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Delivering a vibrant future for UK radio

2018-09-25T08:24:32+00:00

Last week Tony Hall talked about an ’agile, creative, bold’ future for the ��̳, including its online services, ‘made available and relevant to everyone’. Today the radio industry meets in central London for the Drive to Digital conference looking at the future of radio.

I also spoke to the Digital TV Group (DTG) earlier this year, outlining how the ��̳ could take a lead in creating an IP future that works for all.

In that speech I noted that a move to an internet future wouldn’t happen overnight, and nor would we want it to. The ��̳ remains committed to the broadcast technologies that have been central to our direct, unmediated and intimate relationships with audiences.

While IP technologies will be increasingly important in all sectors, some industries and audiences will move faster than others. Our challenge is to manage this transitional period as effectively as possible.

Radio was the ��̳’s first platform for communicating with audiences, and although the world has changed dramatically since our first broadcast in 1922, the ability of live radio to inform, educate and entertain has remained constant. Today 89% of the UK population listen to live radio weekly, whether that is to the ��̳ or to the UK’s thriving commercial radio sector. What’s more, 91% of that listening is still delivered via broadcast technologies.

We recently reached a milestone in radio consumption: in 2018 so far, 50% of radio listening has been delivered by digital for the first time, inclusive of both IP and DAB. This was one of the criteria set by the government for reviewing whether there should be a digital radio switchover.

It is right that we take this moment to reflect on the future for radio, the success of DAB - which now makes up 36% of the UK’s radio listening - and how we best guarantee the next generation of radio listeners.

DAB, analogue and IP radio all provide significant national value. The ��̳ believes that in today’s environment, the best way to deliver universality, value for money and to appeal to radio listeners of the future is not to set a date for analogue closure, but to maintain a mixed economy of these valuable platforms.

In doing this we should also explore how we can accelerate digital take up, while protecting the radio industry and audiences from the damaging effects of switching off analogue radio.

First, we need to build up digital radio listening amongst younger audiences who are rapidly adopting IP streaming services such as Spotify, Apple Music and Amazon Music. In the last year alone listening to on-demand music services amongst 15-24 year olds has increased by 50%.

But many younger audiences rely on FM services, so removing them would risk losing more young audiences to non-UK streaming services.

Second, we must see the growth in IP listening not just a competitive threat but as a huge opportunity for the UK radio sector to innovate further and faster, offering greater discovery, services and functionality to audiences. The ��̳ will invest in IP technology and services to support the future of a vibrant radio industry.

The ��̳ has always been an investor, supporter and leader in DAB radio. We’ve been integral to founding, funding and implementing the rollout of DAB over the last twenty years and have invested millions in DAB distribution.

We’ve also launched compelling new services such as 6Music, the UK’s largest digital-only radio station, to expand audience choice.

At the same time the commercial sector has launched their own digital-only services and seen record revenues. The value that DAB provides to the industry, audiences, and the ��̳ is clear which is why we have commitments to fund DAB that extend beyond the current charter period.

Analogue radio, strongly driven by FM, remains the UK’s most popular, universal and reliable method of listening to radio. It accounts for 50% of time spent listening to radio in the UK, and is used by 70% of the population.

For 30% of all radio audiences it is the only way in which they consume radio today. In the event of a switchover many audiences would make the transition to digital, but we know a substantial proportion would not. We have seen radio consumption in Norway drop by over 10% in 2018 after last year’s analogue switch off, and it has yet to significantly recover.

Switching off FM radio in the UK when it is still the most popular form of listening, and the most resilient of all our communication networks, would raise similar risks.

At the beginning of this year we closed AM services where we saw declining relevance and usage, and may well continue to do this across our AM estate over the next few years. This exit from AM services, which provide significantly less audience benefit than FM, is a natural market evolution, with the same strategies being undertaken by commercial radio players.

The ��̳ supports a digital radio future and, in line with its Charter Agreement obligations, the transition to get there. But it must be the right digital future that does not remove platforms that provide significant audience, industry and national value.

We believe that the radio industry should focus on providing compelling digital radio services and devices that convince audiences increasingly to adopt digital radio. To this end the ��̳ is looking to work with industry partners to launch new digital services - such as ��̳ Sounds, which you’ll hear more about soon - to help secure the next generation of radio listeners.

We passionately believe in a universally accessible digital radio future. We want one that strengthens radio, not weakens it. We want one that draws younger audiences to radio, not one which pushes them away.

We look forward to working with Government, industry, and audiences, to ensure that together we deliver a vibrant future for UK radio.

��̳ Ideas six months on

2018-08-17T09:00:00+00:00

We launched ��̳ Ideas earlier this year on a cold January day. We’d done our audience research, built a new website, and made and commissioned a bunch of ‘short films for curious minds’.

With people spending more and more of their leisure time with a smartphone in hand, the ��̳ is in a unique position to inform, educate and entertain through building on the best of what we do and using our partnerships to bring big ideas and intelligent thought to online audiences. The aim is to help make the time people spend online more meaningful.

Six months on, we’ve published around 250 videos covering a range of subjects including psychology, anthropology, sociology, and philosophy. The ideas can be big (What is populism?) or small (Should I wear trainers to work? Justine Roberts founder of Mumsnet certainly thinks so!). And we can see that there is a clear appetite for the content we’ve been creating. We’ve had high levels of appreciation on social media and the number of people coming to the site is growing really well – we’ve averaged 450,000 people each week over the last month.

In today’s increasingly fast-paced world, the general rule for digital content is that it has be short (or even super-short). However, introducing audiences to new ideas and ways of thinking about the world around them can take a bit of time. Our videos, each of which are part of editorially curated playlists, average between two and four minutes, but can be as long as eight minutes, and yet, we have been receiving high completion rates.

There’s also clear evidence that people are watching more than one video in a playlist at a time. This is really encouraging for us and something we will continue to build on. High completion rates and multiple views per playlist show that ��̳ Ideas is meeting people's demand for easy-to-find, thought-provoking content in today’s click-bait heavy, digital landscape.

We’ve also been getting some fascinating insights into our audience's digital diets. Content which offers advice on self-development has emerged as a significant trend. Videos about how to achieve a better work-life balance; how to quit social media and how to develop an ‘elastic mind’, have all proved popular.

Nostalgia is another key trend. We’ve been working closely with the ��̳ archive team to bring to life little-known stories, such as the women who pioneered electronic music at the ��̳. It’s been shared over 13 thousand times and viewed over 1.7 million times on social media.

Death is another subject which seems to be preying on our users’ minds. Videos such as ‘Why dying is not as bad as you think’ and ‘the Irish approach to death’ have been really popular on social media, with millions of views and thousands of comments and shares.

Partnership is important to us – it helps us bring a diverse range of voices, ideas and opinions to our content, and since we launched we’ve established a formal partnership with the Open University and worked with the likes of Nesta at Futurefest, the British Academy, the Science Museum and Ozyfest. We’ve also published great videos from across the ��̳, including Radio 3, Radio 4, ��̳ Four, World Service, and ��̳ Scotland as well as more than 55 videos from the independent production sector. There are lots more in the pipeline too as we launch our fourth commissioning round.

What does the future hold for ��̳s Ideas? Well, we’ve had our beta phase extended to the end of March 2019, and in that time we will continue creating great content and helping develop new talent, both in front of the camera and behind the scenes. You can expect some exciting collaborations from us later in the year too, which will see us continue building on our relationships with external partners to create content which focuses on big ideas in a way that feels fresh, creative and represents the society around us as widely as possible. Through ��̳ Ideas we’re exploring how best to reinvent and develop how we offer audiences intelligent, thoughtful and often fun short films about ideas in a way that reflects people’s changing online viewing habits.

Bethan Jinkinson is Executive Editor ��̳ Ideas

Welcoming ��̳ Sounds to the family

2018-06-29T11:00:00+00:00

This week we welcomed ��̳ Sounds into the ��̳ Radio & Music family and I’m delighted to say that it’s been really well received and is getting great product reviews.

��̳ Sounds brings together all that we love and cherish about ��̳ Radio & Music in a new app which will transform the way audiences discover, listen to and enjoy our output.

We’re on a mission to reinvent the ��̳ and help make a more personalised experience for everyone. ��̳ Sounds is a big part of that.

It makes it easier to discover and enjoy more ��̳ audio than ever before from any genre across our live schedules, podcasts and music programmes.

We’ve kept the things people love about our ��̳ iPlayer Radio app and are building on them to give users a more personal experience.

It’s designed so that the more you use it the better it gets at understanding and leading you to content that you like. The Recommended for you section has a dozen great on-demand listens picked just for you from over 80,000 hours of content and constantly refreshed based on your listening.

We know one of the things audiences love about ��̳ Radio is our editorial expertise in introducing them to new things. So ��̳ Sounds makes it really easy to discover content you might not otherwise have tried through the Highlights section - hand-picked collections of podcasts and on demand music shows ranging from the exclusive Live Sessions to life tips in Upgrade Your Life.

We’ve decided to make an early version of the app available so we can learn from how people use it and improve it.

If you’ve signed into the ��̳ before, for example, to use ��̳ iPlayer, it’s just a single tap to sign in. And if you’re a ��̳ iPlayer Radio user the home page comes ready loaded with audio content you’ve already listened to.

If you haven’t got a ��̳ ID it’s easy to get one when you download ��̳ Sounds.

You can download ��̳ Sounds from your usual app store and tell us what you think of it here.

Bob Shennan is Director of Radio & Music

Read also Introducing the first version of ��̳ Sounds

Some thoughts ahead of the RAJARs

2018-05-16T09:28:41+00:00

It’s RAJAR week - that’s when the Radio Joint Audience Research group publishes UK radio listening figures for the previous quarter, in Thursday’s case January-March.

The media tends to pick up on the performance of breakfast shows because they command the largest audiences on linear radio. In fact linear audiences are so big that marginal percentage changes translate into large numbers and that makes good copy.

The real story this week may be different, as it’s likely that this will be the first time digital listening overtakes analogue. This will trigger a Government review on whether to switch off the FM signal in the UK.

The ��̳ has played an important part in the success of the growth of DAB (Digital Audio Broadcasting) by launching digital only stations like 5Live Sports Extra; ��̳ 6Music and ��̳ Radio 4 Extra.

We’re fully committed to digital, and growing its audiences, but, along with other broadcasters, we’ve already said that it would be premature to switch off FM.

RAJAR publish another quarterly piece of research called MIDAS, less widely reported, about the different ways people are listening recorded over a week.

The most recent edition of that research finds that 15 percent of all listening is on phones and for younger listeners that rises to 33 percent.

The lion’s share of digital listening remains live radio - 70 percent - but again, for younger audiences that drops to 40 percent.

Podcast listening is up a third across all audiences since the same time last year, accounting now for 40,000 hours a week - our new podcast commissioner Jason Phipps will be pleased about that.

The ��̳’s mission is democratic – to bring the best to everyone. You fund us to be a positive force in society. To do that, we need to reach everyone. That’s not about chasing ratings or fighting over share. It’s about finding new ways to be that positive force and making sure we remain universal.

The ��̳ constantly needs to modernise. That’s why we’re making more of our content available on demand and investing in podcasts and later this year we’ll be making further changes to our app and website to make it easier for audiences of all ages to enjoy the full range of our audio how and when they want. It’s why we are taking part in the government’s trials of 5G technology, and why we will continue to look at ways that digital technology, from DAB services to IP, can help us make great radio.

Voice for Kids

2018-02-21T09:46:57+00:00

No, not a rival to ITV’s show.

But an update on what we’re doing with voice devices.

Last year, I blogged about our approach and in December we launched the ��̳’s first full voice app, our Amazon skill.

On Christmas Day, listeners across the UK could find our live radio stations and our podcasts easily when they unwrapped and started trying out their new presents.

Here’s some first numbers on how it’s going.

We’ve seen 1 million unique browsers use our voice app
Radios 1, 2 and 4 have so far proved to be the most popular stations when it comes to requests
People seem to love listening to the radio on voice devices - they’ve been slower to ask for on-demand content

I’m guessing that will change as people get used to interacting with their devices.

This seems to be on course to be something lots of us do. Almost two thirds of UK adults claim to own a device with voice (including mobiles) with one in ten claiming to have access to a smart speaker - this has more than doubled in the past year. This is faster than the uptake of tablets, at the same stage.

So what next? We want to discover new types of content, content that’s been made for Voice, stuff that’s never been possible before. The platform is interactive. It’s not constrained by the structures and formats of linear schedules. As with all our digital experimentation, we’ll try different things, some will work, some will need improving.

One of the first areas we’re experimenting with is programmes for children.

Last year we announced an investment in children’s content to make sure we can reinvent how we serve these audiences, building on what we’ve already done with iPlayer Kids

So with voice we’re going to start making ��̳ audio content available to kids.

Later this spring, we’ll be creating interactive experiences around some of our most familiar strands for young children.

We'll start small but add new experiences and narratives as time goes on, as we learn about the kinds of interactions that children really like and benefit from. We also aim to offer some of our best children’s stories for bedtime in audio form, but activated by voice - building ways for children to choose a story for themselves.

Children’s content is of course an area where trust matters, and we will make sure that the experience is safe for kids - it will be available through a dedicated skill for children.

We’re also thinking about other genres - such as news, current affairs, food and music.

We’ll blog about those soon too.

��̳ Ideas - short films for curious minds

2018-01-11T12:55:00+00:00

We’re launching an experiment today called ��̳ Ideas - short films for curious minds.

Our audiences tell us they spend a lot of time online searching for content, but don’t always use that time as productively as possible. I’m certainly like that – I can lose an hour swiping through Twitter, saving stuff but not learning anything.

��̳ Ideas is an attempt to help us spend that time better, making it easier for people to find short form videos about ideas.

As part of the design process, we looked at the sort of thought-provoking articles, videos and audio people were consuming in the UK, when they were consuming it, what they liked about it and what they’d like to see more of. We then tested out our initial ideas and have tried to come up with something that fills some needs that aren’t being met, or not entirely.

We’re focusing on thoughtful content you can trust, but that’s entertaining too. We’re hoping the films might change your perspective about something you know tons about – or expose you to something completely new. We’re aiming it at the spare moments of the day – like commuting or lunchtime.

We’re going to work with partners to bring the work of some of our leading institutions and most original minds to a wider audience. We’re already working with a number of organisations on joint projects including Open University, Intelligence Squared, Nesta and UK Research and Innovation. There are likely to be more as ��̳ Ideas develops.

Have a browse. I’ve already started implementing Bruce Daisley’s six lessons for work life balance, though I’m going to struggle with stopping emails out of hours. You’ll also find videos from virtual reality pioneer Jaron Lanier and philosopher Neil Warburton as well as Daphne Oram and Delia Derbyshire, two of the unsung heroines of electronic music.

That’s the ��̳’s role overall – great content, a trusted guide, for everyone.

As I’ve said in previous blogs, we’re taking a ‘crawl, walk, run’ approach similar to digital organisations so that we’ll learn, iterate and, hopefully, grow. We’ll also be open about what’s working and not as we go along. We don’t know where we’ll end up – Netflix started as a postal DVD service, TED as a conference on technology, education and design – and by the end of the year we’ll take stock on what ��̳ Ideas has achieved and whether it’s grown into the useful platform we think it can be.

But we hope you agree this is a good place to start. We’re very proud of it and looking forward to getting your feedback.

You can see videos from ��̳ Ideas here and we’ll be sharing them via Twitter (@bbcideas).

James Purnell is Director Radio and Education

Watch videos from ��̳ Ideas
Follow @bbcideas

Introducing Podcasting House – bringing together some of the ��̳’s best podcasts in one place

2017-11-09T15:00:00+00:00

Listening to brilliant ��̳ programmes is a daily habit for millions across the UK. They listen live and increasingly on demand. We know there’s also an increasing number of people who love podcasts but haven’t yet discovered ours. To make this easy, we are today introducing Podcasting House, which allows listeners to sample a range of the best ��̳’s podcasts, both old and new, in one place.

For more than a dozen years we've offered many of the ��̳'s radio programmes as podcasts. We led the way in 2004 when the ��̳ became the first British broadcaster to start adopt the new technology launching Radio 4’s In Our Time as the ��̳'s first podcast. Today, the ��̳ is the second-largest podcast producer in the world.

Our audiences enjoy them – last year alone we had around 240 million podcast downloads in the UK, increasing on the year before.

But the audiences for podcasting have been growing even faster. There’s a new, young audience for UK podcasting that doesn't necessarily listen to ��̳ Radio on air and they’re developing the habit of listening to programmes available whenever they want them and wherever they happen to be.

Until now, we’ve largely provided lightly customised versions of radio programmes as podcasts. And we will continue to do that. But now we're taking the next step to make sure that we also cater for those who like brilliant audio content but might not currently have a radio habit. It’s always been part of the ��̳’s remit to experiment in the digital space for the benefit of the licence fee payers, and our podcast plans are very much part of that. So we have commissioned a handful of new programmes that are intended to be podcasts first, and broadcasts second - if at all. They’re not designed to sit within a radio network, but are simply podcasts from the ��̳.

We launched an example of this a couple of weeks ago. It's called Blue Planet II: The Podcast. It serves as a companion to the amazing TV programme. If you're wondering how an audio-only show could possibly do justice to the visual spectacle of the ��̳ Studios’ Natural History Unit production, I urge you to give it a listen. It's a tremendous example of the kind of textured, informative, and funny material we can try out, especially when we don’t have to think about schedules or specific formats.

To shine a light on new podcasts like Blue Planet II, and to make them easy to find alongside some other brilliant podcasts from the ��̳, we’re creating Podcasting House.

Podcasting House is a sampler feed that curates the best of our existing podcasts for audiences that may not know of them. Everyday real-life dramas like The Untold; inventively produced podcasts that teach you something, like Tomorrow's World; the ludicrous yarns of Simon Mayo's Confessions; and pilot episodes of brand new podcasts with formats and presenters we want to share with listeners from the get go. The weekly drop will happen on Monday when new podcasts appear on the feed, bringing together a brilliant mix of ��̳ podcasts in one place to sample – starting today.

And in January, we'll begin launching a handful of original short series. In them we'll meet midwives, undertakers, comedians and weather experts. You won't hear these series on the radio first – but you’ll find them on Podcasting House to sample and you can then get them wherever you get your podcasts. More about our plans in the new year!

Bob Shennan is Director ��̳ Radio & Music

Discover Podcasting House

��̳ Sport new logo and graphics

2017-08-03T09:00:00+00:00

If you’ve visited the ��̳ Sport website today, you’ll have noticed a few changes as a new brand identity made its debut for the start of the football season, with the roll-out of a new logo and graphics.

This is the first update of ��̳ Sport brand guidelines in seven years and the work was commissioned to reflect the significant changes in audiences’ consumption of ��̳ Sport content across TV and digital platforms.

In order to create a more uniform approach across TV and digital platforms, the changes see the familiar ��̳ Sport yellow updated alongside a new font which has been developed for the entire ��̳ portfolio.

From today, visitors to the ��̳ Sport website will be met with the new design. The first TV programme with the new look will be Football Focus, on Saturday 12 at midday on ��̳ One, followed by Final Score and Match of the Day later in the evening.

The rebrand will then be rolled out across all ��̳ Sport output, including TV coverage of the athletics from 19 August, PDC darts from 16 September and cycling from 17 September.

The font is called ��̳ Reith, named after the ��̳’s founder Lord Reith, and as well as making our text and branding clearer it will also save the ��̳ money.

The existing fonts that the ��̳ uses were developed last century and work well in print - but they’re not always clear enough when they appear in small, digital, spaces, and we’re all reading and watching far more on screens and mobiles these days.

So the new font - which we’ll gradually roll out, starting with sport today - will be easier to read and clearer, especially on small devices.

We also expect it to save us a significant amount of money. We have to pay for licences to use other fonts at the moment, but we won’t have to do this for ��̳ Reith - so it’s better value as well.

The work on the font has been led by the ��̳’s User Experience & Design and Marketing & Audiences teams.

Over time, the new font will start to be used right across the ��̳ (though the bbc blocks logo itself won't change) and all our broadcast and online output.

We’ll be doing this gradually. Where there is little cost to make the change - such as text on our website - we’ll do it as soon as we can. But we’ll only replace things like signs when they’re worn out or need replacing anyway to avoid extra costs.

We hope you like the changes.

Colin Burns is Chief Design Officer, Design & Engineering

Children's and News channels moving on Freeview and YouView EPGs

2017-08-02T09:00:00+00:00

If you watch television on a Freeview, Freeview HD, Freeview Play, YouView or EETV device (be it a TV set or a set-top box) then you may need to do a manual rescan on your receiving equipment this afternoon (Wednesday 2 August).

The Children's and News channels are moving to make way for further general entertainment channels on the digital terrestrial television (or Freeview) EPG this afternoon.Sky, Virgin Media and Freesat viewers are unaffected.

In October 2016, Digital UK, who manage certain aspects of the DTT (Digital terrestrial television) platform, embarked on an in-depth consultation to make sure the Freeview EPG would be fit for purpose in future. One of the outcomes of that consultation process was a decision for the Children's and News channel blocks to move in order to accommodate extra growth in the general entertainment genre on Freeview and also to create sufficient capacity within those genres themselves.

Recognising the recent expansion and potential for even further growth in the number of general entertainment channels, the most suitable and appropriate block for the Children's channels was identified as starting at 201, and the block for News identified as starting at 231. As part of the reorganisation, the ��̳ Red Button text service will also be moving home from its current listing at 200 to its new home at 250.

Whilst channel numbers are changing, the relative order of the channels within the genre will remain the same – thus the ��̳ services affected (C��̳, CBeebies, C��̳ HD, CBeebies HD, ��̳ News and ��̳ Parliament) will all remain at their respective positions in the genres, in accordance with public-service prominence rules. News HD channels are not moving as they will stay within the HD genre – so ��̳ News HD will remain at 107.

It is worth noting that some equipment will automatically do a rescan today (Wednesday 2nd August), whilst some people will need to do a manual retune.

Once the retune has taken place, holding slides will be in place for two weeks that will redirect viewers to the ��̳ channels on their new EPG numbers.

More information and help in retuning can be found at : www.bbc.co.uk/reception/news

Neil Walker is Senior Commercial Manager, Distribution Ventures

Introducing the ��̳ Reminiscence Archive

2017-02-27T10:00:00+00:00

In May 2016, during Dementia Awareness Week, and as part of the ��̳ Living With Dementia Season we launched the first version of ��̳ RemArc - the ��̳ Reminiscence Archive - which is designed to trigger memories and reminiscences in people with dementia. Today we have launched an updated, improved version of RemArc. This blog explains why we built RemArc, how the project came about, and what we have learned in the process.

Dementia effects memory, and in particular, short-term or ‘working’ memory. In the later stages of dementia, the memory can be wiped every 10 seconds, yet memories from earlier years (typically ages 14-40) often remain intact.

Triggering these intact memories and stimulating conversations about them can improve the relationship between people with dementia and their families and carers, which in turn can improve the level of care they receive and their quality of life. This is the principle of 'reminiscence work', which is increasingly used in care homes, hospital dementia wards and other dementia support services.

A few years ago, my team in ��̳ Archive Development were approached by Dr Norman Alm from the Computing department of the University Of Dundee. Dr Alm’s team had spent years researching how technology could be used to support people with dementia. As Dr Alm explained the concept of 'reminiscence work' and its benefits, we realised that the ��̳’s archives could be put to good use in this area, as stimuli for triggering memories, if delivered through an appropriate medium. We agreed to work with Dr Alm to design and build an online reminiscence archive, using material from the ��̳ Archives.

We wanted to achieve a number of things with RemArc. Firstly, and most importantly, to use ��̳ archive material to benefit those of our audience members who have dementia, their families and their carers. We are confident that amongst the 1,500 items from our archives that are available on RemArc, there will be something that triggers a reminiscence for everyone.

Secondly, we wanted to demonstrate that it is not only the famous shows and well known historical events captured in the ��̳’s archives that are of interest and value – a very bland-looking film clip, or the most obscure or minor detail captured in a photograph from the Forties, can mean something significant to someone out there. Dr Alm and his colleagues’ work had demonstrated that generic material, rather than personal material, tended to elicit the strongest reminiscences.

Thirdly, we wanted to make sure that our work can be of benefit to the greatest number of people. To that end, we are making the RemArc software available for free under an open source license, so that people can build their own reminiscence archives, either in the UK or reversion RemArc with new languages for use abroad. We are also making the archive material featured in RemArc available for personal and educational use, via the Research And Education Space platform, or via direct download of individual items from the website, under the terms of the RemArc License. To the best of my knowledge, this is the first time that the ��̳ has open sourced a complete user-facing product, the first time that the ��̳ has published archive metadata as linked open data, and the first time the ��̳ has made archive material available to download for non-commercial re-use under such a permissive license.

User Research

Following the launch, we wanted to see how RemArc worked in practice, so, supported by the Alzheimer’s Society, I visited a number of groups of people with dementia. Over the summer of 2016, I spent time with 53 people with dementia, letting them try out RemArc, listening to their ideas, observing their responses, and noting down their ideas and suggestions.

This was a hugely valuable and informative process: it is impossible to know how any product or service is actually going to be received by its intended users, whether it does what you hoped it would, and whether people respond to it and interact with it as you had expected.

What did we learn from our test users?

Firstly, we learned that using archive material to trigger memories and reminiscences really does work. During the sessions many memories were triggered, sparking great reminiscences and conversations, and seemingly enhancing the relationships between people with dementia, others in the groups and their carers. It was also notable that a large number of people said that they remembered more about their past than they thought they would.

Secondly, we learned that the online, tablet based approach and the interaction design we used seems to work well for people with dementia. However, several improvements were suggested, which are outlined in more detail later in this blog.

Thirdly, we learned that reminiscence can be very enjoyable, engaging and, quite simply, fun. During most of the testing sessions, which were initially to last around 20 minutes, I had to ask the groups to return the tablets after an hour, as they were so engaged with RemArc, and having so many great reminiscences!

To illustrate, here are some quotes from the sessions:

"It takes you back to what you used to do"

"Makes you realise how much you thought you’d forgotten"

"We remembered so much about the past yet we are here because we have failing memories"

"I could sit here all day"

"It's amazing that this resource is there, forever"

What has changed in the new version of RemArc?

As a direct result of the user research, we have made a number of changes to RemArc: adding a button to display information about the archive material; increasing contrasts, font sizes and button sizes; changing the ‘Home’ button to ‘Start Again’; and making it easier to load a refreshed set of content.

What Next?

With the updated version of RemArc we are confident that the interface design and interaction model is fit-for-purpose, so we do not expect to be making any further changes to its ‘look and feel’ in the near future. We hope to run some additional trials in conjunction with other dementia-related organisations, and we are waiting feedback from a current trial in a dementia ward in a hospital in Scotland. We hope that the content we have made available gets reused, and that people find other uses for the RemArc software that we have open-sourced.

To try the new version of RemArc, simply select a 'Theme' (such as Sport, Events etc.) or a 'Decade' (1930s, 1940s etc.) and choose whether you wish to have 'Image, Audio or Video' content. The results are randomised each visit, however items can be 'favourited' to return to later.

You can try RemArc here. There is also a version without the page header and footer.

If you want to find out more, please contact jake.berger@bbc.co.uk

Jake Berger is Programme Manager, ��̳ Archive Development

Read more about how RemArc was made on the ��̳'s R&D blog.
Discover video, audio and imagery on RemArc published on ��̳ Taster.

A year of ��̳ Weather Watchers

2016-11-04T09:54:07+00:00

As part of the ��̳’s Make it Digital initiative we launched ��̳ Weather Watchers last year asking people to get involved and send in their photos and weather reports from across the UK.

Weather Watchers allows people to have fun creating their own reports, helping to develop digital skills, and even have their pictures and observations appear in ��̳ broadcasts on local radio, regional and network TV.

One year on Weather Watchers has more than 132,000 members and together they’ve submitted over 928,000 reports.

We spoke to our ��̳ Weather presenters about the initiative as well as some of Weather Watchers who share experiences and favourite photos from the past year.

��̳ Weather Presenter, Carol Kirkwood

As we are an island, our weather is quite diverse – cold continent, warm sea and we cross latitudes – so as a result we can receive starkly different pictures from all over the UK taken at the same time e.g. dense fog in southern England, frost and clear skies in the Highlands, and showers in Newcastle.

Sunset at Fisherman’s Beach in Kent by Weather Watcher Becky

If I was really pushed to choose which pictures are my favourites, it would definitely be sunrises and sunsets so it’s just as well as I am usually on ��̳ Breakfast in the morning. We love your pictures so thank you for sending them and please keep them coming in.

Weather Watcher Ebb & Flow from Cambridge

Whatever time of the day I'm outside, I seem to find something. Sometimes I think, well, I might not take photos today, and lo and behold I'll come back and I've got 50 pictures on my mobile phone!

I've gained so much photography knowledge. And although I’ve been taking pictures on my phone, I’m now planning on getting a proper camera. I just look forward to just seeing what's out there up in the skies.

Ebb&Flow captured this wonderful shot of poppies against a background of altocumulus cloud in July

One of the best highlights of my year was getting a showcase on the Weather Watchers site and it certainly wasn't my aim at all. My aim is to get out and take in all the sights. I’ve made friends with the local farmers who tune in in to the local TV weather forecast at 18:55 to see if my photos have been featured and if their farms have been featured.

When I first saw my photo on air it was just the best thing. It was just amazing. In fact I ran around the room and I called some family and it was just amazing, just so exciting.

Ebb&Flow witnessed this sunrise on a cool, crisp day in Great Chesterford

��̳ Weather presenter, Chris Fawkes

Weather watcher photos bring to life our forecasts on TV. It may be a cliché that a picture paints a thousand words, but it’s true, and the fantastic weather watcher photos we use can show people in near real-time what the weather actually looks like in different parts of the country.

Some of my favourite weather watcher photos are of some of the rarer weather phenomena that you don’t see every day.

In October, Weather Watchers user glasshalfempty captured this dramatic picture of a Fallstreak in Bournemouth.

We’ve had great photos of Fallstreaks, holes punched in the middle of clouds caused by tiny water droplets turning to ice, which then fall out of the sky.

Weather Watcher Tedmawr from Carmarthenshire

I signed up Weather Watchers because I enjoy taking pictures of the local Welsh area; it’s a fantastic tool that allows people to share their photos and experiences of the weather wherever they are. It’s fascinating.

Tedmawr took this photo at Ammanford beach front after a Summer shower in July

I take my Jack Russels Alfie and Wilfer for long walks every day and I take pictures of everything around Carmarthenshire including the mountains and the lakes. They’re very keen Weather Watchers too.

The River Usk at Abergavenny is sparkling in the August sunshine

The first time I saw my photo on-air it was just fantastic! All my wife’s friends phoned to say they’d seen it and my parents came round to celebrate.

��̳ Weather presenter, Nick Miller

Sometimes I see something spectacular in the sky and I photograph it. Then I wonder “I can’t be the only person lucky enough to see this?”

Before the advent of ��̳ Weather Watchers I may have been left wondering but now I can go online and not only share my photo but more often than not see other people’s view of the same thing.

No I wasn’t the only person marvelling at such an amazing sight although frequently everyone else’s photos are far better than mine!

Weather Watcher TheWildGarden sent in this photo of a circumzenithal arc in Sheffield

Whether it’s a classic circumzenithal arc or fabulous full moon, being a ��̳ Weather Watcher has allowed me to not only share my view on the world of weather but enjoy what other people are seeing too.

This double rainbow was spotted in Fort William back in April

And then there are all those spectacular rainbows, haloes, lenticular clouds, thunderstorms - enough to keep us weather geeks entertained for hours.

Weather Watcher Sandie’s Valley from West Yorkshire

I signed up to the Weather Watchers website on the day it launched and I post a number of pictures everyday which I take when I’m walking my dog, Crumble.

Crumble has cold paws on her frosty in November morning walk in Derbyshire with Sandie’s Valley

To see my photo appear on the ��̳ was beyond my wildest dreams and I’m lucky enough to have had more than one photo shown over the past year. My next ambition is for Crumble to meet Carol. I think they’ll like each other.

Sandie’s Valley took this photo at Meltham Mills showing the leaves changing colour for the season

I have learnt so much since I became a Weather Watcher. I understand much more about the topography of the land, cloud formations and where the best places are to find a rainbow. I’m really keen to do a weather forecast course.

I’m really passionate about the website too. Whilst I was on holiday on The Isle of Man, I convinced someone to sign up after mentioning that I didn’t see many photos from the area. Since then, I’ve seen her photos on-air too, so that’s great!

Sign-up for Weather Watchers and read more about some of our members on the ��̳ Weather Watchers website.
Follow ��̳ Weather Watchers on Twitter.

Creating a legacy for the ��̳ micro:bit

2016-10-19T07:00:00+00:00

Today marks a significant milestone in the ��̳ micro:bit journey; the launch of the Micro:bit Educational Foundation. It’s a non-profit, independent organisation that will build on the work done so far with our pocket-sized codeable device and will focus efforts on continuing to encourage a generation to get creative with digital tech.

There are now around one million ��̳ micro:bits in classrooms and code clubs across the UK – manufactured & distributed by the ��̳ & partners as part of the Make it Digital initiative. Our micro:bit website has four different code editors, along with hundreds of resources and supporting content for students and teachers.

The reaction from children and from a great many teachers has been overwhelming. Since launching in March this year, users have visited the website over 13m times, used the code simulator nearly 10m times and compiled code onto their devices around 2m times.

The ��̳ micro:bit is also helping to change attitudes. Early research shows that it has helped get girls interested in coding - 39% of girls who used the micro:bit said they will definitely do ICT/Computer Science as a subject option in the future compared with just 23% before the micro:bit landed in schools. And we expect this figure to rise as more children get hands on with their devices.

Three quarters of those that have used the ��̳ micro:bit say they either like or love it. They value its hands on nature and love being able to see what they have coded come to life. A massive 86% said it made computer science more interesting whilst 88% of children said it showed them that coding isn’t as difficult as they had previously imagined.

And it’s not just about coding. Our in-school research sessions have shown that the ��̳ micro:bit has helped to develop other skills such as teamwork, attention to detail and problem solving to name just a few. It’s been incredibly encouraging to get this insight – proof for both my team and for our partners that the hard work has been worthwhile.

We’ve also been delighted with the reaction from the press - you can read how the ��̳ micro:bit ‘will kickstart a coding revolution’ in WIRED’s 2015 feature, and how to be creative with the device in Stuff’s front page cover feature earlier this year - and from the wider digital industry, having won BIMA and Tech4Good awards this year.

We’re going to continue to support the teachers and students who have embarked on the ��̳ micro:bit journey with us. It’s been our most ambitious educational initiative to date and has involved the coming together of organisations from right across the tech sector. Our shared aim was to do something tangible to tackle the skills gap the UK is facing by inspiring an entire generation to get creative with coding.

We have never wanted these efforts to be a flash in the pan which is where the Micro:bit Educational Foundation comes in. Supported by a range of leading educational and technology organisations including ARM, Microsoft, Nominet, Samsung , the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) and the ��̳, it will ensure that we continue to enable a generation to grow their digital capability within the UK. And it will also work to enthuse and support young people on a global scale as well – capitalising on the interest the ��̳ micro:bit has stirred from Iceland to the USA and from Singapore to Norway.

None of this would be possible without our original partners – the organisations who have worked so hard alongside us to develop and create one million devices for children in the UK. Nor would it have been the success it is without the teachers who have championed this tiny computer – embedding it within their lesson plans and coming up with far more ways to use it than we could ever have imagined.

Today is about thanking them and heralding in the next phase of this project – a project that has taken over our lives for the past two years. And one we hope will change the lives of many more.

Find out more about ��̳ micro:bit at the micro:bit website.

The road from London to Rio - delivering the Rio Olympics to a digital audience

2016-08-30T14:00:00+00:00

The Summer Olympics are over for another four years: a monumental sporting success for Team GB and the biggest event the ��̳ has ever delivered digitally to audiences.

The 102m unique browsers following our coverage from around the world makes it bigger than London 2012 –in fact more than double. And that might surprise a lot of people, what with the time difference this year, and the once in a lifetime British home games in 2012. To have had a more interested, engaged and insatiable audience than we had back then is remarkable.

At the time London 2012 felt like a one-off, both on the track and behind the scenes here at the ��̳. It was hugely ambitious and the first time we’d covered such a large number of events live at the same time. But it was clear how much people valued the service and we knew immediately this was how all major ��̳ events, not just Sport but elections, Glastonbury, the Proms, everything, would need to be covered in future.

Within a couple of weeks audiences were not only used to the range of coverage available to them online, but they’d embraced it and were hungry for more. It was a little like patting a high jumper on the back after a world record clearance and saying, “Well done. Now go away and do it as easily and as regularly as a hurdler” – it was a challenge we couldn’t wait to take on.

So, our team in Salford set about designing and engineering a new way to deliver national events to all audiences. We soon found out what people loved and couldn’t live without. The live video streams, naturally, ranked high on the list but the digital service people wanted much more than that from the ��̳.

They wanted to follow breaking news stories as and when they could, to be notified when they were happening, to follow specific parts of an event, to read updates and stories for build-up and analysis, to listen in when it suited them, and to plan and personalise their experience. They wanted these things faster. They wanted them all in one place. And they wanted them on every device.

But above all, they wanted this kind of experience for more of the events they cared about. Not just Sport. And with an audience as large and diverse as we have, this went way beyond the marquee multi-event tournaments and festivals like Wimbledon and Glastonbury.

We also needed to move the technology on from London 2012 to something all ��̳ teams could adopt and adapt as they needed. It had to be easy for multiple teams to use, to be cost-effective and reliable, and it also had to give people a consistent and familiar experience for live events. We set about building a first version of a live platform for the ��̳, something that has evolved quite a bit since but still remains focussed on those key elements people wanted.

News is increasingly live online and was a natural first place to roll out our new live service beyond Sport. Major events like elections and breaking news involve many similar core features like live video, text and audio, but need to be tailored by the experts to best report the story. The initial results were very encouraging. And ��̳ News’ digital coverage of the EU referendum was able to reach 17.6m global unique browsers across the week of the vote.

Music events were next – like Glastonbury where we brought multiple live streams back into the mix and gave people a choice of acts from different stages for the first time. This year over half a million unique browsers followed the ��̳’s live digital coverage of the festival.

And we continued to innovate our Sport service, introducing new features like in-play video highlights, which have already become a key part of how people follow certain sports. We also added new personalised and interactive features, like match alerts and a team selector for Euro 2016. And for Rio, we added an experimental live 360 video app for Rio, drawing over 1m views across all platforms with hundreds of pieces of feedback to help us learn from it.

People come to the ��̳ for the big national moments and this year they’ve consumed more live content from us than ever before. We had the Scottish and European referendums, Glastonbury, Euro 2016, Wimbledon and now the Olympics to name but a few – all using the latest version of our live digital service. Well over 60m unique browsers followed these events live on the ��̳. And that’s purely live audiences, before you factor in the world-class non-live coverage, programmes, analysis and reporting.

It’s been a long road from London to Rio but the journey is far from over. We know audiences want more of this kind of service from us. And we know that live online content, whether it’s user-generated or broadcast quality, is increasingly important to people. That’s why one of our biggest priorities is to continue improving how we do this, taking audiences closer to the action, making it more social, connected and more participatory than ever before.

Chris Condron, Digital Product Director, ��̳ Design & Engineering

my��̳ – the most personal summer of live events from across the ��̳

2016-07-19T09:05:00+00:00

If you’re anything like me and a massive sports fan, this summer has the perfect line up. With Andy Murray winning Wimbledon along with Wales’ triumph at the Euros (I grew up there – so not just riding the glory wave) it’s got off to a great start. And, with the Olympics starting in just under two week’s time, it’s about to kick off all over again.

Our goal is to make this year’s summer of sport and live events the best ever, by making it more personal and relevant to you.

Over 7 million of you have signed into the ��̳ in just over a year – and over a third of you come back on a monthly basis to benefit from a more personal experiences. And since the last time I blogged, we’ve seen huge numbers of people benefit from these signed-in experience.

As you might know, we offer push alerts for football matches, cricket teams, F1 races, rugby union and rugby league teams, and live event reminders. We recently launched news alerts for major sports - so people can get the biggest headlines for their favourite sports first. Since launching this:

2.2 million of you have received alerts in the ��̳ Sport app
We offered match alerts for every Euro team. No surprise -England and Wales were the most popular teams during the Euros
And a massive 129,773,607 alerts were sent during the Euros

We also offered the Euros predictor so that you could join leagues and compete to predict the results of Euro 2016. This was more popular than we ever imagined with:

297,474 total players
7,277,318 predictions made
159,903 private league users
And 36,842 private leagues set up

We are continually adding to the benefits you get from being signed in. For instance, last week we launched radio recommendations on the Homepage.

I can’t put my phone down. And I can see from our stats that I’m not alone. More and more of you are watching, listening and reading content on-the-go on your mobiles – so as previously mentioned we’ve been building a new app called ��̳+. The app brings together the breadth and range of content from across the ��̳ together in one simple, easy to use app that you can customise to your tastes and interests. So, whether it’s talked about TV, breaking news, summer trends – or the latest craze (not mentioning Pokemon Go) – you’ll be able to find the content you care about – all in one place. You can read more about it here.

I’m thrilled to say that we’re launching the first version of this today – and will be listening to you over the coming weeks and months to tweak and make it the best it can be. I can’t wait to hear what you think of it and am looking forward to rolling out even more personalised features for the Greatest Show on Earth – The Olympic Games. Come on Team GB!

Phil Fearnley is Director Homepage and my��̳

Read Introducing the new ��̳+ app

Using our archive to help people with dementia

2016-06-01T15:03:08+00:00

Peter Rippon, Editor, ��̳ Online Archive and Connected Studio on a range of new online tools we are launching to mark Dementia Awareness week around the UK.

The ��̳'s interest in dementia is not altruistic. The number of people living with the condition is already approaching a million and rising fast. If you add in the numbers of carers, family members and friends who are close to people with dementia it is a sizeable chunk of our audience. It is our heartland audience too. The age groups most affected are some of the heaviest consumers of what we make.

The ��̳ also has a unique asset – its unique archive - that has the potential to help with dementia beyond just storytelling and programme making. As part of the ��̳'s plan to be more open and explore more partnerships, ��̳ Rewind, Archive Development and ��̳ Scotland teams have been looking at what might be possible with dementia experts and charities.

The results, two specific digital tools, have just been published on ��̳ Taster with the help of the Connected Studio digital innovation team.

��̳ RemArc, or Reminiscence Archive, has been created by the Archive Development team with the help of experts at Dundee University and the University of St Andrews. It uses a selection of video and audio clips and images from the ��̳ Archives, designed to support reminiscence work with people with dementia, their carers and families.

The principle of Reminiscence Therapy is to assist people who have dementia to interact and converse in a natural way by stimulating their long-term memory with material from the past.

The Your Memories tool was produced by ��̳ Scotland. It re-uses the ��̳ Rewind ‘Your Story’ digital tool that creates a slideshow of photos, music and ��̳ programme clips based on simple data about a person’s age and likes.

Your Memories emerged from a Connected Studio innovation event held in Glasgow last year. Dementia experts were mixed with ��̳ editorial and technology and archive specialists to develop and pitch potential ideas to each other.

There is something really profound about how dementia and memory loss affects us. It cuts right to the core of who we are as people. It can be hard for carers and relatives to really connect with a person whose short-term memory is de-graded.Tapping into long-term memory can make it possible once again for them to enjoy interacting with others, through their stories. We hope the ��̳’s archive, which hopefully contains many precious memories from our national story, can help that happen.

Both the tools have been launched on the Taster platform to coincide with the main UK Charities focus on dementia in May and June. They form part of a range of more traditional TV, radio and online coverage. Anyone can use them and we are really keen for feedback.

The RemArc software will be available for free under an open source license, so that people can build their own reminiscence archives, either in UK, or reversion RemArc with new languages for use abroad.

We will also make the archive material featured in RemArc available for personal and educational use. We will also now be working the Alzheimer’s Society, Alzheimer Scotland and universities/other organisations to properly audience test and learn what we can.

Peter Rippon is Editor, ��̳ Online Archive and Connected Studio

Find out more about the ��̳ Dementia Season to tie in with Dementia Awareness Week
Visit ��̳ Taster

About the ������̳ Feed

Delivering a vibrant future for UK radio

������̳ Ideas six months on

Welcoming ������̳ Sounds to the family

Some thoughts ahead of the RAJARs

Voice for Kids

������̳ Ideas - short films for curious minds

Introducing Podcasting House – bringing together some of the ������̳’s best podcasts in one place

������̳ Sport new logo and graphics