We were invited by the BBC’s Innovation department to develop some prototypes for their bbc.co.uk site. We developed - BlipNews - an environment developed for on the fly annotation. Its approach differs dramatically from existing forms of online dialogue: annotations are never written or viewed out of context. The design emphasised focused and constructive contribution, easy search and navigation of annotations, and a concise visualisation of the impact of an article.

Background

We were one of ten lucky agencies to have been selected for the BBC’s first ever Innovation Labs. We spent a week in the luxurious surroundings of the Eagle Hotel in Suffolk developing prototypes for ‘Blip News’ (formerly known as ‘the readers’ browser’) a tool allowing bbc.co.uk readers to annotate BBC news reports on the fly. Our proposal focused on the power of asking a good and incisive question, a key skill in broadening the scope of any topic.

Research

Our proposal was in response to, what we thought were, inadequate forms of feedback, response and dialogue used within the bbc for their news journalism.

In the present climate, with the continuing rise in popularity of blogs and in particular political news blogs, the BBC and their professional journalists are under more and more pressure and scrutiny to produce up to the minute accurate and engaging reports.

The BBC already has some mechanisms and systems in place for dialogue and debate with its audience, such as ‘have your say’ and the ‘newsnight forums’ and various radio message boards.

But there are probably as many opinions as there are readers and those with the loudest, and not necessarily most well informed, opinions get heard. Forums and discussion lists can deteriorate into a slanging match of polarised opinion, or spiral down into obscure conspiracy theories. Neither add much value to the news report.

Concept

What our prototype tried to encourage was focused and constructive contribution to the news. The whole system is focused around the ability to write good and incisive questions, a key skill for any aspiring journalist.

The process encourages a reader to highlight a particular part of text they want to comment about and then they are invited to formulate their particular comment or query into a question.

Questions help people channel their thoughts and discourage unfounded rants and conspiracy theories which are sometimes presented as serious debate.

We were quite convinced that the interface (not only as a system) but as a visual and spacial element could have a positive effect on how readers and potential commentators would interact with the service. Annotations are shown only in relation to the original news report. This visualisastion (of keeping report and comment both in view) we thought would help cognitively with potential commentators keeping to the point.

Our reseach on existing lists and discussions was that whilst commentators found the experience cathartic for the reader the discourse and arguments were disjointed. This was mainly to do with the linear representation of the comments and because the comments where visually distanced from the original report.

In some cases responses posted during the course of four hours could flow over ten pages. This had two effects, people responding to the latest post found their response 4 pages apart. It also encouraged a lot of reposting. Posters felt that their point was lost as was now on page 4 so felt compelled to re-iterate their point and post again. Whilst it might be therapeautic and enjoyable for the posters, it doesn’t necessarily add significant value to the wider news reading audience.

Scenario

We proposed to develop an application that supported on the fly annotation (by readers) of existing articles. The optional function allowed the reader to ‘toggle’ between the press version and the ‘blip news’ version.

The following is a scenario we used to frame the proposal.

News comes through on the ticker at the news room at the beginning of the day. Authorities are investigating a case of Bird Flu on the Orkney Isles. The details concern a farm where according to the news ticker dozens of chickens have been found dead. The journalist writes up the report and files it on the site.

One of the few farmers on the Orkny’s is following the news. He reads the report and spots a specific mistake which he feels makes the whole report misleading: There were no chickens involved, it was 5 ducks found dead on the farms land.

He toggles over to Blip News, he wants to add an annotation. Being, as he reckons a first hand source, he wants to register, so that his annotation can be followed up and have more of a likely hood to be taken seriously.

On the blip news interface he highlights the specific bit of news the he wants to query. As mentioned before the process of adding annotations, is based on the idea of asking questions. If you ask an incisive and insightful question you are more likely to get a good answer and further the discussion, this is what the interface encourages.

The local tourist board on the Orkeny is also following the news and feels that article is misleading on this particular point too. Curious to see if anyone has commented on it they toggle to the ‘blip news” version and are glad to find the particular details have already been highlighted.

They read the farmers’ query and feel that the question raised a very good point and subsequently they want to reccommend the farmers annotation. So they decide to register with blip news, giving their details as credible sources. They reccommend the annotation.

Because of a combination of the specificness of the query and the credibility from the contributors providing details) of the sources, the annotation reaches a level where the journalist is then notified. He then can decide in whether it is worth double checking his sources. In this instance because of the insightfulness of the query he double checks his source and realises that there were some omissions. He updates his orginal report accordingly.

Benefits

This approach certainly challenges conventions on how news is consumed and in a time when the role of the professional journalists is being quesitoned it also enables the BBC to demonstrate how and to which degree the BBC’s News and reporting of Facts is accessible.

From our research many people, especially those who have come from overseas to Britain, sometimes feel news concerning their country or home has been misrepresented or that some facts has simply been omitted or wrong. This proposal allows these people to defend themselves and allows the journalist to respond and diversfy their reporting. The open dialogue also encourages curiosity and creativity from the viewers.