Strictly come Social Networking

According to Anthony Rose, the BBC’s controller of Vision and on-line, speaking at the launch of the Media Guardian’s Innovation awards, this weekend will see the addition of unspecified ‘social media’ applications to Strictly Come Dancing as part of a radical re-launch of all their on-line services. This radical re-launch is planned for March, and will be based on ‘what the next generation in social media will be’. Amongst the innovations will be the development of an open version of iPlayer which will allow third-party platforms to embed BBC content while it remains on the BBC site. This is seen as one element in BBC management’s attempts to prevent top-slicing the licence fee – by working in collaboration with commercial organisations they argue there is value going to the commercial sector – without the need for a funding cut to BBC resourcing.

There are also

Not drowning but Waving

Google Wave – a browser based tool combining email, instant messaging and real time interaction – launched for beta testing 1 hour 24 minutes ago. If you’re one of the lucky testers – and you can apply here then you can be in at the beginning of what they claim can be a way of working which can transform journalism. According to the story in the Media Guardian here, “Google Wave could speed up the collaborative journalistic process from research to writing, including quotes, enriching articles with pictures and videos. Stories could be corrected by subeditors using Google Wave, while readers could suggest changes and use the tool to discuss the article”

Some drawbacks may be that till present it runs on most browsers except Internet Explorer – users of IE will have to download a plug-in called Chrome Frame to use the application.

I’ve applied to be a beta tester – so will let you know if I’m one of the lucky ones to be enrolled to try it out.

Here’s a 10 minute video which tries to explain its benefits:

Ben Bradshaw becomes bizarre

Ben Bradshaw at Labour's conference 2009

In a bizarre turn of phrase in his speech to the Labour conference, Culture secretary Ben Bradshaw told delegates that the BBC ‘must be more sensitive to views of public who pay for it’

Yet this is the same culture secretary who told Broadcast magazine last week that he was minded to abolish the BBC Trust – the body put in place only three years ago by Labour to do exactly this – monitor the BBC’s actions on behalf of the licence fee payer.

He also threatened to take this action before the terms of the present BBC Charter runs out. A sound bite to conference arguing for the people to have more say is very tempting for politicians. However, when it is linked to proposals that would prevent the people themselves having more say, then it is either muddled or dishonest. Of course perhaps Mr Bradshaw believes that it is the party in power who have the ability to interpret what the people want – and therefore the right to interfere from that position. Now that isn’t muddled thinking – it’s simply dangerous and undemocratic.