You've probably heard/read the age-old advice to writers: write about what you know. Not to be contrarian, but there are ways to write about what you don't know - or at least don't know very well - and it's a good way to learn a topic better.

Back when I was a teaching assistant in college, I found that when I taught various programming concepts, I was forced to understand them better. In a similar vein, when it comes to blogging, I find that writing tutorials helps me understand something better - especially if I do screencasts where I have to provide the narration. If you want to do the same, here's a suggested process:

1. Start with podcasting and transition your skills to screencasting or web video.
2. Get free screencasting software such as Camstudio or Debut. When you have the budget, upgrade to TechSmith's Camtasia Studio. (All of these only run on Windows, and there's no free video screen capture tool for Mac that I'm aware of. Colleagues have found a few low-end Mac screen recording programs, but none seem as sophisticated as Camtasia Studio. Warning: I had technical problems using Debut. It hijacked my TV capture card as well as my sound. And the screen capture mode created one of those "infinite mirrors" types of screen recording of the visible windows.)
3. Read whatever you can about the software you want to do a screencast about, as well as get familiar with the features.
4. Choose a few features to write about and distill your knowledge into a tutorial article.
5. Supplement the article wth screensnaps.
6. If you can explain better with a screencast of you using some of the features, then add that to the article as well.

Once I've done a few screencasts/ tutorials about a subject/piece of software, I find that my understanding is much deeper. I'm only guessing but I think that part of the reason is because having to write/ teach/ screencast gives you a tangible goal of what you have to learn.

Of course, it's easier to do tutorials and screencasts when you're working with software. What do you if a tutorial or screencast isn't suitable? How do you learn new topics then? That's my question to you. Got any tips or links to articles you've written about learning and knowledge? Feel free to drop them off here.

In A Beginner's Podcasting Guide, there's a reference to using video hosting sites SplashCast or YouTube for audio podcasts. (See the section Should I Have a Podcast Series Logo?) Most podcast hosting sites offer free and paid plans, usually with unmetered bandwith. So plans are usually based on the amount of disk space your podcast files take up. But free or not, while you can upload a podcast series logo, audio podcasts don't really convey your visual branding. (This is especially important if you're on a podcast sharing site that syndicates content, and where members are encouraged to use other members' content on their sites.) There's a way to get around this, as I discuss below.

NOTE: This article makes the entire process look more complicated than it actually is. The article merely tries to give you as much information about your options as possible.

Alternate Podcast Hosting Approach

The alternative to typical podcast hosting is to use video hosting. "How's that?, you say. Well basically, you are taking your audio file and attaching one or more visual elements that reinforce your visual brand. You're not really producing a video, per se, but you will have images attached to a podcast, should a listener wish to view something.

Benefits

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Do you want to produce your own podcast, to supplement your website's articles but don't know how? Here's a compact guide to get you started. With various Podcamps under way, or just completed, podcasting - including video blogging - is obviously of interest to an increasing number of people. Podcasting is a term used both specifically to refer to the publishing of audio content online, as well as to generically refer to vodcasting/vlogging (video blogging) and screencasting (video recording of live software use) as well.

Podcasting is simply fun for some people. For others, it's serious web content production that can supplement articles or stand on its own. If you're good at podcasting and you're consistent in terms of quality and publishing schedule, you could build a loyal base of listeners/ watchers, who might turn into readers of your articles as well. Or if writing is not your thing, you might focus on the podcasting alone.

What to Podcast and Why?

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Now that the warm weather is coming back (at least) here, I'm getting back into podcasting work again, without concern for damaging my throat. (I find that I can't do much voice work from about October to late March, due to throat problems.) Currently, I'm working on developing a handful of audio and video podcasting series for a number of people, and I'm in "resource collection" mode. So I thought I'd share a few of the resources I've come across.

1. 901am is a SplashPress site that covers new media, which includes podcasting/ vodcasting.
2. Audio Geek Zine covers gear for home recording, which podcasting could be said to fall into.
3. Audival is a SplashPress site, run by Stefan "Stiff" Hendgren, brother of Thord Hendgren (who currently runs Devlounge and a number of other SplashPress and personal sites). Audival focuses on podcasting tips and tricks, as well previews and reviews of relevant software and gear. There are also gems such as Podcasting On a Budget, which has a list of various tools you might want to look into, and the Adding Music To Your Podcasts series (part 1, part 2, part 3). As well, have a look at the "Resources and Links" section of Audival's navigation column. There are some new media-related sites listed, including audio hosting services.
4. Audacity is a free, multi-platform audio editor reportedly developed by recording industry insiders, and compatible with a few audio plugin architectures. As I've said many times in the past, don't let the free price fool you. You get a lot of bang for no buck.
5. Podcast Academy is a blog that offers advice and tons of podcasts of industry sessions about podcasting. I've spent the last few days listening to hours of incredible advice from workshops and sessions at 2007's PNME (Podcast and New Media Expo). Because the content is pure audio, you can playback podcasts while working on something else, or download to your computer and offload to an MP3 player. If you are serious about becoming a podcaster, you really should listen to these sessions about legalities, licensing etc.

I know this is a really short list of resources, but I'll add more in the comments as I find them. You can add some as well, if you've found something you like, or are part of a company in the new media industry and have something that's relevant to podcasting/ vodcasting.

Some tips on podcasting that I've picked up over the past few years, as well as from my minimal broadcast experience:

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[UPDATED] Sure the weather's great right now, but just in case you feel like staying in and reading, here are some links for you for the weekend. You can also listen to a podcast version:

1. Version 2.0 of MindMeister, a web-based mindmapping and brainstorming tool, has just been released. (They also released MindMeister Offline, based on Google Gears, in Nov 2007.) Note: I received an email msg about V2.0, but the MindMeister blog does not mention it yet. MindMeister is collaborative, so it has an advantage over desktop-based mindmapping software.
2. I love it when people talk about the value of small daily incremental improvements - as Aaron Wall at SEOBook has. This approach is sometimes called Kaizen. I sometimes refer to it as "improvement by slow degrees," which doesn't overwhelm you. The small successes along the way motivate you.
3. A must read: Aaron Wall writes, Google thinks you are a black hat SEO.
4. Loren Baker discusses Alexa's new web page ranking system, which doesn't rely as much on the Alexa toolbar. Unfortunately, that means a lot of sites are seeing big changes in their Alexa rankings.
5. Jason at WP Elements has released yet another free WordPress theme, Charred. It's based on the previous incarnation of his site's theme and has magazine-style elements, including two sizes of post thumbnails.
6. Barry Schwartz wrote at Search Engine Land that Google Mail servers are having trouble supporting IMAP accounts, possibly to the point of removing it as an option. Although I haven't tried in a long time, I can't remember ever being able to get my IMAP accounts integrated into GMail.
7. Want to run a contest on your blog but not sure where to get prizes? Jennifer Chait at Network Blogging Tips has some suggestions.
8. Zoe Marlowe at Devlounge has an indepth review of photo storage sites.
9. It's spring time, and a young person's thoughts might just turn to... podcasting. But what do you podcast about? Stiff offers five ideas for podcasts, over at Audival. If you plan on experimenting with podcasting, here's an important tip: warm up your body before recording more than a few minutes of voice. I like to wear a hoodie because of throat problems. When your body is warm, there's less stress on the vocal chords.
10. If podcasting is so Q1 2008 to you, maybe you're into vodcasting or general web video production. If so, check out TubeMogul. They bill themselves as "a free service that acts as a single point for deploying" video to the top video sharing sites. That means you upload once and they get your video out to other sites. They also collect stats from each site and present the aggregation from their panel.

Happy reading. Or you could go outside and play.

Next week, I'm flying out to Ontario, California for the 3 day convention called the Podcast and New Media Expo 2007 (fomerly called the Podcast and Portable Media Expo).

I wanted to check and see who else from Performancing might be attending the show as I'd like to meet up. The Podcast expo is a close nit group of people and its definitely one of those (free) conventions where you can learn a great deal about this niche of the industry and connect with people that are seriously involved in the medium.