Thoughts and ideas of a dyslexic designer/developer
The time has come around, its been a while since the last debate on BBC Merseyside Radio. We scratched the idea of Masculinity and tomorrow its time for the radio debate. Guests include Ngunan, Elisa, Ahmed, Matt and Myself. Tune in live online from 8pm BST.
I said its been a while since the last debate on BBC Merseyside Radio. This time I brought new people (Elisa & Matt ) on board to join the debate. I’ll be honest it was fun again. You can hear the whole thing from the start here. Or I clipped out the music for archive purposes only.
All I’m going to say is I still won’t be calling anyone my lover, unless in Bristol or a really close friend. Its a shame Ahmed couldn’t join us, but I’m sur
Great fun and interesting conversation again!
The time has come around, its been a while since the last debate on BBC Merseyside Radio. We scratched the idea of Masculinity and tomorrow its time for the radio debate.
Guests include Ngunan, Elisa, Ahmed, Matt and Myself.
Tune in live online from 8pm BST.
Its weird, I seem to be popping up in a few places in the coming months.
Seems there is a very good chance I’ll be in BBC horizon’s how to find love online, then theres my TedXManchester talk, first dates if I ever hear anything back from them. But of course there’s the listening project which Kate was kind enough to join me on.
Today I learned, myself and Kate’s conversation for the listening project will be on BBC Radio 4 in the next month.
Friday April 8th at 23.55 and then repeated again on the Sunday omnibus on April 10th. They should make a good birthday present.
I have no idea which bit they will play but if its anything like BBC Manchester’s edit, it should make a good listen.
@bethcorri eh? Really? @bbcradiomanc
— Ian Forrester (@cubicgarden) January 4, 2016
I knew nothing till Elizabeth tweeted me with a slightly cryptic message. I only guessed from the holiday reference, that it must be the listening project audio conversation me and Kate had.
I was starting to wondering if they were going to use the audio ever (I even eluded to it), but just like that, it pops up in the middle of nowhere. Early morning breakfast, can’t even imagine what the listeners must have thought…
So you may want to hear the audio? Well you can listen on BBC radio iplayer, its about 1hour 55mins in to the programme (only on iplayer for another 28days). Or you can catch my clipped version on archive.org with additional comments from Alison and Phil (BBC Radio Manchester presenters)
I won’t spoil it but if you enjoyed that small clip, wait till you hear the rest. There’s some classic stuff in there, can’t even imagine what generations to come will think of it.
Massive thanks Kate for being such a great audio partner in crime for the listening project. Now I just need to find somewhere to scare the living daylights out of her… Any ideas send them to me.
Nice little interview revealing some of my background work and what I do at BBC R&D. It includes work like Perceptive Radio.
Thanks to Radio.co…
Myself and Chris were walking back from Sunday roast dinner, and we got talking about Podcasting. The current media darling is a thing called Serial.
I have always maintained that podcasting is different from radio and part of the confusion (as such) is radio shows using podcast distribution to deliver content. Most of the professional stuff is radio shows using podcasting distribution, which is a real shame. I remember my cry out for more British podcasts even.
…there were not enough amateur British Podcasts. I know theres the BBC podcasts and the Guardian podcasts which both have got a lot of success in this area but theres nothing like TwiT or Revision3’s series of video podcasts
Now of course that was 4 years ago and things have shifted. Chris pointed out the raff of amateur to professional media on youtube. But the big question remained… what is the difference between a podcast and radio show?
Well I struggled to remember the arguments about podcasting when the BBC first did its podcast trial, to replay back at Chris. The verge video reminded me exactly what the point I should have made more clearly.
Its not about production, its about depth! I eluded to it but never actually said depth. With Radio you need to be broad, with podcasts you can be so niche it hurts.
Talking of niche audiences and podcasting, we launched the Lovegrumps podcast this weekend. Lovegrumps is like Techgrumps but about love, sex and relationships. Audio only and wondering if audioboo, mixcloud or soundcloud might be better places to put the podcast?
If this is the 3rd era of podcasting, then its certainly time to evolve… Expect intro music and other production stuff next time.
Oh by the way, the verge are wrong. Perceptive Radio is clearly the future of radio… Just imagine what could be done with Perceptive Podcasts!
I had the pleasure of joining Jody again on Nguana’s Upfront show.
If you have not heard the other times we have been on the show, do check them out. My favorites being Who pays on the first date and the height debate.
We touched on pickup in part which was the less sleazy side of pickup (more seduction I guess) and how it blurs with flirting. It was a lively discussion and lots of fun, just right for a Sunday evening. I even got the question suggested to me by Coldclimate ages ago in as a conversation starter.
Question: Who would win in a fight at the beach between a Giant Squid and a Bear?
You can answer and give your reasons using the google form we setup. Maybe I should put it out to qriously?
Regardless, I finally got Ngnana to pay for a date! This is pretty massive, I’ll be interested to hear what happens… I can just imagine the same experience I had but this time dished out from myself and Jody.
Next time its about long distance relationships… so look out for the same fun, spiky and fruitful conversation in late September…
As usual you can listen to the whole show including the timely love advice for Leomar at the end via BBC iPlayer for the next few days or I clipped a version and ripped out the music for copyright reasons on archive.org.
I read Ralph Rivera’s tweet about the future of TV and thought, hummmm…
Not quite sure I totally agree, its very American but I’ll go with it for the mass market.
My instant thought is that TV is going to diverge more than ever before. People are going to be doing a number of things differently, things which work for them. Aka the mass will get smaller and the diverse will expand into the mass.
Yes this means fragmentation people! Get use to it!
The main points seem to be,
It will be cheaper
I agree on this point except maybe sports. Most people will start to use alternative ways to get their TV, aka on demand and that push to have things live will die off in the heat of budget cuts and advertisers revenue decline. Unless advertiser can advertise in realtime against live content? (seen some sights this will be possible)
Limited channel lineup
I think this is a bit of weird one because it depends what you mean by a channel? In the traditional sense yes… You only have to look at the BBC’s decision to move BBC Three to online only soon. Saving a some serious money for other channels. However online there will be a more diverse line up that ever before, and they will be accessible to your TV and Radio with limited messing around.
Organized by subject
Channels have their place and I’m not saying its going away but it will change. My dad loves watching ITV Three because there is little chance there will be anything modern and new on it. I dare say it worries me a little, but maybe thats what I’ll be like in 2050?
But the point i’m making is the channels are already starting to align themselves by genre, subject (history, scifi, drama, bravo channels).
Personal subscriptions
Subscription is outdated but for those who do have a subscription on cable and sky. Yes the fear of those companies has always been the ability to break the packages into personal choices. Well the time has come to offer it or the consumer will go else where (there is plenty of other services offering individual channels, some illegally).
The big part of this is the fact media is just media and can be moved around at will. Don’t blame us hackers for this, blame the likes of Apple with airplay, Google with chromecast/dial, etc… I can pick and choose and once pandora’s box is opened, its too late to try and close the lid.
There is a research question how personal subscriptions work with families and groups of people…
Viewable on any screen
As mentioned previously, the media is movable and more manageable than ever before. In a rush and can’t watch it on your TV at home, why not watch it on your 4G powered smartphone on the train into work? Yes and its easily done now. Heck even if you miss it, theres a whole raft of ways to access it after the fact.
A better remote
This goes without saying, right?
No more switching inputs
I agree somewhat. I tend to have my TV set to my XBMC box and generally only switch when watching Live TV (aka very little) and watching through the Chromecast. I thought about putting a USB TV tuner on the XBMC box but haven’t actually set it up yet (no time). I imagine when the chromecast comes out in the UK (I suspect May/June) it will support all the channels I have on my freeview smart HDTV. Leading to less switching.
I imagine most people will just plugin something like a Chromecast or AppleTV and be done with the settop box.
Netflix is just another channel
Goes without saying again…
HBO gets more accessible
I could say the same as above, but seriously the pressure is building. HBO has got to go fully ondemand soon. Shareholders will want blood if not.
On-demand that’s not awful
Who said it ever was? I mean besides some very bad examples and the current crop of terrible smart TV apps. The likes of XBMC, Plex, AppleTV, Chromecast, etc have shown great experiences which are a joy to use. On demand has always been a joy to be use for those of us who live in the future, and now the future is going to be more evenly distributed. Come experience what we all have been experiencing for many years.
New channels emerging all the time
Weird, didn’t it say limited channel line up earlier? Well anyway, yes welcome to the world when any developer can write a wrapper for another bunch of media. This means any podcaster can appear on your TV or Radio (lets not forget Radio in this). Any user on Youtube, Vimeo, Blip, etc can be a broadcaster. To be honest we all knew this really, thats why Leo Lapoure was able to setup the Twit network or two guys on a sofa drinking beers (Diggnation) went from no sponsors to the likes of the US Army and Ford sponsoring…
(I can feel Andrew Keen and Tony Churnside screaming against the poorly scripted badly filmed content avalanche of these pro-amatuers (how dare they infect our TV?). This is why we have personal subscriptions! Same reason why you don’t follow everyone on twitter!
Not as reliable
I do agree, its not going to be perfect. The internet and net neutrality is under constant attack. When your TV and Radio is over the internet, your going to feel the pinch. All those, all you can eat data allowances will be tested to the maximum. Is your 3/4g contract really unlimited and whats the quality of service like? Are you going to celebrating 30seconds behind everyone else on the train because your internet service provider is prioritising against the channel your watching? Would it be better to pay more for a decent internet service? Roll on the next point…
Not so cheap
This isn’t going to be cheap, the cost saving you got from dumping cable and sky has been moved on to better internet providers.
I spend just over £30 a month on true unlimited business class internet which gives me low ping times and the ability to do what i choose to do with it. My 4g bill is less but isn’t truly unlimited. I checked the small print and there are fair usage policies, even though I was told in store it was truly unlimited.
We monitor the data usage of every customer who has data access and fair usage specified in the terms of their plan. If a customer consumes data above the monthly fair use limit, and in a way that we consider extreme, we may reduce their connection speeds for a limited time. This will only affect a small number of people, and we will always warn them by text before the speed is reduced. This only applies to non-Business tariffs.
Want to switch to the business account, well thats going to cost you!
No one said this was going to be cheap…
BBC Radio 4 are putting on a number of events on Saturday 29th March under the banner of Character Invasion day
Character Invasion is a celebration of character taking place over the course of one day – Saturday 29 March 2014. The day will have character at its heart combining an on-air exploration of the importance of character on BBC Radio 4, with a day of public events at all BBC sites which produce Radio Drama.
BBC R&D are involved and focusing on the idea of characters in the future. What are the possibilities for characters in a future which looks more perceptive? Of course we’re not alone, there will be some other key people from across the industry debating the question too.
At this session, you’ll hear from a panel of fantastic guests including Adrian Hon (CEO, Six to Start and Technology writer for the Telegraph), Julius Amedume (film director, writer and producer), Sarah Glenister (author of Perceptive Media’s Breaking Out), Henry Swindell (Development Producer for BBC Writersroom) and Anna Frew (PhD student studying the book and narrative in the new era of the internet).
With a line up like that, you know your going to get some great debate, plus there might be a chance to see/hear the Perceptive Radio in action.
The sign up process is a little weird, so you need to register by Thursday 13th March and then you will be notified later if you got a ticket or not. The event takes place in Media City, Salford Quays.
Hope to see you there… its going to be a blast
Shane says this has my name all over it…
Fancy sharing your dating dramas with the world? Well now’s your chance – with BBC3 looking for online daters to tell their side of the digital story.
As data has grown and given people more means of communication, so technology has advanced to bring people even closer than ever – or has it?
With social networking sites connecting friends via a number of platforms, the cyber highway has taken networking to the next level – literally.Online dating has become a global phenomenon, with people seeking love all over the world in the hope of finding ‘The One’ – and now leading UK television production company Roughcut TV is on the lookout for any volunteers willing to divulge their experiences, particularly those using dating apps such as Tinder.
Assistant producer, Alana McVerry, says: “The documentary we’re making for BBC3 is broadly looking at dating and relationships in the age of technology. We’re looking at how dating and relationships have changed given that we’ve now got access to more people than ever before and dating has become a truly global market.
“Does having access to more people than ever before make us pickier? Or does it make us more likely to find a good match? Now that we’re looking online are we looking at different things like grammar and spelling and picking apart profiles and characteristics, which we wouldn’t do if that person was standing right in front of us?”
When I first heard about it I said sure sounds good, then Marie wrote on twitter saying, would I like to be on TV again. My instant thought is oh my goodness… TV not a again and BBC Three again! And what is the link with welovedates.com? (never heard of this site before). I originally thought it was Radio, so I suggested Marie should check out the radio shows pieces I’ve done for BBC Merseyside’s Upfront.
Lets remember what happened the last few times I was on TV (plus I’m not a fan of the TV people)
The Year of Making love… and How to have more sex…
I would have to be some sort of sadistic guy to put myself through it all again. And frankly this has such a small amount of information about its actual purpose. I’m already imagining a show full of people moaning about the bad side of online dating, rather than mentioning the good stuff which can happen too. If it was a good BBC programme, it would mention both sides really?
Anyway unless I hear differently from Marie Northon and the rest of the production team, its going to be no.
You will have to read about my dating dramas in my book which I’m still writing slowly… Funny enough I was writing chapter 13 in my local when Shane tweeted originally.
I have already declared myself a feminist in the blog post my crisis with masculinity and how feminism set me free. I originally was expecting lots more push back than I actually got but not being far from a good debate I thought I’d let you all know that this Sunday on BBC Merseyside, I’ll be on talking about feminism in the context of online dating.
Of course it would be simply weird if it was just me and host Nguana debating. So we’ll be joined by my lovely partner in dating crime, Jody. Theres also other guests to going to join us, but expect fireworks and outrageous debate on a Sunday night.
You can tune in live by listening to the live stream from between 9pm and 10pm on Sunday. Not sure if Nguana is taking phone-ins but you can try calling in if we upset you in some way. Of course you can listen on-demand via BBC iPlayer later for up to 7 days. I’ll try and make a archive copy without the music again for those living out side the UK.
If you want to hear the fun we have on air, listen to one of these other shows…
Back on the airwaves of BBC Radio Merseyside discussing topics of the heart.
From how much to share with your partner to a critical deconstruction of my love life, its all on BBC Merseyside (1hour 10mins in). Some how we turned from me telling/blaming the ladies of upfront about how I paid when I should have gone dutch into a live therapy session! Interesting being called a serial dater again and again. Of course thats a debate in its self… Who knows maybe we’ll go into that topic one day?
As usual its funny and good Sunday night entertainment which you can catch up on for 7 more days.
There’s a archive copy here too once the 7 days pass.
The BBC hasn’t got the best track record of covering issues like dating… Who could forget (I certainly won’t) the terrible year of making love? But to be fair they did good job covering the problems with online dating in Panaroma recently. However compare it to Channel4’s recent mating/dating. 2 run away hits… Dates and First Dates plus all the other back up programmes put Channel4’s mating coverage well above the BBC’s to date.
However, BBC’s radio coverage is getting better. I’ve heard recently Miss London’s 28 dates later which had me in stitches…
In her first Radio 4 series, London Hughes aka Miss London writes and stars in a sitcom about the tricky world of romance and dating in the capital – does it ever live up to the romantic dreams pedalled by Rom Coms? Shona, played by London works in a cinema with best friend Kristen and is desperately searching for someone to make her life complete but still doesn’t get the compromises needed to make love work.
Of course follow my brief time on BBC Merseyside, it will be interesting to hear what happens when BBC Radio 4’s Womens hour and Men’s hour get together to discuss online dating (thanks Tony for the tweet).
If this list is anything to go by, I’m already worried…
Cough up: the bill is a gender politics minefield. To grab the bill and offer to pay looks like retro male-dominant chauvinism – to sit back and leave the bill in no-man’s land looks a bit cheap and not manly enough. So, politely ask if you can pay the bill. However, if she has shown a total disinterest in you during the date – and not asked any questions about you – then suggest you split the bill. That’ll teach her (nothing) but make you feel you’ve escaped with some dignity (miniscule)
Don’t get me started! *smile*
Come on BBC, I know your better than this… lets hear something worth while, new and actually interesting. Please no stereotypes… Online dating is interesting and has changed/warpped culture. Theres plenty to explore… otherwise expect another round of relationships 2.0!
What can I say…? Time flies… What was I worried about ?
It was fun to be honest… Thanks to Ngunan Adamu, Northern Lass and the rest of the radio team.
I forgot how much I love Radio. Its so simple and so flexible. Me and Northern Lass turned up about 30mins beforehand. Spoke the production team for a while then we were in to the studio. Yes it was 3 against 2 and Ngunan was in control of the faders. Originally It started out with 4 vs 2, so hey it could be worst. No need for the facts and data on my tablet.
Judging by the first story (poor EJ), some more dating advice could be debated. The Godfreds experience is bad but you can’t let one bad person change your values and views. The “its part of the culture” is interesting and may need to be explored a little more.Through-out the debate they never answered the question of what happens when you speed date or meet through other means. (actually Ngunan said she wasn’t sure if it applies then).
Know your place as a man? Really? And the whole Emasculating thing, geeez! Come on!
I was so happy when Frankie asked for Kanya West. “Very proud gold digger” indeed!
If you didn’t hear the show, never fear you can listen to it on BBC iPlayer (UK only sorry and be quick its only up for 7 days). Its 1hour 8mins in to the show upfront. For friends outside the UK, there is a cut on Archive.org
Just in-case you didn’t know, I’m due today to debate the topic of “who pays on the first date” with my good internet friend Northern Lass 32 (http://www.theguardian.com/profile/northern-lass). I assume most of you know my feelings about this but I guess debating it live will be tricky, specially against the woman (Ngunan – https://twitter.com/ NgunanAdamuBBC) who triggered my whole research into the area. So blame her! As its her programme, I may take it easy on her but I’m expecting she will cut me off with clever use of the faders if I make a good point 🙂 No idea if theres live calls or if Ngunan has another guest to help her.Feel like i’m walking into the Dragons Den here…So I have no idea what’s going to happen tonight but its from about 9pm on BBC Radio Merseyside which I believe goes out live on the internet too (UK only I think) – http://www.bbc.co.uk/radiomerseyside/on-air Don’t think they make a podcast of the show, so it might be a one time deal sorry…I will see if I can record it somehow too.