BBC Research & DevelopmentJul 31, 2023
hello, world
Show threadBBC Research & DevelopmentJul 31, 2023

Hi! 👋 Here's our #introduction.

We're BBC Research & Development; we explore and test new technology to discover how the BBC can best make use of it in the future.

For 100 years our engineers have been at the forefront of developments in broadcasting.

We're now researching how everyone could get TV & radio via the internet – along with all the flexibility and creativity that brings.

5G, AI, next-gen audio, UHD, personal data… we are investigating all these – and more!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rzztGFXYR1Y

BBC R&D 2022 Highlights

YouTube
Show threadBBC Research & DevelopmentJul 31, 2023

We do all of this to bring audiences new, immersive and accessible experiences.

We also look at how technology can help the production process. We prototype and test new tools, create datasets, open-source our work, work with partners in the industry and publish our research so that everyone can benefit.

Find out more about all this on our website https://www.bbc.co.uk/rd

We’re now exploring Mastodon, so please follow us - we’ll update you with what we are working on in our labs.

🎺Toot Toot!🎺

Home page - BBC R&D

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Show threadDavid GerardJul 31, 2023
@BBCRD hi! Be sure to let your broadcasters know that transphobia is against the rules of most of the Fediverse, and if they talk the way they do in broadcast then your server may not be federated as long as you may hope. That also applies to "just asking questions" rhetoric about trans people or racism, 'cos we weren't born yesterday. Cheers and good luck keeping the stars behaving!
Show threadMike KnellJul 31, 2023
@davidgerard @BBCRD There always has to be one, doesn’t there?
Show thread⁂ Fish Id WardrobeJul 31, 2023
@m @davidgerard @BBCRD There's probably more than one person that doesn't like transphobia, Mike. Might be as many as a dozen. Who knows, maybe more?
Show threadMike KnellJul 31, 2023

@fishidwardrobe @davidgerard @BBCRD I don't like transphobia either, but claiming the BBC is editorially transphobic because it's occasionally included (intentionally or unintentionally) transphobic voices in its millions of hours of broadcast output is like claiming it's pro-armageddon because some people on the news supported renewing Trident. No media outlet with a decent amount of editorial independence gets everything right every time and there are a couple of real clangers on the Beeb's record as far as transphobic stuff goes, but that doesn't mean it's somehow policy. That's conspiracy theory stuff.

I'm not getting into what is and isn't transphobic - that is far above my pay grade, it's for trans people to decide and certainly not me (although I appreciate help understanding what and why because whew, when it comes to privilege I tick almost all of the boxes except the mental health one) and I'm certainly not interested in policing other peoples' responses. That's not an interesting conversation. But at the same time, this kind of 1+1=20 approach doesn't seem to help at all.

Show thread⁂ Fish Id Wardrobe

@m @davidgerard @BBCRD The key word here is "editorial". Someone chose to air those voices. That was a bad choice. The BBC has a history of "both-sides"ing things that it really, really should not.

It has a duty to address that in a grown-up way and not duck the issue. We have a duty to hold them to account – again, in a grown-up way.

Jul 31, 2023 at 8:06pmWeb
Show threadMike KnellJul 31, 2023

@fishidwardrobe @davidgerard

-BBCRD

We both agree on that, for sure. What I don’t see as holding anyone to account, though, is the idea that you hold people to account in a community by being weirdly confrontational at them the moment they appear, especially when the people you’re doing that at have no link to what you’re talking about. Hence my response to things like immediate demands for social.bbc to be fediblocked.

Trust but verify remains a great rule of thumb. Sure, there are certain individuals and organisations who’ve shown that they can’t be trusted not to say horrible things at all. If garbage people like Andrew Tate show up here my tiny instance will block them on sight and probably the instance that was unwise enough to give them an account as well. But I don’t think I’d put the Beeb in that bucket and certainly not their R&D department who are a bunch of nerds with a huge record of inventing some of the core technologies driving broadcasting and none at all of saying contentious things on the news.

Show thread⁂ Fish Id WardrobeJul 31, 2023
@m @davidgerard Oh lets not fediblock them. But let's not dismiss folks who raise concerns, even right off the bat, with crap like "there's always one".
Show threadDavid GerardJul 31, 2023
@fishidwardrobe @m @BBCRD i know *many* trans people the editorial side of the BBC has treated atrociously, all the way up to Newsnight. There are massive piles of behavioural evidence. I have no hesitation in calling the BBC institutionally transphobic. I do so on the evidence. Mike is in Austria so may not be aware of how appalling the BBC is of late.