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BBC Genome (Read 6142 times)

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BBC Genome
Aug 24^th, 2010, 3:00pm

A team of BBC researchers is analysing thousands of archive copies of the Radio Times to compile a definitive list of every BBC programme ever broadcast.

The process is part of a wider project to create a complete online history of the corporation dating back to its establishment in 1922.

Titled BBC Genome, the campaign is designed to provide a comprehensive and easy-to-use online catalogue of the BBC's programmes, including when and where they were first aired.

In many cases, the BBC-owned Radio Times is the only source of programme information available before more organised record-taking began in the 1970s.

The BBC recently started a pilot programme to scan two years' worth of Radio Times to extract the programme listings information.

Working with a specialist digitisation firm and the British Library, the Genome project worked to analyse every page of the magazine's editions in 1948 and 1977.

Writing last week on a BBC blog, project manager Helen Papadopoulos said that the Radio Times was "an ideal place to begin" for BBC Genome.

"[The Radio Times] contains a record of everything we intended to broadcast - even if what actually went on air wasn't what we planned to show - and it is in a structure and format that people readily recognise, with basic but consistent details for all programmes, along with regional variations. It even lists radio frequencies!" she said.

In September, the project we will begin the full-scale process of digitising more than 80 years' worth of broadcast records, including approximately 400,000 pages of Radio Times covering 3m programmes and 300m words.

Papadopoulos said that in "less than a year" the team hopes to have the entire digitisation project completed to provide a "comprehensive record" of every BBC programme for the first time.

By Andrew Loughlin
Source:-

Digital Spy
http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/broadcasting/news/a266575/project-to-list-every-bbc-...

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Every Radio Times to go online
Reply #1 - Aug 24^th, 2010, 3:02pm

Over 80 years' worth of issues of the Radio Times will be made freely available online within the next year as part of the BBC's Genome project.

You will soon be able to read TV and radio listings from the dim and distant past when the BBC digitises over 80 years' worth of its listings magazine.

Around 400,000 pages containing details of three million programmes will be scanned and put into the archive, which will provide the central core for the BBC's latest online project.

The BBC Genome project has been started as a catalogue for all BBC programming, to enable surfers to find out precisely what the BBC has in its archive. Only around 25 per cent of the BBC's video and audio output remains in the corporation's vaults.

"When broadcasting began it was seen as an ephemeral medium, and there was no way to record and store what was being transmitted," said Helen Papadopoulos, project manager of BBC Genome.

"However, even though we may not have a copy of each programme in the BBC's vast archive, there may still be something related to or derived from the original programme: stills, non-broadcast footage, music, documentation, props or other material connected with what was broadcast," she continued.

As such, the digitisation of the Radio Times is intended to be the backbone of the BBC Genome project.

"It is an ideal place to begin because we have easy access to it, it contains a record of everything we intended to broadcast - even if what actually went on air wasn't what we planned to show - and it is in a structure and format that people readily recognise, with basic but consistent details for all programmes, along with regional variations. It even lists radio frequencies," said Papadopoulos.

Digitisation will begin in September and should be completed in less than a year. Initially, you will be able to search by programme title, by year, day and time.

In the future, the BBC plans to enable you to search for contributors - actors, writers, directors and so on - so you can find a comprehensive list of an individual's work.

Last week, the BBC announced the launch of an archive relating to influential British novelists.

Source:-

http://www.webuser.co.uk/news/top-stories/496679/every-issue-of-the-radio-times-...

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