Can I check who's subscribed to the course?

Yes. We provide instructors with a list of all registered emails, so that you may determine how much and who from your class has subscribed.

Can Box Populi assist in royalty-sharing with my college or university?

We can deliver royalties to two parties for every account. You may determine the sharing percentage.

Can I participate in the royalty sharing plan without purchasing a license and support contract?

We may be providing a participation opportunity without license and support to more of the 300,000 U.S. college instructors long term, but initially we will only offer royalty-share to the first 1,000 instructors, and prioritize positions based on those who purchase our license and support system. This license and support system provides you with a completely automated podcasting device and the expertise of our four-plus years of development.  If you are not interested in signing up for a support package to guarantee your place for the first opportunity, please provide us with your contact information so that we can contact you if and when space is available outside of the initial opportunity.

I'm considering purchasing the license and support package. What else do I need?

You need a microphone (you can buy an inexpensive wireless microphone from Nady for $70, and a fixed microphone costs even less). You will also need our Podcast in a Box or you will need to install the free Podcast in a Box ISO software on a machine of your own, such as an older machine you are no longer using for other purposes (note that such an installation will make your older machine usable only for podcasting purposes and will overwrite its hard drive). More information on the Podcast in a Box installation is available at the Podcast in a Box FAQ. The room in which you operate the device also needs network and power connections.
 

I've purchased the license and support package. What do I do now?

Please view this video and learn more. In a nutshell, you need to download the CD-ROM from our website and install the software onto a dedicated computer for use as a podcasting device.  This can be an older recycled computer.

Can I make this a portable device?

We sell compatible, portable devices from $2000 for a zero-support system to higher priced options depending on your support needs. You might consider purchasing one of these from us, or you can build your own lightweight PC.  If you purchase a support contract we can provide you with the specifications to build your own identical one.  If you use an older PC, it is unlikely that this is something you can carry around with you from class to class.

Another instructor who shares the room with me has already purchased a license and support contract. Can I participate in the royalty program on their account?

No. We are only offering royalty-share to instructors who directly purchase an license and support contract. We are offering a referral incentive program, so if a colleague you've referred is accepted into our initial royalty program, you get $25 returned to you. If you share the royalties with your college or university, the more instructors from your college or university that participate, the more valuable it will be for the institution as well.

Can I use my own laptop and create podcasts which my students pay for? Or, can I use a video camera and create a video on my home computer that I publish into your system?

Yes, we do not restrict your account in any way. You can publish any type of file: MPEG4, MP3, PDF, or others. Keep in mind that there are significant costs to producing multimedia files.  We think using one of our devices will make your life much easier, but we don't restrict your usage at all.

Can I assign a different cost to some episodes and another cost to other episodes?

This is not a feature we will deliver in September 2007, but we are considering it for future versions.

What is the royalty percentage for me?

This has not yet been determined. It will involve a base fee which covers our bandwidth, storage and management costs, and then Box Populi will take a percentage of the podcast price. We anticipate we can easily deliver 50% of the total price to an instructor. Compared to writing a college textbook, (where instructors/authors typically receive 12% or less), the Box Populi solution is a clear winner—especially considering that your role consists only of showing up to class and inserting a key into our Podcast in a Box device. Royalty fees are based partially on the file size; larger files are more costly for us to deliver to the students, so we charge more for them.  We will be providing information about how to price your podcasts in August, and please contact us if you have questions about how to price your podcasts appropriately.

Can students purchase single episodes of my class rather than purchasing at the beginning of the quarter?

Yes. You can decide if you want to allow students to purchase only the entire quarter, or if they may purchase individual episodes. For example, you might set the prices for a 30 hour course at $50 for all courses, or á la carte at $3 an episode.

When do I get paid for my podcasts?

We will provide you with a check 30 days after the commencement of your first class. If students purchase additional episodes throughout the quarter, we will pay out royalties to you 30 days after the end of the quarter or semester.

Who owns the multimedia files once they are published onto Box Populi's system?

You (and possibly the school) own exclusive rights to the files. Box Populi will delete them at your request and does not maintain ownership over them. You might consider donating certain podcasts as creative commons licensed for the academic benefit to all, but this is entirely up to you as the producer.

What if a student keeps the podcasts on their laptop or iPod? Can I make sure that they cannot share these with other students the next quarter?

Without using DRM, which adds significant costs to the hosting and is incompatible and extremely inconvenient for almost every user, there is no reliable way to restrict access absolutely.  Having said that, there are many reasons why these files are difficult to share.  First, they are multimedia files which are extremely large, which makes it difficult to reliably share and store them.  Peer-to-peer sharing is less feasible when the files are of interest to only a few dozen people, as would most classroom podcast content.  These files are too big to be stored on a easily accessible place like mySpace or Facebook.  And, the iTunes Music Store has shown that people are willing to pay for content if the price is reasonable and it is more convenient to pay than spend the time finding pirated copies.  We think a student will be strongly motivated to pay rather than steal and share.  And, making each successive class slightly different is a simple way to prevent this from occurring.  You might consider modifying your course information slightly with successive classes, assigning texts in different order, or even using different texts. The issues here are similar to those encountered when students share notes from class.

As an instructor, do I get feedback from these podcasts at all?

As a part of the paid service, students can chat online about the podcasts, and also take notes. Unless they elect to keep these dialogues private, you as an instructor can participate in the discussions around the media. Students can also elect to ask questions about the media and you can answer directly from within a web interface.

If one student purchases the podcasts, can they not share them with other students?

Our system does track who downloads which files, so students are prohibited from sharing them outside of their own personal usage.  In addition, a big part of the Box Populi system is providing a "social network" to the students which have paid for the service. Students can download files to their iPod, but we also provide services like chat and note-taking. These services cannot be shared to different students from the same account. Podcasts are also large multimedia files, and reliably sharing these files will be difficult; students are more likely to purchase podcasts for a few dollars than they are to spend time searching for potentially dubious sources right before a test.

©2007 Box Populi (formerly Webcast in a Box), Inc. All rights reserved.