Not a day goes by without reading that another college or university has adopted ' podcast'-styled lectures. Every type of institution, from large state schools to small private colleges, have jumped on the podcast bandwagon.

What does this mean, besides the dawning of a new educational trend? By adding so strongly to the popularity, institutions of higher learning have had a significant effect in the naming of ' podcast' as New Oxford American Dictionary's Word of the Year for 2005.

This really does serve as a strong example of how colleges are not tucked-away ivory towers, but powerful institutions with the ability to influence our world.

From the Orlando Sentinel:


The editors of the New Oxford American Dictionary have validated the sudden spread of podcasting by naming "podcast" the Word of the Year for 2005.

"Podcast," defined as "a digital recording of a radio broadcast or similar program, made available on the Internet for downloading to a personal audio player," will be added to the next edition of the New Oxford American Dictionary.

The word originated as a play on the word "broadcast" using the name of Apple's popular handheld digital music player, the iPod.

Apple's iPod made its debut in the fall of 2001, but podcasts didn't come of age until last year. As late as the fall of 2004, according to the Toronto Star, a Google Internet search for "podcast" returned zero results, and Google asked, "Did you mean: broadcast?"

One year later, Googling "podcast" turns up over 77 million results.