Mastodawn

BBC Research & Development

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

BBC Research & Development Jul 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

Home page

mybarkingdogs Jul 31, 2023

@BBCRD Maybe you could do something about your institutional transphobia while you’re at it. Many of us have long memories.

Figaro Jul 31, 2023

@BBCRD Awesome! So I recognize I'm just yelling into the abyss right now, but what the people want is a 24 hour live feed of life from the perspective of a random stray cat. Multiple stray cats. You can call it BBC-C1, C2, etc. All the political bullshit, honestly everyone is tired of it. Give us some premium cat content.

Bytebro 🇬🇧 🇺🇦 🇬🇱Jul 31, 2023

@figaro @BBCRD I mean *everybody* would watch that!

Mikko Husari Jul 31, 2023

Please verify your account. It is easy and costs nothing.

Chris Young Jul 31, 2023

@husku @BBCRD The domain verifies them. Whilst the tick is nice, only official accounts are on that domain anyway: https://www.bbc.co.uk/rd/blog/2023-07-mastodon-distributed-decentralised-fediverse-activitypub

The BBC on Mastodon: experimenting with distributed and decentralised social media

Trialling ActivityPub and the federated model for social media and it's possibilities for the BBC.

BBC R&D

Steven Reed Jul 31, 2023

@husku it is, AFAICS?

Epistatacadam Jul 31, 2023

@BBCRD Croeso!
I hope your radio programmes will have a presence on the fediverse @social.bbc soon?

Theriac Jul 31, 2023

@BBCRD
Cool - can I suggest trying other apps - there are a lot of quality of life improvements out there - seach, quoting, filters, friendlier UI, etc
https://joinfediverse.wiki/Apps

Apps - Join the Fediverse

Comrade Weez Jul 31, 2023

@BBCRD bring me some heckin iplayer that works in Straya, that's the experience I'm looking for 😀👍

Mikee Aug 1, 2023

@weezmgk @BBCRD hahaha yes please.

Renewable Guydraulic Menergy Jul 31, 2023

heads up: posting here hasn't been called TOOT'ing ever since lead Mastodon developer Grargrorn determined anything remotely fun or endearing must be scrubbed from the product.

consider as an alternative to those trumpet emojis, you could instead end that post with two 📰 emojis and say "Publish Publish!" everyone would like that very much.

BBC Research & Development Jul 31, 2023

@jackdaw_ruiz It's never not gonna be a toot for some of us!

Clinton Anderson SwordForHire Jul 31, 2023

@BBCRD @jackdaw_ruiz

#TootForLife

Ross of Ottawa Jul 31, 2023

@BBCRD @jackdaw_ruiz #TeamToot

Dick Smiths Fair Go Supporters Aug 1, 2023

@jackdaw_ruiz @BBCRD
Welcome to fediverse, BBC. We hope this is a sign that BBC are ready to embrace narratives around ethics of decentralised and federated systems even if they use some electricity.

When you say "#openSource, so everyone benefits" would that mean FOSS? If so you may be able to have apps listed in #FDroid and other places good software is found.

For a more correct fediverse icon for one's website:
http://git.disroot.org/fediOrigami/fediOrigami

We have attached the Peertube

fediOrigami

The icon for Fediverse

Disroot Forgejo: Brace yourself, merge conflicts ahead.

JdeBP Aug 2, 2023

@BBCRD @jackdaw_ruiz

Conclusion: The BBC likes fart jokes from YouTube.

#BBC #TwitterMigration

Zorin =^o.o^=Jul 31, 2023

@jackdaw_ruiz @BBCRD No. They're still called toots. We the users cannot let the developer dictate the adorableness of our platform.

TOOT TOOT. 🎺

Please see the results of my super-scientific poll here:

https://tiggi.es/@zorinlynx/110798527764671014

Firehorseart Lives!Aug 2, 2023

@zorinlynx @jackdaw_ruiz @BBCRD

In the Tusky app, the button to create a post is still labelled TOOT!

#TeamToot

Stephen Ball Jul 31, 2023

@jackdaw_ruiz @BBCRD It’s still very much “toot” for the excellent “Toot!” app and many instances.

Joe Cooper 🇺🇦 🍉Jul 31, 2023

@jackdaw_ruiz @BBCRD I'mma keep tooting.

Gemma 👽Jul 31, 2023

@jackdaw_ruiz @BBCRD
My Pull Request labeling the button ”Extree, extree, read all about it” was sadly rejected.

David Schoppik Aug 1, 2023

@prettyhuman @jackdaw_ruiz @BBCRD have you considered “wuxtree?”

Greg Haas Aug 3, 2023

@BBCRD @jackdaw_ruiz
#TeamToot forevermore

Jeff Moe Jul 31, 2023

Are you going to find new ways to do surveillance, like you have implemented on your other web sites?

For instance, going to the BBC's website connects to many servers that only do surveillance tracking.

Are you going to bring that to the Fediverse?

See graphic I just generated now showing all the tracking your readers are subjected to.

Chris Snazell Jul 31, 2023

@BBCRD honestly, what I want is for BBC Sounds to go away. I've already paid for the content once via license fee & taxation, paying again by letting the BBC index my listening habits via Sounds isn't something I'm interested in agreeing to.

GunChleoc Jul 31, 2023

@BBCRD If you wish to connect to your German colleagues, here's a list: https://chaos.social/@OeRR_bewegen/110479235048607918

ÖRR_bewegen ☑️ (@[email protected])

Öffentlich-rechtlicher Rundfunk (#ÖRR) im Fediverse Aktualisiert am 03.06.2023 ▶️ DEUTSCHLAND @[email protected] @[email protected] @[email protected] @[email protected] @[email protected] @[email protected] @[email protected] 🆕 @[email protected] ▶️ ÖSTERREICH (derzeit kein #ORF im Fediverse) ▶️ SCHWEIZ (derzeit kein #SRF im Fediverse) ▶️ #Rundfunkdatenschutzbeauftragte von BR, HR, MDR, SR, SWR, WDR, Deutschlandradio, ZDF: @[email protected] #ÖRRbewegen #ARD #ZDF #Rundfunk #Fernsehen #3sat #SWR3 #NDR #tagesschau #ÖRR #BR24

chaos.social

GeofCox Jul 31, 2023

Good to see the BBC here.
It would also be good if, as a public service that doesn't advertise particular commercial products/services, you stopped posting on Twitter and similar - or at least stopped promoting them via links, logos, etc.

yeah, matty, again Jul 31, 2023

@BBCRD welcome to Mastodon! Now that you here, a little reminder that your instance can and will be defederated should you decide to follow BBC editorial guidelines and promote far-right and transphobic views under a twisted interpretation of impartiality, thanks and welcome again!

🇳𝗮ꜟ𝖼𝘩 Jul 31, 2023

@mattymedlyn @BBCRD
Well said.

Smbsy Jul 31, 2023

BBC One
BBC Two
BBC Toot?

Chris Walter Jul 31, 2023

@BBCRD Welcome! It would be great to see World Service content too.

Grant_H Jul 31, 2023

@ChrisWalter @BBCRD as a voice from the colonies, it would be good, indeed.

Chris Walter Jul 31, 2023

@BBCRD As one example, I used to follow @OverToYouBBC on Twitter. It would be great if I could follow them again here.

@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!

Jeremy Kahn Jul 31, 2023

@davidgerard

Thank you for your service here David

Wouldn't it be nice if this was the first place they listened

@trochee i'm sure we'll turn the whole state media machine around using mastodon as a lever

Jeremy Kahn Jul 31, 2023

@davidgerard

Give me a lever long enough and a fulcrum on which to place it, and I shall move the world.
— Archimedes

Where
— "lever" is to be read as "allied moderation load sharing across instances"
— "fulcrum" as "coalition moderation policy with teeth"

Mike Knell Jul 31, 2023

@davidgerard @BBCRD There always has to be one, doesn’t there?

⁂ Fish Id Wardrobe Jul 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?

Mike Knell Jul 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.

⁂ Fish Id Wardrobe Jul 31, 2023

@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.

@fishidwardrobe @davidgerard

Mike Knell Jul 31, 2023

-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.

⁂ Fish Id Wardrobe Jul 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".

@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.

quixote Jul 31, 2023

@m @fishidwardrobe @davidgerard @BBCRD Thank you, Mike, for saying this! I was trying to figure out how to say the same thing.

Faith

@fishidwardrobe @davidgerard @BBCRD

If, even just for one moment, you listen to trans people, many of us are going to tell you that the BBC is institutionally transphobic at this point in time.

Sure, there are well meaning people there, but their overall policy is not in a good place.

It isn't a case of "the odd clanger" - it's the whole approach, and the language used to discuss us.

David Gerard Aug 1, 2023

@JustFaith @m @fishidwardrobe @BBCRD yes. anyone denying this either (a) doesn't know what they're talking about or (b) is a fan of it

Krankenbrüder Aug 1, 2023

@JustFaith @m @fishidwardrobe @davidgerard @BBCRD

The BBC, Guardian, Labour Party, and UK appear to be institutionally transphobic.

We expect the right to be transphobic in the US. The TERF Island difference is the center-left also being majority transphobe.

@JustFaith @m @fishidwardrobe @davidgerard @BBCRD is it better to let them carry on in isolation or to actively give negative feedback? Feels like a block deprives us of the ability to call out bad behavior. I'm open to being wrong, but please explain why?

David Gerard Aug 1, 2023

@samthurston @JustFaith @m @fishidwardrobe @BBCRD you could certainly argue the concept of a federation with social rules that it enforces by shunning repeat bad actors from first principles here, indeed you could just federate with gab.ai in the hope of converting them through logic and reason

or the rest of us could not do that

@davidgerard @JustFaith @m @fishidwardrobe @BBCRD gab is explicitly bad actors whereas BBC probably just responds to market forces. On Twitter and Facebook the clickbait rage machine fuels "reporting the controversy" but that incentive is gone here? Then again bbc has been getting a lot of "hate coverage" here the last few days so maybe not.

@samthurston @JustFaith @m @fishidwardrobe @BBCRD

David Gerard Aug 1, 2023

> BC probably just responds to market forces.

if you are literally claiming that the BBC's editorial transphobia is "market forces", then you are an idiot or a liar.

@davidgerard @m @fishidwardrobe @BBCRD

@davidgerard @JustFaith @m @fishidwardrobe @BBCRD tldr I see your point. Equating BBC with gab seems extreme but I admit to falling in the "do not know what I am talking about" category

That's one of the biggest challenges in talking about the impact of institutional transphobia - lots of people who aren't impacted by it, wanting to make their thoughts and opinions known.

While nobody listens to the trans people who are directly impacted.

@JustFaith @davidgerard @m @fishidwardrobe @BBCRD

Well I am directly impacted inasmuch as my kids are... And my statement was probabilistic not definitive. I'm here to learn though.

Mx. Luna Corbden 🐸Jul 31, 2023

@davidgerard @BBCRD I believe this is a reasonable position. I am seeing instances immediately defederating and calling on others to do so and that is a very bad idea.

@corbden @BBCRD i'll say give them their chance

(though I'm not sanguine that we're going to somehow pivot the state transphobia engine using Mastodon as a lever, but still, worth asking nicely)