The Original Sims

I don’t normally write about the BBC - it is my employer and it’s best to keep comments in-house in any organisation. But I’ll make an exception on this occasion.  There was never any doubt that iPlayer would be taken to the nation’s heart in quick time. I expect there is plenty of research predicting the take up in the Corporation (we BBC people tend to call it that - 4 syllables rather than 3 - that’s the way we are).  But did we expect it to be taken up so quickly?  Possibly. I don’t know.

I’m on both sides on iPlayer.  I use it – frequently – and more often the streaming rather than  download.  I don’t think I’ve downloaded anything since the streaming system started.  I’m also involved (in a very minor way) in putting programme onto iPlayer and getting feedback from the audience.  What has surprised me is the speed and number of emails I get when a programme is not almost immediately available.  (It does take time, people.  It’s mainly automated, but it still takes time.)

Now the ISPs are complaining. There is a very interesting article here. 

But this is only the beginning.  iPlayer will be joined by Kangaroo.  You already have Joost, Bablegum and others on the horizon.  There is no question that better connections will attract richer (bigger) content which should drive even better connections.

It’s a shame that NIRSucks.com has gone.  It was a long-gurn blog about being forced to use Northern Ireland Railways (NIR) and the transport company’s short comings.  But NIR doesn’t quite suck so much anymore.  Long gone are (most of) the noisy, smelly, cold, draughty, damp, toilet over flowing carriages that we used to travle in.  Pulling down the window to open the carriage door from outside then banging against the door with full force caused me several bruised ribs.

The trains (tend to) run on time.  The staff are professional and polite.  So NIR is better than it was.  Now they are planning to buy new rolling stock (I believe the technical term is) and they are surveying the customers. 

What can we expect in the future?  Wireless and electric sockets! It’s almost the 21st century here. 

The long awaited Digital Content Strategy for Northern Ireland was launched yesterday by Invest Northern Ireland.  They have been leading the development for over a year.  I came onboard more recently as a member of the Industry Advisory Panel under the chairmanship of Adrian Lennon.

There is a real feeling of progress now.  Ministerial backing from Nigel Dodds and Invest Northern Ireland is bringing a ring of reality to much of the talking and planning of the last year. 

The launch of the strategy morphed into a planning meeting for the Broadband Content Opportunity event on 30 January at the Science Park which I am MCing.  This is a good start to a new year where we will be looking forward hopefully and expectantly rather than backwards.

Belfast Telegraph report

Irish News report

FT Online

The watchdog expresses concern at the performance of Openreach and looks set to require BT to pay out to rivals struggling to gain access to its network

Digital radio stations try broadcasting sound with pictures in a bid to make radio a visual experience.

Irish Times

Mobile phone giant O2 plans to follow Vodafone into the fixed-line broadband market through the buyout of an established provider or a strategic alliance.

Huffington Post
Posted October 29, 2007 09:09 AM (EST)

….. No matter how you slice it, this new trend of ISP discrimination should send a chill draft up the spine of anyone who wants the Internet to fulfill its democratic promise of equal opportunity communication.
To do this we have to ensure that companies aren’t left to stifle our basic freedoms at their whim. Free and open communications must be guaranteed, right now, before content stifling technology becomes the Internet norm

Constant Comedy is a major new website from Nothern Ireland created by Wild Rover.

One of the winners of the Broadband Content Initiative, it is the first to get a public viewing.  The initiative funded six projects from something like 80 initial proposals. 

I was one of the judges of the competition and feel proud to have a very small part in the project.

Good luck to them and the other winners.

CNN International Chyron: "Bush Resigns"

Joost secures $45m for Web TV

BT Vision begins national ad campaign

Los Angles comes looking for help from Belfast

Google searches web’s dark side

After the Click Thinking meeting in the morning, off to Newry to visit the new Story Finders group there.

Story Finders is an idea that I came up with just over a year ago.  Most of the time spent then has been finding the funding and recruiting volunteers.  The original idea was to find individuals around the country.  Train them in digital recording, give them the suipport to go and find stories (of all sorts - not "traditional" news stories) who could report from their community about - well report on what ever they want.  They could then offer them to us for publication at www.bbc.co.uk/northernireland or post the stories on their own web site or even offer it to a newspaper or other publication.  The idea is that the stories are theirs - it’s up to them what to do with them.  Our job is to help and support and drive forward digital media literacy.

That idea has blossomed largely do to the volunteers and the project co-ordinator.  We now have six groups in different stages of development.  In Newry today we were talking around editorial matters and traps that people can fall into.  There is the makings of a really good team of committed individuals and I’m really looking forward to seeing what they come up with and beginning to develop their own site with their own stories.

  BBC | Newry | Storyfinders |