Georgia Podcast Network

I upgraded the Georgia Podcast Network from Drupal 4.7 to Drupal 5.5 tonight. I'm aware of a couple of minor CSS issues that popped up after the upgrade, but otherwise things seem to be working as they should be. If anything seems off, please send me an email at rusty@gapodcastnetwork.com.

There's not any new functionality except a nicer captcha and a couple of things under the hood. This is mainly to pave the way for things to come in the (hopefully) near future.

Tomorrow night, one of our activities at the monthly Drupal Atlanta meeting will be a hands-on workshop where you can learn how to podcast with Drupal. I'll give a quick presentation, and then we'll dive into some hands-on training.

Drupal core contains everything you need to post podcasts without any third-party modules, so just come with a working Drupal 5 installation if you'd like to participate.

The method I'll teach uses the stripped-down CCK (Content Construction Kit) that's built into Drupal 5 along with the core Upload module. It's not the only way to podcast with Drupal, but I think for most purposes it's the best way. During the opening presentation, we'll briefly discuss the pros and cons of using this method versus other methods (like using the Audio and/or Video modules).

We may play with SWF Tools if there's time to show you how you can add Flash players to enhance the user experience. The module is currently broken but expected to be fixed soon, and in the very near future will be the best and easiest way to add Flash players to your podcast. If time permits, we can also discuss how to add Flash players using PHPTemplate.

The meeting is August 21 at 7 p.m. in 5 Seasons Brewing in Alpharetta, GA, which is located at 3655 Old Milton Parkway, about 1 mile east of hwy 400 (exit 10). Click here for a map.

You can email me ahead of time at rusty@gapodcastnetwork.com if you have any questions. Looking forward to seeing you there!

Cross-posted to Drupal Atlanta and Radical Georgia Moderate

I just updated the site to the newly-released Drupal 4.7.1 to fix a couple of security holes. Please e-mail us if you experience any problems or oddities. Thanks.

I think it's a good omen that both this site and Drupal 4.7 (the software this site runs on) were officially launched yesterday, which was a coincidence. You should check out the Drupal videocasts (which would be described more aptly as screencasts) for a look not only at Drupal's new features, but also for an idea of how this emerging technology can actually be used for practical purposes. Lullabot's Jeff Robbins demonstrates the software's new features in a way that I think is much more digestible than reading a long changelog post.

Continuing on the subject of practical applications...

Our friend Patrick Fitzgerald has already been dabbling in screencasts. I recommend checking out "You're killing me here!" first. It presents a usability critique about Blogger that I don't think would be possible just by writing a blog post.

Finally, ListenShare is a local company that creates podcasts for businesses. It includes Atlantic Station among its clients. I met its founder James Harris at last month's Atlanta Media Bloggers meet-up and can attest that he's a sharp guy and that you should keep an eye on what his company comes up with in the next couple of years.

In order to thwart spammers, first-time user registrations now must be approved by an administrator. It appears spammers already have scripts to auto-register accounts in Drupal 4.7. This doesn't affect anyone who has already signed up for an account, only those who want to sign up for a new account. Sorry if it's an inconvenience. When better mechanisms to discourage that kind of behavior are available, we hope to switch the system back to letting new users confirm their own accounts.