Object-Based Media on the Road - Discover for Yourself

Object-based media (OBM) is something that is extremely important to us at BBC R&D. OBM underpins our ambition to change the face of broadcasting and enable more personalised and interactive media experiences.

We’ve been working on stories which respond to your personality, new ways to explore drama or news, as well as a weather forecast that adapts to your screen size, device or accessibility needs. I’ve spoken to thousands of producers, creators and developers across Europe about our object-based work and the experiences like these that are possible because of it. Through those discussions it’s become clear that people have many questions, there has been confusion about what OBM is, and other people would like to know how to get involved themselves. So we’re going to do something about that.

• "Someday all content will be made this way."

Community of practice

We have started a community of practice aiming to pull together people and companies already working on adaptive narrative experiences. We believe that the object-based approach is the key to content creation of the future, one which uses the attributes of the internet to let us all make more personal, interactive, responsive content and by learning together we can turn it into something which powers media beyond the scope of the BBC.

The potential to offer benefits beyond the domain of public service broadcasting ultimately reflects our public remit to expand our perspective on what this technology can provide and how it could stimulate creativity and cultural excellence.

• BBC R&D - Object-Based Media
• BBC R&D - Cook-Along Kitchen Experience

There are three big aims...

• Awareness: Seek out people and organisations already interested in or working on adaptive narratives through talks, workshops and conferences
• Advocacy: demonstrating best practice in our work and methods as we explore object-based media and connecting people through networks like the Storytellers United slack channel and helping share perspectives and knowledge..
• Access: Early access to emerging software tools, to trial and shape the new technology together.

These aims are hugely important for the success and progress of object-based media.

Awareness events

Conferences are great but we take seriously our aims to reach new more diverse people and organisations. This includes a series of events around the country to raise awareness of OBM. Our schedule is nowhere near complete but we have been developing a workshop to build a link between the awareness and advocacy.

Our current plan is...

(Links will be added below as details become available, so keep checking this page for updates)

• December in London, as part of Digital Marketing Day
• Jan/Feb in Manchester, a mini-hackday event around object-based media

We also have aspiration to reach people in Birmingham, Leeds, Brighton and Liverpool.

For the record so far we have visited:

• May 18th in Newcastle - Newcastle Startup weekend
• May 31st in Cologne - Future Zone Summit
• June 10th in Edinburgh as part of Designing Reconfigurable Televisual Experiences
• June 22nd in Bristol at the Pervasive Media Studio
• July 7th in Manchester At HyperIsland
• July 13th in Berlin as part of Tech Open Air
• September 19th in Cardiff, as part of the Digital Festival
• September 27th at the University of York's Digital Creativity Labs
• October 23rd in London, a Mozfest pre-week partner event
• November at Sarajevo Unlimited, Bosnia & Herzegovina
• November 1st in Manchester, Digital Innovation Shed

We understand these locations do not work for everyone and you may ask why your city isn’t on the list?

We invite you to tell us about it. Is there an opportunity, community or conference we are missing; which could be a perfect fit for a talk or workshop about object based media? Email or tweet us and do tell us - we hope to see you at one of the events or conferences soon.

• “Someday all content will be created this way… by all of us.”

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• BBC R&D - Object-Based Media
• BBC R&D - Object-Based Media Toolkit
• BBC R&D - Our Vision of the Future
• The Next Web - How the BBC is building the future of broadcasting by blowing it up into little bits
• BBC R&D - Creating Adaptive Stories with Paper Tools
• BBC R&D - Cook Along Kitchen Experience
• BBC R&D - Visual Perceptive Media
• BBC R&D - Story Explorer
• BBC R&D - Newsbeat Explains

Picture used under Creative Commons Nickpiggott