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BBC 2.0The BBC’s 15 Web Principles

Tom LoosemoreBBC Future Media & Technology

13th March 2007

Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/essjay/

“The purpose of the BBC is to make great programmes”

“The purpose of the BBC is to make great programmes”

WRONG

?

Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/essjay/

The Public Purposes of the BBC —(a) sustaining citizenship and civil society

(b) promoting education and learning

(c) stimulating creativity and cultural excellence

(d) representing the UK, its nations, regions and communities

(e) bringing the UK to the world and the world to the UK

(f) in promoting its other purposes, helping to deliver to the public

the benefit of emerging communications technologies and

services and, in addition, taking a leading role in the switchover

to digital television.

How the BBC delivers its Public Purposes

(1) The BBC’s main activities should be the promotion of its Public Purposes through the provision of output which consists of information, education and entertainment, supplied by means of—

(a) television, radio and online services;

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The BBC’s Fifteen Web Principles

DRAFT

Principle #1

• Build web products that meet user needs: anticipate needs not yet fully articulated by users, then meet them with products that set new standards.

Principle #2

• The very best websites do one thing really, really well: do less, but execute perfectly.

Principle #3

• Do not attempt to do everything yourselves: link to other high-quality sites instead. Your users will thank you. Use other people's content and tools to enhance your site, and vice versa.

Participation: John Peel Day

Principle #4

• Fall forward, fast: make many small bets, iterate wildly, back successes, kill failures, fast.

open.bbc.co.uk/catalogue

Principle #5

• Treat the entire web as a creative canvas: don't restrict your creativity to your own site.

Principle #6

• The web is a conversation. Join in: Adopt a relaxed, conversational tone. Admit your mistakes.

Principle #7

• Any website is only as good as its worst page: Ensure best practice editorial processes are adopted and adhered to.

The BBC’s worst page?

Principle #8

• Make sure all your content can be linked to, forever.

Principle #9

• Remember your granny won't ever use Second Life: She may come online soon, with very different needs from early-adopters.

Principle #10

• Maximise routes to content: Develop as many aggregations of content about people, places, topics, channels, networks & time as possible. Optimise your site to rank high in Google.

Principle #11

• Consistent design and navigation needn't mean one-size-fits-all: Users should always know they're on one of your websites, even if they all look very different. Most importantly of all, they know they won't ever get lost.

Principle #12

• Accessibility is not an optional extra: Sites designed that way from the ground up work better for all users.

TrainTimes.org.uk

Principle #13

• Let people paste your content on the walls of their virtual homes: Encourage users to take nuggets of content away with them, with links back to your site

Principle #14

• Link to discussions on the web, don't host them: Only host web-based discussions where there is a clear rationale

Principle #15

• Personalisation should be unobtrusive, elegant and transparent: After all, it's your users' data. Best respect it.

And if Fifteen is too many…

…here’s Five:

• Straightforward• (simple,

uncomplicated)

• Functional• (usable, useful)

• Gregarious• (sociable,

participatory)

• Open• (exposed, unguarded)

• Evolving• (emergent, growing)

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Thank You

tom.loosemore@bbc.co.uk