The mighty Oxford Dictionary has decided - “podcast” is the word of the year. The word, originally invented by Ben Hammersley, is a thorn in the side of many technically inclined people on the Internet - after all, it is nothing else but making an mp3 available for download. It has nothing to do with iPods, either - except that they happen to play mp3’s.
However, it’s catching on. There’s video casting (or vidcasting), there’s imagecasting - it’s a veritable bonanza of casts.
This all makes an important point. While it’s not using established ‘geek’ terminology, it helps people understand what’s going on. Many people who might get scared by ‘hosting an mp3′, but ‘iPod’ and ‘broadcasting’ are well-understood ideas. So, in addition to annoying geeks worldwide, this announcement marks another step forward in making Internet technology more accessible.
In that spirit, I’m not posting this article. I’m not blogging it. I’m textcasting it!