Connected Studio 3: Update and CBeebies
Teams hard at work at the Creative Studio, getting their concepts ready to pitch
Weather and Travel Creative Studio
On Tuesday June 12th the Google Campus was host to the second Creative Studio - part of the BBC Connected studio programme. The focus this time was on Weather and Travel.
Suitably enough it was pouring with rain as the attendees arrived but at least that reminded us why the British are obsessed with the weather.
The day kicked off with a briefing from our guests Liz Howell, Head of BBC Weather and Jo Wickremasinghe, Head of Product for Weather & Travel News, providing context for the teams and explaining where they saw the opportunities for innovation within the BBC Weather product.
It was great to see everyone so eager to crack on, and I had barely finished my introduction before the attendees were breaking out to start a day that proved to be fruitful and full of creative innovation.
Some teams came already formed, some came together on the day, but all found space and some wifi across two floors of Google Campus and got on with developing their ideas.
It was the first time Connected Studio had ventured away from a BBC site and the venue was brilliant. Aa big thank you goes to the team at Google Campus.
We once again held our 'Speakers' Corner', informal sessions where BBC staff shared their knowledge.
There were talks on:
- the technical platform and data the teams had to play with
- location services, audience and market insight
- UXD
- how to use paper prototypes to demonstrate and test ideas
Being only our second Creative studio, we were keen to maintain the spirit of collaboration and we weren't disappointed. The "show and tell" at the end of the day saw pitches from teams that mixed BBC staff, freelancers, agencies and the Met Office.
In all we had more than 60 attendees at the event, and 25 concepts presented at the end of the day. As we saw at the Homepage, Search, and Navigation (HPSN) event the standards were high, and after a final selection session on Tuesday we have invited teams comprising attendees from 383, MilkyTea, CTI, The Swarm, Nixon McInnes, and Kite, to work alongside staff from across the BBC at next week's Build Studio at MozSpace.
Pilots from the HPSN events
The HPSN Build Studio judging panel have agreed which concepts will move forward to the next stage in the process - development into functional pilots.
We have approached Kent Lyons, Red Badger, and Goss Interactive as well as Fiona Iglesias from the BBC.
Thanks to all those who worked so hard at the Build Studio - we hope that you still found the experience enjoyable and worthwhile even if your idea didn't picked up to be a pilot.
Next up: CBeebies
The next Creative Studio will be for CBeebies up in Salford's MediaCityUK on July 12 - this will be followed by the Build Studio on July 24/25, also in Salford.
The Creative Studio is open to companies of all sizes and individuals with relevant experience and expertise and is a great opportunity to gain insight into the CBeebies product, collaborate with BBC staff, and pitch for your idea to be developed into a pilot.
You can read the brief (MS Office .doc) and if you want to get involved please read the application details.
To express your interest in future Studios, please contact ConnectedStudios@bbc.co.uk. Follow @BBC_Connected for updates, visit bbcconnectedstudio.co.uk for more information, and comment or ask questions below.
Adrian Woolard is the Project Director, North Lab, BBC Research and Development and is responsible for Phase 1 of the Connected Studio programme
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