http://ideas.welcomebackstage.com/ideatorrent en-us Fri, 05 Mar 2010 16:02:40 +0000 Fri, 05 Mar 2010 16:02:40 +0000 QAPoll module http://ideas.welcomebackstage.com/ideatorrent/idea/29/ a) See what I have watched
b) See when I have watched it
c) See how many times I watch a certain programme
d) Reassign some programmes to different individuals that use this account/browser/cookie combination (i.e. exclude Timmy Time from my stats)
e) Optionally publish this information publicly, so that viewers with similar habits could find me, for example.

[4 votes] Solution #1: Provide RDF description of my personal viewing history.
Provide RDF linking to the /programmes I have watched and a datetime showing when I watched them. Allow me to provide a URI for myself (foaf:Person rdf:about=URI), and/or a URL to a seeAlso file. Provide a checkbox to allow me to make this information publicly accessible (i.e. without needing to log in) so that I can then provide a seeAlso triple linking to this page from my Foaf file.

]]> Mon, 31 Aug 2009 21:12:52 +0000 http://ideas.welcomebackstage.com/ideatorrent/idea/29/ http://ideas.welcomebackstage.com/ideatorrent/idea/27/
However the contracts that the BBC has with the artists (actors, directors, writers) would make this use impossible without charging fees for "re-broadcast rights".

[0 votes] Solution #1: Taking advantage of the "Publicity" clause
I understand that contracts with actors, writers and others involved with BBC TV and Radio limit the amount of content that the BBC can release for use by other people at zero cost.

However I wondering if the publicity clause that is included in most artist contracts would be allow you to release short video clips (say 15 seconds from each TV show) and stills for use in projects like wikipedia as well as fan sites and blogs; on the basis that all these all add to the publicity of the show.

Maybe the process for checking the legal documentation in the standard artist contracts/ release forms could be crowd sourced with notes on which clauses and key phrases to look for.

I suspect many people wanting to use such material would be happy to pay a small admin fee for this service (say £10/$20 year).

]]> Thu, 25 Jun 2009 12:38:37 +0000 http://ideas.welcomebackstage.com/ideatorrent/idea/27/ http://ideas.welcomebackstage.com/ideatorrent/idea/26/
The BBC helpfully provide RSS feeds for their weather observations and forecasts, which could be displayed in an RSS reader.

But, being a Twitterer, I thought "How about sending the Feeds for a certain location to a dedicated Twitter account?"

They're fairly compact, but still exceed the 140 character limit imposed by Twitter. A combination of the information from the Title and Description would be useful, since both convey slightly different information; but there's a fair amount of repetition which could be stripped out.

[0 votes] Solution #1: Yahoo Pipes and Twitterfeed to the rescue!
Yahoo's Pipes facility is a great way to mangle RSS feeds, and with a bit of help from their discussion boards, I produced two pipes covering the observations and forecast for my local area (Coventry - nearest location to where I live).

Interestingly, Twitterfeed seems to rely more heavily on the feed GUID to determine whether what it is looking at is a duplicate of a previous feed entry than the PubDate, even if you ask it to look at the PubDate. So as the GUID for the Observations only changes once a day, and the GUID for the Forecast doesn't contain any date information, I added the utime to the end. Just to be on the safe side with the Forecast, I also extracted the day name (Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday etc.) from the title and added that to the GUID, to help Twitterfeed distinguish between the forecasts for each day.

Here's my Pipe for the observations: http://pipes.yahoo.com/pipes/pipe.info?_id=1d677760b8655e6bab80b62feed2395a

And for the forecast: http://pipes.yahoo.com/pipes/pipe.info?_id=RHTz4ewi3hGpaqvb3nBDOQ

I currently have the forecast to output to @CovWeather (http://www.twitter.com/CovWeather) once every six hours, and the observations every three hours. Feel free to examine the pipe sources and provide ideas on optimising them etc, or request I clone them to another UK town / city...

]]> Fri, 17 Apr 2009 19:24:16 +0000 http://ideas.welcomebackstage.com/ideatorrent/idea/26/ http://ideas.welcomebackstage.com/ideatorrent/idea/25/
[2 votes] Solution #1: A wedget or an application
Develop an application that fetches the guide from the internet, it shows whats on now and whats next and the highlights of the day. I can read news from it if i want to. If im interested in a program, i click on it to watch a promo or a trailer. I can set an alarm to remind me of the timing of the program and when it starts.

]]> Tue, 24 Mar 2009 02:46:58 +0000 http://ideas.welcomebackstage.com/ideatorrent/idea/25/ http://ideas.welcomebackstage.com/ideatorrent/idea/24/
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blackcountry/content/articles/2009/02/24/momma_parsons_faggots_feature.shtml

BBC News does it well, and has extensive social networking tags.

[-1 votes] Solution #1: Provide Facebook, Digg, etc. links on all articles
All articles on the BBC website should have social networking links for sharing. This will allow users to pull out exciting content and highlight it!

[-1 votes] Solution #2: Regional Social networking links
This shouldn't be that difficult to implement as the social networking links already exist on the BBC website surely?

This would allow users of popular social networking sites to easily share regional news/articles with viewers of their profiles. (Who may also be from the same region).

[-1 votes] Solution #3: It's happening soon
Not really a solution but more a resolution but this will be happening (on the BBC Local sites at least) as soon as they move into the same publishing system as news and sport - probably by June/July.

BBC Norfolk. BBC Bristol and BBC South West Wales have all already made the move and you can see the social bookmarking links at the bottom of their features.

The links won't appear on the rest until they move across and get the new look.

]]> Sat, 07 Mar 2009 06:46:57 +0000 http://ideas.welcomebackstage.com/ideatorrent/idea/24/ http://ideas.welcomebackstage.com/ideatorrent/idea/23/
There is a video outlining the problem and some of the solutions.

http://blip.tv/file/1791497

[3 votes] Solution #1: The BBC should do nothing with it
Doing nothing will do no harm and could be useful for later when there is a really good worth while idea.

[-4 votes] Solution #2: Create a aggregated view of the best BBC @replies
Aggregate all the replies across the other BBC accounts and push out the best ones on @bbc

[1 votes] Solution #3: The Tim O'Reilly approach
I really like what Tim O'Reilly does with his twitter account, he promotes and re-tweets the best and most important things happening in his sphere. The BBC has a great deal of news and other content that would benefit from promotion plus the combined output of all the already committed twitterers like Rory C-J, bbccouk etc. This would obviously require a significant amount of effort by someone to aggregate and edit.

[-1 votes] Solution #4: "Aggregate" (First, reframe what that means. NOT #2)
First note that #2 and #3 are kissing cousins -- both are "selections" ... using somewhat different slices of raw data ... mentioning someONE specific to do the "SELECTION" in 3.

"AGGREGATION" is NOT "SELECTION" ... of "THE BEST."

AGGREGATION is ... "some kind of orchestration" ... of common threads ... opinions ... visualizations ... so that WE ALL see ... what WE ALL think.

What we are used to ... is some RANDOM selection of something ... that has been APPROVED by someone ... as "within the pale" of public conversation.

Aggregation ... can produce surprises. Selection ... amplifies the usual suspects.

NOW: How do you DO aggregation? Well, that's a good question. One that that will not be answered in this little box tonight. lol BUT it is the right question. Start there.





[2 votes] Solution #5: Let's hear it for Mark Thompson!
The issues raised in the vid and by a very erudite Helge point to what it should not be used for.

Let's share ideas, yes, but also ideas from an opinion leader. It would thus seem obvious that your/our leader should share his ideas, opinions and conjectures - in the spirit of public service, open governance etc.

This would be a great example of pushing an idea upstairs.

Why not?

Mark does not seem to be on Twitter at the moment...

[0 votes] Solution #6: Use it to post live behind the scenes news
For example, if im watching a program such as the news or the cooking shows, i would like to know what happened during the break. Twitter updates can update me on what happened during a break in the news, in a show, or a link can be posted on twitter for more info. All of this can be done realtime. Moreover, with a twitter app i can follow the BBC in with all the info in realtime.

]]> Tue, 24 Feb 2009 21:48:09 +0000 http://ideas.welcomebackstage.com/ideatorrent/idea/23/ http://ideas.welcomebackstage.com/ideatorrent/idea/22/
We are looking to collaborate with others who feel the same to create this entity. Please contact me vie the www.Whymandesign.com email addy to get invovled as we have exciting offers at the moment and need likeminded people to work with.


We are creating a self sustaining organisation that will provide a
location for young people to access the internet and collaborate
together all over the world in hard to reach areas and are looking to
produce this with an existing organisation that will benefit too. Could
we run this self sustaining project as part of your project as it would
be an extra service that increases peoples awareness of your great work
while facilitating collaboration on projects. Development website at
www.FREEtraid.org. Who should I talk to about creating Open Space Cafes with your organisation?

We are also looking for funding to kick start the production (as we will donate 100% net profit to fund the social enterprise that young
people create within the spaces ala Traidmark.org). Can you suggest any good sources of
funding?


I also set up the first two Progreso.org.uk cafe's in London creating
viral promotional material for them and volunteered as part of the team
that promoted the http://www.nodel.org/ arts festival in London.

ed www.Whymandesign.com

[0 votes] Solution #1: Creating space for innovation in a self sustinable way
We are creating a self sustaining organisation that will provide
locations for young people to collaborate together all over the UK while providing the infrastructure to set up enterprise effectively and are looking to produce this with an existing organisation that will benefit too.

We are creating a self sustaining organisation that will provide a
location for young people to access the internet and collaborate
together all over the world in hard to reach areas and are looking to
produce this with an existing organisation that will benefit too. Could
we run this self sustaining project as part of your project as it would
be an extra service that increases peoples awareness of your great work
while facilitating collaboration on projects. Development website at
www.FREEtraid.org. Who should I talk to about creating Open Space Cafes with your organisation?

We are also looking for funding to kick start the production (as we aim
to donate 100% net profit to fund the social enterprise that young
people create within the spaces). Can you suggest any good sources of
funding?


I also set up the first two Progreso.org.uk cafe's in London creating
viral promotional material for them and volunteered as part of the team
that promoted the http://www.nodel.org/ arts festival in London.

ed www.Whymandesign.com

]]> Tue, 24 Feb 2009 14:08:06 +0000 http://ideas.welcomebackstage.com/ideatorrent/idea/22/ http://ideas.welcomebackstage.com/ideatorrent/idea/21/
[-1 votes] Solution #1: Consider using drupal or something like that
Some aggregator for topics using either some application like drupal or some web app like tumblr

]]> Fri, 20 Feb 2009 18:45:38 +0000 http://ideas.welcomebackstage.com/ideatorrent/idea/21/ http://ideas.welcomebackstage.com/ideatorrent/idea/20/
[0 votes] Solution #1: Provide geo points permanently on the site
Provide geo points permanently on the site using KML files

]]> Fri, 20 Feb 2009 18:20:33 +0000 http://ideas.welcomebackstage.com/ideatorrent/idea/20/ http://ideas.welcomebackstage.com/ideatorrent/idea/19/
[2 votes] Solution #1: Page for every programme
PIPs for every TV show

]]> Fri, 20 Feb 2009 16:01:51 +0000 http://ideas.welcomebackstage.com/ideatorrent/idea/19/ http://ideas.welcomebackstage.com/ideatorrent/idea/18/
[3 votes] Solution #1: A generic site where you can sign up to any programme
Sign up it email, im or twitters you

[7 votes] Solution #2: Integrate Sign-in on iPlayer site
If iPlayer had a sign in (non-required), a button could be added for a show that read "Notify me when the next episode comes out".

This would also solve the issue of keeping track of what episodes we've already watched (and suggestions) for those of us who use computers at different locations.

]]> Fri, 20 Feb 2009 15:51:26 +0000 http://ideas.welcomebackstage.com/ideatorrent/idea/18/ http://ideas.welcomebackstage.com/ideatorrent/idea/17/
It would also be really good if I could be alerted before my program was about to start on terrestrial TV.

[0 votes] Solution #1: Use twitter to remind people that programs they are interested in are available.
My ideal solution:

Somewhere I can sign up to receive alerts that programs are available on iPlayer, so for instance for say Red dwarf I would be able to ask to be alerted when any Red Dwarf programs were on, optionally any related shows, and choose whether or not I was interested in being alerted to repeats.

I would also be able to ask to receive alerts that a program I was interested in was starting on 'normal' TV with the same options (repeats, related etc.) but with an additional option of being alerted a chosen time before the show starts.

Primarily the alert method I was thinking of was twitter (I would add a BBCReminder nick as a friend who would then dm me) but other alert methods would be useful, including email.

]]> Fri, 20 Feb 2009 08:15:56 +0000 http://ideas.welcomebackstage.com/ideatorrent/idea/17/ http://ideas.welcomebackstage.com/ideatorrent/idea/16/
[2 votes] Solution #1: Setup Laconi.ca for the BBC
Setting up laconi.ca and getting it working with Twitter will convince TV and Radio that there is an alternative which actually works

[0 votes] Solution #2: Offer support to the Jaiku open source project
Now Jaiku is open source, maybe the BBC can offer development effort on Jaiku and set it up on a server for testing purposes

]]> Mon, 09 Feb 2009 23:19:30 +0000 http://ideas.welcomebackstage.com/ideatorrent/idea/16/ http://ideas.welcomebackstage.com/ideatorrent/idea/15/
[0 votes] Solution #1: Interrupter
A clever bit of code that prioritises whatever media is playing in the active window is and mutes any other pieces of audio currently running, ideally pausing the lower priority media for pick up later on. The code would have to allow online and offline apps and programs to talk to each other so that Youtube could interrupt Windows Media Player and vice versa. It would also have to recognise that programs with incidental sound such as Word or Outlook didn't end up shutting other stuff up when it shouldn't. It would be nice if the muting and unmuting wasn't just a simple on/off effect but a fade instead.

]]> Tue, 06 Jan 2009 13:42:18 +0000 http://ideas.welcomebackstage.com/ideatorrent/idea/15/ http://ideas.welcomebackstage.com/ideatorrent/idea/14/
What doesn't the BBC have its own short URL service?

[10 votes] Solution #1: Code it
Write some software?

[-2 votes] Solution #2: Use an existing API
bit.ly, snurl and tinyURL have APIs to allow you to use their service. You use one of them to allow BBC site users to easily make short URLs of pages.

This should be quicker to implement, but I'm not sure how you'd choose which one to use. Also, in support of solution #1 creating a BBC service would give the short URLS a more official BBC like nature.

]]> Thu, 01 Jan 2009 20:06:48 +0000 http://ideas.welcomebackstage.com/ideatorrent/idea/14/ http://ideas.welcomebackstage.com/ideatorrent/idea/13/
I may for example want to find all news that happened near my house in the last year.

[3 votes] Solution #1: Location based news search
Provide a news search engine on the BBC that allows you to search for news based on location.

[6 votes] Solution #2: GeoRSS and metadata
Provide location data in the BBC news feeds and the page's metadata to allow people to create location based services with BBC news.

[1 votes] Solution #3: Guess places for existing content, check with crowd sourcing
There's obviously a lot of existing content that isn't marked up and doesn't have place data associated with it.

You could create an algorithm to search through the content looking for place names and adding the appropriate location data. You could then use crowd sourcing to check how accurate this new location data is.

]]> Mon, 29 Dec 2008 07:48:31 +0000 http://ideas.welcomebackstage.com/ideatorrent/idea/13/ http://ideas.welcomebackstage.com/ideatorrent/idea/12/
The types of devices that we will be using to watch the olympics and other sporting events will be different than they are today. The computers of 4 years ago were a fraction of the power of the machines we use today. Mobile phones will be as powerful, if not more, than the computer used to type this. So with all that power in small mobile devices, how can it be harnessed to better enhance the experience of spectators?

[7 votes] Solution #1: Raw Data
If there was a way to release the raw data about the events, the teams, the countries, the venues, participants, winners and losers. It would allow anyone on the Internet to take the data and remix it. Finding new trends, creating new visualizations and augmenting the data with additional information from other places.

[0 votes] Solution #2: New ways to display event data
As the thousands of people flock to London to attend the games, millions more will be at home watching the events on TV or listening on the radio.

The data presented on the web about the games should compliment the event, not just repeat it. While watching the games on TV, the overlays will tell me the score, the teams, etc. To have a mobile device in hand, I want as little screen real-estate devoted to duplicate data. I want to be able to create queries and ask questions to the website that are beyond the sound-bites given by the announcers.

This will take a new way of thinking, putting yourself into the shoes of a spectator. What will they want to know? and how do we provide them the tools to ask those question? and then also display them in a simple to understand format without confusing or distracting from the event infront of them.

The only way to do this will be for new interfaces that don't exist today.

]]> Tue, 23 Dec 2008 20:49:54 +0000 http://ideas.welcomebackstage.com/ideatorrent/idea/12/ http://ideas.welcomebackstage.com/ideatorrent/idea/11/
[-3 votes] Solution #1: Add more David Tennant and Dr Who
Add more David Tennant and Dr Who to BBC TV, we need mooooore.

]]> Tue, 23 Dec 2008 15:08:48 +0000 http://ideas.welcomebackstage.com/ideatorrent/idea/11/ http://ideas.welcomebackstage.com/ideatorrent/idea/10/
[0 votes] Solution #1: Interactive online lottery video
The results page doesn't need to tell you the results straight away. You could keep some of the tension and excitement by using video to reveal them just as if you were watching the programme live.

Also, if users could login and store their numbers, then these could be displayed and highlighted when they dropped through the machine.

]]> Tue, 23 Dec 2008 12:16:39 +0000 http://ideas.welcomebackstage.com/ideatorrent/idea/10/ http://ideas.welcomebackstage.com/ideatorrent/idea/9/
[1 votes] Solution #1: Mobile Reporter via iPhone App
Anyone having installed the BBC Mobile Reporter iPhone app can become a BBC Reporter *creating* content such as highly localised images, audio clips or short texts (less than 160 characters). The iPhone app would be the "feedback channel" to BBC.

[0 votes] Solution #2: Upload news stories and media via a web interface
Anyone using a web browser on a desktop machine or mobile device would be able to report stories and upload images, audio, or short video clips. The advantage of an HTML approach is that any device could be used.

This solution makes it possible to report news using Linux, Mac, Windows as well as mobile devices such as Android, iPhone, Windows Mobile. The BBC should not create a service which supports devices from only one vendor.

The huge advantage the BBC has over other sites (like digg) is its ability to pull viewer generated content into mainstream news on radio, television or the web.


]]> Mon, 22 Dec 2008 20:03:36 +0000 http://ideas.welcomebackstage.com/ideatorrent/idea/9/