The Data Art at BBC Backstage: information visualisation for the people

这项知识转移奖学金将威斯敏斯特大学(UOW)、媒体艺术与设计系和BBC的研究人员聚集在一起，开展一个为期22个月的项目，为BBC观众开发灵活和创新的方式来使用其互联网服务。该项目借鉴了汤姆·科比和研究助理加文·贝利10多年的研究成果，开发了在线艺术作品，将从互联网检索到的信息映射为视觉图像，以视觉、交互、动画的形式组织和揭示隐藏的信息结构。KT项目旨在利用这些研究活动来创建一个新的网站平台(ArtLab)，为BBC观众提供创新的互动和可访问的方式来重新定位和与在线内容相关。BBC于2005年创建了其在线平台‘BBC BackStage’，作为学习发展的一部分，以使其受众能够通过用户生成的活动循环使用其在线服务和内容，以响应Graf报告(2004)，该报告强调BBC需要参与‘Web 2.0’现象，并开发社交互动机会。BackStage的任务是鼓励观众利用这些资产创新新的信息结构，并在开放标准的范围内共享结果(即可共享的、非版权的材料)：例如，观众可以动态地“利用”BBC的“内容馈送”和基于网络的数据流(例如新闻、天气、金融和地理数据)来做到这一点。这个项目很重要，因为这种类型的数据可视化已经成为理解和沟通自然、社会和经济世界之间相互作用的复杂性质的重要当代工具。这个项目为大型公共机构提供了一个及时的机会，让非专业的公众直接参与到一个结构化和支持性的环境中来了解它的做法。合作有几个目标：促进这样一个想法，即当创造性地使用技术时，可以开发出像其他创造性媒体一样令人愉悦、有趣和移动的人工制品；使人们能够使用可评估的视觉格式来理解科学和技术过程，并通过艺术和设计方法扩大公众对BBC技术资源的参与。该项目将分三个重叠阶段交付，相关产出如下：制作、指导、传播1。将建立一个网站(艺术实验室)，作为与参与者交流的公共平台，并出版范例艺术品和辅导材料，支持观众创作自己的作品。向新闻界和更广泛的社区宣传该项目的外联活动将作为一项正在进行的项目倡议进行。2.将启动一个持续的指导进程，以支持参与的受众并向其提供反馈。此外，作为该项目宣布的精神的一部分，将鼓励观众通过专门的在线论坛通过网站分享作品和专业知识。通过ArtLab的论坛建立一个积极的自给自足的社区，将使项目在正式结束日期后能够持续下去。3.项目成果的传播将以多种方式进行：ArtLab DIY手册将在项目结束时出版，以提供评论并说明如何制作作品；公共博客将跟踪发展；为BBC管理人员提供的报告将反思和记录良好做法；参与者制作的作品将公开展览；威斯敏斯特大学将主办一次会议；BBC内部会议将分享在更广泛的BBC制作界之间合作期间开发的制作创新。

This Knowledge Transfer Fellowship brings together researchers from the University of Westminster (UOW), Media Arts and Design department and the BBC in a 22-month project that develops flexible and innovative ways for BBC audiences to use its Internet services. The project draws from over 10 years of research carried out by the Fellow, Tom Corby, and Research Assistant, Gavin Baily, to develop online artworks that map information retrieved from the Internet into visual images that organize and reveal hidden information structures as visual, interactive, animations. The KT project seeks to exploit these research activities to create a new website platform (ARTLAB) providing innovate interactive and accessible ways for BBC audiences to repurpose and relate to online content.The BBC founded its online platform, 'BBC Backstage' in 2005 as part of Learning Development to enable its audiences to recycle its online services and content through user-generated activities, in response to the Graf Report (2004) which stressed the need for the BBC to engage with 'Web 2.0' phenomena, and to develop opportunities for social interactivity. Backstage is tasked to encourage audiences to innovate new information structures using these assets and share the results under open standards remits (i.e. shareable, non-copyrighted material): for example, audiences can dynamically 'tap into' the BBC's 'content feeds' and web-based data streams (e.g. news, weather, financial and geographical data) in order to do this.This project is important in that data visualization of this type has become an important contemporary tool for understanding and communicating the complex nature of interactions between the natural, social and economic worlds. This project presents a timely opportunity for a major public institution to directly engage non-specialist wider publics in understanding its practices in a structured and supportive environment.The collaboration has a number of aims: to promote the idea that technology when used creatively can develop artifacts that delight, intrigue and move in the same way as other creative media; to enable understanding of scientific and technological processes using assessable visual formats, and to widen public engagement with BBC technological resources using art and design methods.The project will be delivered in 3 overlapping phases outlined below with associated outputs: production, mentoring, dissemination.1. A website will be built (The ARTLAB), to act as a public platform for communication with participants and to publish example artworks and tutorial materials supporting audiences in the creation of their own work. Outreach activities to the press and wider communities publicizing the project will occur as an ongoing project initiative. 2. An ongoing mentoring process will be instigated to support and provide feedback for participating audiences. In addition as part of a declared ethos of the project, audiences will be encouraged to share works and expertise via the site using dedicated online forums. The development of an active self-supporting community that engage via the ARTLAB'S forums will enable the sustainability of the project past its official end date. 3. Dissemination of the of project results will occur in a number of ways: THE ARTLAB DIY MANUAL will be published at the end of the project to provide a commentary and describe how to make works, a public blog will track development, a report for BBC managers will reflect upon and capture good practice, a public exhibition of works produced by participants and a conference will be hosted by the University of Westminster, and in-house BBC meetings will share production innovations developed during the collaboration amongst the wider BBC production community.