The BBC has had a bit of rough ride recently especially in the press and with the 600 million they have to take on and the cuts announced.
With all news stories like this, its easy to feel and think the worst. But its important to be positive and think about the way forward. The BBC must innovate and be creative about what happens next.
Talking about creativity, the BBC Microbit project finally was launched and it was great to finally see the concluding chapter to BBC Micro. I’d love to see a micromen style tv show about the many many years of getting this project to launch. So many people were involved in the process and they must all be proud to finally see the project come to this stage.
I still remember Ant Miller’s talk about the BBC Micro for the 21st Century at BarCampBrighton3 which Rain blogged. I’m not saying that was a turning point or anything but was one of many many people trying to make the BBC understand its essential position in the 21 century by looking at its legacy with the old BBC Micro.
If I tried to list others it would go on for ever! I did 4 years ago create a mindmap of all the people doing something and influences, be interesting to look back at now. A few core people stick out in my mind when talking about this project…
Michael Sparks, Howard Baker and Jo Claessens. These 3 people are deservingly front and centre of the microbit shot above. For me personally they put their blood, sweat and tears into the BBCmicrobit. They pushed and pushed, and made it work. They are embryonic of what the BBC needs to do now and into the future! A future which of course will be open!
Don't forget that the #BBCMicrobit will be open-source and available to buy later this year. More details here. http://t.co/O8sEbakxA7
— BBC (@AboutTheBBC) July 7, 2015
Of course I can’t help but mention Alan O’Donohoe, which had little to do with the BBC microbit, but following the BarCampMediaCity BBC Code lab stunt and momentous rise upwards, had a (mainly) positive external influence. Very interesting to hear and read some of the blogs and opinions back in 2012.
Howard Baker, BBC describes BBC Micro II at Hack To The Future #h2df http://t.co/JX6Ca7rd
— Alan O'Donohoe (@teknoteacher) February 12, 2012
The BBC Microbit is a long list of creative things only the BBC could do. Its great to finally see the positive and negative feedback but ultimately the biggest critics will be the year 7’s who use it this coming September.
The BBC needs to keep knocking it out the park and build a better future for us all.