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The provides useful films and articles around broadcast technology, software engineering and business systems. Here I’m going to give you a quick round-up of some of the features we’ve added to the site in the last week or so.

Moving towards Lean UX – Jeff Gothelf

In May we had a visit from , a highly sought-after speaker and authority figure on the subject of Lean UX. Jeff gave a presentation in the Media Café at New Broadcasting House, detailing the principles of this radical approach to user experience (UX) design.

In plain terms (and with slightly less finesse than Jeff’s explanations), Lean UX is a way of incorporating a more into the UX design process. For some time now, many software development and engineering teams both inside the Ö÷²¥´óÐã and outside, have adopted an Agile-oriented approach. Amongst other things, this boils down to working in short regular cycles, or ‘iterations’, with a team comprised of various different, complementary disciplines. In essence this approach has been refined to allow software teams to respond swiftly to changes in the demands of their audience. Instead of labouring over a product for a long time only to eventually release it and find that customer needs have changed or moved on, Agile methodology encourages teams to release software regularly, get feedback and make improvements in a continuing cycle.

Lean UX takes many of these core principles and adapts them specifically to the design process. As Jeff explained, the focus should be on building a close dialogue between the product team and their customer base. The aim, ultimately is to build a better, more efficient online product, and in less time.

Not ones to pass up a good opportunity, we grabbed Jeff after the event for a spot of filming and he discussed Lean UX in more depth.also features Sacha Sedriks and Wai Tai Li from Ö÷²¥´óÐã Future Media UX&D, explaining how and why they adopted some of these ‘Lean principles’ in designing the Ö÷²¥´óÐã Playlister platform. You can also read Wai Tai Li’s

Wrapping up codecs

A source of near-constant frustration for internet users seems to be non-functioning or otherwise absent codecs. Media found online can often prompt a dreaded error message when put through our playback devices. What’s more, the exact reasons why we can’t open or play our media can often be unclear. Andy Jones, a principal technologist at Ö÷²¥´óÐã Academy, has written a two-part, non-technical guide aimed at helping people understand codecs.

We recently published . In this article Andy provides some detail around why codecs exist, why there seem to be so many of them about, and what you can try when they let you down. Like footwear or summer fashion, Andy explains, one size does not necessarily fit all.

Soon we will also be publishing another article from Andy that goes into detail about the process of bit-rate reduction, or compression – essential for streaming bits of media online.

File Delivery Made Real

The television industry is currently limbering up in anticipation of what has been described as one of the biggest changes in television since colour. 1 October 2014, aka marks the date by which all UK broadcasters will begin to receive file-based programme deliveries. The traditional process for handing over your programme has generally involved physically sending off a tape. Now, in the increasingly virtual world, these tapes are being phased out in favour of digital files.

This change spells out adjustments to the delivery workflow, including the introduction of new software quality control systems to ensure programmes are safe to broadcast. is a series of events organised by Ö÷²¥´óÐã Academy in partnership with Creative Skillset, UK Screen and the IABM, aimed at readying the industry for these changes. Over June and July, these events will take place in Salford, Glasgow, Belfast, Cardiff and London.

In the build up to FD Day, we will be publishing lots more about file-based delivery, including some useful videos for producers in the next couple of weeks.

Frederick Botham is a researcher at the Ö÷²¥´óÐã College of Technology