BBC builds collaborative future

The BBC is under pressure at the moment as it renews its charter and secures funding from the government. Politicians and competitors are lobbying hard to have it "reformed" more towards their interests. Politicians want an easier ride, and the big media owners want less competiton. It's hilarious reading the various media commentators on what should happen to the BBC – talk about turkeys not voting for Christmas!

None of them seem to understand that it's the content, stupid! And not just the information imparted but how we receive it. The BBC has consistently out thought and out innovated most media outlets. One small example, try and subscribe to an RSS feed for technology at The Times and at The BBC. It's fairly obvious at the BBC as there is an RSS icon in the left hand menu. At the Times it doesn't seem possible at all, you can follow a link to find out about RSS, but it doesn't have a feed for technology. Needless to say I read the BBC for technology news.

With this background it's great to see that the BBC is pushing forward with further innovations. According to reports released yesterday they are:

"Looking ahead to an on-demand world in which people will increasingly access BBC content when and where they choose"

This involves a new music strategy, more media for younger audiences, and changing their websites to handle more user generated content. They'll also publish all their content across multiple platforms. There are short reports at the BBC, The Times and The Guardian.

It'll be interesting to see what they come up with, I hope there'll be attempts to more actively involve an audience to create communities consisting of both their content and user-generated content.

Do you think the BBC's strategy is the right idea? Is it too powerful? And, what sort of content would you like to see?

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