8 ESSAYS – THE KNOWLEDGE EXCHANGE PROGRAMME: A COLLABORATION BETWEEN BBC R&D AND THE ARTS & HUMANITIES RESEARCH COUNCIL

R&D

Arts & Humanities Research Council 2 8 ESSAYS – THE KNOWLEDGE EXCHANGE PROGRAMME: A COLLABORATION BETWEEN BBC R&D AND THE ARTS & HUMANITIES RESEARCH COUNCIL EIGHT’S Editor’s CREATORS Letter

TIM WRIGHT is a cross- STEPHEN HEPPELL Welcome to 8, a one-off newspaper from the Knowledge Exchange Pro- platform media producer and (www.heppell.net) is a gramme, a collaboration between the BBC and the Arts and Humanities 1 a director of XPT Ltd (www. 2 professor of New Media En- Research Council or, to be more specific, between UK academics and BBC kidnappedtrail.com). His vironments at Bournemouth staff. So why’s it called 8? The simple answer is that the Knowledge Ex- credits include two BAFTA- University and one of the lead- change Programme (KEP) produced eight research studies in total, cover- winning interactive projects: ing authorities on ICT and ing everything from how the BBC works with user generated content and ‘Mind Gym’ and ‘Online learning. On Page 6, he uses how older users use digital services to the development of a 3D online world Caroline’ and the collaborative the KEP studies as the spring- designed for children. web fiction and Sony Award- board for a passionate plea for nominated BBC Radio 4 play the BBC to risk playing a lead- Of course, the other reason is that 8 is a rather more intriguing title than ‘In Search of Oldton.’ On page ing role in upgrading our cur- others we could have gone with. You know the sort of thing – Enabling 3, he looks at the KEP research rent ideas of media literacy. Knowledge Partnerships in the 21st Century – Key Strategies for Future into digital memory. Innovation… Nothing wrong with that, of course, but the idea with 8 is to move away from the standard executive summary.

8 does have some of the stuff you’d expect from a more conventional publication. There are contact details for all researchers on Page 23 and on Page 11 there’s an official view of KEP’s aims from BBC R&D’s Rowena Goldman and the AHRC’s Joanna Pollock. On Pages 12-13 you can see a map of the connections built by one of the research BILL THOMPSON PAT KANE is a musician, projects. The eight studies themselves are online at the KEP blog (www.andfinally.com) is writer, consultant and activ- (www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/knowledgeexchange). You can read them 3 one of the UK’s new media 4 ist. He is author of ‘The Play now. Many BBC staff already have and their recommendations are pioneers. A Visiting Fellow Ethic’ (www.theplayethic. already being implemented. at City University, he cov- com), and one half of Hue ers digital culture for various And Cry (www.hueandcry. But the real idea with 8 was to do something in the spirit of KEP, which is media outlets, including BBC co.uk). On Page 14, he looks all about openness, about building networks and about finding new ways News Online, Focus Maga- at the KEP research studies to share knowledge and ideas. You hear a lot about this kind of thing at the zine and BBC World Service’s that focus on play and digital BBC these days. In May this year, the Director General, Mark Thompson, ‘Digital Planet.’ On Page 8, he culture and ponders a playful gave a keynote at the Journalism in Crisis conference at the University of looks at the KEP research and future for the BBC. Westminster (where I’m the Course Leader for the BA degree in Journal- digital inclusion. ism) and talked about BBC partnerships in the context of local news.

The AHRC/BBC KEP, which has been running for four years now, is an indication that this isn’t just talk, that the BBC is moving towards a more open approach. To reflect that, 8 tries to open things up further, to build more links and push the ideas forward. Rather than simply summarise the KEP studies, we’ve brought in writers and creatives from outside the BBC to give their take on the overall trends revealed by the research. Their brief KATHRYN CORRICK BRONAC FERRAN is was to reflect the individual studies but also to be provocative, to suggest (www.kathryncorrick. a freelance writer/producer/ac- new directions for the research and the BBC. 5 co.uk) is a digital media con- 6 ademic. She currently directs sultant and creative, whose theidealaboratory at Imperial How provocative? Well, on Page 10, Bill Thompson suggests that the BBC’s clients include The New College for the Royal College duty to push for digital inclusion will see its influence and power decline. Statesman magazine, McCann of Art’s Industrial Design Engi- Overall, the writers here are positive about the more open, sharing BBC Erickson, Handbag.com, New neering Department. On Page championed by the KEP studies. In fact, they want more. Several suggest Media Age and the London 20, she writes about innovation the BBC should become a kind of open platform, a space where others can Development Agency. On in the knowledge economy and build on foundations it lays and maintains. Page 17, she looks at the KEP the research partnerships cre- studies’ treatment of interactiv- ated by the KEP studies. That’s easy to say but implementing it will be rather harder. The KEP re- ity and participation. search represents a step in the right direction. It tries to go beyond jargon to remind us that different people use media in different ways for differ- ent reasons. They’re a reminder that the idea of ‘public service’ can’t be taken for granted any more - there are lots of different publics now and their concept of service has changed radically. The KEP studies and 8 showcase some of the work being done towards redefining what a public service represents. JIM MCCLELLAN NEWSPAPER CLUB (getmydrift.typepad.com/ (www.newspaperclub. Helen Thomas, head of BBC Yorkshire and a participant in a KEP 7 jim) is a journalist turned 8 co.uk) is a new tool that helps study into regional archive content sums it up nicely. “In the future, hackademic, specialising in people and communities make the BBC working in partnership will be the norm. It will be an open new media. He’s written for the their own newspapers. It’s an organization, which embraces content created by communities, indi- Face, i-D, The Guardian, The offshoot of RIG, a multi-dis- viduals and employees.” Observer and the BBC and is ciplinary organization working currently Principal Lecturer in in post-digital design whose cli- So – enjoy 8. Enjoy the essays, the graphics and the pictures – all of which Journalism at the University of ents include Six To Start, This were taken by the KEP participants. Most importantly, read the studies Westminster. He’s 8’s editor. Water and Penguin. Newspa- and get in touch, either with the academics, the researchers or the contribu- per Club’s Ben Terrett and Alex tors to 8 if you want to find out more. Parrott are 8’s designers. Jim McClellan [email protected] westminstermediacomment.wordpress.com BIULDING PARTNERSHIPS NETWORKING RESEARCH SHARING KNOWLEDGE 3

1TIM WRIGHT DIGITAL MEMORIES: ‘WE’VE LOST CONTROL’ Memory is cheap these days, so cheap we can save almost everything from our digital lives if we want to. But how do we make sense of all the stuff we save? Can the BBC help us reconnect our public and private memories?

In 1980 two pop stars died: John And even though Lennon is un- practical this business of preserving band access (in most places) wed- Lennon and Ian Curtis. Lennon’s doubtedly the more important fig- and sharing one’s memories can be. ded to practically free web-based assassination was big international ure historically and his assassination services is providing us right now news at the time and now survives a symbol of society’s ongoing obses- At one end we have media executives with a wonderful opportunity to de- in several media archives (including sion with show business, celebrity imposing their cultural hegemony velop the kind of digital playground the BBC’s On This Day website) as a and fame by any means possible, it is upon us, choosing to commemorate where people might quite easily defining moment of that year. Curtis who defines 1980 for me, and it Lennon not Curtis, asking for mem- merge their personal memories with is the memory of his death that elides ories of the Miners’ Strike, but not community-based media and link Curtis’ suicide made the cover of easily into my memories of me. memories of Norwich City beating into a fully digital national archive a few indie music magazines, and Bayern Munich (dammit!). And at in ways that could be significant and whilst it’s recently been commemo- Not that I have too many memories the other we have our collective in- meaningful at both a personal and rated in the vogue-ish biopic Con- of me. None that I can share with ability to generate and organise per- public level. trol beloved of 40-somethings like you easily, you’ll be pleased to hear. sonal media in any way that might me, his death has never really been When I think of where my memo- makes it accessible or – dare I say it? And it’s the BBC without doubt more than a minor blip on the na- ries lie and how I might share them, – meaningful to anyone else. that is better placed than any other tional psyche. like many other people my mind British media organisation to lead first turns to a small number of well- Sometimes, in my darkest Joy Di- the way in terms of developing new Two pop star deaths, two very dif- organised photo albums, a couple vision-inspired moments, I actually forms of memory-making, allowing ferent outcomes in terms of com- of teenage diaries , a box of letters, fear for our memories. the general public to hook into and memoration and a place in what we some books, a set of scuffed LPs, one re-use its assets in exciting new ways might now call ‘the digital archive.’ shirt I refuse to throw away and few Technology makes our pre-digital whilst simultaneously promoting And yet when I try to map my own manky C90 cassettes. This is what stuff obsolete. Mainstream media best-practice principles to ensure memories of 1980 onto either of remains of my so-called youth. foregrounds historical events in that what we end up storing and re- these ‘national’ events, it’s certainly which ordinary people don’t seem to storing is actually worth the associ- Curtis’s suicide that burns brighter I then turn with terror to the frankly feature in any significant way. And ated effort and cost. The desire to revisit one’s and fits in more seamlessly with my much larger number of unorgan- our digital detritus is so badly or- own history was a potent own experience of the times. ised photos that have either been ganised and distributed across ump- Sitting as it does on the equivalent factor in wanting to engage dumped higgledy-piggledy in a huge teen different platforms and services of 600,000 hours of TV content with archival sources. Lennon was a remote, mythic, *old* box since about 1990. Or – worse – that it’s almost impossible to find and and about 350,000 hours of radio in figure from the 1960s and 1970s as I’m forced to contemplate all the track it, let alone share it with loved its archive (i.e. very close now to a far as I was concerned. Curtis was digital images sitting somewhere on ones (and/or complete strangers). million hours of material), the BBC Page 18 The Miners’ Strike: young, contemporary and person- my computer, on various memory has more memories locked up in its A Case Study in Regional Content ally relevant. He killed himself on sticks, or on sites like Flickr and Fa- And even when we do attempt to vaults than most. And it too has the my 16th birthday. Joy Division’s al- cebook, generally unloved and ig- make our presences felt (contrib- same problem as the rest of us of bums were the soundtrack to my ad- nored (“0 views”), waiting patiently uting to the Ian Curtis section of organising them properly, tagging olescence (I still play them today). for the time - some time in my old age lastingtribute.co.uk perchance), we them, dating them, making them I aspired to his clothes, his haircut, methinks – when they might finally only seem to be reinforcing a sense searchable and retrievable, securing his funny way of dancing, his angst be tagged and dated properly, printed of how arbitrary and subjective are ownership and/or the right to repub- (Embarrassingly perhaps I still do). perhaps, timelined and organised into the forces which lead a person into lish, converting them into a publish- His death defined 1980 as a grim, ‘sets’ and finally *shared.* pooling their memories into the able format - and then working out sad, grey year (Check it out, it really growing ocean of international digi- how to share them with other people was). His music reminds me of what Oh how the rest of my family are rel- tised (mainly internet-based) me- in a meaningful way. I felt like when I was 16. ishing that Christmas Day far in the dia – and how choosy and selective future when grandpa (great grand- people can be about the aspects of Also just like us, a big media institu- In short, here is an example of pa?) finally forces them all to sit down national memory they elect to rein- tion has the tendency, as it organises how personal memories can map and bask in his digital memories in all force and validate. and re-organises its memories and more easily and powerfully on to their banal glory. I’m sure you and the its materials, to discern patterns one national event than on to an- rest of the world are waiting on tenter- Now, before my message gets too and themes, to pick out particular other. My personal circumstances, hooks for my personalised, digitised doomy let’s celebrate the fact that moments of significance, specific my age, my socio-economic back- ‘mono-blogue’ of how Ian Curtis and it’s not too late to unpick this mess. turning points, to discern definite ground, my emotional baggage, I defined a decade... beginnings, middles and ends. my own archived media acquired And indeed let’s also admit that the since that time - all glue me to one If nothing else I hope by now that proliferation of low-cost screens In short it is perhaps all too tempt- particular public moment in time you’re getting the idea of how messy, personal computers and mobile ing to turn memories into stories rather than to another. muddle-headed and downright im- devices, the possibility of broad- and thus decide on behalf of the rest 4 8 ESSAYS – THE KNOWLEDGE EXCHANGE PROGRAMME: A COLLABORATION BETWEEN BBC R&D AND THE ARTS & HUMANITIES RESEARCH COUNCIL

of us what we actually get to see and And yet what the Miners’ Strike Material. It strongly promotes a hear; decide what is important *be- study also demonstrates beautifully shift from what it calls Audience fore* the rest of us actually get our is how the addition of eyewitness Comment to Audience Content and hands on the material and start to " I think that everything that testimony, the recording of per- even suggests that more programme do our own formal ‘remembering.’ sonal story and discursive, group makers should be developing Audi- the BBC has should be in conversation, the capture of varying ence Material Policies. The AHRC/BBC KEP research dialects, accents and points of view study ‘The Miners’ Strike: A Case the public domain. All of offers a much richer picture not just (Some people might think it dis- Study in Regional Content’ does of the events themselves, not just of turbing that hardly any BBC pro- an excellent job of highlighting us have paid for it in the the impact on the people who lived grammes have such a thing already, the problems associated with this through those times, but of what it despite so regularly soliciting for au- seemingly selective opening up of first instance." might be like for any human being dience feedback via the phone, via archive material to people who lived to be subjected to those pressures email, via blog, via SMS, via Face- through the events that the archive and have to make the difficult de- book, via Twitter.) describes. As co-author Heather Page 4 The Miners’ Strike: A Case Study in Regional Content cisions as a contracted employee Powell eloquently puts it: about when to go to strike, when to The shift from comment to content – picket, when to commit civil disobe- again, probably universally thought “The choice of the Miners’ Strike dience, when to stand up for your- to be ‘ A Good Thing’ - has led to 1984/5 for this research was an in- self, your family, your comrades or some interesting experiments such spired one.... For those who lived your community. as the Island Blogging programme through it, few other events had in Scotland whereby a significant such an impact on their social and For sure, all this is a ‘no-brainer’ for group of citizens have been encour- political lives. The memories of most people engaged in professional aged to share personal material those events have been translated content-making in a digital age. about their locale and the commu- into folklore by the communities Anyone can see that offering par- nity in general via personal blogs. directly involved. Through this re- ticipants, witnesses and the public Notable too is MemoryShare, a bold search we can begin to understand in general the chance to attach their attempt to allow people to share and what is important to communities own stories and comments to BBC browse memories of life experiences about how they are represented in material, and use the material itself online and see them in the context of the archive. We can also start to as the engine for public discussion recent and historical events. understand the passions and sense and debate is ‘A Good Thing.’ of ownership the BBC audience has The BBC’s move into web-based when engaging with what is essen- The problem comes, though, in ecosystems such as the blogosphere, tially their archive.” the methods the BBC chooses to Facebook and YouTube naturally adopt when capturing the variety has implications in terms of owner- What becomes very clear in inter- of voices, stories and debates that ship and curatorship. More sophis- views with miners, other members coalesce around BBC output. And ticated BBC producers and editors, of the mining community and po- it’s a problem too choosing what for example, are already realising lice officers alike, is that there’s platforms, technologies, and con- that there’s no longer a need to a deep, deep distrust of the story tent management systems the BBC house web-based Audience Content that is being told by the archive should support in order to reach out on a BBC approved site, or even a material. The complaints listed to its audience in this more open, BBC server. are becoming the common litany collaborative and participative way. recited against television in gen- At Radio 4’s Today programme, eral: ‘bias...dumbing down... an One suspects that within the BBC, for example, the traditional mes- economic agenda... stereotyping... as with other broadcasters, there sage board was closed down in fa- anti-northern prejudice... a dis- was until recently a tendency to see vour of a more ‘distributed’ model proportionate focus on violence ‘interactive’ technologies, and pri- of participation involving the use and confrontation.’ marily ‘the web’, as the catch-all an- of broader and more general BBC swer to these conundrums. online resources such as ‘Have Your This is not the place to talk about Say,’ the introduction of presenter addressing fundamental editorial And in an associated trend, senior and guest editor blogs, a suggestion issues such as these. But I would producers and editors bracketed box for stories and packages that the suggest that these complaints could all forms of audience contribution programme might consider devel- well be interpreted as symptomatic to the process of story-making and oping and a campaign of sorts to get of the loss of control people feel debate under the somewhat derisory listeners to start to their own blogs, about the recording and re-telling and impersonal catch-all term ‘user or express themselves through third of shared experience in general. generated content (or ‘ugc’). party services such as Twitter.

Getting at the ‘truth’ of a memory This in turn led to an explosion of Over time the plan has been to make can be contentious at the best of on-air pleas to ‘email or text us your use of linking and embedding as a times. Just think of how family views’, to the setting up of presenter way of ‘windowing’ audience mate- stories can be contested fiercely by blogs supporting dozens, if not hun- rial on the Today website rather than all who sit round the table - with dreds, of hastily typed (and hard actually hosting and supporting Au- mum, dad, children and even the to search or filter) comments, mes- dience Content. By encouraging the dog all remembering something sage boards dominated by a hand- use of the tag ‘r4today’ on all related different, all attempting to impose Many believe that much of ful of voluble nutters, statistically web content, it has also become pos- their will and establish their ‘ver- meaningless votes and polls and a sible to search across 3rd party plat- sion’ of things. the audience opinion about plethora of online photo galleries forms and web environments for (of sunrises, sunsets, red setters etc) Today-related comment and content When we feel that we have no con- the news that gets published, that remained online with no con- that audience members have pub- trol over the telling, that someone textualising editorial, no associated lished in places far away from the else – a stranger – is calling the shots what we call Audience media and no obvious explanation BBC’s online realm. about what gets presented and rep- of their original reason for being. resented about our own lives, then a Comment, is often dominated Quite how many active informed cit- fierce sense of injustice can kick in As another of the KEP studies, izens out there have the inclination, and instead of sharing our memo- by the uninformed and those ‘ugc@thebbc: Understanding its the technical skills and the free time ries, we hoard them. Instead of sto- impact upon contributors, non-con- to interact in this way is questionable. ry and informed opinion, we opt for who hold extreme (and tributors and BBC News’ indicates, It still feels very much like a minority cheap comment and rebuttal. Just though, the ugc backlash has begun. sport. In any case, in online spaces think again of that family meal ta- somewhat distasteful) views. such as YouTube or Flickr, the stats ble – how many times did you com- This research project attempts use- suggest that it’s still much easier to bat someone else’s version of events fully to replace ‘ugc’ with the more watch rather than participate. with a sarcastic remark, by shouting practical term ‘Audience Material’ Page 4 ugc@thebbc: Understanding its impact upon contributors, or simply leaving the room? Or was non-contributors and BBC News and also identifies that there are It’s also notable that, in the case of that just me? many different kinds of Audience the Island Blogging project, when the BIULDING PARTNERSHIPS NETWORKING RESEARCH SHARING KNOWLEDGE 5

BBC attempted to withdraw tech- But rather than condemning the au- For example, with all the outdoor over time), but more importantly nical support of the in-house blog- thors of existing Audience Material war memorials in this country qui- will be about developing in partner- ging platform and encourage the out of hand and writing off ‘YouTube etly eroding, and the names of our ship with audiences really effective audience to set up their own blogs culture’ as shallow and lacking in war heroes being rubbed away by ways of ‘prepping’ personal media using third party software, activ- quality, this research probes a bit the rain, is the answer to retype all for sharing, merging and mashing ity amongst the citizen bloggers deeper into why Audience Material those names on the web and get in a socially responsible way, and dipped. Left to their own devices, and digital memory sharing is still someone like Richard Hammond to will also be about using a variety of the general public tends to get on considered by most to be a low value, stick a camera up the nose of every collaborative storytelling techniques with life and stops recording it. niche activity for the techno-literate. surviving war veteran? Well maybe. and formats - some screen-based, And it offers some ways of marrying some not - that make it much easier There is a suspicion here in both the world of online self-promotion But a richer, more adventurous and for people from any kind of back- these examples, in fact, that the key and offline storytelling. ultimately more social and pluralis- ground to add to pools of public driver for introducing new ways of tic solution might be to turn the war digital memory. participating and co-publishing has Its first important finding appears memorials themselves into intelli- not been an altruistic dream on the to be that perhaps we are not yet gent, communications hubs which part of BBC management to engage offering the appropriate tools, envi- can tell you about themselves and in community memory-making. In- ronments and/or formats that might the history they represent (if you ask stead, it could all be seen as a wizard encourage people to develop their them nicely) and on to which per- way of cutting the cost of supporting stories effectively. sonal content can be stuck via mobile At one end we have an audience whilst still being seen wireless technologies. Public monu- (internally at least) to have a forward- In terms of tools, it is becoming clear ments as both publishers of BBC media executives looking cross-platform strategy. that the web in itself may be a rather content and receivers of Audience blunt instrument for gathering sto- Content – now there’s a thought. imposing their Yes, this new web 2.0 ‘DIY citizen’ ries and allowing people to attach approach to Audience Material has themselves to BBC content. For Which then only leaves the second cultural hegemony the potential to deliver greater free- example, in most cases, contribu- caveat arising out of the Public dom of expression, improved dia- tions still require people to sit down Voice study; that is, a certain cul- upon us, choosing logue, richer engagement and offers in front of a screen and master some tural bias about what kind of con- an increased level of granularity and kind of input device; at best a mouse tent is deemed to be valuable, of use to commemorate texture in terms of contribution and and keyboard, at worst a video cam- or ‘interesting.’ participation. But, as the ugc@bbc era, a wireless internet connection John Lennon not study notes, even on a quiet week, and an often tedious login sequence. For TV producers whose job it is to some BBC programmes receive at entertain as well as inform, the in- Ian Curtis, asking least 100 stills and videos from the What the Digital Storytelling re- fra-ordinary represents a huge chal- general public and yet still very little search project is great at demonstrat- lenge. How is it possible to make the for memories of of the material is used as part of pro- ing is that the unlocking of memory YouTube wittering of a teenager or gramme making. Most ‘ugc’ sent sometimes requires an almost the- the Twitterings of Stephen Fry into the Miners’ Strike, into the BBC, one suspects, gets atrical stimulus – one’s presence something entertaining? very little attention at all. in a particular location at a certain but not memories time of day, the social element of And yet ignore the seemingly banal There is a strong insinuation face to face interaction, voices and and irrelevant stories and one risks of Norwich City throughout the report, too, that the gesture, the structure of a time- excluding important stakeholders people who send in this kind of ma- line, the constraints of a particular and misrepresenting history. In the beating Bayern terial are not representative of the length of time, the development of Miners’ Strike archive, for example, audience as a whole, and therefore a line of thought from one moment women in all communities were Munich (dammit!). extreme caution should be exer- to the next and from one ‘platform’ seen as under-represented despite cised about offering them any kind or ‘scene’ to the next, from pen and playing a central role in the events of And on the other we of platform at all. paper to spoken work to video... the day. Was this because their stories were deemed irrelevant at the time? have our collective It is true that the people’s motives This process of memory making The ugc@thebbc study indicates that for becoming bloggers, vloggers, and memory sharing takes time and people over 60 are less aware than inability to generate mobloggers ot ‘twitizens’ can be resources, it requires facilitation, younger people about how to submit suspect. You’ve probably heard one education and patience. A lot of Audience Material and become in- and organise or all of these: they have too much the activity takes place hyperlocally volved in programme making. Does time on their hands; they crave at- and away from a screen. For a time- this mean that old people should be personal media in tention; they have a particular and poor, cost-cutting, screen-based, left out of the digital revolution? narrow socio-political agenda; they net-obsessed international media any way that might are attempting to hijack a media organisation, this all runs counter The fact is that most memories can channel for their own purposes; to its culture and probably seems ir- be subjective, hazy, captured in bits, makes it accessible they are geeks who love technology redeemably slow and expensive. un-sensational and seemingly bor- for its own sake (photosynth.net/ ing or irrelevant to others - like lis- or – dare I say it? Default.aspx), they are trying to However, technology might yet tening to someone else tell you about get a job at the BBC; they do it be- come to our rescue in this regard last night’s dream or what they had – meaningful to cause they can (research.micro- with the emergence of location- for tea yesterday (the piece of infor- soft.com/en-us/projects/mylife- aware mobile applications that mation comedians most often like to anyone else bits/); or they are simply ‘sad.’ might offer us the time and space suggest is being shared pointlessly we need to interact with and inter- on Twitter BTW). A third KEP research study ‘A Pub- rogate the world around us, to cre- lic Voice: Access, Digital Story and ate personal media in our own time But digital memories do not exist in Interactive Narrative’, though, does and space, not on the broadcaster’s isolation and they have a quiet but And we’ll need to allow this pooling a clever thing by using a focus on the time or only in cyberspace. powerful cumulative effect. And without pressing people too much formal practice of Digital Storytell- they benefit from life on a network about the ‘point’ of each contribu- ing to confront head-on this issue of With the coming of the iPhone, for where they can be linked, tagged, tion. After all, most of us prob- self-publishing and posting as a mi- example, we have a glimpse of a mo- repackaged and repurposed. The ably can’t tell you the ‘point’ of the nority sport, and even confirms that bile device that allows us to record more memories the better, in fact scraps of the past we choose to keep. it’s not just media professionals who our voices, take photos, locate our- (just as last.fm gets better the more I still have my Ian Curtis RIP but- can get snooty about the quality and selves, exchange data, play and music tracks you feed it). ton badge, for example. It’s cheap, value of Audience Material: “Dur- publish with very few constraints in it’s not very pretty, it’s badly made ing focus group discussions many terms of technical know-how and The challenge for all of us – for big and it has no real ‘point’ to it. And participants placed emphasis on the social restraint. And with technolo- corporations right down to individ- yet it’s still a little bit of me tucked importance of ‘professionalism’ and gies such as RFID tags and ‘spimes’ ual citizens – is going to be to make away in a drawer, waiting for the ‘quality’ ... There was a shared feel- (location aware artefacts) it will soon sure all of our memories are avail- day when it might become part of ing that these qualities needed to be possible to allow buildings, vehi- able in a searchable, safe and *us- a bigger story; the day I can make be maintained otherwise it would cles and personal objects to speak able* form. For the BBC that won’t sense of it all - and work with oth- be just like YouTube, which was for themselves so that we don’t have just mean opening up a digital ar- ers perhaps on how to arrange the viewed negatively.” to spend time doing it for them. chive (which must and will happen memories into a New Order... 6 8 ESSAYS – THE KNOWLEDGE EXCHANGE PROGRAMME: A COLLABORATION BETWEEN BBC R&D AND THE ARTS & HUMANITIES RESEARCH COUNCIL

becomes today’s MacBook Pro and tomorrow’s ‘phone. This exponential curve has a profound effect on policy. In the last century, there was time for reflection, time to pilot and explore, followed by time to trial the con- sequent prescription or policy (remember Green Papers?) and then finally opportunity for iteration and development.

That’s all gone now. A mass of new and affordable technology for making media is breaking like waves on a shore. Suddenly children are recreating scenes from films using games as authoring tools (known as machinima), 3D printers are spitting out objects that are otherwise impossible to ma- chine, GPS track sticks are adding a sense of “where” to our sense of “self” and, of course, ingeniously creative media savvy youngsters are inventing 2 PROFESSOR STEPHEN HEPPELL everything from new ways of flirting to the viral spoofing of flash mobbing.

At this point, what any academic ideas of media literacy might bring to the party these youngsters are enjoying is questionable. Clearly the approach from those seeking to define modern media literacy to those already living towards a it needs to be responsive and participatory, not prescriptive. The BBC, hav- ing announced it is to appoint a small media literacy team to report to Online Access Champion Seetha Kumar has a massive opportunity here as it broadens its role to become a “supporting hand” to the rest of the media sector. new Media Secondly the education system that seeks reluctantly to embrace media literacy - from school to university - has been built around systemic con- venience. So much of what passes as acceptable practice exists only for the convenience of the system, and certainly not for the learners. We have a curriculum wrapped around the factory learning concept of “met before”: Literacy as students turn over their test papers, their teachers outside the exam room fret, worrying whether everything on the paper has been properly intro- duced and covered previously. The students turn their papers over nerv- ously hoping for “no surprises”. Media literacy in the age of YouTube, Twitter In a world where our lives are characterised by the unexpected - from a and Google? Some argue that online youth collapse of banking to the new weather resulting from global warming - nothing could be less appropriate than a “met before” curriculum. Media cultures now understand more about this than is clearly heading towards a place that we haven’t been to before. The cur- riculum should surely prepare us all with a strategy for the unexpected. But traditional academics and media professionals. in education, we have substituted valuing ingenuity and unique endeavour for uniformity and conformity. Worse still, we have done this at exactly the So what do this new generation need from the time when in economic terms we have ceased to value, or need, uniform- ity and conformity. With the ground changing so very publicly under their BBC and what can it learn from them? feet, presumably it is the media faculties and researchers who should be pioneering a move back to ingenuity and unique endeavour. There is no better place to start than with a new sense of media literacy.

Back in the 1980s, as part of a research project on “genuineness” in teachers Of course, in times of severe change, systems fight to protect themselves. we asked a group of 11 - 13 year olds how bad a teacher might be with tech- But it’s clear now that the central impact of technology economically is that nology before they could be considered beyond hope. The children were it breaks cartels. Any organisations that seek to vouchsafe their futures by very precise with their prescription: “when they are mousing off the edge of building barriers around themselves - for example by substantial merger the table and puzzled by the fact that their cursor has stopped moving” was activity, or through legislative requirements - will be doomed because tech- their crisp definition of hopeless. nology has tipped the power balance back in favour of folk. Just look at the way online music fans are now calling the shots for the once powerful Fast-forward to the 21st century and we questioned another group of 11 - record companies, whose only response is to plead for protective legislation 13 year olds, this time about literacy, but it was their teachers’ literacy we against “pirates”. were exploring. The children were asked “what would you expect a literate teacher to be able to do?” and their answers included editing a Wikipedia The media industry is also characterised by artificial cartels. Inevitably entry, uploading a video to YouTube and being able to switch predictive text then, it has come under siege from its formerly passive but now empowered on and off on a mobile phone (they laughed when they said this one). consumers. Currently, it is impossible to think of a broadcasting organisa- tion that is not in fear of its life. In this context, it’s all too easy to see You will note their expectation that teachers, as experts, would be net the traditional idea of ‘Media Literacy’ as an ‘old school’ tool to protect professionally pro- contributors. Some schools, on seeing this list, worry about the cost of the duced TV shows with their edited and scripted content, whilst simultaneously sidelining the professional development courses needed to bring their staff up to speed. informal creativity of youngsters shooting videos on their mobiles. Why would one be legitimate Yet the many schools that have thought to ask their children to enable that media, while the other is seen as the transient chatter of a tech-crazy generation? development themselves have been delighted by the seriousness brought to bear by the students as they build effective CPD (Continuous Professional Of course, the history of youth culture offers an interesting contribution Development) for their own teachers. to this debate too, as subsequent generations seized on the autonomy af- forded by whatever media was accessible to them - dominantly music - to In many ways these two tales illustrate the central issues facing us as we make their voices heard. But while most decades can boast a unique youth explore notions of media literacy: given the pace of change of emerging me- culture, the current one apparently has no shocking fashion, no Punk or dia, it is all too easy to begin with a deficiency model of viewers and learn- Grunge. Kids are still demonised of course, but for doing nothing, rather ers - policymakers reason that knowing “how to” needs to be mandated for than for doing the wrong thing. But look harder and you realise there is a our economic survival. The result is that many nations have a prescriptive Noughties culture too. It’s just that previously user-generated media and curriculum for ICT or media capability; in practice, for so many (although consumer media clashed in the same spaces: music, fashion and dance. not all) youngsters, that stultifying notion of “how to” is frankly patronis- ing. They can already construct, but now need help with deconstructing, But current youth is not to be found in areas populated by previous genera- with critiquing, with judgement. tions. The chattering classes are largely not to be found in online forums devoted to machinima or fan fiction. Youth user-generated media leaps vi- So – when we talk about ‘media literacy’, we are faced with two key questions: Just which media rally and unheeded from phone to phone and achieves status via word of are involved? And precisely who do we expect to be literate? This essay explores the need for an mouth in social networks. Youth culture has been led to new and often un- entirely fresh look at media literacy as we approach the end of the first dec- seen places. The question is how should media literacy, as a broad concept, ade of what is already a remarkable new millennium. respond to that?

Let’s start with the pace of change. So much of what technology touch- es can be graphed with an exponential curve - a gentle start leading to a rapid steepening. Breathtaking technological breakthroughs become rap- idly mundane and completely ubiquitous. Yesterday’s Quantel Paintbox BIULDING PARTNERSHIPS NETWORKING RESEARCH SHARING KNOWLEDGE 7

So, where might we look to locate a new media literacy? Surely in the in-be- longer, the resources to build it and to contribute what would effectively be tweenie space that technology has opened up between ossified old certainties. an API (an application programming interface) for learning to the world, an open network structure, a public space on which everyone else could build How about the space between viewer and broadcaster, which is where we useful tools and services. find BBC3’s Lily Allen and Friends? Allen’s use of new media is well known – she used MySpace to connect with and build up a fan base, opening up Thanks to the new interactive personal media technologies, I can be literate about her anxieties about weight and body image, all without the media- in a 21st Century way, wherever I am in the world. I can build learning for tion of professional music journalists. She now uses Twitter to maintain her myself, with my community, throughout my life. Why shouldn’t those func- celebrity profile, picking fights with uberblogger Perez Hilton and snarking tions be provided by an organisation that has at its heart a mission to “edu- about Susan Boyle. So it was natural when she wound up on broadcast TV cate, inform and entertain”, that seeks to let “nation speak unto nation” and for her not to see any difference between old and new media channels, to whose history shows an unequivocal commitment to a literate democracy? create this kind of inbetweenie space as she highlighted new music in the MySpace Band and YouTube Hero slots on the show. There is a chance here to be substantially proactive, to do something remarkable for the world, before the funding is gone. And for the bean counters there is the comfort that Google, which Alternatively, try the nearly-now space between “now” and “not now” has given the world great functionality as a service, has a current valuation where txting lives. Surely the most media illiterate sight in modern Britain of over $100bn and is sitting on a cash mountain with an annual income of is a middle-aged business executive glued to the immediacy of their Black- greater than $20bn, compared to a declining BBC annual revenue of under berry, misunderstanding that neither txt nor email are phone calls needing £4bn. If it took some risks, the BBC could perhaps become a Google-like an instantaneous reply, and thus completely missing the opportunity that platform for the new form of media literacy. txting has offered the rest of us to improve discourse through providing a pause to reflect, research, re-present, retract and relish (the 5 Rs). There is a chance here to redefine learning and broadcasting and to redis- cover, in one great leap, the BBC’s soul and perhaps to begin a new ren- Taken as a whole, this in-betweenie space is almost wholly unregulated. aissance led by young voices. Of course the educational and broadcasting We regulate the broadcasters, but not the viewers’ broadcasts, we regulate fundamentalists will cry out. They will express doubts about the “new” and teaching quality, but not learners’ teaching. This is a digital Wild West and proclaim faith in the “old”. They will profoundly mistrust the voice, and it desperately needs the ability to critique, deconstruct and judge that a fashionableness, of youth. They will espouse steady iteration. newly broadened media literacy might bring. But they will be wrong because education, and media too are surely two of This all leads us to an exciting conclusion as we strive to get a grasp on the last great cartels of the 21st century. To avoid the fate faced by the music media literacy in the 21st century. To summarise - the pace of change pre- industry, both will need to urgently re-imagine themselves. Why shouldn’t cludes policy reflection and prescription, education itself needs to embrace they do that together? It is hard to imagine any better place to start than uncertainty and ingenuity, new technology will accelerate and broaden its with a core literacy that is already being re-imagined by ingenious chil- contribution to a wider definition of media and young users will run further dren. Far from subverting it, getting media literacy right, and building a and faster ahead. In fact, far from being ‘digital natives’, they are digital new model of global learning on top of that, might just save education and cosmonauts, leaving the comfort of their orderly world to seek out entirely new galaxies broadcasting too. Just maybe. of opportunity.

And it is, inevitably, with these youngest users that we should start to re- imagine media literacy. It should be their actions, pastimes and culture, which determine where media is leading us. And as we follow, we should not be judgemental. Instead, it is to these new places, be they mobile phone clips or geo-tagging video, that the insights and disciplines of media theory should be brought to bear. A curriculum focus defined by the immediate needs and actions of its learners might helpfully prototype a new direction for education too.

Which leaves the question of whether this might prototype a new broader role for the BBC, one also defined by the immediate needs and actions of its ‘What do children want from the BBC?’ learner viewers. The BBC could just passively watch and report, of course. But surely it can do better than that. In a world where Twitter postpones its If the young are leading the way when it comes to devel- scheduled maintenance shutdown to allow the post-electoral Iranian pro- oping a new kind of actively engaged media literacy, this tests to continue, it is clear that the global tools flourishing in these new in- KEP study, What do children want from the BBC?, has betweenie spaces are of real significance. People are using their tech-savvy interesting things to say about the way they currently in- to make an impact that traditional strategies and channels rarely offered. teract with BBC content and how the corporation should But what role is there for national public service when a global public are respond. Focusing mainly on BBC’s Newsround, serving themselves? its key findings were:

There has already been much navel-gazing of course and useful finess- – Children and young people see themselves as citizens ing of existing practice. The KEP research study “ugc@thebcc: Under- and want to play a more active role in the public sphere. standing its impact upon contributors, non-contributors and BBC News “ Newsround provides children and young people with a confirms that “The Today programme and PM, both broadcast on Radio 4, unique outlet that prioritizes their voices. It makes their have clearly found that the audience will respond online” and have “designed ideas feel important. their website to accommodate their audience’s wishes”. The report “A Public Voice: Access, Digital Story and Interactive Narrative” clearly demonstrates – Adult news frequently ignores children’s voices and that digital storytelling is an effective means for institutions and organisations perspectives to connect with members of the public. “Virtual Worlds: An overview and study of BBC Children’s Adventure Rock” confirmed children’s frustrations – Newsround is an important tool for citizenship develop- that it didn’t work on their web-enabled games devices and Apple Macs. All ment. It contextualizes information for young people in this finessing and detail could, of course, improve current offerings. an appropriate and accessible manner

But surely this is THE defining moment of substantial opportunity. Eve- – Children over the age of 12 feel that they have outgrown rything I’ve talked about above cries out for more than finessing - it cries Newsround, yet express the idea that they are not quite out for change. Paradoxically, our current moment might be the perfect ready for adult news. A teen news provision should moment to do something radical . therefore be developed.

We have a distracted, squabbling government; we have an Internet built The team behind the KEP study say it’s clear that erroneously around resources (with its URLs) but populated by people “children want a news service that is designed for them. searching for a way to instead reveal their identities through micro-blogging They still watch the TV bulletin more than they go on the and beyond; we have a collapse of traditional business models so that a huge website, so every effort should be made to retain and blurring has occurred between public and private... and, finally, we have a extend this provision, complementing it with availability nation struggling to redefine literacy. and different types of uses/interactions on different platforms. But at this point in time, it is important to Surely all this defines that moment of opportunity. It is time for the BBC to keep in mind that not all young people are technology- seize the high ground. If the internet needs a learning layer to allow newly savvy, nor do many want to be. At least not in the highly literate learning to proceed, a layer which offers threading, narrative struc- interactive/creative way some assume.” tures, memberships and a temporal base, then the BBC has, for a little 8 8 ESSAYS – THE KNOWLEDGE EXCHANGE PROGRAMME: A COLLABORATION BETWEEN BBC R&D AND THE ARTS & HUMANITIES RESEARCH COUNCIL

In particular, she emphasised the Meanwhile the study “The Min- need for more work to explore what ers’ Strike: A Case Study in Re- she terms ‘the soft impacts and the gional Content” examines the use social effects’ of getting people on- of archive material from the 1984 3 BILL THOMPSON line. The research carried out un- Miners’ Strike to explore how that der the AHRC/BBC Knowledge rich source of material can be used Exchange Programme is relevant for more than retrospective docu- here as several of the projects look at mentaries. It offers insights into how how digital technologies are chang- a formerly passive audience can be ing the environment within which encouraged to engage with material television and radio programmes presented as part of an interactive ar- are made and consumed, whether chive, and the issues that are raised because of new digital delivery meth- as the BBC moves from being a pro- ods or through the emergence of on- vider of programming to a facilitator line communities around the BBC’s of engagement. content, and a change to content consumption habits is one of the key This approach is also observable in social effects of online access. the analysis of BBC Blast, an online showcase and community accompa- While there is still a great deal to be nying an annual TV series allied to a a uncovered about what drives people range of offline events and training to use the internet and how estab- schemes. The KEP study “Alone lished patterns of media engagement Together? Social learning in BBC and social interaction are affected Blast”, carried out by a team from by online services, the AHRC/BBC Bristol University and BBC Learn- network for collaboration makes an important ing, makes the point that Blast should contribution to the research base not be seen as a collection of projects and offers useful insights into how a around a television programme but Digital Britain might work. as a learning environment, a space within which young people are en- everyone Understanding Engagement in the Dig- couraged to engage. ital World The KEP research was deliberately Clearly, the connection between the broad, with work ranging from a Knowledge Exchange Programme study of a children’s virtual world and attempts to engage the whole and the use of archive regional con- population in new media activity tent to the difficulty older viewers and hence support digital inclusion A broadband tax might be one way to build a have with electronic programme is an important one, as one way to guides. All eight projects share a drive digital inclusion is to encour- network that reaches all of Digital Britain. But concern with the consequences for age television and radio audiences to the BBC of the transition from the engage with the interactive services inclusion is about more than technology. Does that scheduled broadcast of radio and tel- already available on digital services as evision programmes, accompanied a stepping stone to full network use. mean the BBC can play a leading role in bringing by largely asynchronous interaction It also has significant implications with audiences, to the modern me- for the BBC and its role as a public everyone online? dia world. This area has clear impli- service broadcaster. cations for how we devise strategies to encourage inclusion since if we The Former Audience can encourage online engagement The importance of the BBC’s active with popular TV and radio content involvement with well-grounded re- we are giving audiences a reason to search into the way people engage Earlier this year, 17th April to be In doing so I unwittingly unleashed the radical suggestion that a small get connected, and once they are with its output should not be un- precise, I found myself sitting at a storm of activity that resulted in levy on telephone services should online then they are in a position to derstated, and there is a great deal my desk at home watching the live a dozen separate events throughout be imposed to pay for providing engage with other services. in the research findings that should stream from the Digital Britain the UK over the next three weeks next-generation broadband access be taken into consideration for new Summit at the British Library. The and a sixty page submission to the to areas of the country that would The relevance to the broader de- projects or in reviewing continuing summit was one of the major events Digital Britain team that provided a not be served by commercially- bate around inclusion is obvious work. In fact, many of the recom- organised by Stephen Carter’s Dig- perspective from many people who minded internet service providers. in the KEP study ‘Listener Online mendations advanced in the Alone ital Britain team to promote debate might not otherwise have made the However, there was a much greater Engagement with BBC Radio Pro- Together report have already been around their interim report, and effort to get involved. sense of the necessity of getting gramming’, which looks in detail at implemented at BBC Blast as part featured a parade of senior speakers everyone online and of offering gov- online fan cultures around a number of an effort to transform the project including the Prime Minister, Sly The meetings were organ- ernment support where the market of programmes, including The Arch- into a learning environment capable Bailey from the Mirror Group, and ised online and most of the could not deliver. ers and Wake Up With Wogan, and of inspiring young people and en- national treasure Stephen Fry. reporting process was done using contrasts BBC-provided conversa- couraging their creative use of the a collaborative web service called An Ongoing Debate tional spaces like the Discuss the online services. As is now usual on these occasions, Huddle, another demonstration of The interest in the take-up of online Archers Messageboard with the there was a live blog to accompany the importance of internet access services is not new, and has been a fan-created Archers Addicts site. It Meanwhile, the KEP investigation the streamed video from the confer- for anyone who wants to be an en- serious policy issue since the late is less explicit, but also present, in of the use of archive material from ence venue, but there was also an gaged citizen in the modern age. 1990s when dial-up access to the in- the thinking behind the research the Miners’ Strike brings many is- active debate taking place on the ternet started to take off and broad- described in the KEP study ‘In- sues to the foreground that might Twitter microblogging service, with The content of the discussions was band technologies first emerged. In hibited Exploration in Older Cus- otherwise have been neglected if the many of the old hands in the cam- wide-ranging, covering everything 2003 the Cabinet Office established tomers of Digital Services’, where project had simply been an internal paign for digital inclusion providing a from how to encourage entrepre- a Digital Inclusion Panel, which one of the experiments asks partici- BBC project. The Miners’ Strike running commentary on the event. neurship to the details of connect- reported a year later that extra ef- pants whether they wish to ‘browse study is clear about this benefit, not- ing your community to fibre optic fort would be required to provide interactive information about a fa- ing: “Central to this study was a de- I was disappointed by the quality of broadband, but a common thread at access and enhance take-up by un- vourite series’ and in doing so of- sire to explore the relationships be- the debate, which seemed to consist all of the events was a strong feeling employed people, older people and fers an insight into older people’s tween various stakeholders, between of the same faces making the same that the proposals in Carter’s inter- those with disabilities. In 2007 UK attitudes towards digital engage- content providers (BBC archives) points that we have heard many im report did not go far enough, and Online Centres published Under- ment generally. There is clearly a and a range of public and broadcast times before, and towards the end that digital inclusion should be a key standing Digital Inclusion - A Re- digital inclusion aspect to “Virtual audiences. At a time when the BBC of the day I tweeted: priority for government. search Study. In the introduction, Worlds: An overview and study of is developing new approaches to dis- Helen Milner, the Managing Direc- BBC Children’s Adventure Rock”, seminating archival resources, and @billt: We should have got our act to- When the final report was pub- tor of UK Online Centres, called since the 3-D space is really an engaging with new audiences via gether and organised a #digitalbritain lished on 16th June, it was not for greater collaboration between alternative way of reaching young a range of digital initiatives and ar- unconference for today, with tea & bis- possible to claim a direct connec- government and the private sector people in order to ‘inform, enter- chival supported programmes, the cuits. And talked sense. tion between our deliberations and to promote digital inclusion. tain and educate’ them. study is extremely timely. The core BIULDING PARTNERSHIPS NETWORKING RESEARCH SHARING KNOWLEDGE 9

of the project was designed to look at hibited Exploration in Older Cus- tener engagement and participation, how the BBC’s regional public audi- tomers of Digital Services’, where it is important to approach internet- ences might interact with ‘sensitive’ much of the work done seemed based activities as not new phenom- archival sources, in what sense they to undermine the hypotheses put ena, but the most recent in a long could access and utilise these mate- forward by (presumably younger and varied history.” rials as part of their own memories and more able-bodied) researchers of historical events, what issues and about why the older population will It is also important to recognise that problems might arise, and ultimate- not use interactive services, explore what may have been true of radio in ly how these findings could be used EPGs or engage with enhanced the past is now equally true of televi- to inform future archival activities, televisual content. The researchers sion, thanks to the ease with which digital accession, academic practice discovered that the main limiting video can be streamed to home com- and drive programming. factor seemed to be related to a TV- puters and even mobile phones. In watching time budget, recognition both cases, today’s digital technolo- However there is another and more perhaps of the fact that TV is not gies have accelerated the process of fundamental issue that informs all of seen as a productive activity: “Many feedback, created many new chan- the research projects, one that is di- of our respondents do not wish to nels and structures for engagement rectly related to digital inclusion but spend more time watching TV. This and delivered ways for the resulting that also has significant implications in itself is a substantial barrier to the ‘content’ to be more adaptive, rather for the BBC and other media organ- take-up of interactive services to the as the normal way of using comput- If we can isations. All eight research projects extent that these services are classed ers shifted during the 1970s from deal either directly or indirectly with as TV-watching.” Given this, the having large mainframe systems the way that network societies chal- hopes that traditional broadcast pro- that ran one program after another encourage lenge the model of the audience that grammes may help digital inclusion in ‘batch-processing’ mode to the in- has informed the development of by luring traditional viewers online teractive systems of today. It means mass media including newspapers, may prove to be groundless. Else- that the BBC is no longer a monolith online radio and television, and they high- where in the Inhibited Exploration to be observed but a system to be en- light the fact that the current way study the researchers strain hard to gaged with, and the former audience of thinking about audiences cannot find an experimental protocol that is a more equal partner in the inter- engagement persist in the new media world. will demonstrate the validity of their action than ever before. central hypothesis about resistance to In the old days of one-way broad- novelty in the older television-watch- It is interesting to note in the Listener with popular casting of radio and television it was ing population, but the data failed to Online Engagement study that “eas- possible to disregard the fact that convince this sceptical reader. ily the most common gripe among audiences are not simply passive re- BBC Radio message board users is TV and radio cipients of programmes but partici- Talking Back the role and behaviours of the mod- pants in a rich discourse built around If the simple model of an audience erators”. This is just one indication shared experience and values, a dis- as passive recipients of presented of the shifting balance of power be- content we course that is mediated by complex content is inadequate, even for older tween the ‘former broadcaster’ and feedback loops. The sheer numbers viewers who are generally less dig- the ‘former audience.’ The shift is of viewers for popular programmes itally literate than younger people, not, of course, reflected fully either in are giving and the reach of the main channels then what sort of model will work? BBC practice or in the legal system, meant that a simple model was good One alternative is to treat those who where those who host forums and enough for most purposes, and aggre- watch, listen to, read or interact discussions may find themselves lia- audiences a gate measures of audience size and en- with BBC content as co-creators of ble, but the continuing pressure from gagement were enough to guide strat- a shared experience that is smeared those who choose to engage with the egy and satisfy those charged with the over the timeline. In fact, the KEP BBC and other content providers to reason to get stewardship of public funds. study ‘Listener Online Engagement determine the terms of that engage- with BBC Radio Programming’ ar- ment may result in change over time. Any communications theorist would gues strongly that this has always A few months ago the Facebook so- connected, have been able to point out that been the case for radio at least. “Per- cial network attempted to change its models which treat the audience as haps more than other traditional terms of service in a way that was per- passive recipients of content were forms of mass media, radio has al- ceived as giving it more control over and once they unlikely to withstand close exami- ways offered a space for listener feed- the material uploaded by users, but nation, especially when radio and back and participation. With talk a storm of community protest led to television audiences are concerned. radio programming, listeners have the site backing down and eventually are online Audience for cinema and live per- been key to producing a mediated, holding an online vote on a range of formance may have been beaten into deliberative (if not necessarily repre- options for its terms of service. If this passive submission over the decades, sentative) environment. In terms of sort of democratic engagement can then they are and the raucous groundlings of The music programming, requests and be demanded of a private company Globe Theatre are long gone, but dedications have long been incorpo- then it may be hard to resist it when it the word ‘audience’ is simply not ad- rated into broadcasts. Further, while is asked of the BBC. in a position equate as a catch-all term for those online fora allow listeners to respond who have paid a variable degree of to radio content instantaneously, the In analogue days the dialogue be- attention to some or all of an audio/ process of contacting programmers tween producers, governors, gov- to engage audio-visual stream. and DJs is not new: letter writers ernment, audience researchers, wid- have never hesitated to deliver their er society, reviewers, commentators We have never really known what views on radio content. In light of and those watching the programmes with other the people listening to the radio or previous considerations of radio lis- was stilted, carried out through lim- watching TV were really doing, how ited channels under the control of engaged they were or what their either the broadcasters or other me- services experience was. The easy availabil- “A new focus has emerged dia organisations, and there are still ity of online catch-up and multiple for the BBC which concerns hints of this approach in some of the channels mean that all we can really representation and how the research done under the Knowledge say of an ‘audience’ today is that, like archive can be best presented Exchange Programme. For exam- an electron associated with a nucle- to realise our public value ple, elsewhere in Listener Online us, there is a non-zero probability remit and our ability to engage Engagement study we find: “Our that an audience member has some with our diverse audiences. recommendation would be that awareness of having been exposed to The interest is not simply in rather than regarding the ‘anti-fan’ the content in some manner. Any- blockbuster dramas but also in and ironic fan postures adopted by thing else is just hopeful speculation the coverage of social content some posters as a threat, the BBC on the part of the production team that says so much about all of should consider these discussions, or senior management. us as a community.” like the website as a whole, as a suc- cessful adjunct to the programme The complexity of the audience was – a broadening of its cultural wings Pg 3 The Miners’ Strike: A Case Study clearly shown in the research done in Regional Content and a sign of the passionate engage- on older viewers, the KEP study ‘In- ment of some listeners.” 10 8 ESSAYS – THE KNOWLEDGE EXCHANGE PROGRAMME: A COLLABORATION BETWEEN BBC R&D AND THE ARTS & HUMANITIES RESEARCH COUNCIL

Fortunately this view is not wide- manages online communities, ex- spread, and the rest of the Listen ploits its archive and engages with Online Engagement study acknowl- older and younger members of the edges that the world has changed, community, but any information noting that “fan cultures, as the in- provided cannot be limited to other dependent development of the Face- media players and those who see book site attests, have their own mo- themselves as rivals for TV/radio dalities and conventions, and cannot be predicted or indeed controlled.”

This is an important point. In the digital/network world the model of media as one-way communica- tion of a message or some content to a receptive audience is no longer workable. It was never a complete description of what was happen- ing, and work from McLuhan on- wards recognises this. Newtonian mechanics was sufficient to support three centuries worth of engineer- ing and astronomy but was eventu- ally replaced by relativity because it could not cope with the very small scale, and now the ‘billiard ball’ model of audiences, which treats au- dience members as solid objects that have to be hit hard with a sitcom or drama in order to get them to move, has outlived its usefulness.

Sharing the Word Any strategy for encouraging en- gagement with BBC content in ways that will also enhance digital inclusion must take account of the impact of online engagement that can occur when content is made available over digital distribution networks. Supporting this engage- ment will require flexible licensing of content, a willingness to allow fan communities to emerge even when they use material in ways that might Why Inclusion be considered infringing, and an ability to host communities within audiences or public service fund- Matters to the BBC BBC services without trying to con- ing. The whole range of engaged trol or manage those communities. authors in the digital age, including YouTube publishers, bloggers and Digital inclusion is clearly im- cence fee payer” is not to be This transition may well be a diffi- the rest must also be included in the portant for government at all taken literally but includes, cult one for the Corporation which conversations. Doing this poses a levels, since it is only through not only a person to whom has historically been identified with serious challenge, since it is impor- having online citizens that the a TV licence is issued under Reithian values or as the nation’s tant that the BBC does it effectively work of transforming public section 364 of the Commu- ‘Auntie’, and there are likely to be and efficiently even though it will services, with consequent im- nications Act 2003, but also instances where the old and new - as it must - decrease the Corpo- provements in efficiency and (so far as is sensible in the models come into conflict. The dif- ration’s audiences, reach and influ- much-desired cost savings, context) any other person in ficulties involved can be seen in the ence over time and may even make can be achieved. (Indeed, in the UK who watches, listens outcome of the BBC Creative Ar- it harder to justify current levels of the Digital Britain report, the to or uses any BBC service, chive Project (www.bbc.co.uk/cre- public expenditure. Government announced that or may do so or wish to do so ativearchive/) which ended in 2006 Martha Lane Fox was its new in the future.” The BBC is after raising many people’s hopes The internet is one of the most pow- champion for Digital Inclu- therefore forced to engage in that it marked a permanent shift in erful agents of creative destruction sion). It is also important for a world that is rapidly mov- the BBC’s approach to making old that we have ever invented, and its the BBC, both because it is ing online and heading away content available for reuse. The signs impact is being felt in all areas of the a logical development of the from the old media model of are that the baton has been passed to economy and the wider society, here Corporation’s historic role as linear scheduled broadcasts the new BBC Archive team who are in the UK and around the world. As a provider of radio and televi- of audio and video content to currently developing their strategy. we understand more about how the sion to the UK as a whole and one of interactive, conversa- network can be used to promote the because the Charter explic- tional media available on any It is also important to ensure that BBC’s public purposes – and the itly requires it. The Charter device at any time, and to do other players can benefit from the KEP research is part of that process obliges the BBC to promote its so in a way that does not leave BBC’s growing expertise and under- - we are also beginning to appreci- public purposes through: “the anybody behind. standing. The widespread dissemi- ate how doing that undermines the provision of output which con- nation of the outcomes of the KEP relevance and reach of the content sists of information, education Unlike commercial broadcast- research is a vital part of this, but it it currently offers on television and and entertainment, supplied ers who may decide that cer- needs to go further. In particular, radio. The BBC has a duty to be in- by means of television, radio tain segments of the market as the BBC integrates the research clusive. It clearly realizes this – hence and online services and similar are simply unattractive, or on- findings into its production proc- the recent appointment of Seetha or related services which make line service providers who can esses and strategic thinking, those Kumar as its Online Access Champi- output generally available.” tell government that cabling changes need to be communicated on. But it is somewhat ironic that the up rural areas is too expensive, to other broadcasters and media emergence of the internet has turned These services are not just the BBC must make effort to companies, whether or not they are the Corporation’s duty to make what restricted to those who pay provide a service for all want it perceived to be rivals for audience it produces available to all who might the licence fee, either, since or may want it in future. share or online communities. benefit from it into a duty to hasten Clause 57 states that: “In this the emergence of a digital society in Charter, a reference to a “li- Bill Thompson Other broadcasters will obviously which the very things that it does so be interested to see how the BBC well are less significant. BIULDING PARTNERSHIPS NETWORKING RESEARCH SHARING KNOWLEDGE 11 KEP – The View from the BBC and The ahrc

In the context of the BBC’s current partnerships agen- da, the AHRC/BBC Pilot Knowledge Exchange Pro- gramme now looks very prescient. It started life back in 2005, as a series of conversations between BBC Future Media and Technology staff and arts and humanities academics, conversations that eventually grew into something more serious. Whilst there is a history of BBC Research & Development working with academ- ics from the technology research community, this is the first time the organisation has put in place a for- mal collaboration agreement to work with arts and humanities academics.

Four years on, those early conversations have led to a series of collaborative research studies now in the public domain, a nascent online knowledge exchange network between academia and the BBC, and a host of ‘best practice’ lessons on what to do/what not to do when planning a partnership like this. In fact, we think we now have an exemplar model of how a large public service cultural institution can work to best effect with the academic community.

That’s not to say there isn’t more to be done – the legal framework for engaging with universities being prob- ably the most pressing area to address. But overall the KEP has delivered fantastic results. It has generated recommendations that are already influencing content, services and policy within the BBC, along with aca- Why Inclusion demic papers and conferences based on unprecedented access to BBC content and resources. Most importantly, Matters to the BBC it’s laid the foundations on which to build new models of collaboration with academia to even greater effect.

This pilot programme has shown that deep level aca- demic research which analyses public service content and explores how people want to consume and engage with it is key to unlocking the full business potential of digital content experiences. This research has the potential to reshape how we deliver future content, in ways we can all be a part of.

Knowledge transfer is central to the innovation process - our economy relies on the creation of cultural capital through the generation and exploitation of knowledge - and the AHRC has knowledge transfer in its DNA. The breadth of expertise in an academic community that encompasses the entirety of the arts and humani- ties, from physical theatre and public law to publish- ing, is tremendous and already contributes hugely to the wealth of our nation. It is vital and urgent, however, that opportunities to realise the potential of this com- munity to make a real difference beyond academia are discovered, developed and delivered.

We hope that this KEP will act as a springboard for the AHRC and BBC Research & Development in their work to remain at the cutting edge of the collaboration and innovation agendas. This relies on our stakehold- ers being made aware of the programme and its suc- cesses. Our hope is that this paper will encourage them to sit up and take notice.

Rowena Goldman, Strategic Partnerships, BBC Research and Development

Jo Pollock, AHRC Knowledge Transfer Programme Manager

The AHRC/BBC Pilot Knowledge Exchange Pro- gramme: www.ahrc.ac.uk/FundingOpportunities/ Pages/KnowledgeExchangeProgramme.aspx 12

$0/'&3&/$&
1"1&3
!
1&"$)
563*/ $0/'&3&/$&
$)"*3 !
4)08$0..05*0/
$0/'&3&/$&
$0/'&3&/$&
4)&''*&-% 1"1&3
!
:065)
1"1&3
!
&6
-&%
*//*7"5*0/ ,*%4
0/-*/& -4&
-0/%0/ $0/'&3&/$&
*/
"
%*(*5"-
.&&5*/(4
8*5)
1"1&3
!
*/5&3/&5
803-%
/&45" ##$
1"35/&34 3&4&"3$)

$0/'&3&/$&
1"1&3 $011&/)"(&/ !
4)08$0..05*0/
4)&''*&-% 1"3&/5"-
13&4&/5"5*0/ 26&45*0//"*3& $0/'&3&/$&
$)"*3 /"5*0/"-
!
/&84
'03
:06/(
16#-*$
3"%*0
1&01-&
*/
"/
"(&
0'
8"4)*/(50/ %*(*5"-
.&%*"
6/*7&34*5:
0'
$"3%*''##$ #3"*/4503.4

1"35*$*1"/5Ŝ4
$0/'&3&/$&
.&%*"
%*"3*&4 $0/40-*%"5*/(
3&4&"3$)
#-0(
!
1"1&3
!
&8&&, $3#
$)&$, 83*5*/(
3&10354 888 #"3$&-0/" 7*356"- 803-%4 '036.$0.

$0/'&3&/$&
803,4)01 45"(&

$0/'&3&/$&
##$

"$"%&.*$
1"1&3
!
$)*-%
$##$
'6/%*/(
803,4)01 1"1&3
!
'036.
*1

-&("-
,&1
&7&/5 $0/'&3&/$&
$)"*3 803,4)01 1&&3
3&7*&8 
5&&/
130%6$&34 1&&3
3&7*&8 -0/%0/ 0/&
40$*"-
/&(05*"5*0/4 1"35*$*1"/5 *4)&%
#3*450- $0/'&3&/$&
!
7*356"-
803-%4
$0/46.15*0/
.&%*"
46..*5
803,4)01
 1"1&3
!
&$0/0.*$
'036. /038": "6%*07*46"-
$"-*'03/*" *//07"5*0/
#"3$&-0/" ")3$
3&1035 13&4&/5"5*0/

$0/'&3&/$&
45"35 $)"/(&
45"(&

"/"-:4*4 0'
##$
1"1&3
!
.",*/(
$"--
'03
45"(&

1"35/&3 '6/%*/( "8"3%&% '035)$0.*/(
"%7&/563&
5&-&7*4*0/
'03
+063/"-
*/5&37*&8 803,4)01 130+&$5
45"35 30$,
-"6/$) :06/(
1&01-& "35*$-&4 $"--
'03
&/53*&4 45"(&

'6/%*/(
."/$)&45&3 130+&$5
"8"3%&% 1"35*$*1"/5 6/*7&34*5:
0'
45"(&

$0.1-&5& -*5&3"563&

3&7*&8 130%6$5*0/
4-*1 803,4)01
 803,4)01

1-"//*/( ##$
3&1035
8&45.*/45&3 $0/'&3&/$&
$)*-%3&/
*/
'6-- 46#.*44*0/
0'
130104"- 7*356"-
803-%4
6/*7&34*5:
0'
8&45.*/45&3

.*44&%
"%7&/563&

30$,
-"6/$)
'035)$0.*/(
#00,
$)"15&34 ##$
3&1035
$0/'&3&/$&
41&$*"-*45
16#-*$"5*0/4

46.."3: 1"1&3
!
$)*-%3&/
8*5&4
*/$-6%*/(
5*.&4
*/
7*356"-
803-%4
7*356"-
803-%
/&84 6/*7&34*5:
01&/
&%6$"5*0//&5 0'
8&45.*/45&3 MAPPING A 8*5& $)*-%3&/*/7*356"- 803-%403(6,

KNOWLEDGE NETWORK 3"%*0
$07&3"(& %*(*5"-
1-"/&5
##$
803-%
4&37*$& So how did the KEP work in practice? How did the world for kids. Branching off from the central timeline 13&44
relations between BBC staff and academic researchers are the different relationships the project established $07&3"(& 8*5&4
develop and how did ideas build and flow? and supported, from the development of the project 
#-0(4
proposal on to the later dissemination activities. */$-6%*/(
This map shows the connections set in motion during The map also tracks the outputs and deliverables, 8*,*1&%*" one KEP study, ‘Virtual Worlds: An overview attempting to bring some kind of quantifiable sense of and study of BBC Children’s Adventure Rock’. worth to what can be a rather nebulous concept – that It expands on an initial concept developed with the of the value of building relationships. BBC by the design agency Radarstation and seeks to translate the innovative but necessarily scattered According to BBC R&D’s Brendan Crowther, activity of a truly collaborative, multi-disciplinary the toughest aspects of working on collaborative project into a format that makes sense. Taking its cue Knowledge Exchange are tracking the people and from the KEP itself, it blurs a few boundaries and organisations involved and establishing where the mixes things up a bit. Think of it as part timeline, findings are deployed. During the period they were part mechanical diagram. active the eight projects funded by the KEP built up a staggering number of relationships and touch points. From left to right, it shows the different stages of the Perhaps now we’ve got this map, people working on collaboration (over two years or so) between University collaborative projects in the future will at least have of Westminster academics and the production team a rough idea of where their journeys might take them working on Adventure Rock, BBC Childrens’ virtual and who they might meet on the way.

6/*7&34*5:
0'
8&45.*/45&3 ##$
1"35/&34 ##$
3%
*//07"5*0/
$6-563& ")3$ ##$
45"'' "$"%&.*" .&%*"
*/%6453: $)*-%3&/

:&"34 1"3&/54 13

$0/'&3&/$&
1"1&3
!
1&"$)
563*/ $0/'&3&/$&
$)"*3 !
4)08$0..05*0/
$0/'&3&/$&
$0/'&3&/$&
4)&''*&-% 1"1&3
!
:065)
1"1&3
!
&6
-&%
*//*7"5*0/ ,*%4
0/-*/& -4&
-0/%0/ $0/'&3&/$&
*/
"
%*(*5"-
.&&5*/(4
8*5)
1"1&3
!
*/5&3/&5
803-%
/&45" ##$
1"35/&34 3&4&"3$)

$0/'&3&/$&
1"1&3 $011&/)"(&/ !
4)08$0..05*0/
4)&''*&-% 1"3&/5"-
13&4&/5"5*0/ 26&45*0//"*3& $0/'&3&/$&
$)"*3 /"5*0/"-
!
/&84
'03
:06/(
16#-*$
3"%*0
1&01-&
*/
"/
"(&
0'
8"4)*/(50/ %*(*5"-
.&%*"
6/*7&34*5:
0'
$"3%*''##$ #3"*/4503.4

1"35*$*1"/5Ŝ4
$0/'&3&/$&
.&%*"
%*"3*&4 $0/40-*%"5*/(
3&4&"3$)
#-0(
!
1"1&3
!
&8&&, $3#
$)&$, 83*5*/(
3&10354 888 #"3$&-0/" 7*356"- 803-%4 '036.$0.

$0/'&3&/$&
803,4)01 45"(&

$0/'&3&/$&
##$

"$"%&.*$
1"1&3
!
$)*-%
$##$
'6/%*/(
803,4)01 1"1&3
!
'036.
*1

-&("-
,&1
&7&/5 $0/'&3&/$&
$)"*3 803,4)01 1&&3
3&7*&8 
5&&/
130%6$&34 1&&3
3&7*&8 -0/%0/ 0/&
40$*"-
/&(05*"5*0/4 1"35*$*1"/5 *4)&%
#3*450- $0/'&3&/$&
!
7*356"-
803-%4
$0/46.15*0/
.&%*"
46..*5
803,4)01
 1"1&3
!
&$0/0.*$
'036. /038": "6%*07*46"-
$"-*'03/*" *//07"5*0/
#"3$&-0/" ")3$
3&1035 13&4&/5"5*0/

$0/'&3&/$&
45"35 $)"/(&
45"(&

"/"-:4*4 0'
##$
1"1&3
!
.",*/(
$"--
'03
45"(&

1"35/&3 '6/%*/( "8"3%&% '035)$0.*/(
"%7&/563&
5&-&7*4*0/
'03
+063/"-
*/5&37*&8 803,4)01 130+&$5
45"35 30$,
-"6/$) :06/(
1&01-& "35*$-&4 $"--
'03
&/53*&4 45"(&

'6/%*/(
."/$)&45&3 130+&$5
"8"3%&% 1"35*$*1"/5 6/*7&34*5:
0'
45"(&

$0.1-&5& -*5&3"563&

3&7*&8 130%6$5*0/
4-*1 803,4)01
 803,4)01

1-"//*/( ##$
3&1035
8&45.*/45&3 $0/'&3&/$&
$)*-%3&/
*/
'6-- 46#.*44*0/
0'
130104"- 7*356"-
803-%4
6/*7&34*5:
0'
8&45.*/45&3

.*44&%
"%7&/563&

30$,
-"6/$)
'035)$0.*/(
#00,
$)"15&34 ##$
3&1035
$0/'&3&/$&
41&$*"-*45
16#-*$"5*0/4

46.."3: 1"1&3
!
$)*-%3&/
8*5&4
*/$-6%*/(
5*.&4
*/
7*356"-
803-%4
7*356"-
803-%
/&84 6/*7&34*5:
01&/
&%6$"5*0//&5 0'
8&45.*/45&3

8*5& $)*-%3&/*/7*356"- 803-%403(6,

3"%*0
$07&3"(& %*(*5"-
1-"/&5
##$
803-%
4&37*$&

13&44
6/*7&34*5:
0'
8&45.*/45&3 $07&3"(& 8*5&4

#-0(4
##$
1"35/&34 */$-6%*/(
8*,*1&%*" ##$
3%
*//07"5*0/
$6-563& ")3$ ##$
45"'' "$"%&.*" .&%*"
*/%6453: $)*-%3&/

:&"34 1"3&/54

6/*7&34*5:
0'
8&45.*/45&3 ##$
1"35/&34 ##$
3%
*//07"5*0/
$6-563& ")3$ ##$
45"'' "$"%&.*" .&%*"
*/%6453: $)*-%3&/

:&"34 1"3&/54 14 8 ESSAYS – THE KNOWLEDGE EXCHANGE PROGRAMME: A COLLABORATION BETWEEN BBC R&D AND THE ARTS & HUMANITIES RESEARCH COUNCIL

For any modern parent, it’s a fa- ers an emotional payoff, primarily This will certainly be a generation when faced with the Playful Gen- reaches of this interactive tech- miliar scene. You stand over your optimism and hopefulness. We get of children who expect to manage eration is an incessantly thorny nium. As the veteran web guru children’s shoulders, however cov- a surge of positive, coping feelings their company’s inventories via question. The BBC’s challenge - as Kevin Kelly wrote recently in Wired ertly, watching as their nimble from the games we construct, en- game consoles, or do their five- a public service media organisation magazine, noting the unstoppable fingers flutter over the keyboards, list others to, and try to succeed at way business meetings via smart with a remit to maintain certain culture of collective play and free nunchucks and touch pads of their ourselves. We are energised by the mobile phones. But their natural standards of content quality, inclu- sharing of web 2.0, “when masses digital devices. An Arsenal-themed simulations we build by ourselves embrace of networks-and-digitality siveness and educational value, its of people who own the means of Powerpoint sits under three sepa- and with others to address some may have deeper, perceptual con- operations funded by compelled production work toward a com- rate browser windows – one for deficiency, or mitigate some chal- sequences. As the futurist and pro- state subscription than by consum- mon goal and share their products chat, one for music sharing, one for lenge, in the real world. This child- grammer Marc Pesce said in The er choice – is particularly spiky. in common, when they contribute Bebo or Facebook. like, but not necessarily childish in- Playful World a few years ago: labour without wages and enjoy the defatigability (or “neoteny”, as the There are two particular challenges fruits free of charge, it’s not un- Someone’s sending links of pics for academics have it) is a particularly “Our children will have a different for the BBC as a ‘state’ entity. One reasonable to call that socialism.” the Powerpoint; fingers flutter back essential survival trait. view of the “interior” nature of the is the fact that so many of these in- If the internet in its social mode is a rebuke, adding their own snip- world, seeing it as potentially vital, teractive platforms derive their vig- indeed tending towards restoring pet of information-plus-emoticon. If this is the deep meaning of play in intelligent, and infinitely transform- our from the commons of the web – the reputation of collective action, (The mobile intrudes regularly into human socio-biology, then what be- able. The ‘dead’ world of objects itself a well-constituted ‘play-space’ the effect this is having on the rest the exchange, an angry buzzing fly of the media landscape is profound. trapped in a tin). And like some For so many private media indus- kind of domestic water-feature, the tries on the web, from news to mu- sports or cartoon channel shim- sic and movies, there is a battle roy- mers, murmurs or explodes at the ale on to establish the very basis of other end of the room, the tv merely 4 PAT KANE commerce. It’s a battle between im- an ambient input – or waiting to be material products dropping to zero turned into the full spectacle of a cost because of digital ubiquity, console game. and intellectual copyright lawyers desperately trying to re-license the Yet strip out the flashy and muta- almost un-licensable. ble interfaces of these technologies, bracket off the sheer plenitude of Meanwhile the BBC’s digital plat- material available to the digital form occupies a curious space in child, and what kind of behaviour this landscape. As a public service do we have here? Nothing too far, it’s able and willing to serve the I’d suggest, from the classic moment ‘commons’ values of the Web, in of play – that developmental scene terms of its commitment to online present in most human societies news and services, and user-friend- that have achieved some distance ly content initiatives like iPlayer. beyond scarcity or sheer survival, PARENTING The success of the fit between the and can thus provide a surplus of web and the Beeb causes some toys and materials for their irre- consternation among UK commer- pressibly ludic young ones. cial web enterprises (the arrival of Channel Four’s 4iP fund for public Despite the hi-tech means, collages THE PLAY- service new media hardly improves are still being made here, songs are their mood). But it’s not inconceiv- still being sung and learned, teasing able that the next wave of develop- and hazing is still being conducted ment of interactive culture in the (across the input boxes), intensely UK might happen on a more stake- imagined worlds of heroism and ca- KIDS? holder-like model, with public and maraderie are still being construct- private investment and planning, ed and explored (frame by frame, The net is one big playground for kids, instead of the venture-capitalised, level by level). ‘build-it-up-and-sell-it-off’ buyout a space where they can productively fool model of Silicon Valley. It’s not that our children aren’t ‘dig- ital natives’, whose amateur (i.e. pas- around with ideas, identity and media. But So what public service role might sion-driven) literacy and facility with the BBC perform in the emergent ICT presents such a challenge to less should Auntie join in? What can the BBC tumult of interactive culture? It hyper-mediated educators, broad- might be to bring some kind of in- casters and parents. It’s more that do for the Playful Generation? stitutional or infrastructural gravity play, in the very way it constitutes to an otherwise weightless, Darwin- our basic, complex-mammalian hu- ian whirlwind of applications and manity, has itself always been digital ventures. Perhaps, when faced with – if by ‘digital’ one means the ability a legion of young players, it might to compose and recompose culture be useful for BBC policy makers to and experience, with absolute com- return to some of the deeper play binatorial freedom, using abstractly paradigms for guidance. redefined elements and materials. The ethology of play – its role in The evolutionary urge and animus animal behaviour – tells us that of play is to serve what the great comes particularly powerful about before intelligence and interactivity that grounds and supports a multi- play happens in conditions of rela- play scholar Brian Sutton-Smith our digital platforms and technolo- will not exist for them, and, as they tude of initiatives and enterprises, tive surplus, and relative safety. calls “adaptive potentiation”. The gies is that they actually match, map grow to adulthood, they will likely yet which is governed neither by The lion-cubs fight and chase, very principle of variation that play and mimic the essential variability demand that the world remain as state nor market. And secondly, groom and explore – in short, pur- seems to stand for – all those ways of play to an unprecedented degree. pliable as they remember from their it’s a commercial and enterprise sue their adaptive potentiations - in of ‘taking reality lightly’ that stretch These children may be such ‘digital youngest days.” culture that almost entirely propels an area which is usually delimited from the crudest jokes to the most natives’ because they might well the development of the interactive and overseen, even at a distance, by elaborate glass-bead games, from be the first generation of humans A generation demanding that their experiences that young people are parents. Play also usually happens dressing-up to situationist art – whose ‘playful nature’ has been material and social world remain embracing so avidly. When Anglo- as an expiation of surplus energy, functions to aid human survival given such powerful and appropri- as pliable, as infusable with imagi- American children reach for their which builds up as a result of ad- and flourishing. ate tools of virtualisation, recombi- nation and desire, as their child- messaging, gaming, or blogging equate nutrition and standards of nation and communication. Their hoods: is this a step-change to be software, they naturally find it in health in the animal. Our play moments generate hy- phantasmagorias of play can now welcomed or feared? It seems, at civil or market society – and not potheses and possibilities, rehears- be made into robust worlds and en- least, to be a possibility we should with the state, however ‘enabling’. To what extent might the BBC, in ing us for the complex business of vironments, in which the playmates be prepared for. the new media landscape, perform getting along with other complex, are numerous and global, and the There are many questions, of this distant paternal role? Not the linguistic and self-conscious hu- experience can be as physical (e.g. Yet how organisations, institutions course, about exactly how viable ‘paternalism’ of old, but the parent man animals. But play also deliv- the Wii console) as it is pixellated. and infrastructures should change the commercial models are for vast as a guarantor of the robust secu- BIULDING PARTNERSHIPS NETWORKING RESEARCH SHARING KNOWLEDGE 15

rity of the ‘ground of play’? By both itself up more to the possibilities of ing a ‘Memewatch’ and subjecting nurturing the capacities and health news creation, audio/visual/textual, them to critical analysis? Channel of digital players, and also providing that lie within the hands of the play Four have provided a lead in this tools and platforms (or even cleared generation themselves – literally, area with their multimedia show for savannah!) for their play, the BBC these days, as the mobile phone adds activist kids, Battlefront (www.bat- could find its secure footing in the ever more multimedia functional- tlefront.co.uk), which mixes media interactive society. ity. As the technology editor of BBC criticism with advocacy of issues, all Online News Darren Waters said of its content very much driven and From reading some of the AHRC/ at a recent conference on Twitter created by the users/viewers. BBC Knowledge Exchange Pro- and real-time media, the BBC is gramme essays, one can see the evolving its own strategies on ‘citi- Yet I was delighted (and not at all BBC’s role as the ‘distant parent of zen journalism’ – finding ways to surprised) to notice from the paper the play generation’ already being establish protocols on monitoring that the news topic valued by all chil- realised. We have to recognise at the and verifying content that comes in dren over all others, by a very clear start here that the BBC has had a from outside the corporation. points lead, was – sports! Again, long history of thinking developmen- as a play-ethicist, I would want to tally and educationally about its tel- Perhaps one constituency they could stress that the play moment for 21st evision programming, from idiosyn- easily involve in forming these strate- century kids - however ‘networked- cratic approaches like the late (and gies are the budding ‘citizen journal- individualist’ they are - will still be sorely lamented) Oliver Postgate to ists’ of a children’s news audience. rooted in some of the psychological the work of Anne Wood, with shows And, as the Children and the BBC constants of development. In short, (like Teletubbies and In The Night study points out, the BBC also needs their whole bodies, as well as their Garden) informed by cutting-edge to begin to embrace a distinctively minds, need excitement, exertion, research in child psychology. teenage audience, somewhat lost in testing, and basically throwing the gulf between Newsround and the about in these growing years – and It’s fascinating to read children’s as- often punishing, baffling or tedi- it’s no surprise to see that sporting sessments of the utility of the classic ous agenda of adult news. Indeed, in activity, our most esteemed physical BBC news programme Newsround terms of the emotional intensities that play form, is what kids most want in the KEP study “What Do Chil- shape much perception of daily real- to watch from their news show. For dren Want from the BBC? Chil- ity in childhood and teenagehood, them, physical bliss, self-possession dren’s Content and Participatory there might be much to be learned and change is always big news. Environments in an Age of Citizen from applying social media tools to Media”. The researchers are right the experience of children’s news. To the Corporation’s credit, it to carefully draw out the already seems to realise (without much existing models of citizenship that As the media analyst Clay Shirky forethought) that developing the lie in the minds of the show’s target said recently, these playful commu- capacity of young players is a multi- audience, the 7-11 age-group – the nications platforms do lend them- sensorial, multi-disciplinary affair – need to “know what’s going on in selves to waves of mass emotion driv- an event in real time and space, in- the world”. (If I can make a person- ing awareness of news facts – positive volving bodies, percepts and affects, al note here: very often my youngest in the light of something like the and not just something which can be daughter would make a clear decla- Obama campaign and its harness- exhausted in a platform, interface or ration that “Newsround was the best ing of national idealism, negative in gamespace. The paper “Alone To- show ever”, precisely because its the way that the swine flu epidemic gether: Social Learning and Blast” editorial agenda gave her a sense of creates waves of panic on platforms is a detailed assessment of the im- mastery over a world of news.) like Twitter. Is this a real awareness pact of the BBC’s Blast project, an building and critical media literacy extremely well-meaning initiative They are also right to pick up the opportunity for the BBC and young that aims to nurture and encourage demand from the children them- audiences – perhaps ‘playing’ with the performing and creative talents selves that Newsround could open the idea of social media frenzies, do- of the BBC’s young viewership.

It's not as if the BBC hasn't seeded the environment with playful and powerful technological riches before: remember the BBC Micro? 16 8 ESSAYS – THE KNOWLEDGE EXCHANGE PROGRAMME: A COLLABORATION BETWEEN BBC R&D AND THE ARTS & HUMANITIES RESEARCH COUNCIL

What public-service role might the BBC perform in the emergent tumult of interactive culture? It might be to bring some kind of institutional or infrastructural gravity to an otherwise weightless, Darwinian whirlwind of applications and ventures

Yet there are some fascinating ten- the chance to build their own power- I wonder whether this report also BBC needs to “keep up” with com- ital play – always driven by young sions revealed by the report, mostly ful and media-rich website, with copi- shows that Blast Online should be mercial immersive virtual worlds and teenage audiences but now, of around the lack of integration be- ous opportunities for members to ini- more about what the media theo- (World of Warcraft, Lego Universe, course, including the ‘greystation’ tween the live Blast road shows (3-4 tiate groups and forums, all of these rist Simon Yuill calls “distributive etc) in order to maintain audience generation of older gamers – is a day events where classes and com- easily embeddable with audio-visual practice”. Should Blast be a reposi- share in the future. Though this crucial matter for the Corpora- petitions around all kinds of media content from inside and outside each tory and conservatory for transmit- might sound strange coming from a tion’s continuing legitimacy as a skills and art forms are stages) and the Ning network. Many of these sites ting good technique, in as many art play advocate, I wonder whether the public-service media organisation. online community - which to some have been able to support quite eas- forms, and to whatever enabling BBC should get too deeply involved From my own multi-disciplinary extent fuels participation in, and ar- ily the kind of “pedagogical” role and depth of complexity, as is request- in the hugely capital-intensive en- perspective of the role of play in hu- chives the results from, those shows. function that Blast aspires to. Yet the ed? This would make it much more terprise of creating massive multi- man flourishing, I’m arguing that pedagogy is formulated by a pretty than a “me-too” of existing user- player online worlds, at least with the BBC should adopt and develop Clearly, in a wider online environ- equal combination between the site generated content platforms. the same ambitions for richness and the stance of an enriching, nurtur- ment which hardly lacks in oppor- instigators and the users themselves, graphical excellence as commercial ing “parent of play”, rather than an tunities for upload of material which seeking out from each other (and The difficulty, but also the exciting rivals. (And one should always re- eager and heedless co-player. is then shared with peers, the Blast from wider sources around the web) possibilities, of situating the BBC member just how “non-commer- site itself somewhat palls in com- what they need to improve their craft, in the contemporary matrix of play cial” some of the core investments There are plenty of other beasts, parison with the rude, anarchic vig- practice or fan obsession. culture is only made more acute by are in these “synthetic worlds”, to both sleek and rough, in the digital our of Bebo, Facebook, MySpace or the paper on “Virtual Worlds: An use the American economist Ed- jungle – whether cavorting on the YouTube. The children and teen- To return to our central image: overview and study of BBC Chil- ward Castronova’s term. By which commons, or at battle in the market- agers themselves seem to recognise should the BBC be ‘playmate’ with dren’s Adventure Rock”. This is an I mean the heavy investment in place. In these varied terrains, many that posting such material to a BBC this emergent, often wild play of excellent reflection on the strategic gaming platforms by both military enterprises can pursue their “adap- site implies a kind of cultural ap- community formation – that is, join challenges of creating an immersive, establishments in the US, and state- tive potentiations” to their hearts’ proval or status above and beyond the civic/market space of facilita- 3D online gamespace for 7-12 year totalitarian sources in China). content - all of which diversity and the usual social-networked melee – tory social tools, and let the carnival olds. The authors and game-makers change brings energy and incessant and in the message boards, seem to commence? Or should it be ‘parent’ seem well aware of the developmen- Perhaps looking towards a “dis- change to our now dominant play seek out the expert “mentors” that to a different kind of play – more tal possibilities of virtual words for tributive practice” of game culture culture. But beneath the tumult, respond to their work. developmental, more focussed on children – in terms of an active rela- might be more in tune with the Cor- there are deeper, socio-biological ‘professionally-derived’ techniques tionship to media, an experience of poration’s ends, if you accept the contours of play in human nature: But in a media environment where (‘how to make a radio item’, ‘hip-hop agency and world-creation, the re- framing of the BBC as “parent of the need for a platform of stability voracious meritocratic talent shows Shakespeare’, etc), on guiding people hearsal of responsibility for others, play”. For example, the subculture and resource upon which all the en- command mass audiences (and mass to a ‘creative career’ (that’ll be career etc. Their sagacity is reminiscent of machinima – that is, modding riching experiments of play behav- hysteria) on one side, and hundreds as in a crazed stagger, no doubt…) of The Sims’ creator Will Wright’s and hacking game engines to en- iour can flourish. For me, this is a of millions of iterators and media- observation that all his games have able stories to be told – seems to me great opportunity for the BBC – but tors decide to upload their content There is clearly a civic demand for been inspired by Maria Montes- to be crying out for the kind of TV to grasp the moment, I believe it for whatever audience they can find authoritative craft and expertise sori’s theory of toy-play as the most broadcast/online-platform integra- must develop its own, public service or amass on the other, BBC Blast online, with quite a few success- powerful educational tool. tion that the BBC managed with the version of a play ethic. By which I sits quite curiously – part arts col- ful peer-to-peer public learning Bamzooki virtual-bot game shows. mean an ethos that justifies defend- lege, part community centre, with networks. Instructibles (www.in- It’s certainly understandable, as the Simon Yuill’s main project is to cre- ing, sustaining and supporting the little of the user-generated content structibles.com) gives anyone the Virtual Worlds study says, that the ate what he calls a ‘social versioning ‘ground of play’ as a crucial moment prioritised or thematised either by chance to show others their tech- system’ for game-creation. In this, of human development. We know the site’s managers or its peers. niques in craft, repair or modifica- local communities are given both the one that’s encoded into the tion: Now Play It (www.nowplayit. A symbiotic relationship the tools to create virtual worlds, very DNA of that famous nubbly- It’s instructive to compare the Blast com) does the same for music, us- between news production and and encourage to reflect on the so- brick manufacturer: lego. Which site to something like the Ning social- ing big-name stars; School of Every- active citizenship is widely cial, economic and ethical rules they means: to play well. What might the network platform. Ning gives users thing (www.schoolofeverything. regarded as central to the embed into those worlds. This strikes BBC’s version of that be? com) aims to be an E-Bay for in- health of democratic societies. me as a classic developmental tem- The nature of virtual worlds formal learning, bringing enthusi- Do news organisations in the plate for the BBC to explore with its Children and young people see means that the audience astic learners and teachers together UK view children as citizens or, audiences. It’s not as if the BBC hasn’t themselves as citizens and ceases to be ‘out there’, to trade and share. Not to mention at the very least, as ‘citizens in seeded the environment with playful want to play a more active role external to the BBC the vast archive of instrumental the making’? and powerful technological riches be- in the public sphere. tuition and virtuosity that amateur fore: remember the BBC Micro? Pg 8 Virtual Worlds: An overview and professional performers freely Pg 40 What Do Children Want from the Pg 29 What Do Children Want from the and study of BBC Children’s and happily upload to YouTube and BBC? Children’s Content and Participatory The BBC’s overall relationship with BBC? Children’s Content and Participatory Environments in an Age of Citizen Media Adventure Rock other video platforms. a now mainstreamed culture of dig- Environments in an Age of Citizen Media BIULDING PARTNERSHIPS NETWORKING RESEARCH SHARING KNOWLEDGE 17

5 KATHRYN CORRICK Beyond Personalisation

Audiences online now expect A week after the Summit - and with streamed), Huddle, Flickr, Scribd, a nod from the Digital Britain team Facebook and more. to do a lot. Interactivity is not just about that they were listening - a website was launched (digitalbritainun- As one of the unconference report time shifting and personalising any conference.wordpress.com) with editors, Alastair Duncan (former these simple instructions: “Anyone CEO of MRM Worldwide from more. It’s about participation, remixing, can attend or hold an event and 2004- 2008) commented: “This associate it with Digital Britain is not an example of ‘citizen jour- collaborating. How can the BBC engage Unconferences, you’ll just need to nalism’. Nor is it just ‘user gener- summarise your discussions and ated content’. It is a solid and co- the new active audience in relationships hold it by 13th May 2009! Yes, time ordinated effort by a considerable is very tight.” number of smart and committed that work for everyone? people, living by the keystroke, By the 13th May, twelve unconfer- connecting as individuals, with a ences had taken place from Glas- concrete belief that Britain has to gow to Truro in the South West. All be a successful and leading country attendees were encouraged to read in all aspects of the digital world.” the Interim Report and the level of engagement and serious thinking In Here Comes Everybody, his best- On the 16th June this year, the gov- there’s no audience at an unconfer- across each event was exemplary selling examination of new online ernment’s official Digital Britain ence, just lots of participants. – subjects covered went from next group-forming tools and their ef- report was launched. Its conclu- generation broadband and digital fects on society, the American sions sparked debate and discus- On Page 8 of this newspaper, Bill inclusion through to issues of rights, new media academic Clay Shirky sion and will no doubt continue to Thompson talks about how he fired opportunities for building billion- argues that “when we change the be picked over in the future. Many off a frustrated tweet about the level aire businesses and an Uploaders way we communicate, we change early readers criticised the report of discussion at the Digital Britain Manifesto. The events included a society.” It’s a big claim. But the for fence sitting, for not going far Summit, a rather more conven- virtual discussion focusing on rural unconference story shows that the enough or thinking radically about tional sort of conference involving issues related to Digital Britain and web really can act as a new lever the future. However, in one re- the great, the good and Gordon a family unconference held in Tu- or catalyst for communication and spect, the Digital Britain report Brown, which took place in April tbury, Derbyshire, as well as large collaboration in the real and virtual is a sign of how much business as this year. Bill suggested doing an events of over 50 people in London world. In this particular instance, usual is being changed by interac- unconference instead. That initial and Manchester. Meanwhile the it helped strengthen participation tive media technologies. tweet bore fruit in hours, rather tweets and use of the hashtags kept and citizenship within the demo- than days. It resonated with many the conversation alive and everyone cratic process – one of the key BBC Flick through the report and on page people who were following the Dig- up to date. public purposes. 10, you’ll find a description of the ital Britain summit online and car- Digital Britain unconferences. There rying on a real time conversation The results of each event were The collaboration represented by are further references on pages 225 about it via Twitter – coordinating compiled into one document, ed- the Digital Britain unconferences and 226, describing the contribu- contributions by using the hashtag ited and summarised by a volun- represent the highest levels of user tions from the unconferences that #digitalbritain. And it led to sever- teer team of four editors. The un- activity online. More importantly, made it into the final document. In- al weeks of frantic activity as people conference report was duly sent to for the BBC, it also shows how deed, Lord Carter actually attended around the UK organised Digital (and warmly received by) the Dig- adults can work together, mod- a report follow-up unconference in Britain unconferences, generating ital Britain team on 26th May - just erate themselves and work with Birmingham on 17th June and joined ideas that eventually found their over six weeks after the original an organisation to make some- in the discussions taking place. way into the final report. idea was hatched. A few days later thing happen without being it was also put online and those in- confrontational. Much of what does appear in the It’s worth looking more closely at how volved with and supportive of the Digital Britain report comes via these events were organised. They’re conclusions were encouraged to The AHRC/BBC KEP research the usual official channels, the a great example for organisations that add their name as a signatory. studies show that the BBC is do- usual government and business want to think about how best to work ing all it can to learn how to work suits. But the unconferences rep- with a newly active audience. Once It should be noted that most of with interactive technologies and resent a new kind of contribution. people had declared a desire to get those involved have never met and the people formerly known as the So what is an unconference? involved, a Yahoo Group was quickly very few of them know each other; audience. To be fair, over the last set up to co-ordinate efforts and each event was organised locally. ten years, we’ve all been learning The working definition that’s de- link initial volunteers together. The Such a speedy reaction and strong what interactivity really means. veloped over the last few years is result: the idea of a set of UK-wide, collaboration under similar cir- Initially, people focused on the that it’s a participant-driven event volunteer-organised events with the cumstances would have been im- idea of individual user control, of centred on a theme, problem or aim of producing an alternative re- possible even a few years ago. Now content on demand, of personal- purpose. Some have suggested that port that was as widely representative it’s relatively easy to make happen, ised schedules and time shifting. it does for event participation what as possible but also offered positive, thanks to the real-time connections That’s clearly important – look at the Web 2.0 did for the net. The realistic contributions for the final of microblogging and a collection the success of the iPlayer. But now idea is to create conferences that Digital Britain report. It would also of freely available, easy to use utili- interactivity has developed beyond develop and evolve in response to extend the work of Joss Swin and ties and social media services such personalisation to include the idea contributions from the participants. Paul Johnston of WriteToReply.com as WordPress, wikidot, Eventbrite of participation, of co-creation Agendas and schedules aren’t set with their commentable version of (an event organising and ticketing and collaboration, involving pro- up beforehand. They emerge as the Interim Report and ‘Fake Digital service), Yahoo Groups, UStream fessionals and audience in a po- participants get involved. Ideally, Britain Report’. (a few of the events were video tentially open-ended process. 18 8 ESSAYS – THE KNOWLEDGE EXCHANGE PROGRAMME: A COLLABORATION BETWEEN BBC R&D AND THE ARTS & HUMANITIES RESEARCH COUNCIL

Often when a website offers the opportunity to comment on an article, video, photo or other piece of media, it is not always made clear as to why and for whose gain this opportunity is being given - and whether the comment will be heard or in what context

The KEP studies look closely at how it. That’s one reason for the BBC to piece of media, it’s not always made the BBC is changing its approach in encourage this kind of activity. clear why and for what and whose response to interactive media tech- gain this opportunity is being given nologies. They reflect the changes What’s important from a BBC per- - and whether the comment will be the Corporation is trying to make spective, though, is to think through heard or in what context. as it gets involved with its audience. how the desire within individuals to The BBC is affectionately called increase their social capital can be The KEP study ‘ugc@thebcc: Un- Auntie but it’s not without good utilised and to understand that any derstanding its impact upon con- reason. Online, some BBC mes- solution will not be universal across tributors, non-contributors and BBC sage board users in particular feel BBC services. Simple examples News’ has useful things to say about that the approach taken is “Auntie might include user moderation of this area. Part of the problem, it sug- knows best”. In the KEP study ‘Lis- message boards and allowing the gests, is the catch-all phrase ‘user gen- “ We are on the threshold of tener online engagement with BBC rating of user comments by a simple erated content’ itself, which doesn’t Radio programming,’ one user com- “Like this” button (see Facebook describe all the possible nuances and new forms of broadcasting plains that “the moderators treat us as an example). The KEP study “A types of content sent in. The study like children!” Public Voice: Access, Digital Story recommends instead that the phrase and collective engagement and Interactive Narrative” also re- be replaced with ‘Audience Material.’ In contrast, those involved in the veals that, when taken to the level in content generation unconferences were able not only to of story telling and media creation, Allowing audiences to submit have their say but know that, in doing users can also experience improved material to the BBC immediately and selective scheduling. so, they were part of a larger process self-confidence, self-esteem, aspira- says, “we’re listening”, but with- leading towards a goal, and that their tion, and acquire new skills. out responding to every comment, Traditional models and voice might not only be heard by their it is not always easy to prove this. fellow unconference attendees but The KEP research also shows how In addition, high volume causes orthodoxies, programming also by government, that their con- much social capital a moderator or all sorts of organisational head- versations might make a difference. official BBC voice may have, when aches, from moderation to finding and gate-keeping roles joining in the conversation online. It the newsworthy and usable pho- The important thing there was that can have the power to either encour- tograph amongst the mountain of are being re-defined, and technology was just an enabler, age further contributions or halt contributions. Quoted in the ugc@ something that allowed people to them, even if unintentionally. The thebbc study, Peter Horrocks (edi- as this study forcefully create a collaborative community. KEP study ‘Alone Together? Social tor, BBC Newsroom) notes: “The The Listener Online Engagement learning in BBC Blast’ shows that dilemma is that the insatiable re- demonstrates, a new study shows that, when it comes this was a particular problem for source requirement around just to specialist music fans, a similar BBC Blast and offers useful advice. dealing with comments doesn’t participant public is keen to sort of community develops around “Mentor expressions of preference seem to me is generating enough, BBC content online. “The online carry more weight than the teenag- or will not in the future, generate engage with the BBC, not activities were communal rather ers because they represent the adult enough extra value for the kind of than individual; they were set expert voice. The mentors need to effort that we need to put into it.” just as passive consumers within a virtual environment rather approach the message boards as a Peter Rippon (editor, Radio 4’s than determined in any simple way potential learning space, and need PM, iPM, World at One and Broad- but as active partners.” by technologies; and they involved to be aware that their answers are casting House) adds: “I don’t think cultural activities which were de- not simply responses to a particular the BBC should be providing plat- velopments of, but distinct from post. Instead they represent how to forms for just noise which you can Page 6 ‘The Miners’ Strike: A Case Study in Regional Content’ off line fan activity. It is necessary, answer questions and offer criti- find anywhere on the Web anyway.” therefore, to place contemporary ra- cism. They have the power to de- dio broadcasting in a wider context velop or prevent the discussion and But listening is important and can than seeing the internet as a new encourage or dissuade users.” lead to many positive benefits, as channel through which radio can the ugc@thebbc report points out be broadcast, or a new medium to Another useful lesson from the un- elsewhere: “If it were not for these promote those broadcasts.” conferences is that they happened important spaces for debate, many because the Digital Britain team news stories and the case studies It is also worth pointing out the so- themselves said they were listening and eyewitness accounts which ac- cial capital gains in being involved in (via email to the organisers). They companied them would never have these kinds of activity online. These also gave channels via which they been found.” One way forward is gains extend both within the virtual could be contacted and showed suggested in the ugc@thebbc study environment (increase in Twitter fol- they valued the exchange by joining by Head of Editorial Development lowers, links and comments to blog in the conversation, and responding for Multimedia Peter Clifton, who posts, personal mentions by others, encouragingly. Often when a website talks about “actually focussing more becoming more well known within offers the opportunity to comment on the real added value insight in the ‘community’) as well as beyond on an article, video, photo or other User Generated Content”. BIULDING PARTNERSHIPS NETWORKING RESEARCH SHARING KNOWLEDGE 19

One example might be the use of July of that year: “Want to complain can then be modified to better re- real-time responses and the inclu- on Dell’s website about its customer flect those goals.” sion of the real-time layer of con- service? Too late - the Customer versations that can now be experi- Support Forums, operational until This thought should be extended enced on services such as Facebook, last Friday, have been shut down, to all BBC online engagement ac- Twitter and other microblogging apparently to try to quell bad pub- tivity. IdeaStorm works because services. It is now commonplace for licity there about Dell products and there is a carefully crafted struc- mass open conversations to happen especially after-care service.” ture with a clear purpose that in on Twitter whilst a TV programme turn focuses Dell’s ability to listen is in progress. Many have suggested A month later Jarvis, chipped in and respond. The same structure that media proliferation and inter- with an open letter to Michael Dell won’t work everywhere. The BBC activity has led to fragmentation and Michael George, pointing out needs to pay attention to specifics, and the end of national viewing that when you lose a customer, you to tailor its approach to the needs experiences. Interestingly, perhaps also potentially lose the custom of of different audiences using differ- we’re seeing the rise of new kind the customer’s friends, due to wide ent services at different times. The of shared multimedia experience. spread use of [then] blogs and cus- KEP research is part of that process Twitter is creating shared spaces tomer rate and review sites (an early and is perhaps just the beginning of simply through the use of hashtags. form of user generated content). larger effort to look closely at what Dell took a while to respond. But a the audience is doing online and Hang about on Twitter (circa 2.5 year later, they were trying to make listen more effectively. million users in the UK, roughly 7 up for lost ground, telling custom- percent of the internet users) when ers: “We’re spending more than a The Apprentice, Britain’s Got Tal- $100 million — and a lot of blood, ent or even Question Time is on and sweat and tears of talented people you’ll soon find many viewers are — to fix this… In the coming days Twittering as well as watching. Us- and weeks the people responsible ers have designated programmes for improving Dell customer service with their own hashtags (in the are going to join the conversation.” case of the programmes above #ap- Beyond UGC – prentice, #bgt, and #bbcqt). These One response to improving custom- can be used to search for comments er service was IdeaStorm, launched within Twitter and so keep up with in 2007. Customers can post busi- five types of what others are saying virtually in ness ideas, vote, promote or demote real time, creating a very large chat ideas and also see what ideas have room. For example: been implemented by Dell through audience material this process. Their aim was to build @naois: anyone else shocked kate an online community that “brings didn’t win #apprentice was so sure she all of us closer to the creative side had it - implacable and yasminas chocs of technology by allowing you to The KEP study ugc@thebbc argues that we should use seemed vile share ideas and collaborate with the term ‘audience material’ rather than ‘ugc’, which one another. The goal is for you, it refers to as a ‘catch-all’ that covers up the complexi- @helenthornber: Reviewed the tweet- the customer, to tell Dell what new ties of what happens when audiences interact with the ing from @GraemeWatson and I last products or services you’d like to see media. The study goes on to suggest there are five main night whilst watching the #apprentice & Dell develop. We hope this site fos- types of ‘audience material’: drinking the 2nd bottle of wine - funny! ters a candid and robust conversa- tion about your ideas.” 1. Audience content - this includes audience footage, au- This phenomenon happens with dience experiences and audience stories (i.e. tip-offs of events, like the Digital Britain sum- To create this atmosphere of listen- stories not on the BBC news agenda) mit mentioned before, and was ing, Dell explains very explicitly how spotted by those within the BBC’s everything works, suggesting that 2. Audience comments – that is, opinions shared in re- Have Your Say and those running the company expect and is prepared sponse to a call for action the news site and used to good affect to listen to and what will be done in during the June 2009 UK Council return. The process is made very 3. Collaborative content – produced by the audience with and EU elections. The BBC team clear and expectations are managed support and sometimes training from BBC profession- integrated viewer tweets into a live carefully. By the beginning of June als update page, mixing in texts from 2009 (two years after launch) the viewers as well as official commen- Dell Community had contributed 4. Networked journalism – professionals and amateurs tary and News 24 live video feed. 11,789 ideas, promoted (or voted) working together to get a story This gave viewer comments context for ideas 667,042 times and sent in and added texture to the overall sto- 84,543 comments. In return Dell has 5. Non-news content – photos of the weather or wildlife ry being told, immediately extending implemented 337 ideas. Some of the the journey of the audience in both implementations are quite small but directions (to and from Twitter and some have been significant – such as the BBC). The presence of other the ideas to not eliminate the choice material aggregated from across the of XP as an operating system and to BBC together with links to more offer Ubuntu pre-installed as an al- content and visualisations created a ternative open source non-Microsoft rich audience experience, but also operating system. Ideas and conversations about BBC one that reflected audience views. programmes are already happen- Good structures enable an efficient ing across the BBC website and, as Such integrations of content only use of everyone’s time and resources the Listener Online Engagement solve part of the jigsaw. Some les- and also ensure that each contribu- study shows, the level of trust in sons about how to create responsive tion has value and can be filtered the BBC operating spaces such as structures can be drawn from the both by the organisation/company the message boards is high – de- experiences of computer manufac- and the community or contributors spite the ‘Auntie knows best’ feel. turer Dell over the past few years. itself. As the Listeners Online En- The passions that are shown by us- Back in 2005, Dell was in trouble gagement study notes: “Ultimate- ers of Dell computers are small in when it came to customer service. ly, in order for BBC Radio to best comparison to those held by BBC New media pundit Jeff Jarvis fa- serve its listeners’ requirements in users such as Archers devotees and mously described his personal ‘Dell terms of message board provision, specialist music fans. The Digital Hell’ experiences (and Dell’s lame it needs to first decide what its pur- Britain unconferences were a small initial response) on his blog, Buzz- pose is and how it understands and example of what can happen when Machine (returning to the subject in communicates its own interactivity you get this right. Imagine what his recent book What Would Google – whether it aims to encourage in- could happen if the BBC found the Do?) But it was UK writer Charles teraction between users or between right way to channel the ideas and Arthur that first observed in the user and BBC. Features and tools passions of its audience. 20 8 ESSAYS – THE KNOWLEDGE EXCHANGE PROGRAMME: A COLLABORATION BETWEEN BBC R&D AND THE ARTS & HUMANITIES RESEARCH COUNCIL

6 BRONAC FERRAN Model Behaviour?

Many believe knowledge exchange networks will play an increasingly important role in innovation. Does the AHRC/ BBC KEP establish some useful pointers for the future?

The idea of a partnership between the BBC and the Arts and Humani- knowledge, skills and methodologies between UK Arts and Humanities ties Research Council was first suggested in 2005 by Matt Locke, then academics and BBC staff, while also involving ‘the public’ in diverse head of BBC Creative R&D. Even then it was clear that this kind of forms, the KEP has led to forms of action or practice-based research high profile partnership would offer enormous opportunities to both combined with invaluable reflection and interpretation. the BBC and academia and act as a flagship for emerging Knowledge Transfer strategies. Matt recalls that among his aims in establishing the In return for gaining unprecedented access to material and being able to partnership was the desire to speed up BBC research cycles, make re- participate in processes of debate and decision-making that are normally search more accessible beyond the organisation and more iterative and internal to the BBC, academics brought a capacity for critical reflection responsive to shifting trends such as the move towards social media. on contemporary trends, as well as methodologies for analysis and skills of interpretation. That said, the willingness of the BBC to let academ- So four years on, how has the AHRC/BBC Knowledge Exchange Pro- ics move in and root around their day–to-day activities was a risk and gramme done? Has it delivered on Locke’s original aims? Is it a valuable something I find particularly impressive, given the capacity of academic prototype for research-led innovation? Does it offer useful models, not researchers to ask difficult questions. Whether all organisations would just for the BBC, but for other organisations looking to build knowledge be brave enough to follow this approach is a matter for discussion. in a more open, responsive way? Developing Synergy The focus on social media now looks particularly far-sighted. Since the One aspect of the KEP that worked well and should be applied else- KEP was first discussed, platforms and services which allow us to com- where was the early identification of the priority research themes. That municate, share and critique have become part of everyday life: Google encouraged BBC departmental hosts to get involved and attracted high maps, the iPhone, Twitter, Flickr, Facebook, You Tube. Meanwhile calibre academics. Rowena Goldman, who took the initiative forward services still in development such as Google Wave continue the relent- within the corporation, says that identifying themes wasn’t hard, given less march of technological progress. Social media creates all sorts of the “sheer depth of knowledge within academia. This knowledge had challenges for traditional media organisations. In the words of Chinese synergy with areas of interest in BBC Future Media and Technology: blogger and social entrepreneur Isaac Mao: “The emergence of Social audience behaviour with regard to digital technology; the barriers and Applications that can communicate and cooperate, by allowing people incentives to take-up of digital services; editorial challenges around to output content from one service to another, is letting users pump user-generated content; the opportunities afforded by mobile devices; their memes into a pipeline-like ecosystem. This interconnectedness al- children/young people as early adopters and the whole gamut of how lows memes to travel along multiple online social networks and poten- multimedia plays out in people’s everyday lives.” tially reach a huge audience. As a result, such a micro-pipeline system is making Social Media a true alternative to broadcast culture. These new Exploration of this notion of ‘everyday lives’ has produced some fas- technologies are reviving Sharism in our closed culture.” cinating material for the BBC, particularly relating to the way it’s at- tempting to redefine public service media. The KEP study ‘A Public In fact, in the last few years it’s become clear that the ‘media and tech- Voice - Access, Digital Story and Interactive Narrative’ makes a strong nologies formerly known as new’ have been combining, converging and case for re-thinking the nature of the knowledge presented via broadcast occasionally colliding with established mainstream media, resulting in channels in a time of participatory media. It tells us that in academia new platforms and applications. Services like BBC iPlayer and plans to as well as mainstream media, certain voices have been excluded - ‘dis- ‘remobilise’ the archive as new content for a new context signal the Cor- placed from the coherent communication economy’ - due to being too poration’s desire to stay ahead of the game. But nowadays such progress vernacular or plain; it recalls tales, songs, rhymes and sayings which more often than not involves combining the human and the social with are ‘talk’d of, exchanged in conversation, expressed in discourse’ and technological innovation. Success in social media often depends on the which were in pre-broadcast days ‘the vehicles for the preservation and degree of insight by designers into human interfaces and social behav- transmission of supernatural knowledge and imperfect history.’ The re- iours as well as the potential of new media technologies. port convincingly concludes that: ‘according to a range of commenta- tors, conversation is a buzz word for the future ethos of media,’ adding That’s one place where the contribution of the KEP research is clear. that ‘the appearance of digital narration allows for a greater audience, The eight studies cover a wide range, touching on everything from a reflection on the phenomenological world and the sharing of new and the challenges of collected, connected and generative content and the old knowledge. In this way there is everything new about it and nothing combining of old or existing content to new contexts for display and new about it’. distribution, design for user participation, the rethinking of ownership of public and private data and questions around identity, representa- The idea of re-combining the old and new, connecting existing content tion and responsibility in an era of collaborative networks. More impor- with new platforms and new contexts, is also at the heart of the BBC’s tantly, by generating a programme that has supported the exchange of Archive and iPlayer initiatives. In his 2005 Reith Lectures, The Tri- BIULDING PARTNERSHIPS NETWORKING RESEARCH SHARING KNOWLEDGE 21

umph of Technology Lord Alec Broers pointed out that “most modern The researchers on the project were also aware of the value of their partner- technologies are created by bringing together and developing capabili- ship which crossed academic, broadcast and public spheres: “Through this ties which already exist. The genius lies in the way they are brought research we can begin to understand what is important to communities together and improved.” Taking his ideas on, perhaps we’re now liv- about how they are represented in the archive. We can begin to understand ing after the triumph of technology – where its importance has been the passions and sense of ownership the BBC audience has when engaging acknowledged and we now have to work out how best to manage it, for with what is essentially their archive. We are on the threshold of new forms public and private good. of broadcasting and collective engagement in content generation and se- lective scheduling. Traditional models and orthodoxies, programming and Excavating Value gate-keeping roles are being re-defined and as this study forcefully demon- One KEP study that addresses this process of re-combination and re-con- strates, a new participant public is keen to engage with the BBC not just as textualisation directly is ‘AHRC/BBC Open Archive Project - The Miners’ passive consumers, but as active partners.’ Strike: A Case Study in Regional Content’. It explores the 1984-85 Min- ers Strike, ‘remobilising’ existing broadcast material by means of various This project loops relevance from past into present, connecting with those research-based techniques including focus groups with people involved in who have been the subject of broadcast material dealing with socially chal- the strike and featured in some of the news reports. As 2009 is the 25th lenging and politically significant events. It tackles unresolved issues about Anniversary of the strike, the report also takes a contemporary turn. Its how national TV represents regional events and provides scope for a rene- findings raise important questions for the BBC about how it might allow gotiation of ownership and authenticity, opening up what the authors of the future access to its previously broadcast material – particularly in terms Public Voice study call ”the space for recuperation,” something that can of questions of ownership, representation, identity and responsibility. In emerge through research which sensitively excavates layers of buried mean- the focus groups, ex-miners commented on their rights of access to BBC ing. Again, this all has particular relevance for the BBC in its attempt to archive material depicting events during the strike: “History belongs to us redefine its relationship with the public. But other organisations that want to all and if such items exist then everyone should have access to them. After use social media to build new relationships with their users would do well to all, we paid for it.” These views are strikingly similar to opinions expressed look at this research. at the Edinburgh Television Festival in 2003 by former BBC Director Gen- eral Greg Dyke: ”It’s not really our content – the people of Britain have paid The Borderline between Learning and Knowledge Exchange for it and our role should be to help them use it.” Stepping back slightly, one of the key things the KEP research reveals – and something that could have interesting policy implications in the future – is the shifting terrain between ‘learning’ and ‘knowledge.’ The idea of knowl- edge as an emergent and collaborative process has become very current over the last four years, not least due to the nature of networked media, which encourages and facilitates distributed innovation. But how do institutions – such as media and academia – best adapt to and capitalise on such models of networked organisation? The KEP research is a useful prototype here, something that can contribute not just to new discussions in media organisa- tions but also to debates about the future of teaching, learning and research in universities now.

One of the challenges that arose for participants in this programme, includ- ing the BBC and the AHRC itself, was the need for working methods that The AHRC/BBC Knowledge facilitated interaction between different fields. The contracts between the BBC and the lead universities involved in each Exchange Programme – An 8 Step Plan project were based on the Lambert Review Report guidelines for knowl- edge transfer between academia and industry. However, as many of the ac- ademics have pointed out, the nature of non-commercial research and the desire, on occasion, to use social software to disseminate findings meant that, in practice, the legal agreements were sometimes constrictive. The In the Beginning: It all started with The Future of the Collaboration: To sup- single most important lesson learnt from the programme may well be that a conversation between BBC Future port and grow the community beyond the the legal teams from both communities would do well to sit down and re- Media & Technology and the Arts and funding call, an online knowledge network was align the goal posts for any future partnership model. However, the joint Humanities Research Council to ex- developed, beebac, where academics, industry contract that the BBC and AHRC developed for the programme is still plore mutual benefits of knowledge ex- practitioners and BBC staff could collaborate. robust enough to have been used as a template by the AHRC in other change between BBC staff and arts and Knowledge Transfer contexts. humanities academia. Drilling Deeper: At the end of the Knowl- edge Exchange Awards, five of the 8 projects There are many examples of mutual learning from the KEP that could be Tell Me More: A series of jointly hosted were allocated additional Knowledge Infusion further utilised. Making the learning and knowledge accessible is a vital Knowledge Exchange Summits was held funding to enable further examination of the task, one which may require going beyond the lengthy and scholarly reports between the two communities to bring key findings and the production of usable to help draw out key recommendations or insights. Lizzie Jackson, one of everyone together and provide a catalyst concepts and prototypes. the ‘critical interface’ figures involved in the research (who during the pe- for dialogue. riod of the programme moved from a role at Future Media & Technology Getting it Out There: An extensive pro- in the BBC to one at the University of Westminster) has recommended the Heeding Advice: In consultation with gramme of dissemination has been under- introduction of training sessions and that resources could be made avail- the two communities, a paper was pro- taken by the BBC and the AHRC, including able to others at the BBC and academia drawing on the lessons of these duced outlining possible scenarios for a the distribution of the project reports, press unusual collaborations. formal partnership between the BBC and releases, exhibitions, confererences, presenta- the AHRC. tions, learning lunches, seminars, book chap- From Mass Observation to Mass Conversation ters and articles, a BBC Knowledge Exchange But what of the broader issues around this collaboration? As a public service Formalising the Relationship: One blog and this very publication. broadcaster, the BBC’s responsibilities include transparency and account- of the strongest recommendations was ability. There is a strong argument that the BBC has an obligation to share for a Pilot Funding Call for collabora- Time for Reflection: The BBC and the aspects of research co-funded with another public agency. The recent ap- tive research projects. This resulted in AHRC are currently engaged in an extended pointment of Sir Tim Berners-Lee, asked by Gordon Brown to help make the selection of 8 co-funded Knowledge period of evaluation and assessment to in- UK public data transparent, interoperable and publicly accessible, reflects Exchange Awards. form future models of collaboration between a growing policy trend towards openness. Jack Straw has recently suggested academia, industry, research councils and that organisations in receipt of public funding should be encouraged to other publicly funded bodies. publish data freely. 22 8 ESSAYS – THE KNOWLEDGE EXCHANGE PROGRAMME: A COLLABORATION BETWEEN BBC R&D AND THE ARTS & HUMANITIES RESEARCH COUNCIL

This is a particularly strong argument where knowledge is generated through collaboration with the public. The methods of research employed by the KEP research teams support iterative feedback and reflection on BBC projects at beta-stage. There is a sense here of public experiment - building on models such as the famous Mass Observation projects in the 1930s, which sought to make ‘an anthropology of ourselves’ in another pe- riod of intense socio-political transition.

Whilst the BBC’s concerns are of course primarily the delivery of high qual- ity content, it is also an organisation that needs to adapt and explore ways to engage differently with its stakeholders and partners. The idea of being at least in part an open access laboratory and test bed for future media is something the BBC might seek to further encourage, building on current initiatives like Backstage. Apple’s mixed ecology approach (opening up its platform for new iPhone applications which in turn benefit its sales) pro- vides a good model for how to combine quality with innovation, standards with access.

Measuring Success Professor John Ellis Chair of the British Film & Video University Council asked me recently, ‘how do we create value from non-commercial activi- ties?’ That seems to go to the core of the question I’m exploring here.

If the knowledge generated by the KEP is emergent and relation- ship-based then it will continue to develop and accrue value over time - it doesn’t stop with publishing reports. Knowledge is embod- ied and transferred through people. Through ongoing evaluation we can track this value over time in projects inside and outside the BBC. The results of arts and humanities research are often long-term and can only be fully appreciated through an appropriate lens. Media timescales are frequently speedier and swift application of knowledge can require the deployment of new techniques. The beautifully distilled and timely KEP study ‘User-Generated Content: understanding its impact on contributors, non-contributors and the BBC’ is doing just that via the placement on se- condment of Dr Claire Wardle, within the BBCs English Regions team. While embedded there, she is sharing the insights in real life studio con- We can go further still. Britain (as the Digital Britain report has affirmed) texts. The success of this relatively cost-effective and light touch investment is a place of extraordinary inventiveness and creativity. It has a high reputa- has been already acknowledged. tion for design research and development. With the right incentives, human and technological skills can be combined to advance our competitiveness. Similarly, two Arts Council England-funded placements a few years ago in Building links across sectors to achieve collaborative R&D (between pri- the BBC’s (then Creative) Archive allowed artists Vicky Bennett and Chris vate and public sectors) is a prerequisite for this achievement in the game of Dorley-Brown to spend six months within the BBC. Though low cost world-leading innovation. Finding appropriately open mechanisms both to relative to the AHRC/BBC Knowledge Exchange projects, these achieved deliver and disseminate this engagement is a crucial step. spectacularly successful results. In the same vein, as part of the Arts Coun- cil England/AHRC Art and Science Research Fellowships programme a This KEP is a pilot programme that has started to move us along this track few years ago, a social anthropologist took on the role of ‘attached observ- and developed important models and prototypes that can be built on in er’, charged with distilling and integrating knowledge across the different future. Finding other ways to stimulate collaborative exchange, experimen- projects through network building and a final report that consolidated tation and productive interaction - between and across BBC departments value and brought it to broader audiences. In addition, there must be as well as with external researchers, perhaps from a broader group of dis- room in future iterations of KEP to involve leading external agencies such ciplines (design, anthropology, software, hardware) is the next challenge. as The Watershed in Bristol. These kinds of organisations have strong There is scope for other models of investment, other partnerships and for connections to the public, academia, technological research, artists, de- further extension of the critical lessons learned in this important pilot. The signers and media companies and can act as brokers and halfway houses, BBC’s initiative in setting up this project before the full impact of social facilitating a different kind of knowledge sharing from the ‘lab’ to the media had hit was visionary and far-sighted but the real value now lies in public domain. This would extend the work at work of the KEP, taking it how fully it decides to develop those ideas. The BBC now has its proto- to another, more accessible level. types. It just needs now to decide what it’s going to do with them.

We’re now living after the triumph of technology. Its importance has been acknowledged and we now have to work out how to best to manage it, for public and private good BIULDING PARTNERSHIPS NETWORKING RESEARCH SHARING KNOWLEDGE 23 KEP – A Who’s Who

This paper is one of the outputs from the AHRC/BBC Knowledge you want to be involved with, explore areas of mutual interest and Exchange Programme led from within BBC R&D by Innovation exchange ideas and resources. Sign up to the beta trial of beebac at Culture and at the AHRC by the Knowledge Transfer Team. beebac.welcomebackstage.com. You can download all the KEP studies Innovation Culture provides a central support resource for a wide from the blog at: www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/knowledgeexchange. range of BBC divisions, making it more effective to undertake For more information on the KEP please contact the team: collaborative work. The AHRC’s Knowledge Transfer Team is charged with supporting bespoke KT schemes, working with the [email protected] academic community to embed a culture of impact and KT. The [email protected] KEP has a number of homes on the web where you can find out [email protected] more or contribute. beebac is an online network for BBC staff, media [email protected] practitioners and academics. It enables you to find people and projects [email protected]

WHAT DO CHILDREN WANT FROM THE BBC? INHIBITED EXPLORATION IN OLDER CHILDREN’S CONTENT AND PARTICIPATORY CUSTOMERS OF DIGITAL SERVICE ENVIRONMENTS IN AN AGE OF CITIZEN MEDIA Professor Stephen Payne – University of Bath: Dr Cynthia Carter – University of Cardiff: [email protected] [email protected] Michael Evans – BBC Research & Development: Prof. Maire Messenger Davies – University of Ulster: [email protected] [email protected] Ian Prince – BBC World Service: [email protected]

VIRTUAL WORLDS: AN OVERVIEW AND STUDY ALONE TOGETHER? SOCIAL LEARNING OF BBC CHILDREN’S ADVENTURE ROCK IN BBC BLAST

Professor David Gauntlett – University of Westminster: Professor Angela McFarlane – University of Bristol: [email protected] [email protected] Lizzie Jackson – University of Westminster: Helen Thornham – London City University: [email protected] [email protected] Rachel Bardill – BBC Children’s Interactive: John Milner – BBC Learning Formal: [email protected] [email protected]

UGC@THEBCC: UNDERSTANDING ITS IMPACT AHRC/BBC OPEN ARCHIVE PROJECT: UPON CONTRIBUTORS, NON-CONTRIBUTORS THE MINERS’ STRIKE: A CASE STUDY IN AND BBC NEWS REGIONAL CONTENT

Dr Claire Wardle: Simon Popple – University of Leeds: [email protected] [email protected] Daniel Dodd - BBC English Nations & Regions Interactive: Helen Thomas – BBC Journalism: [email protected] [email protected]

A PUBLIC VOICE: ACCESS, DIGITAL STORY LISTENER ONLINE ENGAGEMENT WITH BBC AND INTERACTIVE NARRATIVE RADIO PROGRAMMING

Professor Hamish Fyfe – University of Glamorgan: Professor Tim Wall – Birmingham City University: [email protected] [email protected] Mike Wilson – University of Glamorgan: Lyn Thomas – London Metropolitan University: [email protected] [email protected] Mandy Rose – BBC Wales FM&T: Tristan Ferne – BBC Audio Music and Interactive: [email protected] [email protected]

What do you think the BBC will look What surprised you most about like in 10 years time? the findings of the KEP study? Professor David Gauntlett: “In general Dr Cynthia Carter: “How strong I think the BBC has to become a true young teens seem to want a facilitator of people’s own creativity, news service of their own and enabling them to easily create and share how important the news is to media experiences. This will co-exist with children and young people, a smaller amount of high-quality landmark despite widespread views that productions by professionals. But these they find it ‘boring’.” professionals will always be challenged by the amateurs to do better!” 29 ACADEMICS

13 UNIVERSITIES

12 MONTHS

8 PROJECTS

7 BBC DEPARTMENTS

6 ARTICLES

1 NEWSPAPER

This newspaper was designed and printed via the services of Newspaper Club – a new tool helping people and communities to make their own newspapers. Find out more at newspaperclub.co.uk ENDLESS OPPORTUNITY