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Senate Republicans to Offer Weekly "Podcast"
Popular Web Technology Will
Give Constituents a New Way to Stay Informed
HARRISBURG -- State
Senate Majority Leader David J. Brightbill (R-Lebanon) announced today that the
Senate Republican Caucus has begun offering a weekly "podcast" on its website to
expand its coverage of news affecting the lives of Pennsylvanians.
The first
program, now available at
www.pasenategop.com, features Sen. Rob Wonderling (R-24), chairman of the
Senate Communications and Technology Committee, discussing his legislation to
repeal the gross receipts tax on wireless phone service (see
below).
"Podcasting
is a great new technology, and our caucus will use it to help keep constituents
informed," said Sen. Brightbill's chief of staff, Erik Arneson.
A podcast
is essentially a radio program that's broadcast over the web, but because it's
in MP3 format, listeners can play it whenever they want -- either on their home
computer or on an MP3 player, such as an iPod or a Dell DJ. Each week's podcast
will address legislation before the Senate and issues of importance to
Pennsylvanians.
"Podcasting
will improve our ability to provide in-depth analysis, up-to-date information,
and insights from individual members about crucial topics affecting people and
communities around the Commonwealth," Arneson said.
Podcasts
use RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feeds that make it easy for web users to
access news and information by allowing them to view the latest headlines and
summaries from their favorite sites in one place, called a "feed reader" or
"news aggregator."
RSS feeds
also can be viewed on XML-compatible devices such as a cell phone, pager, or
handheld computer. This same technology is what allows podcasts to be downloaded
to audio devices or home computers, Arneson noted.
"Many
news organizations, blogs, and other web sites are now using RSS feeds, making
it more convenient than ever for people to stay up-to-date on topics that are
important to them," Arneson said. "It's revolutionizing the way information is
disseminated, and we want our members to be at the front-end of that."
News
releases on the Senate Republican website will also be available via RSS feeds
in the near future.
To start
receiving podcasts from the Senate Republican Caucus, enter the following
address (URL) in your web-based feed reader (such as My Yahoo, My MSN, Bloglines,
etc.) or news aggregator:
http://www.pasenategop.com/podcast.xml.
More
information is available at
www.pasenategop.com.
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