When universities first started developing their podcast collections, a good number took their audio archives — the many lectures and talks they had recorded over the years — and uploaded them onto iTunes. Now, months later, some institutions are turning to their video archives. Most notably, MIT has given users access to video podcasts taken from its ambitious OpenCourseWare initiative. (Harvard has done something similar with its series, Harvard@Home, although the collection is considerably smaller.) Moving these videos onto iTunes makes perfect sense. While it’s unlikely that many will watch these videos on their actual iPods, it seems safe to assume that new audiences will get exposed to these collections and be contented with watching these clips on their computers at least, or perhaps on Apple TV down the road. iTunes has become a dynamic marketing/distribution platform, with masses of users flocking to it and discovering new content along the way. For institutions like MIT, shifting content onto iTunes streamlines their efforts to get their content noticed, which makes the project a no-brainer with no downside. For more on the MIT OpenCourseWare initiative, click here. For info on the recent integration of iTunes U with iTunes, click here.See our complete University Podcast Collection.
The best free cultural & educational media on the web
How can this be open culture when it you are pimping a closed platform for education delivery?
iTunes only runs properly on one OS, is buggy on another and that’s it.
“…the project a no-brainer with no downside.”
I certainly agree with the no brainer comment, but not in the same context.
But then it is for “the masses”, so I hope they enjoy their enlightenment.
Feel free to look around the site and notice that when possible we have included links to the direct feeds, instead of just links to iTunes.