主播大秀

If you're relatively new to the 主播大秀, you may not have heard of 主播大秀 Redux. However, for those of us who have been around for a while, Redux is legendary. The brainchild of 主播大秀 Research & Development's Chief Scientist, Brandon Butterworth, Redux recorded and stored all programmes broadcast on our national TV channels and radio stations since 2007. These programmes could be found and played back via the Redux website.

Archive Search is now the place to go to find archive content. From next week Archive Search will no longer use Redux to source content. More on that later.

Uses of 主播大秀 Redux

In 2007 it was difficult to get hold of audio and video content from the 主播大秀 archive in a digital format. Accessing archive content for research generally meant ordering and waiting for VHS tapes or DVDs to be delivered by a 主播大秀 mail van. 主播大秀 Redux allowed programme-makers to view a growing set of content immediately. It proved extremely popular.

主播大秀 Research & Development also built Snippets - a hugely popular tool with programme-makers - which relied on the content held by 主播大秀 Redux. Snippets used the programme subtitles to allow users to search across the spoken word of the programme. Want a clip of Delboy saying, "This time next year, we'll be millionaires"? You got it!

"主播大秀 REDUX has been an invaluable tool, quite revolutionary in its simplicity and comprehensiveness. I really appreciated how the system captured everything, especially the complete coverage of the 主播大秀 News Channel output – this has proved invaluable over the years, especially with the current fashion for using audio of news journalists to carry the narrative of many documentaries. The addition of searchable subtitles via Snippets was another great innovation that made it so much easier to interrogate the huge amount of material in the collection. The innovative and imaginative work of the 主播大秀 R&D team and their willingness to push forward and make REDUX and SNIPPETS available to all 主播大秀 employees is greatly appreciated, and I hope the spirit of that approach will continue to live on in R&D and elsewhere, even as REDUX itself comes to an end."

Stuart Robertson, Archive and Digital Lead, Current Affairs

Over the years, 主播大秀 Redux has met many and varying needs, including:

• programme research - researching a person or topic as well as finding content suitable to re-use in a new programme
• compliance - reviewing programmes in the event of a query or complaint
• technical review - helping ensure that 主播大秀 broadcasts achieve the expected quality
• content delivery in the required format for iPlayer Beta sites, e.g. Nintendo Wii
• external online access to content - increasingly important as more of our content is made by independent production companies
• education partnerships - enables schools, colleges and universities to make educational use of TV and Radio broadcasts as permitted by copyright law
• research projects including academic partnerships, particularly in the field of machine learning

Why are we moving away from 主播大秀 Redux?

Since 主播大秀 Redux began, access to our archive has changed enormously. A large and ever-increasing proportion of our 100 years of archive is now digitised and available in broadcast quality to programme-makers inside and outside the 主播大秀. This includes higher-quality copies of much of the content stored in 主播大秀 Redux. Since 2017 all pre-recorded programmes have been delivered for broadcast as digital files and automatically archived. Physical archive loans ceased in February 2021.

We now have  - a single place to search across approximately 75% of our archive. It will cover even more of the archive in future.

• 主播大秀 Internet Blog - History of the 主播大秀 Redux project

What will I do without 主播大秀 Redux?

The unique content recorded by Redux will continue to be available to play and clip in browse quality via Archive Search. New content will be available via Archive Search - just not recorded off-air by Redux.

Archive Search allows users to explore the spoken content of programmes using subtitles and machine-generated transcripts. Users can make clips of relevant parts of a programme, and for some content, they can even make broadcast-quality clips ready for inclusion in a new programme.

Our curators routinely update archive collections to support production teams, particularly in advance of upcoming events, anniversaries and seasons. These collections are shared on the Archive Search homepage.

Archive Search has allowed us to expand archives access for universities and schools. The entire digitised 主播大秀 broadcast archive is now available to students in formal education in the UK.

主播大秀 staff can find training and information on accessing Archive Search by searching on Gateway. If you are working on a 主播大秀 commission at an independent production company that would benefit from archive access, your 主播大秀 contact can provide this information.

What next for 主播大秀 Archives access?

We will soon make Radio Digital Archive content available via Archive Search, giving access to an extensive archive of high-quality audio. We will also provide more programme information within Archive Search to help programme-makers make more informed choices and make re-use easier.

This year we celebrate the 主播大秀's centenary. The Archives Technology & Services team look forward to seeing archive content play a key role in our celebration of and reflection on the 主播大秀's first century.