The BBC Genome Project contains digital archives of the BBC listings printed in the Radio Times between the years 1923 – 2009. You can learn more about planned output and BBC services from the past or get involved by editing the entries. Although the regional variations of the Radio Times aren’t comprehensive at the moment, there are plans to release more information as the project progresses. Whether you’re a researcher or merely looking to find out what was on television when you were born, this is one fantastic glimpse into the past.

Covers from the 1930s

Take a look at the project here.

More: Website

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For more creative delights we’ve Spotted on the web take a look here.

One of the ways in which BBC Arts is looking to make the most of the BBC Archive is by opening it up to artists. Artists and Archive is a six month artists’ residency project which places six Scottish artists, who work with the moving image, at the heart of BBC Production. The project is delivered in partnership between BBC Arts, LUX: Artists’ Moving Image and Creative Scotland.

The six selected artists are, Kate Davis, Kathryn Elkin, Turner Prize-nominated Luke Fowler, Torsten Lauschmann, Alia Syed and Stephen Sutcliffe, who were selected from a long list of talent from across the country. They will create six new moving image works.

Alia Syed, Photo courtesy of BBC Scotland

Jonty Claypole, the BBC’s Director of Arts, said: We were bowled over by the quality of moving image artists in Scotland and are looking forward to seeing what the chosen six are able to produce. The BBC Archive is a rich and unrivalled resource so this is a unique opportunity for some of Scotland’s most interesting artists to create an eclectic mix of new works. We want to learn from these artists and see the archive used in new ways.

The archive stretches back to the founding of the corporation by royal charter in 1927. It contains a myriad of content, stored on different formats, from wax cylinders to pages from ceefax, 16mm film to video tape. The BBC archive is vast and packed with untapped potential, it is one of the largest archives of any broadcaster in the world.

Kate Davis, Photo courtesy of BBC Scotland

One of the artists in residence, Kate Davis, was born in New Zealand, but lives and works in Glasgow. Kate’s work is concerned with questioning how we bear witness to the complexities of the past. Her work is an attempt to reconsider, reclaim and reinvent what certain histories could look, sound and feel like. Informed by successive waves of feminist art and theory, Davis works across a range of media, including drawing, installation, bookworks and film/video.

“Normally I work on my own in the studio so it’s been wonderful to work in such a supported group environment where we are learning new skills, gaining special access to the archives and engaging with what the other artists on the residency are interested in and working on. The BBC archive is unique; it is a way of understanding how Britain saw itself and saw the world. The support has been tremendous from the BBC, LUX and Creative Scotland.”

Photo courtesy of BBC Scotland

This initiative marks the start of the BBC’s on-going commitment to allow artists access to archives. This is a truly exciting project and one which places artists and art making at the heart of the BBC.

The work will initially be exhibited through BBC Arts reinvigorated online platform, when it re-launches in June and then subsequently at different galleries around the UK.

For even more about the BBC archive and to catch a glimpse of some of its content be sure to check out Arts in the Archive at Art Screen, a new festival celebrating arts documentary running from 10 – 13 April at the GFT and CCA as part of Glasgow International.

Glasgow based broadcaster, voice-over artist, musician, records producer and performer, John Cavanagh explains his eclectic and varied working life.

I represent perhaps a rather odd inclusion for this feature, as I’ve never had a succession of jobs that could be described as a “career path”: I’ve never aspired to such a concept in the past or now. However, I’ll begin with the first work I was paid for and this involved a very unkempt garden. When I was thirteen, our next door neighbours wanted their grossly overgrown little wilderness restored to a state whereby they could reasonably persuade someone else that it was a good idea to move into their house. At the outset, I don’t think they felt I’d last more than an afternoon, but I kept hacking away, imagining I was creating paths through uncharted jungle with a machete, à la films starring Cornel Wilde! There were many small antique & junk shops in Glasgow at the time and the money I made from gardening took me to those in search of old mechanical music machines.

As a young person interested in early sound recordings and the machines to play them on, I met lots of fascinating characters who were involved in – or orbited around – the antique trade. Some of these people spotted an aptitude in me that went beyond my personal interest in sound and I was encouraged to become involved in the trading too. My dad gave me sufficient funds to pay rent on a space for 6 weeks, saying that even if I didn’t make a penny, the experience would be worth the money he’d supplied. In the end, I ran a small antique shop for over 11 years. The latter end of this time overlapped quite a bit with what would become a huge part of my life and the discovery of a realm where I felt I fitted in and could get paid for doing work I loved!

A latent interest in radio fired up to the point where I wanted to learn how programmes were made. At the time, the fact that I’d been able to edit tape since I was nine years old was helpful in getting involved in a BBC Radio Scotland show making short features. An interview with Roy Harper marks my first professional radio engagement. What happened thereafter could be counted as several jobs: I have been, variously, a presenter of music and/or speech programmes across much of the BBC, including all five U.K. networks (presenting heavy rock music on Radio One and opera on Radio Three being just a part of all this), World service/Radio International etc. I have also been a radio newsreader/continuity announcer at Radio Scotland (along with presenting many music shows there), a television continuity announcer, the voice of the Classified Football Results on TV & radio for 14 seasons (I don’t like football, so I was impartial in that role!), narrator of documentaries etc, etc. It’s worth mentioning here that the first music show I presented was at Radio Clyde, not the BBC, and there it was that I had my only formal interview for anything I’ve ever done. This was conducted by Clyde’s highly respected DJ Mike Riddoch and head of programmes Alex Dickson. At the start of the interview, Alex asked me a question and I began to answer “Well, I think…” and before I got another syllable out, he’d thrown open the door to the production office and bellowed “THIS ONE’S DANGEROUS… SAYS HE THINKS”! Mike and Alex asked someone who knew me if he thought I should be given a show. They found me highly interesting, but eccentric, I heard later. I took that as a compliment!

The next development I would cite as a separate job from broadcast work was when I got into the world of the commercial voice-over. My first of those was for a Sony Records TV commercial highlighting a compilation album called The Sound of the Suburbs: “Gathered together for the first time: 18 punk classics!” There I was in a Soho studio called Silk Sound, sat on a pale grey leather sofa waiting my first ever v/o booking when in walked Tom Baker. I say “walked”, but Baker made a spectacular sweeping entrance and, gliding up to the receptionists, he boomed “Good morning DAHLINGS” and I thought – gasp – “That’s Doctor Who… what am I doing here”?!

At this point it’s very confusing to consider what I should include next in a chronology. Although hosting live events, public discussions and so on is something I do now, the root of this role lies in presenting outside broadcasts for radio, some of those at venues like Wembley Stadium and Castle Donnington. Making music and producing records is another strand of my life which goes back to discovering I could be a performer as well as a consumer of music, both as part of the duo Electroscope and solo under the name Phosphene. However, I think that, in the elision of employments, I was paid for writing something before those things happened, so reference that here. I’m especially pleased that my little book on the early days of Syd Barret, Pink Floyd and the emergent ’60s counterculture in London is still doing well after nearly ten years in print, particularly because it has made it into Italian and Spanish translations and I’m told a Korean edition should be happening too… all part of the adventure and I guess that’s really what I’ve always been looking for: an adventure, rather than a career. I like to keep an open mind and who knows what will happen next? Much more fun, I think, than trying to drive my life along any set line based on where some convention suggests I ought to be in a certain number of years!

More: Website

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We’ve asked professionals in creative industries what jobs they have had in the past to get their foot through the door (or at least pay the rent). For more in the “My First 5 Jobs” series look here.

Bread Collective is a creative collective based in East London, made up of illustrators, graphic designers, art directors, set designers, photographers and filmmakers. We have four core members: Luke James, Owen Phillips, Victoria Walmsley and Jo Lee, regularly collaborating with a wider network of creatives.

The Walls Have Ears Murals

The Walls Have Ears Murals

Having worked with each other in the past, we began as a group of friends discussing how we could stretch ourselves creatively and work on more ambitious projects by combining our different skills. We chose the name Bread, as we liked the idea ‘to break bread’, meaning the idea of a friendly social interaction where something is shared.

Golden Moments Art Direction

Bread was officially established in 2012 after we were awarded funding by the London Legacy Development Corporation for a community project to improve the area where we all live in Hackney Wick, just outside the Olympic park. The project was enthusiastically received by local residents and attracted media attention by the Guardian, the BBC and a list of top design magazines and blogs, such as Creative Review.

Carhartt Installation

As the year has progressed, we have been extremely lucky to work with a variety of great clients, including: Carhartt, Maharishi, Monkstone Knitwear, Samsung, Beck’s, Lovebox Festival and Cnwd.

Monkstone AW12 Video Lookbook

Where possible, we strive to work on worthy projects that we believe in, and we’ve enjoyed running workshops with the public. This has led us to work on inspirational projects such as the Do Lectures, and Kaleidoscope Festival which launches at the Barbican in November.

Monkstone AW12 Video Lookbook

We’re always keen to hear from people who would like to collaborate with or commission us, so please feel free to give us a shout at:
Website | Blog | Vimeo | Facebook | Twitter

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See more arts collectives we’ve featured on the site. Think we should feature your collective? Get in touch.

I Am Do Filmmaker is a hub for filmmakers in the North East of Scotland. However, there’s an immense amount of useful podcasts for any budding filmmaker, including interviews with Storytellers, Producers, Filmmakers and advice from a range of people at the BBC. Visit their website here: iamdofilmmaker.co.uk

Interested? Follow I Am Do Filmmaker on Facebook here or Twitter here.

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For more creative delights we’ve Spotted on the web take a look here.

Last night I watched a documentary on BBC4 called The Joy of Stats. I also found out about Culture Hack Day, being held at the Royal Opera House in January, to play with data released by a number of creative institutions.

BBC also created a documentary about diagrams in here. I haven’t watched it yet, but imagine it deals with overlapping themes.

I suppose these things have got me wondering…

What do we (as in creative types) do with data, and why do we do it? Where are we going with it and what does it mean to audiences? I haven’t looked around much, but my gut feeling is that creative use of data is generally paper or screen-based at the moment. Is that true?

What happens if it moves into more immersive environments? So it all becomes that bit more experiential and…theatrical? Is there potential for exploring real-time relationships, representing them, and letting people interact within them?

Any more / better / bigger examples very gratefully received.

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Member comments transferred from previous website:

Neil McGuire- More on this topic here

Would echo the reference to tufte made earlier in this thread. His disassembly of the ‘cognitive style of powerpoint‘ sort of pre-dates some of the issues with the current vogue for data visualisation that often does little to bring clarity to the situation, and are instead an exercise in vector-based decoration.One the most powerful ‘data’ visualisations that i can think of, and which had a direct effect on the social/political activities of the day was this one which had a direct impact on public perception of slavery, and contributed in some way towards its abolition.
The interesting thing for me is as much in the politics – designers interacting with data but where the outcome isn’t necessarily a ‘neutral’ or benign rendering of it. Had the good fortune to be in amsterdam at the weekend and saw daniel van der velden of metahaven talking about their recent work on/with/for wikileaks… a complex set of data but the outcome of this project as much to do with the politics of the situation and ‘identity’ as to do with how the data works and how it is connected.

In terms of theatre, while in amsterdam met up with a friend who is now working at Lust / LustLab – they just did a project with an opera company using projections and voice triggered rss feeds as part of, and responding to the performance.
other useful resources: visual complexity.

MitchMiller: Well, data visualisation – in this case oral testimony and common perception – is the core of what I’ve been wrestling with on my  (shameless plug alert) dialectogramsproject. You can do fascinating stuff with quantitative data, but qualitative can be more tricky. My approach at the moment is quite ‘straight’ graphic art, but I think there’s interesting work to be done with interpersonal relationships and their representation – an idea I had was to use circuit schematics to depict social relationships then build whatever circuit results, to see if the world goes ‘pop’ when you switch it on..Check out the work of Edward Tufte – http://www.edwardtufte.com/tufte/ he’s seen as the godfather of data visualisation in America, Mark Lombardi and the latest issue of Varoom magazine which has some amazing ‘word’ pictures.

clyde9: for info graphics try http://infosthetics.com/

unfortunately the bbc4 doc on diagrams was a bit of a lemon, 15 mins of story stretch out over half a hour, with regular “bite sized” recaps . . . what happened to actual documentary making?

Usual questions, about what if they are stolen and is this art….to the first: if you base what you do on the worst that can happen, nothing good in the world would ever happen, on the second: that a re-enactment as social action communicating ideas about real issues that were relevant to everyday life 45 years ago as they are today is an important strand of contemporary practice (they won’t use that bit).

After ten takes I said to the interviewer that I was beginning to sound like a politician, he said yes but the difference is that you mean it.

Angus