BBC’s Open-Source Radio

I love the BBC! I know that a lot of people don’t agree with the license fee and there are arguments for scrapping it, but I think the BBC do a fantastic job. The range and quality of programs they make simply wouldn’t be available if they were under commercial pressures.

Not only do the BBC make great TV and radio programs, they also heavily invest in technology. The fantastic iPlayer, no stranger to controversy itself, is evidence that this R&D is a worthwhile pursuit. Which is why I think their new innovation is stunning - the Olinda radio.

The BBC commissioned Schulze & Web, an independant Design Technology Consultancy, to design an innovative DAB radio, one that changes the way people use and think about radios. The answer they came up with is a modular DAB radio, dubbed Olinda, with a dollop social features on the side.

The modularity of the design has loads of potential. The side of the radio features a connector with magnetic studs, allowing extra modules to be added. Some of these ideas are amazing. The include a projector module which displays the current time/station/livetext of the broadcast on the wall, and a special kids module (possibly branded with the CBBC/Cbeebies logo) which downloads kids shows to it and then breaks away to become a stand-alone MP3 player!

The social side of things makes radio listening a much more interactive and social experience. I think this makes sense; with email, text, Facebook, Twitter, etc. sending a message to the studio is easier, and building social features directly into the radio brings this full circle - imagine your Facebook status changing to tell people what show you’re listening to, or being able mark a song as a favourite and then adding the album of the artist to your Amazon wish list! This is available via another module, which connects to the Internet (and I presume will allow the listener to tune into internet broadcasts too.)

The prototype social module the BBC describes has “wipe-clean spaces for writing your friends’ names or sticking in a picture.” This is 2008, not 1978. I think an LCD screen with integration with social networks would be better and would certainly appeal to more people.

What makes this radio really interesting though is that this is all based around open-source hardware. The BBC are “making all of the ideas and concepts behind Olinda available under a Creative Commons-type license - licenses that basically allow for sharing and remixing of the work, provided the original author is credited.” This means that radio’s like this, and the modules, could be made by any company.

For more information about the Olinda, click here.