Since the College’s Media Library and iTunes U channel serve both common and divergent audiences and purposes, it is implicit that their users search in different ways. Thus the way in which content is labelled differs between the two.

At step 2 of the upload process you will be asked to tag your item. This is to make it easier to find in searches of the College’s Media Library. It also allows the Media Library player to suggest similar content which may be of interest to the viewer. In addition, tags also inform keyword searches for collections in iTunes U.

Choose tags which describe the content, such as:

• the subject matter and/or research area of the material;
• the person(s) involved (e.g. the Rector, Professor Stephen Richardson etc.);
• the provenance of the subject discussed ( e.g. the Faculty/Department/centre of origin) and/or the person(s) involved;
• whether it is relevant to current or prospective students, or staff;
• if it’s an event, and of what type (i.e. event, lecture);
• if it’s an item for the archive;
• if it’s a podcast;
• a connection with an external organisation (e.g. the Natural History Museum, the Royal Society).

If you indicate your intention to publish your content on iTunes U (by clicking the iTunes U checkbox at step 3 of the upload process) you will also be asked to assign your item to a single category from a list supplied by iTunes U. You must also allocate the item to a channel (chosen from the Faculty of Engineering, Faculty of Medicine, Faculty of Natural Sciences, Imperial College Business School, and University Life). Once you have selected the channel you will be presented with a list of collections to which you can assign your content. You may assign content to multiple collections at this stage.

Please see the post “What is the rationale for assigning content (items) to categories, channels, and collections in iTunes U?” for more information.