Category: Broadcaster's Lounge
for listeners of the bbc.
The BBC's hugely ambitious new radio series, A History of the World in 100
Objects, comes with an even more ambitious website
http://www.bbc.co.uk/ahistoryoftheworld/explorerflash/ that encourages
users to submit items of their own for a place in world history.
The site, which went live yesterday, offers video and a 'zoom in' facility
that allows users to examine photos of around 700 objects from across the UK
in detail. Experts provide background information on each object's page, and
give users some historical context for each item. There will be localised
and interactive elements. And the radio programmes will be permanently
available for listening or downloading.
"The unique thing online is that you can listen to and explore the object at
the same time," says Andrew Caspari, head of speech radio interactive at the
BBC.
As well as the 100 British Museum objects from the Radio 4 series, it will
offer content from more than 350 museums across the UK as the project gains
momentum through 2010. They will each tell a local version of the history of
the world, and will also be featured on the BBC Local websites. "We work
closely with the local museums, who have all worked to reflect on the idea
what their region contributed to the history of the world," says Caspari.
Users can also upload content on an object that they own and explain its
significance.
"It is a huge project. I would say in terms of everything we have done this
is the biggest digital project we have taken part in," says Caspari.
"It is a participation project. We ask what object do you, the listener,
have in your posession, that you believe has a global significance? We want
to start a debate on two levels. We want a meta-discussion on the blog about
what objects work, and what the nation has and how people engage with the
object. And we want a discussion about each object on the object's site."
The uploaded objects will get pre-moderated and curated by the site's
editors. A map shows the users objects from specific areas. Besides the
regional approach, the objects can be sorted by culture, themes, colour,
material, size, and more.
The first local focus will be on Scottland, presenting the earliest
surviving Scottish banknote and the oldest football in the world.
"We hope everyone can get involved by uploading pictures of their objects to
the BBC's A History Of The World website to help tell the story of
Scotland's influence on the world and, in turn, the world's influence on
Scotland," says the BBC project manager for A History of the World in
Scotland, Angela Roberts.