On September 24th 2015, Leeds Becket University and BBC welcomed CIRCOM Regional Executive Committee members for "Technology and Content in Public Service Broadcasting: The Future" seminar
Participants were Welcomed by David Lowen, Chair of the Board of Governors, Leeds Beckett University and Professor Mohammad Dastbaz, Dean and Pro Vice Chancellor of the Faculty of Arts, Environment & Technology, Leeds Beckett University
Speakers and topics discussed:
Peter Weitzel, Honorary Secretary and Treasurer UK Section, Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers
The Changing Technology of Content
There are widespread changes in the technology and equipment and thus methods by which Television is made and how our viewers expect to receive and view it. Looking first at the production aspects – the effect of file based production and the future effects of UHD and IP will be considered with insight into when the technology will become widely used. After looking at a wider media landscape the ways by which the audience views – and thus who delivered what to a ensure that content is delivered everywhere – Broadcast IP Multicast etc. and what this is doing to affect production.
Sarah Cooper, Course Leader, Leeds Beckett University
Haptics and Media: Journalistic Content Consumption
Our consumption of journalistic content is dependent upon a number of factors, with haptics being one. My research concentrates on how haptics can impact upon the way in which we consume this content. For instance, do we interpret the same journalistic content in a different way if the ‘device’ (and I apply that term to both traditional print and modern technology) has haptic implications? Though my PhD focuses on magazines and newspapers, it does explore current research into haptics, and this takes in the idea of ‘ultra haptics’ – applicable to broadcast journalistic content.
Chelsea Reid, PhD Research Student, Leeds Beckett University
Is Traditional Public Service Broadcasting in Decline?
With many companies coming under scrutiny and needing to justify their funding models, it may be time for a change in how we disseminate information via public service broadcasting. With constant debate surrounding the BBC licensing fee, the idea of switching to a more innovative method of communicating ideas, social networking sites, is increasingly probable. No longer will consumers be the “end game” of a broadcast, but they will now have the option to interact with businesses and create a more immersive and equal experience.
Dr Johan Lindén, Secretary General, CIRCOM Regional
Redefining Broadcasting and your Relation to What Used to be Called the Audience
Over the last three years SVT has restructured the company according to the demographic changes in the country and the changes in the media landscape. The changes cover almost all aspects of the organisation and the mind sets of the staff. To mention a few; news is not any longer live on broadcast (since the mobile is the first news source), studios are remote controlled in order to put more journalists in the field and the citizens are part of the production as researchers and editors.
Gerard Schuiteman, Managing Director, Stichting ROOS
How Dutch TV News Turns Viewers into Users
Only a few years ago, traditional media, saw the internet and social media as competitors of our stations and our channels. But in fact these competitors helped us to survive and even to develop: without Facebook, Twitter and others, traditional media would still be in the middle-ages of media developments. No-one could predict their enormous impact and how they help us nowadays to interact with our audiences. Regional public service broadcasters were one of the first in the Netherlands to develop an online strategy and gained a number four position of all media companies with it. But there’s no time to sit back and relax.
Hugo Smith, Senior Lecturer, School of Computing Creative Technology & Engineering, Leeds Beckett University
Doing Public Good; Finding the Right Values for Modern Broadcasters and their Audiences
As a documentary film-maker and Television Producer, Hugo wanted his work to change the world for the better. A perhaps surprising number of his peers, colleagues and bosses wanted this too. But in a world where Broadcasters are oft-exposed as exploiting their programme contributors and ‘the media’ blamed for creating a less good society does broadcasting do good at all? Should broadcasters seek to educate and inform? Should Public Service Broadcasters seek to entertain? Is ‘good’ only for Public Service Broadcasters organisations? Or for all broadcasters? Hugo discussed his experience making Channel 4’s Kevin McCloud And The Big Town Plan, a 5-year urban regeneration project with accompanying Television Series which was nominated for the Royal Television Society Programme Awards as best factual series. Did the project do good? And how would we measure that good, if it did? Can we develop a share-able, compare-able metric for measuring good and if we do, what exactly are the essential ingredients it should measure?
Welcome from Professor Mohammad Dastbaz, Dean and Pro Vice Chancellor of the Faculty of Arts, Environment & Technology, Leeds Beckett University
The Faculty of Arts, Environment & Technology is one of the largest faculties within Leeds Beckett University, with more than 7,000 students and 600 staff. We offer a vibrant environment for research and enterprise in subjects such as: Computer Science, Creative & Information Technologies, Engineering, Environmental Studies, Media, Music, Film, Performance, Dance, Cultural Studies, Humanities, Arts, Architecture and Design.
The internationally-recognised research work produced by our staff and students, which averages at more than 150 outputs annually, includes journal articles, conference papers, books and book chapters, keynote presentations, art exhibitions, film, music and dance performances. We typically generate more than £2.5 million worth of research and enterprise income on an annual basis.
The Faculty, is home to “Leeds Sustainability Institute” and “Centre for Culture and Arts” and has ten different research groups, more than 150 postgraduate research students and over 500 taught postgraduate students, enjoys extensive contacts with international industrial and academic partners.
We have a wide range of state of the art facilities which includes professional music recording and film studies, dedicated network security and digital forensic, electronics and food engineering labs, laser cutting and 3D printing to high specification.