Immediate Release	For More Information, Contact
	February 22, 2006 PIO# 049-06/rdo	Steven J. Mason, Public Information Officer, or Raynard Owens, Communications Officer, at 703.838.4300 Raynard Owens, Communications Officer, at 703.838.4300

City of Alexandria Offers Innovative Podcast Programs
Office on Women, Office of Historic Alexandria Debut Shows

The City of Alexandria has become one of a handful of localities in the country to offer regularly scheduled podcasts. Although some localities have converted individual speeches or news conferences into podcasts, Alexandria is among the first to produce recurring shows with episodes built around themes.

The first podcast program is Women Talk, produced monthly by the Alexandria Office on Women at alexwomen.com. Since October 2005, Women Talk has featured such varied topics as surviving breast cancer, stalking awareness, and tips for parents to start the conversation with their children about teen pregnancy prevention. The Office of Historic Alexandria has begun two new shows. The first show features walking tours of historic Alexandria neighborhoods, allowing the user to carry along the podcast as a self-paced audio guide to Alexandria's taverns, Civil War sites, archaeological sites, and sites important to Alexandria's rich black heritage. The second, featuring information about George Washington’s life, his role in Alexandria, and events to celebrate his legacy, is entitled Just George! The first installment of Just George! features a lively discussion of the Birthnight Ball, past and present.

“Podcasting is an exciting way for us to reach new audiences,” said Alexandria Mayor William Euille. “We’re looking forward to using this low-cost medium to provide interesting and informative programs for residents and visitors.”

Alexandria’s podcasts are available for individual download at alexandriava.gov/podcasts . A user can also subscribe to a show for free, and new episodes will be automatically downloaded to the user’s computer or portable player.

Podcasting is a method of publishing audio programs via the Internet, allowing users to subscribe to a "feed" of new audio files (usually MP3s). To subscribe to podcasts, a user needs "podcatching" software (also called a podcast reader or aggregator), which periodically checks for and downloads new content automatically. The most popular podcasting software is the free Apple iTunes. Once downloaded, a podcast can be played on the user’s computer or copied onto an Apple iPod or other portable music player. Although podcast combines the words "iPod" and "broadcast," it does not require an Apple iPod. Podcasting is completely free for the user, and virtually free for the City.

The Office on Women plans several other programs over the course of the year, including one by the Alexandria Campaign on Adolescent Pregnancy and designed exclusively for teens at alexgetreal.com. Future Historic Alexandria podcasts will include explorations of the City's history through interviews with characters from Alexandria's past and present; a discussion of 18th century dancing; an informative talk on 18th-century costumes; and first-person presentations including Thomas Jefferson's inaugural speech at Gadsby's Tavern. Shorter podcasts will keep listeners informed about events that happened "this week" in Alexandria's history, and events happening at the City’s six museums today.

For more information about the Alexandria Office on Women, contact Jennifer Harris, Community Education Specialist, at jennifer.harris@alexandriava.gov or 703.838.5030. For more information about the Office of Historic Alexandria, contact Bridget Dean, Public Information Specialist at bridget.dean@alexandriava.gov or 703.838.4554. For information about podcasting, contact E-Government Manager Craig Fifer, at craig.fifer@alexandriava.gov or 703.838.6333 x537.

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