Podcasting allows users to subscribe to audio and video programs online. Podcasted media can then be experienced on iPods and other handheld media players. We are using this technology so that users can download featured story tours to their mobile devices and experience these stories while physically exploring downtown Oakland.

To download a featured story tour, select a tour from the list below. Then, you will be taken to that tour's storymap and podcast information. You can click on the tour's "RSS" button to open the tour's "RSS feed." Then you can select and copy the feed's URL (the website address) and paste it into the podcasting program of your choice. Podcast programs (such as Apple's iTunes) will allow you to subscribe to a tour's podcast and download the tour's media files to your computer. Then, you can load the media to your mobile device and take your device and a printed map with you as you explore the city.

Mobile story tours allow you to "re-experience" place.

Join Annalee Allen in a video tour of Old Oakland. Annalee is coordinator of the Oakland Tours Program, sponsored by the City of Oakland's Cultural Arts and Marketing Department.

Join former Oakland resident Marc as he journeys around Oakland revisiting the different homes he lived in during the 1980's and 90's. Along the way, Marc discovers the important influence place has had on his identity.

Join William Wong as he presents a personal tour of Oakland's Chinatown, the place he was born and raised. Mr. Wong went on to have a distinguished journalism career and is now a freelance writer and author.

This tour is based on a short story written by Christian Alvez. It chronicles a young man's discovery of unusual creatures and connections while exploring the Lake Merritt Channel.

Explore the Cleveland Cascade park with Jim Ratliff and Barbara Newcombe, local residents behind the park's restoration. The Cleveland Cascade, built in 1923, was a stunning water feature on the shores of Lake Merritt.

Enjoy songs from Joyce Whitelaw's place-based musical album "A Musical Celebration of Oakland" while walking around Lake Merritt. Ms. Whitelaw, a fourteen-year resident of Oakland, composed the album to accompany lyrics written by local writers.

Steven Huss, Acting Cultural Arts Programs Manager for the City of Oakland, guides you on an audio tour around downtown Oakland to discover a few of the City's public art treasures.

Annalee Allen, coordinator of the City of Oakland's Tours Program, guides you on an audio tour of eight Oakland landmarks.