Feedback on the Open meeting
Post categories: open standards
| 10:58 UK time, Thursday, 27 August 2009
I promised to report back after the 1st Online 'Open' meeting which we held on Friday 14th August. Many of your comments have struck a chord. For one thing, we should certainly have clarified that the 'open' meeting was with industry players, regulators, suppliers and stakeholders rather than with users of ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Online.
As it's generally hard to get things right first time round, I was reassured as I walked into to hear genuine support for the initiative we were taking. Looking through the constructive feedback we've received since, many found it helpful and insightful. This was the first event that tried to outline what ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Online is going to focus on over the next 6 - 9 months and we plan to do more in future.
External linking came up. We'd already taken steps to expand the ways in which ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Online links to other websites and click throughs have been running at 10 -12million per month. We want to establish new and richer connections to the wider web where they are editorially relevant and meet our public purposes. We know that our users want us to do this and it's a process that we take very seriously.
I know we inevitably disappointed some who attended. Some areas - particularly formal learning - were covered in insufficient detail for people who feel the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ competes with their businesses in this area. In this case, it was because we are currently assessing the range of what the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ provides to support learning by children and teenagers, in order to shape a discussion with the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Trust later this year which will inform our ongoing strategy.
Unsurprisingly - given the audience who attended - there were questions and concerns about the effectiveness and transparency of the new media Approved Supplier List (ASL). This provided an opportunity to explain that we are currently reviewing the ASL, a shared, central repository of information - where they are, what they do, what they have worked on in the past and so on - on external suppliers for the use of ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ commissioners.
I want to emphasise that this review, which will be completed by early next year, is aimed specifically at ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Online. We are working towards establishing a clear and concise process which enables the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ to commission the best output from the best qualified supplier for any given project. Since online does involve a level of technical complexity, we want external suppliers to have access to clear information about what we require, so that the process is as efficient and transparent as it can possibly be. Through working closely with suppliers, we aim to use their feedback to streamline the process for outsourcing content and services.
It is business as usual whilst the review is conducted and we continue to commission content and services across ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Online from a wide range of supplier companies.
Seetha Kumar is Controller, ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Online.
- Watch the videos of the Open day here.
Comment number 1.
At 27th Aug 2009, TV Licence fee payer against ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ censorship wrote:My emphasis - "I know we inevitably disappointed some who attended. Some areas - particularly formal learning - were covered in insufficient detail for people who feel the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ competes with their businesses in this area. In this case, it was because we are currently assessing the range of what the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ provides to support learning by children and teenagers, in order to shape a discussion with the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Trust later this year which will inform our ongoing strategy."
Personally the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ (Trust) should just tell commercial companies were they can get off in relation to learning and education - people should not have to pay to learn, it's as simple as that - the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳'s responsibility in this respect was a founding part of what the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ "Is", as anyone who cares to read the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳'s Royal Charter will see. These commercial companies can always go and find another market to 'exploit', or indeed become an accredited supplier to the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳, after all the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ can't - easily - change it's Charter like a commercial company's management/board meeting can decide to move into another market.
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Comment number 2.
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Comment number 3.
At 12th Feb 2010, gerry wrote:hello. i'm new to all this. i'm not sure about them saying they're going to commission this n that, my experience today is they don't seem very interested in peoples ideas. if the beeb is going webwide then everyone out there is used to being fairly informal, creative, producing n learning in a self-evolving paradigm. right? so the beeb seems to be a kind of huge money/business orientated civil service?? am i wrong? me i think there's a distinct lack of education across the board; if the beeb can counter that then i think i'm enthusiastically with them. but do you think they listen to us? gerry.
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Comment number 4.
At 12th Feb 2010, gerry wrote:hm. all the blogs i just looked at are 'closed'. an my comment just a moment ago has disappeared. am i supposed to be terribly careful? in what i say/how i say it? cos if it gets too much what we want they close the coments down? well why is the beeb looking to go webwide then? its a lot more upfront n in your face than here.
i be back tomorrow. got to work out the bbc!
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