On The BBC 2.0

novus ordo writes "BBC has been exploring the 'Web 2.0' approach in its future plans 'to keep the BBC relevant in the digital age.' They have also put an experimental catalogue online. 'This will allow you to find out about any of the one million programmes that the BBC holds in its archive, going right back to 1937. It's a window onto an amazing cultural and national resource.' They have also opened up a competition to completely redesign its home page."

great resource, but incomplete

No search results found for
blake's 7

No search results found for
q

No search results found for
crystal tips and alistair

etc.

But hey, they have a great disclaimer :

The catalogue is not comprehensive. It does not contain an entry for every programme broadcast by

Re:great resource, but incomplete

FYI, Blake's 7 is in there, under "Blake's Seven". See http://open.bbc.co.uk/catalogue/infax/series/BLAK E 'S+SEVEN [bbc.co.uk].

I guess their search engine need some more work.

Re:great resource, but incomplete

The show is called "BLAKES 7"

As other parts of the BBC correctly tell you

http://www.bbc.co.uk/cult/classic/blakes7/ [bbc.co.uk]

Re:great resource, but incomplete

The search apparently screws up with one letter terms (Just a Minute returns no results but Just Minute does for example), and Blake's 7 is under Blake's Seven for some reason anyway, and the Q series are under the umbrella series of "Spike Milligan", with the episodes as Q5 / Q6 / etc. I'd guess it probably makes more sense if you work in the BBC archives and are used to the various qwirks of the database.

Re:great resource, but incomplete

programmes which do not exist

This notice is because some programs (such as Dad's Army) have had tapes written over/destroyed because of previous BBC policy.

Re:great resource, but incomplete

No search results found for crystal tips and alistair

Try "Crystal Tipps"

competition rules

"They have also opened up a competition to completely redesign its home page."

The catch is that they want it to have the same color scheme, font, icons, and certain design elements from the Slashdot home page.

There's also the RadioListings web site

Although the catalogue is a great source of data it needs interpretation, and that's where sites like mine - http://www.radiolistings.co.uk/ [radiolistings.co.uk] - come in.

I take the data the BBC (and other stations) list, edit it it for readability, and include things like series and episode numbers - things that are essential for any collectors.

Yes, this is a blatent plug for my site.

The BBC's Website

The first and possibly only thing they should change about the BBC home page is the fact that it's designed to be viewed at a resolution of 800x600. Surely a company as big as the BBC is capable of producing a web site that utilizes all of the screen space available in a browser window?

Re:The BBC's Website

Just to play Devil's Advocate here (I'm at 1600x1200), firstly as pointed out by other replies a lot of people don't have screens that are that huge. Secondly, the BBC website is designed to adhere to certain standards of readability, and this involves pre

Re:The BBC's Website

"that huge"? Hasn't 1024x768 been a standard since about 1993? I hate static width websites as it is, but ones made for 800x600 just kill me on my 1920x1200 display. Even at the increasingly popular 1280x1024 it's pretty wasteful.

Re:The BBC's Website

Sure, I'd be surprised if anyone was running below 1024, "huge" was referring to our kind of screen sizes, which really are the exception rather than the norm. I think my second point still stands.

Re:The BBC's Website

Well, my browser window is almost always less than 1024....

But then, I see very little reason to make windows take up the whole screen.... I usually have 2 or 3 that i'm watching in the background and I want some of them visible.

This is why static sized pa

Re:The BBC's Website

a lot of people don't have screens that are that huge.

He said "utilizes all of the screen space available in a browser window". He didn't say "utilizes an area larger than 800x600". Web design isn't like print media, it can (and by default does) dy

Re:The BBC's Website

I know I really shouldn't rise to the bait, but the original poster did say "a web site that utilizes all of the screen space available in a browser window". That doesn't mean bigger than 800x600 or smaller than 800x600. It means fully using all of the spa

BBC on /.'s revamp?

An interesting point from the BBC "Reboot [bbc.co.uk]" Q&A considering /.'s recent webpage redesign contest:

[...]To kick-off, jay left the following comment on the blog: "What you are really asking for is numerous submissions of what is in essence a $million rebranding. Not a bad exchange for an apple laptop."

I think it's worth pointing out from the very beginning that we are not asking people to provide million £ rebranding for us. Indeed we are NOT going to use or commission any designs for the final front page. Yes, we will turn the winning design into the homepage for a day - but that's as a prize and as recognition for the winning producer's efforts (and if they really don't want us to, then we won't).

I would completely agree with jay that we would be ripping people off if we were going to turn entries submitted into the final homepage design. But that's not the objective of this competition.

Online archive

The French institute called INA (institut national de l'audiovisuel) has opened online archives, with free video and audio content (you can also pay for high quality versions).

It's available here : http://www.ina.fr/archivespourtous/index.php [www.ina.fr]

In Sweden as well...

The Swedish government-owned TV networks are exploring similar options. SVT [svt.se] (as they're called, sorry, not sure if their site is available in Anglosaxon) are working on making available all of their archives over the internet.

A small(ish) selection of the historical archives is available, and shows are available online up to a week after having been aired - but the plan is that one day all of the archives will be indexed and digitized and viewable over the intarweb. There's also rumors that this will be completely free for everyone who lives in the country and pays the state-imposed TV-license.

bbc 2.0 = snookr snookr snookr

And it will look like this [msn.com]...

yes, its the world championship snooker at the moment, so BBC2 stops everything for green baize action...

Re:Staying Relevant

You've got the remember, America as a country if far more right wing than the UK (particularly the popular media). Consequently a "centrist" POV for Brits looks right wing in the US. Personally I think Auntie has a fairly NPOV but I would, being a "left w

Re:Staying Relevant

Consequently a "centrist" POV for Brits looks right wing in the US.

You meant "left wing" (prob. a typo), other than that this remark is true all over europe. In most european countries, Democrats would well be the right wing and Republicans would be the far right.

Re:Staying Relevant

Who cares about your right-wing-american-nutjob sensibilities? BBC is not even left wing by european standards, and 5 billion people are anti-americans.

Re:Staying Relevant

. . .5 billion people are anti-americans.

Why that's. . .that's, well, UnAmerican, that's what that is.

KFG

Re:Staying Relevant

No, he/she is not a nutjob. Even the BBC's internal investigations have acknowledged that there is some left wing bias mostly in the form of anti-ameican and anti-semetic bias at the BBC. Read this article [scotsman.com] if you want to see an example of one such inves

Re:Staying Relevant

Being pro-Palestine or simply against Israeli occupation doesn't make one 'anti-semitic'. Even ignoring the fact that Arabs are also semites, there are Jews (and even Israeli Jews) who are also against the occupation. Opposing Zionism and the state of Isra

simple math?

He might be referring to simple math.

5B = earth_population - Golden Billion [wikipedia.org]

I have no comments on the reasons for this.

Re:Staying Relevant

Good lord, if you're an example of the product of the American Education system then God help us.

Anti-American means they don't like you. And there are more people in the world than just those living in the US.

Re:Moderation Abuse

Have you considered that perhaps the moderation was not for the insults, but for the points they raised? Thought not.

Re:Staying Relevant

When you think a randomly selected cross-section of people is showing a political bias.... you might want to re-align your political spectrum or something

Re:Staying Relevant

I'm sorry but you're wrong. People are anti-American because they don't like the way the arrogant and imperialistic way in which the USA behaves, doubly so under George "the moron" Bush.

Re:Staying Relevant

I shall further this informed and relevant debate thus...

I think Fox needs to first get rid its right wing, anti-Europe bias if it wants to be relevant in the digital age. That would be the first thing that needs to be changed.

In this age of left-leaning blogs that can monitor Fox's biases, people will realize how much of an agenda they have.

Re:Staying Relevant

Anti-US bias? You are confusing bias with factual reporting. It's something you might not get on Fox News.

I've never seen anyone accuse the BBC of anti-american bias before; probably because the idea is so incredibly stupid. The only real case of a reasonable case for poor quality reporting in the past two decades was "Campbell Dossier", and this wasn't related to America in any real sense.

If there really was any real accusation of anti-american bias, there would have been some kind of report or media discussion. There hasn't been; you're just sounding off because you don't like the coverage.

Re:Staying Relevant

And half of them are left-wing newspapers complaining of right-wing bias and the other haf are right-wing newspapers complaining of left-wing bias.

Oh and then there's the Sun, owned by one of the BBC's competitiors (Sky), that just complains because their boss tells them to.

Re:Staying Relevant

Well... At least the BBC represents the British public even if our government won't.

Re:Staying Relevant

I think the BBC needs to first get rid its left wing, anti-US bias if it wants to be relevant in the digital age.

Rubbish.

Firstly, you're trolling. "you have to be right-wing in order to be relevant" ? WTF, get a life, go back under that bridge, troll, etc.

Re:huh?

If you're outside the UK it won't let you see most things. And if it did, they'd be in realplayer format (don't install realplayer - it's crap).

Re:huh?

And if it did, they'd be in realplayer format (don't install realplayer - it's crap).

So install Real Alternative [codecguide.com] instead.

Re:huh?

on linux mplayer still plays it with the correct codecs.

who'd install `real crap` on their unix machine anyway ?

i'd like bbc on my pc, i could even pay the bbc the 'tv tax' to watch it outside the uk. they have a nice program and they have more independent

Re:huh?

who'd install `real crap` on their unix machine anyway ?

Given the quality of RealPlayer for Linux (basically just HelixPlayer packaged with proprietary codecs) I certainly would. I seen the Windows RealPlayer, so I certainly understand your reservations... but HelixPlayer and RealPlayer are remarkably simple clean multimedia players. Well worth the effort.

Jedidiah.

Very cool, actually!

While there's not media content, there's a lot of useful info and a huge quantity of data for those of us in the US who only get to find out snippets about what our favorite actors/comics have been up to in the UK.

Actually, it'll probably help me understan

Re:Is it Just me....

You know the BBC is not a standard US 'for-profit' corporate - right?

Check out their 'about us' [bbc.co.uk] stuff.

The BBC is financed by a TV licence paid by households. It does not have to serve the interests of advertisers, or produce a return for shareholders. T

Re:Is it Just me....

Its becoming more and more common for legitimate companies to start a "competition" for one thing or another, its one thing for an FOSS project to hold these competitions or events, but for a "for profit" to hold these competitions seems like either lazyin

Next time, read the rules first

You didn't read the contest page, did you? They will hire (or have already hired) proper web developers to build the new site. The competition most likely serves to get them some input on what the users would like to see. The winning entry will only be tur

Re:Xmltv of tv and radio programmes

They do, via the Radio Times (which is a BBC service/publication).

See here [dave.org.uk] for more details.

Re:Xmltv of tv and radio programmes

The BBC provides extensive listings for all channels, covering one week, in the tv-anytime xml format. It's updated every morning.

7 Day Listings [bbc.co.uk]

Re:I looked for the Churchill speech

From the front page of the linked site:

DOES NOT INCLUDE:
Anything to listen to or watch... Sorry, but the programmes themselves are not available.

That would probably be why. Hopefully they will appear soon, since the BBC's charter does make it clear t

Re:I looked for the Churchill speech

Ah, thanks for pointing that out. I remain hopeful, however, that they will eventually include the actual footage/recordings. Indeed, I will never surrender, whatever the cost may be. (unless it goes over £1/speech)

Re:I looked for the Churchill speech

Well, I doubt the archive will appear on the catalouge, seeing as it's basically a front end to the BBC archive's internal database. It's basically a very bid index.

I suppose stuff like the iMP [bbc.co.uk] could have archive programming however, but there may be righ

Re:I looked for the Churchill speech

But a search for doctor who only found *nine* items. Which is a bit shit really.

Re:I looked for the Churchill speech

Try Dr Who