The ideas wall at a recent Connected Studio

The next couple of weeks are set to be very busy for the Connected Studio team as we prepare for a new year which will involve our back to back Creative Studios - BBC iPlayer and News.

We are still in the middle of our BBC Sport events which I will be posting a full update on soon but for now I am very happy to say that the iPlayer Innovation Brief has been released today and can be found on the Connected Studio site.

The iPlayer product team has focused on three themes:

1. Encouraging users in a continuous experience - what's the easiest and most natural journey from one programme to the next or deeper into related content?

2. Reminding users there's a smart alternative - how could iPlayer remind existing users to return more often? How can iPlayer reach out to users wherever they are? How can existing users help to make the first experience of non-users less overwhelming?

3. Enabling the discovery of hidden treasures - how can we make the browsing experience better, uncovering less obvious gems for new audiences?

A very important thing to note when getting to grips with this Brief is that the iPlayer team are not looking for dual screen/companion ideas or ideas that focus on individual programmes, but rather enhancements that scale across the product.

They will of course consider ideas for specific devices or platforms if they answer the challenges above.

We are now open to applications and details of how to get involved are on our website. The iPlayer Creative Studio does have the potential to fill up quickly - one way to keep right up to date is to join our mailing list, which you can do by emailing connectedstudios@bbc.co.uk

Please find details of our event schedule below:

• December 18-19: Sport Build Studio - Salford
• January 22: TV iPlayer Creative Studio - London
• January 21: News Creative Studio - London
• February 11-12: TV iPlayer Build Studio - London
• February 13-14: News Build Studio - London
• February 21: Knowledge and Learning Creative Studio - Salford
• March 5: Radio and Music Creative Studio - London
• March 13-14: Knowledge and Learning Build Studio - Salford
• April 23-24: Radio and Music Build Studio - London

If you would like to know more about Creative Studio pilots now in development Eleni Sharp, Senior Product Manager for Homepage has been working with Red Badger on their HPSN pilot Now and has written a great blog on how they are getting on.

Adrian Woolard is Programme Lead, BBC Connected Studio.

Two participants in a Connected Studio event in MediaCityUK in Salford earlier this year

So after my last post where I shared a few lines on each of the current pilots, it's back to business as usual for the Connected Studio team.

A number of teams have just been selected to come back for the UX&D Build studio next week. The CBBC judging will take place this week to decide which concepts go forward to piloting. Both were / will be really difficult decisions given range and quality of concepts. We will blog updates about both of these in next few weeks.

This post is to share our big news is that with a month to go before the BBC Sport Creative Studio on November 21 in Salford, the BBC Sport Innovation Brief is now live and ready for you to get your teeth into - the key headlines being:

• With the use of data - how do we make armchair fans even more interested/ informed/ excited/ engaged in major sporting events like the Winter Olympics, Commonwealth Games, World Cup and Wimbledon in 2014?

• Atmosphere is a big motive for audiences attending live sports events but what is the digital equivalent?

• If fans were in control of BBC Sport Online, what would they do with the product?

What the brief also highlights is the broad split in our Audience with 'Sports fans' having a prime interest in one sport, with the 'main eventers' focusing more on our coverage of Wimbledon and the World Cup etc. What they do have in common though is their enjoyment of live content, something that the Sports product team are very keen on us exploring in this Connected Studio.

As ever, the BBC Connected Studio is open to applications from anyone in the field, and is not closed to those who work in the delivery of the BBC Sport digital product. However, we are expecting a lot of interest in this Creative Studio, so when you apply please take extra time to think about the example of your previous work you send us and make it as relevant to the brief and subject as possible.

With all this in mind, have a good read of the brief and if you have not done so before head to our website for further information, dates and FAQs. Then if you want to attend look at the details on how to get involved and send an email.

Adrian Woolard is Programme Lead, BBC Connected Studio

The ideas wall at a recent Connected Studio event

As we enter the autumn and Connected Studio starts its next wave of Studio events, I'd like to bring you up to date with the first 10 concepts that have been selected to be developed into functional pilots. The following were all pitched at the first three Creative Studio events held earlier this year - HPSN, Weather & Travel and CBeebies.

Before we get into the detail I just want to state a little disclaimer that these all are working titles, and in various early stages of development. The concepts are not necessarily going to become future products and their pilots will be testing certain key unknowns - some of which will be going through user testing.

Connected Studio One: Homepage, Search & Navigation

BBC Genius - Kent Lyons

A one click personalised view of the BBC based on your browsing history. BBC Genius provides users a service that allows personalisation the BBC Home page based upon their browsing history across multiple devices. By scanning the user's history of BBC services, BBC Genius provides a personally defined home page with content dependant on the amount of time a user has visited different sections of bbc.co.uk offering a tailored page pertinent to every user.

BBC Now! - Red Badger

'BBC Now!' offers a dynamic updating element to the homepage to encourage the audience to discover new and latest content in real time.
A vision of a Homepage that is more dynamic, updating in real time so that users don't have to leave the Homepage to see new content. The longer users spend on the Homepage, the more they will 'discover' what it has to offer. The future of this would provide automated personalisation and surface content more relevant to the user without the user having to manually personalise.

BBC Pocket Page - BBC internal team led by Fiona Iglesias

The Pocket Page pilot will create a compact version of the BBC homepage - a Pocket Page.
Presented in a "block" that can be embedded on any third party webpage, the Pocket Page will be populated with BBC content chosen specifically to support the topic or theme of the host page.

Website owners will be able to configure Pocket Page to 'fit' their own site. They will be able to choose how the 'block' looks ie the number of results per slide and the number of slides as well as the type of content to be shown

BBC Wander Wall - Goss Interactive

The Wander Wall focuses on the user experience of a 4 way scroller, infinite scroll and hover to be used on the homepages of an extended programme such as Strictly Come Dancing or events like Sports Personality of the Year and Glastonbury.

Connected Studio Two: Weather & Travel

Weatherbot - Nixon McInnes partnering with BBC internal team

A personal forecast, on demand, by sending a tweet or direct message to @bbcweatherbot
Users can request a personal forecast for a particular time and place by sending a tweet to @bbcweatherbot. The user receives the forecast via a tweet

Weatherapp - Milky Tea & CTI

Weather application giving real time geo-located reports based upon UK location or venue
A crowd sourced weather application showing a simple weather forecast, and real time geo-located weather reports from real users, so that you can find weather right now at any UK location or venue.

Connected Studio Three: CBeebies

"Are we there yet?" Journey App - Aardman Animations & Profero

Are we there yet?" A mobile application that delivers a contextually relevant and compelling CBeebies experience to be consumed during a car or train journey.
A collaborative mobile app for parents/carers that transforms car journeys into adventures made up of contextually relevant CBeebies songs, stories, games and radio content.

The Playguide - Mudlark, Dean Vipond, Tom Morgan

The Playguide is a way for grown-ups to understand how children use CBeebies, and help them tailor a child's development.
It enables them to learn about the child's use of CBeebies and what that means in terms of skills. By feeding back a child's activity to a grown-up in real time it provides a simple, clear and understandable summary. From this the parent is given a way of guiding the child's activity, shaping the experience without dictating it. It provides the opportunity to create playlists based upon likes, loves and development aims.

CMeebies - Fettle Animation, Thought Den, We Are Thought Fox & BBC Internal

A CMeebie is a digital CBeebies friend app that goes with you across all 4 screens and beyond....
Think of your CMeebie as a much-loved toy or invisible friend in the guise of a favourite CBeebies character. It's a companion guiding you to the website, finding the stuff you like and showing you new stuff that you might like and it's a friend that plays with you and sets you challenges via a mobile app.

Playroom - Codegent, Everyday is like Sundae & BBC internal team

Playroom is a place where children and their parents, can discover curate and create content around CBeebies brands that they love. Playroom offers the opportunity for children to add elements to an online 'Toy Box' from in and around the CBeebies sites in the form of bookmarking. The Playroom 'Toy Box' provided children a space they can save their favourite features of their CBeebies brands within their highly personalised space - a space that is shared by child and grown up, where voice recognition can be utilised by the parent to make them a greater part of the experience.

Scribbling on the Connected Studio ideas wall

As the first slate of pilots, I am very proud that these ten are now progressing towards piloting & testing. Not all will prove viable but we are confident a number of these will make it into BBC Online within the next 6 months.

We have been blown away by the creative and technical skills that all of the attendees have shown to date and what can be achieved in such a short amount of time. I am particularly excited by the openness of a range of companies and individuals who have agreed to collaborate together to develop a joint concept- in many cases without ever meeting before the Studio. This desire and flexibility to combine skills and passions is a bonus - particularly when we have matched BBC staff with externals.

Finally, I am sure that a number of you reading this will think "I can do better than that", "that isn't innovative", "that won't work" or "I had that idea five years ago" which are all fair comments and are part of the challenge of innovation but I'd encourage you to sign up to future events to come and do better!

The studio is OPEN TO ALL creative technologists, freelancers, editorial producers, technology start-ups, digital agencies, designers, coders, inventors; all from inside and outside the BBC. See you there.

Adrian Woolard is Programme Lead, BBC Connected Studio

CBeebies Connected Studio in Q5, Quay House, MediaCityUK in Salford

It's been a while since I told you about the Connected Studio project, but that doesn't mean we haven't been busy. We've been planning an exciting calendar through till next spring starting with a double header of Creative Studios. CBBC on September 20th in Salford and UX&D on October 4th in London. Both briefs are now live and ready for your perusal.

We will be heading back to MediaCityUK on September 20th, with the Build Studio in Salford on October 10-11. The UX&D Creative Studio will take place in London on the 4th October, followed by a build studio in Salford on the 30th and 31st of October. Get these dates in your diary!

Our last event seems like an age ago yet it was only back in July when we held the CBeebies Build studio up at MediaCityUK. Attendance for the Creative Studio was up at over 90 which ultimately led to 30 pitches, our highest to date. The high number of participants and the strength of ideas meant that we took ten teams through to Build, made up of 60 individuals. Thankfully the fantastic Q5 space meant that we could accommodate this number without treading on each other's toes.

I will be releasing details shortly about what we are moving forward from CBeebies, Weather & Travel and also a general Pilot Stage update, but for now, let's tuck in to CBBC and the key challenges that the Brief sets out:

2) How can we encourage children to generate content for the site in a way that avoids the need for costly and slow moderation?

3) What could be the ultimate 'immersive digital experience' in and around CBBC brands?

For UX&D the key challenge we're working on is how to create a consistent experience across the whole of BBC online - so that it feels like one service across our ten products and on four screens.

We have three ways of approaching that challenge:

1) Time - what does it mean to be 'alive' online?; How do we move beyond static website, to pages that feel updated, dynamic and relevant?

2) Linear and digital; how can a digital experience enhance linear output, before during and after it goes live?

3) Connected and inclusive; what is it that makes participating with the BBC different from any other organisation? What is the interaction we should encourage?

As ever, we don't like to make it easy, but we fully expect that those who step up to the mark are fully capable of delivering the standard that both the Product teams and Connected Studio has come to enjoy.

To sign up head to the 'how to get involved' page on the website.

We are also happy to announce a new event schedule:

• September 20: CBBC Creative Studio - MediaCityUK in Salford
• October 4: UX&D Creative Studio - London
• October 10/11: CBBC Build Studio - Salford
• October 30/31: UX&D Build Studio - Salford
• Nov 21: Sport Creative Studio - Salford
• Dec 12/13: Sport Build Studio
• Jan: TV & iPlayer
• Jan- Mar: News, Knowledge & Learning, Radio & Music

As ever, these dates could be subject to change, but should this be the case we will let you know. We are not taking applications for them yet, but to express your interest in attending or order to get further updates and be among the first to know email connectedstudios@bbc.co.uk with the particular creative studio as the subject line.

Adrian Woolard is Project Director, North Lab, BBC Research and Development and is responsible for Phase 1 of the Connected Studio programme

The teams finished the event with a ten-minute demo of their work

Last week, BBC Connected Studio ventured off site again, this time to MozSpace in central London for the second Build Studio, with the focus on the Weather and Travel Product.

From the 25 concepts that were pitched at the Creative Studio in Google Campus on June 12, six teams were selected to attend.

After my short introduction, and a briefing for each team from my colleagues in Weather, the teams began two intense days developing their proof of concept.

The Weather and Travel team had created an environment for rapid prototyping and development, with access to a range of APIs and data sets so the six teams could build quickly on top of the BBC Weather site - thanks to Jeremy and his team (plus Joel from R&D who provided vital sys admin support) for going above and beyond to make that possible whilst also launching new services.

So let’s get to what you are all interested in; the pitches.

At the end of the second day, they presented the working prototypes or mock-ups they had created to the judges. The teams, with a brief idea of their concepts, were:

• 383 & BBC – Personalised info that is all in one place and is relevant to you – a forecast for your life.
• Kite and BBC R&D – How the weather affects every day plans and how BBC Weather can help you adapt your activities
• CTI, Milky Tea and BBC Cardiff – a BBC Weather app with a crowdsourced weather data feature
• The Swarm – Visualising weather information and user contributions by time and location
• Nixon Mcinnes and BBC R&D – using Twitter to deliver personal weather forecasts for particular locations
• BBC R&D - Weather stations for Schools providing location content

Once again it was impressive to see what could be built in two days. Great work by everyone and we will let you know within a few weeks which ideas we would like to develop as pilots - after a tough judging process by myself, Jo Wickremasinghe, Liz Howell, Ben Gammon, Jeremy Tarling and Stephen Robertson. Thanks also to John Bevan and the team at MozSpace, London for agreeing to host the Studio and provide an excellent working environment.

Finally, a reminder that we still have a few places left for the CBeebies Creative Studio up in Salford on July 12 – this is available to all BBC staff as well as external companies with relevant experience.

The CBeebies brief (MS Word .doc) is out. To apply email ConnectedStudios@bbc.co.uk with “CBeebies Creative Studio” as the subject line.

Information on Connected studio will be changing regularly so keep up to date with @BBC_Connected and our website www.bbcconnectedstudio.co.uk.

Adrian Woolard is the Project Director, North Lab, BBC Research and Development and is responsible for Phase 1 of the Connected Studio programme

Teams hard at work at the Creative Studio, getting their concepts ready to pitch

Weather and Travel Creative Studio

On Tuesday June 12th the Google Campus was host to the second Creative Studio - part of the BBC Connected studio programme. The focus this time was on Weather and Travel.

Suitably enough it was pouring with rain as the attendees arrived but at least that reminded us why the British are obsessed with the weather.

It was great to see everyone so eager to crack on, and I had barely finished my introduction before the attendees were breaking out to start a day that proved to be fruitful and full of creative innovation.

Some teams came already formed, some came together on the day, but all found space and some wifi across two floors of Google Campus and got on with developing their ideas.

It was the first time Connected Studio had ventured away from a BBC site and the venue was brilliant. Aa big thank you goes to the team at Google Campus.

We once again held our 'Speakers' Corner', informal sessions where BBC staff shared their knowledge.

There were talks on:

• the technical platform and data the teams had to play with
• location services, audience and market insight
• UXD
• how to use paper prototypes to demonstrate and test ideas

Being only our second Creative studio, we were keen to maintain the spirit of collaboration and we weren't disappointed. The "show and tell" at the end of the day saw pitches from teams that mixed BBC staff, freelancers, agencies and the Met Office.

In all we had more than 60 attendees at the event, and 25 concepts presented at the end of the day. As we saw at the Homepage, Search, and Navigation (HPSN) event the standards were high, and after a final selection session on Tuesday we have invited teams comprising attendees from 383, MilkyTea, CTI, The Swarm, Nixon McInnes, and Kite, to work alongside staff from across the BBC at next week's Build Studio at MozSpace.

Pilots from the HPSN events

The HPSN Build Studio judging panel have agreed which concepts will move forward to the next stage in the process - development into functional pilots.

We have approached Kent Lyons, Red Badger, and Goss Interactive as well as Fiona Iglesias from the BBC.

Thanks to all those who worked so hard at the Build Studio - we hope that you still found the experience enjoyable and worthwhile even if your idea didn't picked up to be a pilot.

Next up: CBeebies

The next Creative Studio will be for CBeebies up in Salford's MediaCityUK on July 12 - this will be followed by the Build Studio on July 24/25, also in Salford.

The Creative Studio is open to companies of all sizes and individuals with relevant experience and expertise and is a great opportunity to gain insight into the CBeebies product, collaborate with BBC staff, and pitch for your idea to be developed into a pilot.

You can read the brief (MS Office .doc) and if you want to get involved please read the application details.

To express your interest in future Studios, please contact ConnectedStudios@bbc.co.uk. Follow @BBC_Connected for updates, visit bbcconnectedstudio.co.uk for more information, and comment or ask questions below.

Adrian Woolard is the Project Director, North Lab, BBC Research and Development and is responsible for Phase 1 of the Connected Studio programme

James Thornett and Clare Hudson describe the briefs at the start of the Connected Studio day.

Last month we introduced the Connected Studio programme and invited people to join the first studio around homepage, search & navigation. Today we'd like to share the second Connected Studio call - for Weather - and update you on progress from first event.

On Friday 4th May, we launched the Connected studio with the Creative Studio event in Salford. There were 96 attendees who spent a full and stimulating day working up concepts against a brief.

A good selection of blog posts have been written from the participants' perspective - from redBadger, Duncan Hull , Athernet and the Unthinkables - which give us confidence that we are on the right track in creating useful events.

A great deal of credit goes to Future Media's Marketing & Audiences team who worked closely with the Product team to create the brief and structure the stimulating programme of day. 

The stand-outs were the 'speakers corner' of experts offering Q&A on audiences, market, technical and design as well as the audience panel feedback sessions.

For the studio team, the most positive note was the way in which all of the 96 attendees worked in open and collaborative way - sharing ideas, insights and pitches. Everyone just got on with making the most of the opportunity and it certainly reaffirmed our belief that we can generate high quality concepts by bringing diverse skills & expertise together.

From the excellent and wide-ranging 32 pitches that were presented in open & closed sessions at end of Friday, the product team reconvened this week for a further 4 hours of review, heated debate and final decision making.

They have decided on 10 projects they wanted to take forward into the two day Build studio. Those that didn't make it through have been sent feedback to explain why they didn't progress but we stress it was a very tricky set of choices and hope the unsuccessful teams will join future studios.

The concepts we are taking forward (in no particular order) are:
• Athernet - Linear Personalisation (Personalisation/ User histories)
• Box UK - Search results in discovery zone (Customisation/ Search)
• Dean Vipond - Ambient personalisation (Personalisation/ User tracking)
• Goss - Horizontal/Vertical carousel scrolling (Customization/ Four Screen solution)
• Kent Lyons - Browser-based personalisation (Personalisation/ Profiling)
• Red Badger - Timeline approach (Personalisation/ Live)
• The Workshop - Homepage becomes a whole stream (Home/ Live)
• BBC Team A - What's new red button (Home/ Live)
• BBC Team B - Zoom in/out w/out leaving homepage (Customisation/ Homepage Reveal)
• F.Iglesias(BBC) - Take BBC to the web (Personalisation/ Social Media)

They will hopefully all be back in Salford on 21/22 May working with BBC teams of experts to build key elements of their concepts and put together their proposals for piloting.

We have learnt a lot from this first event and will be making some changes to improve them. For example, we will not run closed pitching sessions on the same day, will offer more support to create collaborative teams and ideas, and offer greater support in developing your pitch.

Connected Studio for Weather

Places are now available to work with the Weather and Travel News product teams at the Creative studio event on June 14th12th. The main focus will be on weather, although the team will also be interested in innovative, complementary uses of available travel data.

You can read the Weather innovation brief (PDF) explaining how the weather product works and the teams' future ambitions. We have also drawn up "Principles of Engagement" (PDF) and a Connected Studio "What you give, what you get" chart (PDF) to explain the benefits of getting involved.

Connected Studio is open to small, medium and micro businesses, individuals, digital agencies from the creative sector who want to work with the BBC developing new functions, features or formats for BBC Online audiences. It is also open to BBC staff.

If you have got good ideas and want to attend then we want you to sign up by emailing ConnectedStudios@bbc.co.uk including "Weather Creative Studio Tuesday 12th June 2012" in the subject line.

You’ll need to include your name, role and the company you work for (if applicable). If you’re a BBC staff member please tell us your job title and the department you work in. Submit two links to previous work that you consider innovative, at least one should be relevant to the innovation brief.

We don’t want full reports or proposals, just an indication of the work you do. We will let you know if you have a place by June 1st.

We are really excited to announce that the Creative Studio event for Weather now has space booked at the new Google Campus in London on June 12th. Be aware that if the concept you present at the end of Creative Studio is selected, you'll be invited to the follow up two-day Build Studio on 26th & 27th June at MozSpace in London, so pencil those dates in your diary too.

So we are really looking forward to taking Connected Studio into East & Central London with the Weather Product team - hope to see a few of you there.

What's Next!

If you can't make the next Connected Studio event then don't worry - the programme will be running a series of studio events through until next spring - roughly one a month. Go to www.bbcconnectedstudio.co.uk to find out more.

The current (and changing) schedule looks like:
• July: CBeebies in Salford
• July 19/20: UX&D Studio in Salford
• August: CBBC (venue/s TBC)
• Sep- Dec: Sport, TV / iPlayer
• Jan- Mar: News, K&L, Radio & Music

Sign up for updates by emailing ConnectedStudios@bbc.co.uk, or follow @BBC_Connected on twitter.

Adrian Woolard is the Project Director, North Lab, BBC Research and Development and is responsible for Phase 1 of the Connected Studio programme

Places are now available to work with the Homepage, Search & Navigation teams at the first event on May 4th. This post is about how to apply.

You can read the innovation brief (PDF) and watch videos from the teams (see below) explaining how the homepage, search, and navigation products work and the teams' future ambitions.

We have also drawn up "Principles of Engagement" (PDF) and - inspired by our research partners at The Creative Exchange - a Connected Studio "What you give, what you get" chart (PDF) to explain the benefits of getting involved.

Homepage

Connected Studio is open to small, medium and micro businesses, individuals, digital agencies from the creative sector who want to work with the BBC developing new functions, features or formats for BBC Online audiences. It is also open to BBC staff.

If you have got good ideas and want to attend then we want you to sign up by emailing ConnectedStudios@bbc.co.uk including "Homepage, Search & Navigation Creative Studio Friday 4th May 2012" in the subject line.

You’ll need to include your name, role and the company you work for (if applicable). If you’re a BBC staff member please tell us your job title and the department you work in. Submit two links to previous work that you consider innovative, at least one should be relevant to the innovation brief.

We don’t want full reports or proposals, just an indication of the work you do. We will let you know if you have a place by April 23rd.

Be aware that if the concept you present at the end of Creative Studio is selected, you’ll be invited to the follow up two-day Build Studio on 21st & 22nd May 2012 so pencil those dates in your diary too.

At the Creative Studio

Numbers are limited but we will have a good mix of attendees from inside and outside the BBC. On the day, you can work however you like; you can come with an existing team of up to four people, team up with others you meet on the day, or just work on your own.

The Creative Studio is about coming up with good ideas. To help with that there will be lots of background info available, interesting people to talk to, and a chance to talk your idea through with members of the audience – not to mention great coffee. The concepts you come up with will be presented at the end of the day.

How you present your concept to the room is up to you, whether with paper and marker pens, a presentation, or something you’ve started coding.

What happens to the ideas

Successful concepts will be taken through to a Build Studio for development into proof of concepts and a selection of those will be developed into pilots, and we hope you will be part of the team that builds it. Over the year a portfolio of proof of concepts and pilots will be made available for audiences to use and at the end of the programme, selected features will become part of the BBC website.

You can find more info on the selection process and following stages at BBCconnectedStudio.co.uk and in our FAQ.

What's Next

If you can't make the first connected studio event then don't worry - the programme will be running a series of studio events related to the 10 Future Media products and mid-term innovation challenges across Future Media through until next spring - roughly one a month.

• The current (and changing) schedule looks like:
  June: Weather & Travel in London
  July: CBeebies (TBC) in Salford
  July: UX&D Studio - possibly London & Salford
  Sept - Dec: CBBC (TBC), Sport, TV / iPlayer
  Jan- Mar: News, K&L, Radio & Music

Sign up for updates by emailing ConnectedStudios@bbc.co.uk, or follow @BBC_Connected on twitter.

Adrian Woolard is the Project Director, North Lab, BBC Research and Development and is responsible for Phase 1 of the Connected Studio programme

Servers for BBC Redux, an innovative research project around serving on-demand audio and video

Late last year Ralph Rivera, Director BBC Future Media, unveiled his vision for the Connected Studio. As the person responsible for delivering the first phase of the Connected Studio, I’d like to give you a sense of what we aim to deliver over the next 12 months, and why.

Connected Studio enables the creative community and BBC staff to work in partnership to develop new features for BBC Online. Today we’re launching phase one of that initiative, a 12 month series of events where external and internal creatives can get together in a room with BBC tools and assets, and brainstorm and pilot new formats and functionality.

Focused on the ten BBC Online products, the programme will make available up to £2m of investment to fund pilot projects which audiences will be able to trial.

The first set of Studio events will be based around the Homepage, Search and Navigation Products running their first Creative Studio event in MediaCityUK. Check out the call for ideas and sign-up at bbc.co.uk/rd/connectedstudio to join us at these events starting on May 4th. Once you’ve registered interest, you’ll also be kept up to date about all forthcoming Connected Studio events.

We want to inspire a steady flow of these sorts of disruptive ideas, which is why we’re opening this up to everyone, both within and outside the BBC. Our initial plan is to offer up to one million pounds of investment in 2012/13 to fund external creativity, and enable at least the same level of BBC staff time, resources and expertise to be made available for internal development. If you want to get involved or find out more of the specifics around our Creative and Build Studio events, please visit our site.

Storytelling and Technology Meet in the Studio

Douglas Birkinshaw with the Marconi E.M.I Instantaneous Television 'Camera' Transmitting The View From Alexandra Palace

Ralph Rivera articulates the vision far better than I can, but put simply the ‘Studio’ (for radio, television and film) has been, and remains, a dynamic and innovative place where storytelling and technology come together to create great experiences for BBC audiences. This has been happening successfully for over 80 years. (As an interesting aside the first BBC Television Studio opened in 1932).

Now in 2012, just ahead of a major point in BBC’s history with our plans for the first truly digital Olympics, we are looking to re-envisage what the ‘studio’ means in this highly digital and highly connected world. The BBC still wants and demands ‘places’ to host storytellers, designers and technologists who bring their smart new thinking together with the latest technology and tools to inspire better experiences for our audiences. However we know these places may not be like the facilities of previous generations – in fact many of the most disruptive start-ups in 2012 operate in ‘the cloud’ working virtually with data, tools and code.

Simply, this is what we believe the Connected Studio could be - a mix of virtual open resources and real-world facilities – with a rolling programme of events and funding calls designed to inspire and deliver great ideas for BBC Online and its partners.

How the Connected Studio will work

We will start on May 4th with the Homepage, Search and Navigation Products running their first Creative Studio event in MediaCityUK. Check out the call for ideas at the Connected Studio site.

In June we are working with the Weather Product to run Studio events in London, and in July we will be back in Salford with CBBC looking for more disruptive ideas. Further ahead, we are already planning a few special Build Studio sessions over the Olympic summer looking at our future user experience and how to make the BBC a more open platform before launching more exciting funding calls later in year.

Through these studio events and funding of pilots we want to engage the UK tech community, from start-ups to successful digital businesses to freelance creatives, as well as staff within the BBC, and give them opportunities to develop pilot projects both separately and collaboratively.

The ambition of Ralph Rivera, Future Media, and our colleagues across the corporation is to evolve the BBC into a faster, smarter and more open organisation. Connected Studio represents another step towards that goal.

So if this feels like something you want to be involved in then please register your interest and follow us on Twitter at @BBC_Connected. I look forward to coming back to share the developments during the year.

Adrian Woolard, Project Director, North Lab, BBC Research and Development responsible for Phase 1 of the Connected Studio programme

BBC Backstage has been a great success. I am very proud to have worked with the team on numerous projects. It was the forerunner to many other emerging, successful initiatives and has made a valuable contribution in driving the BBC towards genuine open innovation. In many ways it has been very much of its time.

Read more and comment at the BBC Backstage blog

Adrian Woolard is Project Lead (R&D North Lab), BBC Research & Development

BBC Backstage working in partnership with Codeworks, FutureEverything and NW Vision & Media produced a free public event bringing some of the experience of the TED conferences to the North of England. Mixing talks and conference videos, there was a rich set of presentations from inspiring experts (regional and BBC) on the future of technology, entertainment and design.

Over 250 folk - students, academics, indies, staff, corporates and regional agencies took time out to listen, network and hopefully get more sense of an Open BBC. You can get a small sense of the day from these photos on Flickr.

There are numerous reviews and summaries of the event that are well worth looking at - try here or here as good starting points.

It's also worth noting that the whole event was captured as a purely tapeless digital production in HD using BBC R&D's Ingex system. We should have all the video of the presentations as well as edited highlights up in couple of weeks as a new episode of R&D TV.

It's through events such as this that we can build in the future BBC FM&T's commitment to the overall ambitions of BBC North.

Dr Adrian Woolard is Project Lead (R&D North Lab), BBC Research & Development.