Now scrolling: The Gettysburg Address

Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this. But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate -- we can not consecrate -- we can not hallow -- this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us -- that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion -- that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain -- that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom -- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

Monday, August 6, 2007

Week 9, Thing #21: Podcasting Lincoln


Of the three search tools, Podcast.net and Yahoo Podcast gave me the best results, and pretty much the same results. I've added three new podcast feeds to my blogslines: "A Few Appropriate Remarks," a 24-episode series from EverythingLincoln.com, "The Abraham Lincoln Logs," from the website of the same name, and "100 Word Short Stories," a series of podcasts which include "The Wacky Adventures of Abraham Lincoln." That one didn't sound promising to me either, but I subscribed to it anyway.

"A few Appropriate Remarks" from EverythingLincoln.com, is a series of elaborately produced podcasts with visual effects and background music to the narration of historical facts about Lincoln. They actually did a very nice job on these.
"The Abraham Lincoln Logs" are political satire. Lincoln comments on AT&T iphones, talks to Dick Cheney, samples the latest videogames, and says something to offend everybody. Usually Lincoln impersonations leave me cold, but these grew on me.

"The Wacky Adventures" are 100-word short stories created by Laurence Simon. They have very catchy punchlines and are accompanied by the text so that you can read while you listen. Caleb Bullen's narration is better than Simon's. By the way, you can submit your own entries to the "100-word" site on any topic.

One thing I've learned about podcasts -- the delivery is everything. Like audiobooks, the voice is all you have to go on, so the narrator can either make or break a podcast. There are many fine ones out there, including a short series on the Civil War from the Pritzker Military Library through lib.worm, which I also saved to my blogslines.
The future of podcasting in a library setting has already taken the form of NetLibrary audiobooks. NetLibrary has had some trouble with their links, but ideally, when conveniently accessed through a website, or updated through RSS feed, these podcasts can actually replace the physical audiobook collection. It's one more step toward the library without walls.
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