The radio times metaphor

Yes, I know – I like my metaphors! I take responsibility for the Plings Bank, Fish where the fish are and other sayings around the project. Some work, some really don’t!

Recently we have been meeting lots of local authorities as part of the DCSF Information & Signposting Project. There is a common theme around getting information together from various sources and providers, and then presenting that back. Linked to this is a theme about validity and quality – especially if people are not quite sure about a piece of provision.

radiotimes.com screenshot - what's on tonight?

During these discussions, we have used the reference of the Radio Times (or any other TV / Radio schedule listings).  In such a content, each and every channel has its own brand, terms and conditons, delivery method and – obviously – content.  A schedule such as Radio Times enables people to check what is on one channel at a particular time / day, but also across several or all channels at a particular time.  Plus – we can clearly see, or find out about – the difference between BBC1 and channel XYZ on cable.  Finally, the listings also enable people to editorialise the content – pick up any newspaper or magazine and different programmes will be featured according to proirities and audience.

We started to look at this through our work with SCHED* recently.

When thinking about the youth offer and the role of the various providers and authorities – we can begin to see how some of this can be transplanted:

• Our key aim is to aggregate activity information together so that people can access it easily – both locally, but also regionally and nationally – The Schedule
• We also want to maintain and support the local brands and initiatives – The Channels
• Giving people the opportunity to feature, talk or highlight a particular channel or event is key – The Interfaces 

We will no doubt explore this over the next weeks.  

Ill also try to avoid speaking too much in metaphors

PLINGS Channels

As you might see from the top of this page, we have started to put the various PLINGS channels up for people to access. Life started off with this blog, but we now have much more going on and so we thought it best to try and illustrate this in various ways. So – the channels for the PLINGS project are, at the moment:

• Home – this is the project homepage where we will try to publish related information
• Blogs – this site!
• Pligg – the news site – this has been up a few weeks now
• Places – it is here that we will start to release the Places to Go data, and invite people to contribute
• Things – this will be the area for people to log in and add activities – it will be “beta” and invite only for a while
• Labs – we will put here some things we are testing, hopefully in a way that people can take part

Over the next few weeks, we will build up the content and services at these channels, so keep checking back!