Let’s be honest, filing isn’t the most glamorous job at the BBC office. But, following the successful roll out of the pilot phase of the Corporation’s long awaited Creative Archive, all those years of methodical toil have finally begun to pay off.
The pilot, like the archives themselves, are a reminder that, in the words of American poet Henry Longfellow, “All things come round to him who will but wait.”
It was back in 2003 when then BBC Director, Greg Dyke, announced a proposal to offer the public free access to a selection of the BBC’s archived footage. The main thrust was that the ‘creative archive’ was to consist of audio and visual programming that could be accessed and used by anyone as long as it wasn’t intended for commercial purposes.
The released material would be governed by a licence called the Creative Archive Licence. The whole concept taking it’s cue from the groundbreaking work acheieved by the folks over at Creative Commons.
As with Creative Commons, the idea of the Creative Archive proved popular with a broad range of independent film makers, public sector organisations, and other broadcasters. During the early stages of the project’s development, the BBC held a series of meetings with potential partners. The outcome of these early discussions was the formation of a new body, the shockingly unimaginatively titled Creative Archive Licence Group, comprising Channel 4, the British Film Institute, and the Open University who, along with the BBC, made a commitment to making the proposal a reality. Originally slated to launch in late 2004, the project finally got underway in April 2005.
Over the past 18 months the Group has released hundreds of radio clips, 80 online news reports, historical footage covering the last 50 years, as well as material documenting the very beginnings of television. Users could download this material and create with it at their leisure. There were even competitions aimed at the Beeb’s “young media aware audience” to see how creatively they could re-mix the archived footage.
Not all copyright has been relinquished. Creative Archive Licences do have restrictions. The University of Bath’s web magazine Ariadne published a great summary of what the Archive will offer, or you can find out more by going straight to the source.
The project’s pilot phase concluded in September 2006 so there is no longer any material available to download. The project is now being evaluated through a Public Value Test. The outcome of the test will directly determine what the future holds for the Creative Archive.
Whilst praise for the project has come from many quarters there have been some points of contention. One of the main gripes has been that the released material can only be used by UK residents. It has been suggested that the BBC could simply have endorsed existing Creative Commons licences instead of creating their own set of rules.
Outright criticism of the project focuses on the lack of commercial viability of the Creative Archive. At a political level, Conservative Shadow Chancellor, George Osbourne, is quoted in The Times as saying “…the BBC’s licence-fee funded ability to hand out quality content free online makes it very difficult for others to move into the new video download market.”
Criticisms aside the project’s potential is huge. Digital-Lifestyles.com reports that at the meeting to discuss the BBC’s initial proposal, Stanford Law School Professor Lawrence Lessig, who chairs the Creative Commons project, said: “If the vision proves a reality, Britain will become a centre for digital creativity, and will drive the many markets – in broadband deployment and technology – that digital creativity will support.”
With the Creative Archive the BBC has successfully used digital technology to generate a new level of excitement around the Corporation, particularly among younger users. Despite the woeful predictions for the Beeb’s future contained within the 87-page 2004 report issued by The Culture, Media and Sport Committee, the BBC has, with the aid of the Creative Archive, pulled a Madonna. That is, it has managed to reinvent itself as something sexy (in the advertising sense) and even more relevant than it was in the days before it had any competition.