Overview - minimal blather
It's now possible to find out details of all the radio and TV programmes in the BBC archives, following the corporation's introduction of an experimental online catalogue.
The catalogue - covering programmes back to 1937 and accessible here - is part of a new strategy outlined last week by Ashley Highfield, the BBC's Director of New Media & Technology, that's intended to "keep the BBC relevant in the digital age" and to move the corporation's output beyond the boundaries of traditional means of broadcasting.
Although the catalogue doesn't yet allow direct access to the programmes themselves, that's something that's on the cards, though it's expected that the downloads will be available only to households with UK TV licenses.
Before that happens, the BBC is set to offer license-holders a catch-up service that will let them download any programme from the eight BBC TV channels and watch them on PCs, TVs or mobile phones for up to seven days after transmission.
As well as allowing us to share its programming, Auntie wants us to share our own resources - including videos and blogs - via its site. According to Highfield, the corporation is, "looking to a world where you could share BBC programmes, your own thoughts, your own blogs and your own home videos. It allows you to create your own space and to build bbc.co.uk around you."
Part of that process is a competition (http://open.bbc.co.uk/reboot) to completely re-design and re-invent the BBC's home page so that it "exploits the functionality and usability of services such as Flickr, YouTube, Technorati and Wikipedia" - though there's no promise that the winner's ideas will be implemented on the home page but merely showcased there. Either way, there's an Apple laptop PC and ten iPods up for grabs.
In case you're a sucker for buzz-words, we include on the following pages the three press releases about the Beeb's future that were put out last week.
Either way, join us in the HEXUS.community to discuss what Auntie is up to.
