Through BBC Connected Studio we’ve been working closely with Eleni Sharp, BBC Homepage product manager and her team to design, test and develop the BBC Now pilot and you can read more about the feature in Eleni’s recent blog post.

The Challenge

Our challenge with BBC Now was to capture all the content being published both on bbc.co.uk and on other platforms and to bring it all together into a single unified stream of real-time push updates that are instantly delivered live to the BBC Homepage.

Broadly speaking this broke down into four technical challenges:

• Monitoring for new content.
• Contextualising new content against a BBC brand (such as Top Gear).
• Pushing content out to the BBC Homepage in real-time.
• Aggregating common terms within the content to establish trending topics.

The Solution

Each type of datasource (RSS, Twitter, BBC iPlayer content etc) is monitored by a separate Content Processor. Each Content Processor identifies new content, transforms it into a standard structure, associates it to a BBC brand and publishes it to the Firehose.

The Firehose is an unadulterated, unified stream of all new content from every Content Processor. The Firehose allows for multiple subscribers who can use or transform the data and produce their own streams of content.

The primary subscriber to the Firehose is the BBC Homepage which surfaces each item of content as an update in the Fast Lane. The Fast Lane is a column on the Homepage that receives push updates, from the Firehose and displays them in chronological order.

The Trend Analysis module also subscribes to the Firehose and receives the same set of content. The Trend Analysis module extracts common terms from the published content and aggregates that content using those terms, creating categorised ‘buckets’ of content.

When the buckets are sorted the Trend Analysis Module produces a list of the most common terms appearing in content over a given period and facilitates content filtering.

Flow diagram of BBC Now

The Tech

The heart of BBC Now is built using Node.js, a relatively new technology but one which has picked up huge momentum and for good reason. Node.js is a technology born of the web, for the web. It uses Google's V8 JavaScript engine on the server and an event loop to drive code execution. It allows scalable, real-time web applications, quickly.

BBC Now is built out of flat, independent modules making it easy to maintain and scale out. The thin layer of glue that holds them together is Redis. Redis is an advanced key-value store that, like Node, uses an event loop to drive execution and is both fast and scalable.

Redis also offers a fast and scalable implementation of the Publish/Subscribe (or pub/sub) messaging pattern. A pub/sub implementation allows publishers (in this case our Content Processors) to publish data without needing to know how it is delivered to other parts of the application.

Conversely the subscribers (in this case the BBC Homepage & Trend Analysis module) can subscribe to topics of data without needing to know which other part of the application produced it. They simply react to new data as it’s published.

This separation of concerns encourages each part of the application to concentrate on their single responsibility, which in turn means the system as a whole becomes easier to scale and reconfigure.

In essence, BBC Now is all about subscribing to data and publishing it elsewhere making Redis a perfect partner.

In designing the real-time push updates to the BBC homepage we had a few options.

This most traditional method of polling, whereby the client (your browser) periodically asks to the server (the BBC homepage) for updates, seemed like a poor choice. Most of the work we had put in was to convert passive data sources into active ones, returning them to a passive data source seemed to be heading in the wrong direction.

WebSockets, a relatively new technology that allows a constant two-way conversation between client and server (think of an instant message conversation), seemed like an obvious choice. But would have perhaps been a bit overkill given we only needed one-way communication.

Server-sent Events (SSE) provided the perfect lightweight middle ground. SSE are expressly designed for providing push notifications from a server to a browser client and have wide browser support (apart from IETM). SSE operate over HTTP (unlike Websockets) which means that JavaScript polyfills can be employed to bridge the gap for older browsers which don’t natively support the mechanism.

The Future

Besides further feature development (more data sources, personalisation, mobile) we’d love to dovetail our work with that of the BBC Linked Data Platform team which would provide a wealth of contextualised data that would really push us onto the next level.

I’d love to chat more about BBC Now – please leave a comment below or you can catch me on Twitter @dwynne or via the #bbcnow hashtag.

David Wynne is a technical architect and founder of Red Badger.

There was a great atmosphere in the studio theatre and I hope everyone felt it was a valuable and relaxed day. Obviously there’s been a regime change since then, but if I’m reading the mood music correctly the BBC wants more conversation, more sharing and more candour! So....

I’m pleased to say that on the 24 May I will be hosting the fourth BBC Online Briefing at the Radio Theatre in Broadcasting House in London.

Radio Theatre at BBC Broadcasting House

If you’re a regular reader of the Internet blog you’ll know that this is an annual event for BBC Online and BBC Red Button. It’s where the BBC gives something back by sharing the work it’s doing with partners and suppliers in the world of digital. For example on Friday there’ll be a showcase for some of the work done by Connected Studio in the past year.

You can read blog posts and watch videos of last year’s event on the BBC Commissioning website.

The event is invite only and is fully booked, but there will be livetweeting (please use the hashtag #BBCOnline if you want to tweet) and a live page where if you’re not attending you can watch a selection of tweets and photos on the day.

And please contribute! At the end of the day I’ll be asking Ralph Rivera, director of BBC Future Media and Jane Weedon, controller of Business Development, for questions from the floor. If you have a question you’d like me to ask Ralph and James please comment on this blog post and I’ll add your questions into the mix.

So if you’re coming I’ll see you there and if not and you want to ask a question, please do leave a comment.

Kirsty Wark is a presenter and journalist.

Radio 1’s Big Weekend begins on Friday in Derry-Londonderry, this year’s City of Culture and lovers of all things gardening-related can tune into the Chelsea Flower Show for commentary from designers and a tour of the show gardens.

Eurovision Song Contest

Bonnie Tyler

It’s that time of year and once again viewers can press the red button during Eurovision for an interactive experience including sing-along onscreen lyrics in both English and the native language and an optional alternative commentary from Ken Bruce on BBC Radio 2.  We’ll also be displaying some of your comments and Eurovision party photos from Facebook, Twitter and SMS*. Please use #bbceurovision and visit bbc.co.uk/eurovision for more.

*See bottom of blog for terms & conditions

Available on Freesat/Sky/Virgin Media/Freeview

Sat 18 May, 7.55pm-11.:15pm

RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2013

RHS Chelsea Flower Show

Toby Buckland hosts the BBC’s Red Button giving tours of some of this year's larger show gardens,including detailed commentary from the designers on the inspiration and motivation behind their spectacular designs. 
In addition, horticultural haymakers Tom Hart Dyke and Christine Walkden will be sharing tales from the vast treasure trove that is the Great Pavilion, speaking to the passionate exhibitors who have been working for weeks, months and sometimes years in preparation for the week-long floral extravaganza.

Available on Freesat/Sky/Virgin Media/Freeview

Mon 20 May, 12.00pm-6.00am
Tue 21 May, 6.00am-2.15pm,  5.50pm-6.00am
Wed 22 May, 6.00am-6.00am
Thu 23 May, 6.00am-10:.5pm
Fri 24 May, 4.00am-6.00am, 6.00am-11.00am, 12.00pm-8.00pm
Sat 25 May, 2.15am-6:00am

Radio 2 In Concert - Rod Stewart

Available on Freesat/Sky/Virgin Media/Freeview

Sat 18 May, 6.00am-11.20am, 7.00pm-7.55pm
Sun 19 May, 10.30pm-1.00am

Dr Who

Available on Freesat/Sky/Virgin Media/Freeview

Sat 18 May, 5.00pm-7.00pm

Antiques Play Along Quiz

Sun 19 May, 7.25pm-8.30pm

R1 Big Weekend 2013

Rita Ora to play Radio 1's Big Weekend in Derry-Londonderry

Radio 1’s Big Weekend is live from Derry-Londonderry. On Friday 24 May, press the red button between 8pm and 2am – to watch bands from the Main Stage and 1Xtra Arena. You’ll see Maverick Sabre, Aluna George, Rudimental, Dizzee Rascal, Angel Haze, Katy B, Chase & Status, Rita Ora, J. Cole, Wiley and A$AP Rocky - and the Main Stage Headliner is Calvin Harris.

Available on Freesat/Sky/Virgin Media/Freeview

Fri 24 May, 8.00pm-2.15am

Sport

Football Focus – Last day of the season. (Who will take 4th spot?)
Diamond League action from Shanghai – Team GB medalists Greg Rutherford and Robbie Grabarz are in action.
MotoGP – MotoGP qualfying session and the Moto2 and Moto3 races live on the Red Button from Le Mans.

For the latest information, refer to the BBC Sport website
Please note all Red Button times are subject to change at short notice.

Eurovision Song Contest Terms & Conditions

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Our site is a free online learning resource for the radio, television and online production community offering videos, podcasts and articles from broadcasting innovators and experts.

Laura Mvula, Chvurches, Haim – sound familiar? If not, you’ve probably heard of Dizzee Rascal, Jessie J, Adele and 50 Cent. All have featured in the BBC’s Sound of Poll, an annual multi-platform project bringing the next big thing in music to those in the know in the music industry.

BBC Sound of 2013

The producer of this year’s Sound of 2013 Kate Holder took us through how she pushed the project further onto as many platforms and channels as she could, from the website itself and BBC Red Button to BBC News radio, TV and online and almost every BBC radio network from Radio 1 through to Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour. The bar is certainly set high for next year!

I’m being very careful what I write here because our next #CoPWorkshop, a live Twitter Q&A, is on writing online next Tuesday (1-2pm).

TV and radio producers and researchers are increasingly finding themselves having to write copy for online audiences, which certainly is a different kettle of fish to writing for television or radio. Whether it’s writing for a programme website, a Tweet or Facebook post or even a blog post (like this!), getting noticed and putting the right message across is more important than ever.

So I’ll be taking note of Mike Kibblewhite’s tips. Mike is currently a producer for the BBC Academy’s Fusion project and has to write engaging copy every day, but he’s also an experienced online producer for BBC Lab UK, BBC History and the BBC Food websites. Like all of our #CoPWorkshops, he’ll be personally answering questions directly on Twitter during the course of the hour as well as giving his tips and useful links.

So if you have any questions, from setting the right tone to structuring your copy, do join us by tweeting @BBCCoP #CoPWorkshop. As ever, we’ll Storify the workshop and keep a record on our website.

My colleague (my way of saying boss without actually saying it) Adrian Woolard set the scene in his recent blog post suggesting that my next series of posts will be "rather entertaining as well as informative".

I can manage the well informed bit but the entertaining element is slightly more subjective. Let’s give it a bash.

Whilst the ‘day job’ sees me as the PM for Connected Studio I have picked up the additional role of event MC along the way.

If you’ve been involved you’ll understand how I endeavour to keep the pace up throughout the day by throwing sweets in an unorthodox fashion, garnering support through raised hands and shouting yeah, yeah, c’mon all too often. All in the vain hope that we can make the Connected Studio events as informative and fun as possible, especially during those potentially nerve racking pitching session that teams go through.

The events and jumping around is just one facet of my role, with principle responsibility to get the pilots that are successfully chosen from each of the Connected Studios realised.

We’ll be making some of the earlier pilots public very soon for you to test and play with but in the meantime here’s a sneak insight into the three pilots being developed for CBBC.

EEZL

EEZL by Peekabu (indie)

This pilot addresses the desire for increased sign-in to the CBBC website whilst encouraging more children to get involved in online activities.

When registering for an account, users will be prompted to draw a picture, either on the site with a web (or tablet) app or in the real world using paint and paper. In turn they create an account using that image.

To sign-in, they just hold their picture up to their webcam and the EEZL system recognizes the image and signs them in automatically, without the child needing to remember complex passwords or usernames.

Now I hear you saying ‘anyone could just draw a picture and login into my account’ well rest assured that the team over at Peekabu have thought that through and have some fool proof ways to ensure that doesn’t happen, quite cool!

In addition, adding friends is a simple as snapping a photo of their drawing and them doing the same for yours. The resulting process is fast, fun, works on any device with a camera (or upload functionality), avoids tricky mobile keyboards and makes a reliable authentication token out of the art that hangs on the fridge.

Predicto Machino

Predicto Machino with the help of Hacker, star of CBBC show Hacker Time, makes far-fetched and comedic predictions about the user which they are invited to correct.

By doing this they build an anonymous profile of themselves which is stored in a cookie or optionally against a BBC iD login which then informs recommendations for other CBBC content they may like.

Animation, sound effects and voice-overs are used to entertain and encourage children to continue to interact ( as long as the talent isn’t committed to be in Hollywood during the build, just one of the real life realities presented to pilots teams) whilst a set of freshly generated content is displayed to the user each time they correct a prediction.

At any point the user can click on the suggested content links to visit other pages on the CBBC site. The user can return to the application in the future where they can continue to interact with the questions or view more suggested content.

The pilot provides a fresh way for the audience to find new content through the playful tool that is Predicto Machino.

Music Mashup

Music Mashup by Young (indie)

Now these guys from Manchester based Young have some amazing knitwear, enough to brighten anyone’s day. I’m a sucker for good jumpers and the team didn’t disappoint when they presented their Music Mashup idea.

Music Mashup is a visual and audio sequencer with a library housing 100's of clips from CBBC programmes and unique animations which users can ‘mash-up’.

Once the user has loaded the tool up with content by dragging and dropping in their chosen combination of clips they can change the sequences, swap videos and add effects.

For example, a clip of Tracy Beaker slamming a door could become a 'looping drum beat while a line from Diddy Dick and Dom would be a vocal sample.

When they save their creations it will automatically create a short music video to accompany their Mash Up that users can view, share and 'like' within the Mash Up chart.

The Music Mash Up game caters for both a younger and older demographic, allowing those with a higher ability level to be more creative with their sequencer. The team will ensure that even the most ‘creative’ child can make wonder sounding Music Mashups.

These three projects all came from the CBBC Connected Studio, next week we will take a look at BBC Sport where four ideas were taken into pilot stage.

Robin Cramp is the project manager for BBC Connected Studio.

The application - consisting of a shortcut to the mobile optimized website, live tile and media player - can be downloaded for free from the Window Phone Store.

Search for content by channel, by featured content or save shows to your favourites

The application will enable you to catch up on your favourite BBC shows on the go. We know this is something that is becoming more and more popular as in March this year 30% of overall requests came from mobiles or tablets, with 81 million requests in total.

Following our previous blog post some of you will be wondering what about Windows Phone 7.5? Over the last few months we have been working with Microsoft to launch iPlayer on both Windows Phone 8 and 7.5.

Unfortunately, platform limitations with Windows Phone 7.5 have meant we've been unable to provide the same quality playback experience as on Windows Phone 8. This led to the joint decision not to make BBC iPlayer available on Windows Phone 7.5.

Although this is disappointing, Windows Phone 8 currently make up the majority of all Windows Phones on the market and this number is expected to grow. I therefore hope more of you will get to enjoy BBC programmes on the go with iPlayer with Windows Phone 8 devices.

As with any new launch of BBC iPlayer we are keen to hear your feedback. Let us know what you think by leaving a comment below.

Dave Price is Head of BBC iPlayer, Programmes and On Demand, BBC Future Media.

In November 2012 I wrote a blog post about a project I was working on with an agency called Red Badger as part of the BBC’s Connected Studio initiative.

I’m really excited that we have now been able to put the link to this pilot live on the Connected Studio website.

The BBC publishes and broadcasts thousands of pieces of content a day both online and across our stations and channels. BBC Now gives us a new way to share more of this content but in a digestible way.

We know how busy people are and that we all expect the latest most relevant information to be there for us almost instantly.

We have therefore created a time based ‘fast lane’ of content on the right hand side of the BBC Homepage. This tells people what’s happening right now and brings out the personality of our brands.

It not only helps people discover new content they might have otherwise missed, it also uncovers the conversations around that content which happen every day.

A quick look at BBC Now gives you the top four trending or most popular terms. This updates dynamically as soon as another item is published which makes it even easier to follow a news story just as it's breaking or a big event like Glastonbury.

I wanted people to be able to find out what’s happening in the BBC and the world right now without having to move around different areas of the BBC website. You can get your Travel News, see which song was last played on 6 music, read headlines from journalists overseas, see what’s about to start on BBC One and of course get the latest Sports results all in one place.

The stream is made up of a mixture of recently published content and official BBC Twitter accounts including BBC News and Sports journalists, Radio shows and DJ’s, popular TV programmes such as Have I Got News For You, Daily Politics or Strictly Come Dancing and Radio 1’s Newsbeat. These accounts are all used as additional ways to communicate and have conversations directly with audiences.

I know people feel passionately about the BBC brands so it was important that every feed includes the appropriate logo. The Twitter Feeds also include the twitter handle for example @BBCFood, we then display the whole tweet.

The internally published content, i.e. content that sits on bbc.co.uk, is slightly different.

We make sure the brand that the content lives under is still prominent then, for example, for music we display the artwork of the song which is currently playing, and there is a prompt to listen live.

BBC iPlayer feeds work in a similar way: we show an image from the show, a brief description and a prompt to watch now in iPlayer.

Why do a prototype?

We do prototypes to test ideas quickly. It also gives us the opportunity to use a range of technology which means we can build as much as possible in the time available, which in this case was just four weeks. So unlike our current Homepage this prototype won’t work on older browsers or devices.

David Wynne, from Red Badger, shares some insight on how they built the prototype

“By combining a variety of data sources and data strategies we created a unified stream of real-time BBC data which is delivered to each user's browser via Server-sent Events. Using our custom BBC Brand database we ensure each update is first associated to a configured brand so by the time it reaches a users browser, the update has been contextualized to a common brand. The stream of data is also passed through our trend analysis module, which uses a natural language query processor to extract common terms and aggregate trends occurring over the last six hours across the BBC.

Node.js is at the core of BBC Now, being suited as it is to real-time web applications. We used MongoDB to power the BBC Brand database and Redis to facilitate inter-application pub/sub. The trend analysis module uses Python and the NLTK (Natural Language Toolkit). We used Vagrant to provide virtualized development environments, provisioned by Chef. We also used Chef to provision production environments.”

What next?

I’ve got several user testing sessions booked in where we will test the prototype with users across the country.

As this is a prototype this is just the start. My vision is that by offering different levels of manual and automatic personalisation each person will get live information on the things that they are most interesting in, be it Wimbledon, Grimmy, MasterChef or Northern Ireland News. This could be an optional piece of functionality, allowing people to chose how they want to see and receive their content from the BBC.

I would love you to give me your feedback by leaving a comment below or tweeting using the hash tag #bbcnow.

Eleni Sharp is the product manager, BBC Homepage.

We are one of the teams inside the BBC working on internal technology development. We normally develop products and solutions when there is nothing fit for purpose on the commercial market. This may involve integrating commercial products with internally developed ‘glue ware’.

Raven at Lund Point for HD Olympic broadcasts

As a department our philosophy is to develop everything as reusable components that can be dropped into multiple workflows to fulfil a host of different needs across the organisation.

We try to use open source where possible as we subscribe to the opening and fair-sharing of software and are always keen to save the BBC money. As a whole we gives back to the same community by funding contributions to those open source projects.

Our biggest ‘customers’ are BBC News and Newsgathering both in the UK and also the international news bureaus and our systems are installed across the globe.

One of the products we have been developing over the last few years is Raven.

The original specification for Raven was for a box that would replace a tape deck in news satellite vans allowing news crews to do file based ingest when they are out in the field.

The BBC and other broadcasters have been moving away from tape based delivery to file based working over the last few years and, in my opinion, it’s a much bigger challenge than the move to HD. This is because there are so many different elements which need to work in unity with existing and immovable systems and infrastructures.

As well as the software requirements there were also environmental factors such as the physical need to fit the box into the space left by the removed tape deck.

The box needed to be able to accept different card formats because although the BBC uses a Sony PMW500 camera that records on SxS cards in the XDCAM codec, other news producers will use different types of cameras, cards and codecs. Footage is often shared between camera crews in the field so the box needed to be able to read anything that was required.

Raven was developed as an application stack consisting of:

• A Javascript based web UI,utilising a variety of libraries including JQuery and DHTMLX.
• A PHP web service layer utilising among other technologies MySQL, SQLite and XCache.
• A series of small daemons performing file system monitoring and job management.
• 'nuget', a C++ daemon utilising Blackmagic Design's Decklink API to control baseband operations.

We put this on commodity hardware, things that anyone can go out and buy from the shops, so it’s effectively just a PC you could have at home with the addition of a baseband video interface card from Blackmagic Design.

The Raven interface

It runs on Ubuntu, a distribution of the Linux operating system and makes a lot of use of FFMBC for media manipulation.

BBC News were keen for the box to act like a tape deck so they could record video into it and also play video out of it onto a pre-existing infrastructure. As there were no longer any tapes Raven itself therefore needed to have some sort of storage element built in.

News also wanted the ability to take files off Raven and edit them quickly in the field then drop the piece back on the box and play it out directly.

It’s this kind of challenge which puts my team in their element because we were expected to develop a solution within a pre-existing problem space without changing anything else around it.

For example, as the satellite trucks were designed around baseband video i.e. real video voltages going down cables as opposed to IP, Raven had to bridge this gap.

After solving the initial problem the next step in the development of Raven was stimulated by the HD broadcast of the Royal Wedding in April 2011. At this point it became obvious we would have to consider more storage to scale with the growing requirements.

How could we join several Raven boxes together and share between them? We started to look at different ways of approaching this and think about a structure beyond a single box.

We solved this issue by developing something called a Raven nest, which is essentially a group of Ravens with a core storage server called a Ravenstore. This allowed all Ravens to access the same material for both recording and play out as well as sharing with editors.

The next challenge for the Raven was the Paris elections in 2012 where we experimented with media tagging.

This is when the clips or video being recorded are viewed and then given an appropriate associated label or ‘tag’. This tag then determines where the clips appear in a folder structure. So someone who’s sat in an edit suit or in front of a laptop in the field can look at a certain folder associated with that tag and edit only the relevant material.

Clips can have any number of tags but Raven doesn’t copy the recording multiple times. Instead by making use of the Linux operating system we are able to symlink the same file in multiple locations without taking up additional space.

Raven 3U

Undoubtedly the biggest challenge for Raven was the 2012 Olympics.

Nine months before the start of the Games we decided on a set of new features that Raven needed to deliver. However, the nature of news planning meant a lot of the final designs for the system were unknown until closer to the event. In some cases the workflows were changing literally the night before.

We installed eight Raven boxes in Lund Point, where the BBC News headlines were broadcast, as well as centralised storage for all the prerecorded packages which were played out during News bulletins.

There was hardware control of each Raven box and individuals doing editing off that shared storage in Final Cut Pro.

This ultimately became the system that played out video live for the One, Six and Ten o’clock news in HD throughout the whole two weeks of the Olympics and didn’t drop a single frame of the one million it broadcast.

When you consider that two and a half years before this Raven was just an idea, to then be finding it driving the HD News bulletins of the Olympics is a significant achievement.

However, when you look at the level of requirements for News over the Olympics I don’t think there was another option. People had become so familiar with using Raven by this point and they expected a lot from the product and weren’t let down.

Ravens are now doing everything from recording audio for logging purposes to live playout in Singapore to being used for archive purposes and they are still used in every satellite vehicle the BBC owns.

There are now around 350 to 400 Ravens used around different parts of the BBC, all built by my department either in the original 3units size or the smaller Raven minis which most people now have. We also have some built around Hewlett Packard hardware.

You can fit two of the minis side by side on a 19 inch rack bay and it also means you can have one with a smaller tape deck next to it. The original, larger version is meant to be mounted on a rack and be a permanent installation unit.

Going back to our departmental philosophy Raven has a full API means that it has the capacity to be reused in multiple different ways by other areas of the BBC.

For example, in Northern Ireland they have written a BNCS driver to control the Raven through the same interface they previously used to remotely control a tape deck. BNCS, now called Colledia Control, is the broadcast network control system used by the BBC to drive a lot of our broadcast devices.

Raven continually has to adapt to the next change in the business workflow. You have to be able to adapt as the broadcast industry is constantly changing at an ever increasing rate.

It would be interesting to hear what you think about Raven and your experiences of the file based transition.

Michael Satterthwaite is product and installation manager for the Broadcast Systems Development Team.

Doctor Who

Clara and the Doctor discover how little they really know about each other

As we hurtle towards the end of the series, watch an exclusive prequel to the final episode on the Red Button. In She Said, He Said the Doctor and Clara reflect on how little they know about each other, setting the scene for an epic series finale. Catch it straight after Saturday’s episode finishes at 7.40pm or watch it again during the week.

Available on Freesat/Sky/Virgin Media/Freeview

Saturday 11 May, 7.40pm-midnight
Sunday 12 May 6.15pm-8pm
Monday 13 May 5.10pm-5.45pm
Tuesday 14 May 6.30pm-Wednesday 15 May 6am
Thursday 16 May 4am-5.10pm, 7.15pm-7.55pm,9.30pm-10.25pm
Friday 17 May 4am-12pm

Radio 2 in Concert – Rod Stewart

Rod Stewart is live in concert for Radio 2 on Thursday evening

Radio 2 presents Rod Stewart in Concert live from the BBC Radio Theatre. Enjoy the build-up to the gig throughout the day as Rod joins a host of Radio 2 programmes to sound check, answer your questions and preview the performance. Then join Jo Whiley for the very special concert where the music legend will play some of his biggest hits as well as music from his latest album Time. 

Available on Freesat/Sky/Virgin Media/Freeview

Thursday 16 May 7.55pm-9.30pm

Friday Night is Music Night

If you missed the climax of Radio 2 Day headlined by Gary Barlow then here’s your chance to watch the brilliant night of music again. Among the other artists who took part were Sinead O’Connor, Jamie Cullum, Elaine Paige and Mick Hucknall – all backed by the 60-piece BBC Concert Orchestra.

A record number of Radio 2 stars hosted, among them Ken Bruce, Jeremy Vine, Anneka Rice and Bob Harris. Plus watch out for a surprise performance from Tony Blackburn as you have never seen him before. Watch the orchestra play the ultimate Friday Night Favourite as voted for by Radio 2 listeners as well as classics from Shostakovich to Sondheim, Leonard Bernstein to the epic film music of John Williams.

The night also features the network's musical award winners including the Radio 2 Young Folk duo, the Radio 2 Young Choisters and the Young Brass award winner. Find out more here.

Available on Freesat/Sky/Virgin Media/Freeview

Wednesday 15 May, 6am – 5.20pm, 5.55pm- Thursday 16 May 4am 

This week's Sport highlights

It’s an exciting week of sport on the Red Button as we bring you extensive coverage of the Spanish Grand Prix from Barcelona’s Circuit de Catalunya. Watch replays of the practice sessions and qualifying, before using the F1 driver tracker to make the most of the live race. Catch up on anything you’ve missed with the F1 Forum and plenty of highlights.

Jonny Brownlee makes his first appearance of the triathlon season in Yokohama and you can enjoy repeats of both the women’s and men’s races. Meanwhile the Diamond League continues from Doha, showcasing the world’s best athletes. The Rugby League Forum cheers up Saturday afternoon and football fans can watch Final Score on Sunday as usual.

For the latest information refer to the BBC Sport website.

Please note all Red Button times are subject to change at short notice.

Attenborough Season

For those who prefer the dawn chorus to drum & bass, the Attenborough Season makes its Red Button return. Press Red to watch an interview with the national treasure as he introduces highlights from the BBC Four collection which celebrates his early years.

Available on Freesat/Sky/Virgin Media/Freeview

Monday 13 May, 5.10pm-5.45pm
Thursday 16 May 5.10pm-7.15pm

Strange Hill High

The Red Button is celebrating the new arrival of CBBC’s newest and strangest show Strange Hill High with Strange Hill Extra, packed full of exclusive content. Find out how the show was made, discover more about the characters and watch a sneak peek of the next episode.

Available on Freesat/Sky/Virgin Media/Freeview

Wednesday 15 May 5.20pm-5.55pm

Watson & Oliver

We have exclusive content from popular sketch show Watson & Oliver. Press Red to go ‘backstage’ and have a laugh with the ‘real’ Watson & Oliver. In this week’s clip,discover how Ingrid and Lorna always insist on a number of unusual requirements whenever they are on set... 

Available on Freesat/Sky/Virgin Media/Freeview

Thursday 16 May 10.25pm – Friday 17 May 4am

Antiques Roadshow

Please note there’s no Antiques Roadshow Play Along on the Red Button this week, but you can still play using the app (here’s how).

The biggest story of the last fortnight has been an update to the iPlayer app for iPhones, iPod touch’s and iPads. Tom’s Hardware reported:

“The BBC promises that this version (version 2.0.4) is 'more like a TV' with live BBC programs easier to find on the iPad thanks to a special 'On Now' section right next to 'Most Popular.' There's also the addition of Scottish Gaelic programs on BBC Alba and Airplay is more accessible. On top of these new features comes a whole range of bug fixes that should make the app more stable for those already using the app.”

BBC iPlayer app on iPhone

While Pocket-lint commented:

“In addition, sending video via AirPlay has been made more simple, with a new button added to the playback video itself. Tap it and it sends the stream to your Apple TV just like that - or another AirPlay device, if it's the audio you want to play out loud.”

Last week The Guardian reported on the delayed delivery of the BBCs tapeless archive, or Digital Media Initiative (DMI) causing glitches in the BBCs central London news room location New Broadcasting House. Expected to be an entirely ‘tape free’ environment, extra refrigerated room is now needed to store the necessary tapes for production:

“A BBC spokeswoman admitted that there have been "some initial problems" but the BBC is "working with teams to make it better" and the project had not exceeded its total budget. She claimed the system being requested by BBC Sport would "link together" with DMI and said: "The BBC continually strives to be at the forefront of technology and innovation, from audience offerings like BBC iPlayer to digital production systems like DMI. “

However the Guardian went on to quote several disgruntled unnamed BBC sources and to query why BBC Sport had “decided to ask outside suppliers to tender to design its own digital video archive system at a cost of just £500,000 – a fraction of the millions spent on DMI.”

BBC New Broadcasting House

Media UK this week explored the effectiveness of search on YouView, the connected TV platform combining on-demand services from a variety of broadcasters such as the BBC. It praised the service for providing an easy way of accessing BBC radio documentaries, and then observed:

“There are no logos here for BBC Radio 2 or BBC Radio 4, which is a shame, and doesn't adequately convey what type of programme you might reasonably expect to find.”

Kieron Clifton, the BBC's controller of Future Media and Technology Strategy in an article for Ariel, asks how the BBC can ensure everyone can access the BBC's content in an increasingly complex digital world:

"We launched iPlayer on Christmas Day 2007 - at that time, 100% of its use was direct to audiences, over the open web... Here, in 2013, only 41% still is, and it's only going in one direction. We're now on 650 different devices. They are gate-kept by one platform operator or another device manufacturer. Rather than with the open internet, we need to beg, borrow or steal our prominence."

And finally blog comment of the fortnight goes to technical architect Mark Neves responding to the audience on his DNA Refactor blog post:

“Hi Kai, "DNA" stands for "Douglas Noel Adams", i.e. the genius behind the The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. It was Douglas's company The Digital Village that began the h2g2 web site that formed the foundation of the DNA code base. For more information, follow the "Wikipedia" link at the end of the first paragraph of this blog post.“

Have a great weekend!

Eliza Kessler is the content producer on the BBC Internet blog.

Over in sunny White City we have been working on a number of features to make BBC Online more personalised such as the ability to add favourites in BBC iPlayer Radio.

For the moment, I wanted to briefly let you know how we are making it easier to share news articles, recipes and blog posts to your social network of choice.

You will find our share box across most of the BBC already, whether on BBC iPlayer, News, Sport, Radio, Weather or Food.

As of today you can now use our share plugin for easy sharing to Google+ and LinkedIn which join our current line-up of Facebook, Twitter, Delicious, Digg, Reddit and StumbleUpon.

Users of Google+ and LInkedIn can now also benefit from easier sharing with just a couple of clicks.

You can read more about how we decide which services best fit our list on the BBC help pages.

Since you're still reading I'm guessing you may have an interest in what we plan to do in the future. If so, please give us some feedback in the comments section below.

What could we offer that would make it simpler and easier to share BBC content? A share button personalised so 'you get to choose' where to share? Simple sharing on all your devices? Be as creative as you like and let us know your thoughts.

Mark Channon is executive product manager for BBC Personalisation and Social.

The answer is BBC Lab UK, a truly ambitious multi-platform partnership project launched in September 2009 with the aim of producing ground-breaking science.

As one of the producers for BBC Lab UK I can tell you a bit about the project and the unique possibilities provided by its data architecture.

BBC Lab UK was originally conceived and commissioned as a re-usable survey engine that would allow top research scientists to harness the BBC audience to gather research data as viewers completed tests that revealed something new about themselves.

The partnership between the top British academics who designed the experiments and the BBC, who produced engaging interactive experiences, seemed like the very epitome of public service activity.

This was confirmed by our first experiment, a randomised, controlled trial of various brain training games called Brain Test Britain. The results were written up in the top journal Nature and were presented in a specially commissioned 60 minute episode of Bang Goes the Theory on BBC One.

Brain Test Britain

More online mass-participation experiments soon followed looking at the factors that shape personality, musicality, the psychology of money and risk, all accompanying broadcast programmes such as Child of our Time, Watchdog and Radio 3’s Mozart season.

The ingenious data architecture of the BBC Lab UK platform means that every experiment we create gathers data onto a common database which uses anonymised unique identifiers for participants which are consistent across all experiments.

So this means if one person participates in, say, The Big Money Test and The Big Risk Test, it’s possible to link those datasets together to create an ‘uber-dataset’ containing all the measures from both experiments. In fact 10,691 people completed both, which is a very respectable dataset in its own right.

The potential for ground-breaking data analysis on this data by social scientists and psychologists alike is huge and we will hopefully be developing this aspect of the project more in the future.

A new class system from big data

The Great British Class Survey was designed and built on the BBC Lab UK platform to test a new theory in sociology based on Pierre Bourdieu’s notion of cultural capital being an acute indicator of class.

Answer economic, social and cultural questions to determine your class type

This means your consumption of culture, from where you eat out to how you spend your leisure time actually indicates more about you than your job, education or family background.

We examined the leading authorities on social class in the UK and discovered Mike Savage and Fiona Devine were the two most highly cited and influential thinkers on British social class.

We collaborated with them to develop a survey that would test some of their theories and the relative importance of cultural, social (the variety and influence of people you know) and economic (your total income, assets and savings) capitals.

Launched in January 2011, we asked over 140 questions of each participant and in six months had gathered over 160,000 cases of data.

Initially there was a plan to present the new class model in a documentary just three months later, but the massive amount of data and the extremely complex correlations between the variables took time for the academic team to examine.

In fact the very first version of the new class model finally emerged in September 2012.

Complex statistical techniques were used to map associations between cultural pursuits

Using complex analytical statistics Mike and Fiona’s research team were able to place all 161,000 participants of the original BBC Lab UK survey into one of the new seven classes, robustly and with great accuracy.

We continued to develop the editorial possibilities of their results and waited for their paper to be published in a peer-reviewed journal. It’s an important part of the BBC Lab UK ‘promise’ that while we make our scientific tests as rigorous as possible, we also insist on the results being published in reputable peer-reviewed journals.

Once the paper was scheduled for publication we worked with the BBC News Visual Journalism team and a London-based agency called Applied Works who had already performed some prototyping on visualising the results.

The Class Calculator asked just five of the most indicative questions which would give the best chance of distinguishing the most correct class from the new model. It wasn’t perfect, but it would certainly give most people an idea of where they fit into the research.

What next for BBC Lab UK?

2013 could be a bumper year for BBC Lab UK results. The Big Personality Test was launched in 2009 and 750,000 people have now taken part in the personality and life events survey.

Michael Johnson filming Can You Compete Under Pressure?

The results are likely to be written up in two or three academic papers and will analyse concepts such as could entrepreneurship be a facet of personality and do you conform to your regional personality stereotype?

There’s also the intriguing possibility of the data from Test Your Morality being presented as a new model of morality as it continues to be analysed by behavioural scientists at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

And the techniques of sports psychology received a thorough examination in Can You Compete Under Pressure? A unique experiment fronted by Olympic legend Michael Johnson.

We’re excited about the forthcoming results and looking forward to engaging with the British scientific community around the new combined datasets, generated by a unique collaboration with the BBC audience.

Michael Orwell is a producer in BBC Knowledge & Learning.

We recently held an event in London called Future Fiction and I want to share some of the insights from the day here.

Future Fiction posed the question: where next for drama? In recent years there has been a surge in new and disruptive platforms to distribute content. From Netflix’s distribution of House of Cards to Toshiba funding social media-driven films, change is in the air.

We gathered speakers from across the world of digital distribution and drama production. They discussed how the digital revolution is changing not only the way we consume drama but the way it is developed, produced and commissioned.

You can watch them in action on our YouTube channel or I have distilled some of their key points below.

Introducing ‘espresso fiction’

Shot-sized stories are winning, YouTube’s Rosie Alimonos told our audience of writers and digital creatives. Rosie noted the pulling power of online formats such as The Last and The Lizzie Bennet Diaries where the story develops in real time and the main character talks directly to the audience.

“Be a catalyst, pack a punch and leave them wanting more” is Rosie’s mantra for success for original programmes.

For writer Luke Hyams broadcasting original short-form content through YouTube and other online distribution channels is successful because it enables a connection to the audience, instant feedback and therefore more reactive storytelling.

Producers are able to make use of the specific data available to them and can adjust storylines according to audience behavior as in his popular online series KateModern.

Watch the Espresso Fiction playlist.

Does digital limit storytelling?

“Computers are stupid”. You don’t hear that often, but they remain inferior to writers in the storytelling process technologist Paul Rissen believes. (Best to watch this video of him belowexplaining why.) Essentially, more human touch is the key to development in this space said Nicole Yershon, director of innovative solutions at Ogilvy.

Watch the Limits of Digital playlist.

Keynote speech: Q&A with writer Peter Moffat

Box-set culture “is a great moment for television and the opportunities are profound.” Writer Peter Moffat says that video on demand combats audience inattention and lets the writer take more control.

Commending House of Cards and it’s method of distribution, he is still wary of the future for the series. Netflix reputedly used big data to determine the success of the show so he is mindful of the possibility that statistics will shape its future more that the writers.

Watch our keynote Q&A with writer Peter Moffat.

How can drama production be agile?

We talk of agile development in software teams, but iterative and incremental working can yield results in drama too.   ITV’s head of digital soaps Danny Whitfield is an advocate. It’s about “taking away that comfy chair, making the audience share the story, and create familiar frames in different places” to make innovation easier. 

Watch the Agile Drama playlist.

Formats for the future of fiction

Author Naomi Alderman wants objects to flow from the story world she creates into the real world of her audience. She’s had great success in turning the average jog into a zombie apocalypse in her app Zombies, Run!

Meanwhile, the case for perceptive media was offered by Ian Forrester from BBC Research and Development.  He sees a future with more immersive drama experiences, as the connected experience reacts to body gestures and analyses your data to offer a tailored experience.

Get closer to the discussion and Watch the Future Formats playlist.

The day was supported with workshops, such as lessons on the five-act structure by former BBC Drama Controller John Yorke. He argues that despite recent advances in technology, the fundamentals of storytelling remain the same.

So the future of fiction is not all about reinventing the wheel after all.

What do you want the future of fiction to look like?

Michael Kibblewhite is a producer for BBC Fusion.

Friday Night is Music Night

Gary Barlow is joining in with the orchestral fun

Watch the climax of Radio 2 Day with a spectacular edition of Friday Night Is Music Night, headlined by Gary Barlow. Among the other artists taking part are Sinead O'Connor, Jamie Cullum, Elaine Paige, Clare Teal and Mick Hucknall, all backed by the extraordinary 60-piece BBC Concert Orchestra conducted by Mike Dixon.

The orchestra will play the ultimate 'Friday Night Favourite' as voted for by Radio 2 listeners as well as classics from Shostakovich to Sondheim, Leonard Bernstein to the epic film music of John Williams.

A record number of Radio 2 stars will host this never to be repeated event, among them Ken Bruce, Jeremy Vine, Anneka Rice, Paul Gambaccini, Vanessa Feltz, Alex Lester, Richard Allinson, Janice Long and Bob Harris. Plus watch out for a surprise performance from Tony Blackburn, as you have never seen him before. The night will also feature the network's musical award winners including the Radio 2 Young Folk duo, the Radio 2 Young Choisters and the Young Brass award winner. Find out more here.

Available on Freesat/Sky/Virgin Media/Freeview

Friday 10 May, 7pm-9pm

Live Lounge

Rudimental perform on the Red Button this week

Sit back and relax as BBC Radio 1 brings you highlights of recent performances in the world-famous Live Lounge. This month’s show features Rudimental, Ben Howard and The 1975.

Rudimental are a drum and bass quartet who rose to prominence last year with their hit single Feel the Love, which topped the charts. They have since released Not Giving In and Waiting All Night, which also made it to the number one slot.

Ben Howard is a 26-year-old English singer-songwriter who has achieved success with his Mercury Prize-nominated album Every Kingdom who won two BRIT awards earlier this year. The 1975 are a Manchester alternative rock band who recently made the charts with their single Chocolate.

Available on Freesat/Sky/Virgin Media/Freeview

Monday 6 May, 12noon-Midnight

Tuesday 7 May, Midnight-2.15pm, 4.30pm-4.55pm, 5.30pm-7.45pm, 10pm-Midnight

Wednesday 8 May, Midnight-5.20pm, 7.25pm-Midnight

Thursday 9 May, Midnight-4.55pm, 5.30pm-10.25pm

Friday 10 May, 4am-10.35am, 1.15pm- 2.45pm, 4.20pm-5pm, 9pm-10pm

Strange Hill High

Brand new Strange Hill High is CBBC’s newest and strangest show and CBBC Extra is celebrating its arrival with Strange Hill Extra which is packed with exclusive content.

Chris and Dodge go behind the scenes to find out how the show was made, there are some unique character profiles, a sneak peek at what’s coming up in the next episode and look out for an exclusive Strange Hill High song from Ben and Dodge.

Plus you can read Chris and Dodge’s blog, check out the answers to some of your questions and read your horoscopes as written by Yonko.

Go on, press Red… you know you want to! 

Available on Freesat/Sky/Virgin Media/Freeview

Wednesday 8 May, 5.20pm–7.25pm

Watson & Oliver

Ingrid Oliver and Lorna Watson dressed as police officers

Have a chuckle on Red Button as Watson & Oliver take to the screens. The successful double act are winning praise for their many sketches featuring dancing girls, midwives, bear attacks, singing policewomen and more.

Available on Freesat/Sky/Virgin Media/Freeview

Thursday 9 May-Friday 10 May, 10.25pm-4am

Attenborough

Sir David Attenborough and his early years is the subject of a collection from BBC Four. Watch an interview with Sir David as he introduces highlights from the BBC Four collection on the Red Button.

Available on Freesat/Sky/Virgin Media/Freeview

Thursday 9 May, 4.55pm-5.30pm

Antiques Roadshow

Get up to speed with Antiques Roadshow at Chepstow Racecourse. This week family treasures are featured including medals from early Olympic Games, awarded when tug-of-war was a competing sport, a light bulb containing a painstakingly-made model of Lincoln Cathedral gifted by a German prisoner of war in World War 2 and perhaps the oddest and one of the oldest pieces of glass ever featured on the programme, which excites curiosity for its near-perfect condition over three hundred years after it was made.

You can now also play along on a mobile or tablet by downloading the play along app. Find out more and read the step-by-step instructions to play via Red Button. Don't forget to tweet your scores to #antiquesroadshow.

Available on Freesat/Sky/Virgin Media/Freeview

Sunday 5 May, 7.55pm-9pm

Sport highlights

Keep in the frame with the latter stages of the World Snooker Championship this weekend. We will have live action and highlights on Red Button from the Crucible in Sheffield so you can stay on cue with all the action. Final Score will feature all the ups and downs as the Premier League reaches its final stage while the Football League Show has all the action and reaction from the last day of the Championship season. 

If speed gets you revving, tune into the Red Button on Sunday for MotoGP action from Jerez in Spain with full coverage of the Moto2 and Moto3 races. The Badminton Horse Trials are also taking place with coverage on the Red Button this Sunday afternoon – enjoy live coverage from Gloucestershire. We’ll also have some big-hitting rugby with Scrum V on Sunday.

There will also be Super League highlights on Tuesday before we get on the grid for F1 practice in Spain on Friday. We’ll also be heading to Doha to watch the world’s best athletes in the Diamond League on Friday.

For the latest information, refer to the BBC Sport website.

Please note all Red Button times are subject to change at short notice.

Our site is a free online learning resource for the radio, television and online production community offering videos, podcasts and articles from broadcasting innovators and experts.

This week we’ve got some really interesting examples of how big shows are engaging their viewers in brand new experiences online.

Film on the making of Emmerdale Live

Starting with ITV’s Emmerdale, we’ve a look at how the team put together the multiplatform extras for their incredible live 40th anniversary episode.

For the show’s producers, the 40th anniversary offered all the usual high drama as well as a perfect opportunity to attempt a world first in social media and broadcast innovation – a live episode produced entirely on location running alongside a behind the scenes webcast.

Both experiences gave loyal Emmerdale fans a totally unique angle on the drama with video from behind the scenes broadcast live across the internet. The behind the scenes segments were shot using 11 strategically positioned minicams so online viewers could see the crew working and the actors being cued as the live drama went out on ITV1.

Winterwatch, the BBC’s live, interactive wildlife programme, has led the way in terms of audience engagement and cross-platform programming.

Setting up a shoot for Winterwatch

This film on how they’re constantly improving and expanding their brand – even after ten years – is a real testament to how the team have listened to their online audience and given them a chance to really get involved every step of the way.

Finally, as you’ll have seen elsewhere on these pages, the recent Fusion: Future Fiction event held by the BBC was a great opportunity to learn about using the online world to tell your story.

Our intrepid team got stuck in and can bring you this interesting guide to transmedia storytelling as well as a podcast featuring interviews with some of the key speakers on the day. Enjoy.

Paul Buller is an editor for the BBC College of Production website.