Potential memorandum of understanding and collaboration with BBC
On 13 December I met with Bill Thompson and Jake Berger of the BBC to discuss the possibility of developing some opportunities for collaboration. The meeting was a result of finding that the BBC had recently signed memoranda of understanding with Mozilla, Europeana, Creative Commons and the Open Knowledge Foundation. Wikimedia UK wasn't aware of the initial conversations.
Bill and Jake are a part of the BBC's Archive Development Group and are keen to share their content as widely as possible – although in many cases the BBC doesn't actually own the rights.
We explored how we may be able to work together and the opportunities that there may be. It seems that projects related to data sets are of particular interest.
Some of the ideas discussed:
- To support a Wikimedian in Residence at the BBC
- The release of internal data sets relating to people and events from the BBC's toolkit
- To encourage the release of news broadcasts (radio, TV) of significant historical interest such as the Apollo 11 moon landings, the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II and the outbreak of the Second World War
- The live recording of music performances specifically for release under an open licence – and potentially the BBC Proms
- 2016 is the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare's death so there's potential for professional actors to record important speeches and scenes from his plays and the sonnets – all to be released openly
Please do share any ideas for collaboration that you might have. What results would you like to see from a collaboration with the BBC?
It's important to note that it can be easier to release new content than historical content due to existing licences and rights.
There are a few next steps that we can take but firstly I want to get an idea of how the community feels about any working relationship with the BBC so please do leave your thoughts on the talk page.
I will be looking to follow this up in January. Ed Saperia also had a useful conversation with them related to Wikimania.