Reboot bbc.co.uk

Ashley Highfield talking to New Media Age

Jem Stone

A fortnight ago my boss Ashley Highfield gave a lengthy interview to weekly trade mag; New Media Age. I'm quoting it a length because when thinking about some of the ideas for the competition its the best summary of the BBC's New Media strategy so far. This is also the source for this quote which you'll find elsewhere on the site which clearly states the BBC's future homepage direction.

What we need to do is come up with a personalised BBC homepage that will provide people with a starting place for their journey through the BBC's content and beyond. We might do this in partnership with some existing services, but we absolutely don't want to replicate anything that's already out there. We want to weave the BBC's content into something that reflect's people's interests, tastes, friends and so on.

Ashley Highfield
Source: New Media Age April 13 2006

There are five main strands to our new media strategy:

1) The first focuses on what you might call our "legacy" products. For example our News web site, our parenting site or some of our educational sites that form the core of our remit to inform, educate and entertain.
2) The second strand focuses on moving our audio visual assets into the on-demand space so we can make our content available at any time anywhere. The Integrated Media player is a good example of this.
3) The third element looks at user generated formats that will allow us to be the digital campfire around which the audience can gather and share stories. This encompasses everything from our Action Network and Film Network through to our message boards. We plan to start weaving all of that together.
4)The fourth element will see us start commissioning highly innovative new formats that are very much focused on new media. We want to develop edgy content that uses the power of the audience, the wisdom of crowds, the interconnectivity of networks.
5) The final aspect is building on what we've always done: to act as a trusted guide to the Web. We want to develop world class navigation that will provide really easy access, not just to the BBC's content but to all great British content available on the Web.

All the products we're planning to launch fall into three main categories Find, Play and Share.

Play
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Play is best exemplified by iMP, which allows viewers to download BBC TV and Radio programmes up to seven days after they are first broadcast. The Creative Archive and streaming our channels via multicast also falls into this category.

Find
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Find relates to the next generation of navigation - Web 2.0 stuff like recommendation engines and social software. We'll be overhauling our search engine to make an absolute step change in next generation navigation across the web, mobile and iTV. This is a massive project in its own right.

Share
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This is the public service version of something like Myspace, or Flickr. In the last few months we've seen an exponential rise in the number of people registering on bbc.co.uk. A year ago we had only a million people signed up the site, four months ago it was 2m, now it's 3m. We have a monthly UK audience of 15m and we're starting to get to the point where we can get them to participate. I'm looking at the next-generation formats that really allow us to get our online audiences involved. We want them to feel ownership of our content, take control of it and then share it with each other.

I've been working closely with BBC director general Mark Thompson on defining this. It's really our role now for the next five years. it's clear that making all of audio visual assets available on demand, for example, is a long term project.

All of this is very much a long term strategy, but by looking at it in terms of find, play, and share, what i want to do over the next 18 months is to get the first products well on their way.

What new BBC services are to made available to the public?
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The iMP will be closely followed by our next generation search service. this will combine all of the core, traditional skills of the BBC with the power of a search engine like Microsoft's. I want people to ask any question and answer straight away via the Web, mobile or iMP. I want a new type of service that combines the best of BBC editorial with the best search technology.

What other services are you currently working on ?
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We're trying to knit existing products like the Creative Archive and the Action Network together so that viewers can go into their own BBC space containing all the content they're interested in, all the TV programmes they like and all the things they've played around with. What we need to do is come up with a personalised BBC homepage that will provide people with a starting place for their journey through the BBC's content and beyond. We might do this in partnership with some existing services, but we absolutely don't want to replicate anything that's already out there. We want to weave the BBC's content into something that reflect's people's interests, tastes, friends and so on.

Working with others
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We're currently working on major projects with Microsoft and some of the other usual suspects. you'll start to see some really good stuff in the next few months that'll prove I mean what i say about forming partnerships within the industry while maintaining my belief in open standards and accessibility for all.

How important is new media to the future of the BBC ?
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The BBC has a role to innovate, to take risks, to be the creative R&D of the nation, as Culture Secretary; Tessa Jowell once put it. It's up to us to try new things and to share our learning. After the false start of 1999, the Internet has finally arrived. By that I mean the Internet as a content medium. It has already proven itself as a transactional and a communication medium, but there's no doubt now that the audience is there and consuming voraciously. This is reflected in the BBC's strategy. For the Corporation to remain relevant in the digital age, it has to make all of its content and services available in whatever form people expect to consume them.

• 24 Apr 2006 21:26