Expanding Inclusion Through Co-Creating Public Broadcasting Digital Media Platforms with Community Groups

英国和世界各地的许多公共广播公司都有为公众服务的正式承诺。这些责任可以在章程中概述，比如ABC和BBC的章程，或者通过外部监管机构（如英国通信管理局）来执行。然而，目前的媒体并没有覆盖到所有的观众，公平地提供公共媒体仍然是BBC作为世界上雇员人数最多的广播公司的一个挑战。由于BBC制作了一系列媒体来满足其“告知、教育和娱乐”的特许使命，减少参与度可能意味着不仅会错过以娱乐为重点的内容，还会错过教育内容。因此，增加服务不足人群的参与是可取的。如果公共服务媒体能够提供有价值的内容，它们就有可能丰富个人的生活，但前提是公共广播公司能够接触到他们并吸引他们。在英格兰东北部，就业率和经济生产力低于英格兰平均水平，而贫困家庭的免费校餐率高于平均水平。然而，个人可以通过第三部门组织（如基于地方的社区团体）获得支持。对于在2019冠状病毒病大流行影响后可能陷入困境的社区群体，外部支持可能有助于加强他们的联系和建立抵御能力。除了对观众有潜在的好处外，与服务不足的人群建立联系将有助于BBC的创意职责“反映、代表和服务英国所有国家和地区的多元化社区，并支持创意经济”。数字技术服务可以帮助BBC为社区群体服务，并根据他们的需求定制内容。鉴于上面讨论的内容，本研究将调查数字BBC服务在支持基于地方的社区团体方面可能发挥的作用，并将致力于回答以下问题和子问题：像BBC这样的公共服务广播公司如何满足基于地方的社区群体的需求？社区希望与BBC建立什么样的关系？我们如何确保数字公共媒体的未来是包容性的？数字技术如何支持社区参与公共服务媒体？这项研究将采用以人为本的设计方法，因为社区群体中被剥夺公民权的个人可能由于其被剥夺公民权的性质而没有得到适当的代表，因此他们的经历是研究的关键部分。由于现有的研究发现，具有个性化的数字媒体服务可以被视为积极的一面，但也被视为一种烦恼和与自主权有关的担忧，因此将参与者纳入决策是特别可取的。第一项研究将从与东北部社区团体的讲习班开始，以绘制问题空间并了解他们在公共媒体方面被边缘化的经历。这项研究还将包括与公共媒体部门的个人进行访谈或研讨会，以探讨他们对参与社区的看法。在此之后，协同设计过程将开始让社区参与者在服务概念的发展中发出声音。然后我将使用基于概念的迭代原型，之后我将与参与者一起部署原型作为技术探针。这个技术探索的目的不是产生解决方案本身，而是作为一个研究人工制品来了解这个概念。根据这项研究的结果，进一步的协同设计将用于迭代第二次和第三次部署，每次部署都将包括一个原型，作为基于共同设计概念的技术探测。这些后续部署的目标是探索和调整概念以适应其他组的需求，并可能涉及重大更改。

Many public broadcasters in the UK and around the world have formal commitments to serve the public. These responsibilities may be outlined in charters, such as those of the ABC and BBC, or enforced through external regulators like OFCOM in the UK. However, current media does not reach all audiences and the equitable provision of public media remains a challenge for the BBC as the world's largest broadcaster by number of employees. As the BBC produces a range of media to meet their charter mission to "inform, educate and entertain", reduced engagement could mean missing out on not only entertainment-focussed, but also educational content. It is therefore desirable to increase engagement for underserved people. Public service media can have the potential to enrich the lives of individuals if they can provide content that gives value, but only if public broadcasters are able to reach and engage them.Within the Northeast of England, employment rates and economic productivity are below average for England, while free school meal rates for disadvantaged families are above average. However, individuals may find support through third sector organisations, such as place-based community groups. For community groups that may be struggling following the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, external support could be beneficial in strengthening their bonds and building resilience. In addition to potential benefits for audiences, connections with underserved people would aid the BBC's creative remit to "reflect, represent and serve the diverse communities of all of the United Kingdom's nations and regions and support the creative economy". A digital technology service could help the BBC to serve community groups and tailor content to their needs.Given what was discussed above, this research will investigate the role a digital BBC service could play in supporting place-based community groups and will aim to answer the following question and sub-questions:1. How can public services broadcasters such as the BBC serve place-based community group needs?1.1. What type of relations do communities want with the BBC?1.2. How can we ensure that the future of digital public media is inclusive?1.3. How can digital technology support community engagement with public service media?This research will take a human-centred design approach, as individuals in community groups who are disenfranchised may not be properly represented due to the nature of their disenfranchisement, so their experiences are a key part of the research. Since existing research has found digital media services with personalisation can be seen in positive light, but also as an annoyance and as a concern relating to autonomy, the inclusion of participants in decision-making is especially desirable.The first study will begin with workshops with community groups in the Northeast to map the problem space and understand their experiences of marginalisation relating to public media. This study will also include interviews or workshops with individuals in the public media sector to explore their perspectives on engaging communities. Following this, a co-design process will begin to give community participants a voice in the development of service concepts. I will then use iterative prototyping based on the concepts, after which I will deploy a prototype with the participants as a technology probe. The purpose of this technology probe is not to produce a solution in itself, but to act as a research artefact to learn about the concept. Informed by the results of this research, further co-design will be used to iterate second and third deployments, which will each include a prototype I produce as a technology probe based on the co-designed concepts. The goal of these subsequent deployments is to explore and adapt the concept to the needs of other groups and might involve significant changes.