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BBC

FAQ

1. What do I have to do and what do I win ?
2. Why are you doing this ?
3. What will the BBC do with my designs/prototypes? Will the BBC make any claim over my work or 'steal' my idea?
4. You want our ideas and then you'll leave in the morning, won't you ?
5. Why aren't you putting this project out to tender to UK web agencies ?
6. Can I just send you a picture ?
7. Can I use feeds and APIs from other sources in my homepage prototype?
8. Who hosts the designs and prototypes?
9. Can I make money from my prototype?
10. Where can I discuss my designs/ prototypes with others?
11. How do I remove my design or prototype?
12. What if have an design or prototype thats not about the bbc.co.uk homepage ?
13. Can I/we enter as a team?
14. What does reboot mean?
15. What should I do if I have a complaint about reboot:bbc.co.uk
16. What are the legal points I need to know in plain English?
17. Can I use content scraped from bbc.co.uk in the designs I put together?

1. What do I have to do and what do I win?
Have a look at

For the grand prize, we will make the entry judged to be the best the bbc.co.uk homepage for a day. If that wasn't recognition enough, the winning producer/designer will also be awarded with a Mac Book Pro laptop. 10 Runners up will also receive MP3 players.

We will showcase all eligible entries we receive on the reboot:bbc.co.uk website, ensuring that everyone who takes time to produce something is given the credit and exposure they deserve.

You should also read the small print.

2. Why is the BBC 'doing' reboot:bbc.co.uk?
reboot:bbc.co.uk is part of the BBC’s wider investigation into what the future of our website should look like. We believe the homepage is a great metaphor for what we should be doing with the rest of our site. That's why we're asking people to concentrate on the homepage for this competition.

The project is bought to you by the same innovation team who run backstage.bbc.co.uk. Like backstage, reboot:bbc.co.uk is an opportunity for you to get your voice heard, demonstrate your talents and enter a fun competition with some great prizes.


3. What will the BBC do with my designs/prototypes? Will the BBC make any claim over my work or 'steal' my idea?
When you submit your design or prototype we will take a look at it, check it over to make sure it complies with the legal stuff and Terms of Use and, if it does, then we'll publish a thumbnail of the design, the url and a description of what you've done and then we will notify you that your idea or prototype is published. If there is a problem then we'll get in touch with you.

You will own the copyright in any prototype or design you develop and send to the BBC for publication on reboot:bbc.co.uk. If we like it and want to use it other than in association with the reboot competition then we would have to come to an agreement with you first.

As a rule of thumb there is no copyright in an idea so it's wise to remember that reboot:bbc.co.uk is a public forum. Please don't submit any ideas you don't want other people to be able to use or build on. For more information on intellectual property rights including copyright a good place to start is wikipedia.

See the legal stuff for a proper run down of the legal position.

4. You want our ideas and then you'll leave in the morning won't you ?
We can't guarantee a lifelong relationship but we will provide a showcase for all of the entries we receive. We'll publish details of who you are, a description of your idea, and include the entry in the competition gallery, hopefully giving your work and personal site a higher profile. This project is also part of a wider review of bbc.co.uk and the BBC so we can guarantee that many BBC New Media commissioners (with money to spend) will be analysing and judging your work at the end of the competition. (because we'll be there making them).

5.Why aren't you putting this project out to tender with UK web agencies ?
At this stage we are not commissioning a BBC homepage redesign project. In BBC design language this is just our understand phase. We will be using this competition and a lot of other analysis to help us understand what bbc.co.uk should be...one day. This will inevitably result in projects where we will be consider partnering with UK indies and technology companies from the UK or the rest of the world. But not just yet.
That said, the BBC New Media department is already substantially increasing its budget spent with third parties. For our financial year 2006/7 we have implemented a voluntary 25% independent spend quota as suggested by the Graf review and for projects such as backstage.bbc.co.uk, Innovation labs, Creative Archive, BBC Search and the upcoming BBC iPlayerr to seek partnerships with anyone be they teenage developers, design agencies in Soho or Sheffield or technology giants from California.

6.Can I just submit a picture ?
If you're "technically minded", you'll probably want to submit a mash-up homepage, a la backstage-style.

However don't worry if you're happier in front of Photoshop than Homesite – we love designers too! You'll be pleased to hear we're definitely accepting images, rough designs, even wireframes in addition to fully working prototypes. As long as they illustrate your idea and convey how you think the BBC could be the starting point and an entry into BBC content and beyond for our users then we want to see it.

However please don't send us your work as a gif/jpeg/png/psd/etc directly. We're only accepting entries in the form of a URL. Upload it to your blog, your personal site, or image sharing sites like Flickr. Your entry must be in the form of a URL for it to be included – although it doesn't need to be within an html page. Eg http://www.yoursite.com/bbc-reboot-idea.jpg would be fine.

If you have no hosting have a look at some free hosting providers [The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites nor are we recommending any from these lists]. You submit your design/idea and we'll list it and link through to it.

7. Can I also use feeds and apis from other sources?
Yes, please do. Feel free to 'remix' our stuff with other content to create new and interesting propositions that people will like.

8. Who hosts the prototypes and ideas?
You do. If you have no hosting have a look at some free hosting providers [The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites nor are we recommending any from these lists]. You submit your prototype or idea and we'll list it and link through to it.

9. Can I make money from my prototype?

backstage.bbc.co.uk only supports non-commercial use of BBC content. The Terms of Use for backstage.bbc.co.uk are very clear about this. In submitting a prototype to reboot:bbc.co.uk that incorporates data from backstage, you agree to the backstage Terms of Use too.

More specifically, you cannot charge people for being able to access BBC content through your proposition. That limits what you can do with a prototype using BBC content. So the short answer is no, you can’t make money out of your prototype if it uses BBC content. However, generic advertising such as adwords on your site where you are hosting your idea or prototype is fine, so long as it is not specifically related to your prototype, service, or idea.

However, you own the Intellectual Property rights in and to your application and nothing prevents you being able to sell or commercially licence your application and make money from it. What you can not do is sell access to any BBC content (i.e any commercial use of your application would have to be done without using any BBC Content).

10. Where can I discuss my ideas/prototypes with fellow designers and users of bbc.co.uk?
The discussion list. Subscribe to the discussion list and you’ll be able to see what other people have said, post questions and reply to queries. Offsite is where the action is.

11. How do I remove my idea/prototype from reboot:bbc.co.uk?
If you wish to remove the link to your prototype from reboot:bbc.co.uk for whatever reason then please inform us at reboot (at) bbc (dot) co (dot) uk.

12.What if have an idea or prototype thats not about the bbc.co.uk homepage ?

We're still keen to see it and showcase it on the BBC site. Try having a look at backstage.bbc.co.uk which is our sister site showcasing ideas and prototypes from the development community using BBC and non BBC webfeeds. Alternatively if you want to pitch an idea to the BBC and think we might be interested our commissioning site has full details of how to contact our New Media teams.

13.Can i enter as a team ?
Yes. We can't guarantee that we can find 2 laptops for prizes if you win (or maybe a school class full) but we'll see what we can do.

14. What does reboot mean?
Its literally the name for when a computer is turned off and then turned on.

However, over the past couple of years there has been an annual movement under the banner "Reboot" which has encouraged webmasters to change the look and feel of their website on or around May 1st. This appears to have been co-ordinated by different people over the years, but currently the team over at CSS Reboot are doing a fine job of promoting the concept.

Here at the BBC we'd love to be able to revamp our sites every year, but sadly it's not possible. However we think what we're trying to do with our project complements the values behind "reboot" that we wanted to adopt and support the concept rather than re-invent the wheel!

But we reckon many of you will be a familiar with the May 1st Reboot idea already and you'll know exactly what we're trying to achieve with the competition!

Before "reboot", we had refresh, restart, and rethink on our whiteboard before finally settling on reboot. Personally I was keen, as an Orange Juice fan, on Rip it Up (and start again).

15.What should I do if I have a complaint about reboot:bbc.co.uk
Firstly, please let us know if you have a complaint via email at backstage (dot) bbc (dot) co (dot) uk, as we want to know if there is something wrong with the service or if it something we can rectify. If your complaint is more general (eg "you don't think the BBC should be providing this service") then please go to the BBC's "Contact Us" page where there are various options to feedback or complain via official channels.

16. What are the legal points I need to know in plain English?
Take a look at the reboot:bbc.co.uk terms and conditions (link needed)

17. Can I use content scraped from bbc.co.uk in this competiton?
No. It is against the BBC Terms of Use [point 3.] to scrape content from bbc.co.uk:

You may not copy, reproduce, republish, download, post, broadcast, transmit, make available to the public, or otherwise use bbc.co.uk content in any way except for your own personal, non-commercial use. You also agree not to adapt, alter or create a derivative work from any bbc.co.uk content except for your own personal, non-commercial use. Any other use of bbc.co.uk content requires the prior written permission of the BBC.