Remix the Beeb

Auntie has her own developer network: BBC Backstage is a set of feeds and APIs for remixing the BBc's online content.

backstage.bbc.co.uk attempts to encourage and support those who have provided most of the innovation on the inernet - the passionate, highly-skilled & public-spirited developers and designers many of whom volunteer their time and effort.

In the past the BBC has not always encouraged such "amateur innovators", however public-spirited their intentions and products. backstage.bbc.co.uk aims to foster a newly constructive and open dialogue with the wider development community using BBC content and tools to deliver public value.

As you might imagine given the "Remix" theme of this year's Emerging Technology Conference, I am truly tickled by this news. From my visit last year to the BBC to the time I've spent both online and in person with the the mob of BBC developers and designers I've come to know over the past few years, I've been enjoying that particular brand of creator/hacker/thinker the Beeb tends to attract.

The prototypes already underway include a WikiProxy (BBC News + Wikipedia) and programme archive search. And I can't resist putting in my own LazyWeb request for an app that'll find, bundle, and download all parts of a four part radio play hidden in plain sight in the Listen Again archive...