Memorandum submitted by Friends of the
Creative Domain
Over the last three weeks many of the constituencies
that have a stake in the BBC's plans for the Creative Archive
have started to talk about how this Archive can best serve the
public interest.
A fully-realised Creative Archive would transform
the BBC's deep archive into a springboard for a new century of
participatory creation by Britons. The project stands to re-affirm
the BBC as the banner-carrier for public service broadcasting
worldwide in the information age. However if the BBC scales back
its ambitions, the Creative Archive could amount to little more
than brochureware and failed promise.
On 26 May 2004, a group of researchers, educators,
archivists, artists and licence-payers gathered in London to launch
the "Friends of the Creative Domain"—a group that
stands in support of a fully-realised BBC Creative Archive.
We believe that the Creative Archive is the
single most important issue that will shape how the BBC continues
in its mission to inform, educate and entertain. Over the course
of many discussions, we have concluded that in order for the Creative
Archive to be viable, useful and relevant it must, as a minimum,
reflect the following key characteristics:
— It must be broad: drawing
from all areas of the BBC's broadcasting from news and factual
programmes to light entertainment, from drama to sport, and everything
in between.
— It must be accessible: files
must be made available in open, standards-defined formats without
"digital rights management" or other technology locks
that will keep Britons from creatively re-using the BBC's offerings.
— It must be free: Material
should be licensed under conditions that do not restrict any licence-payer
from accessing, storing, modifying or sharing archive material
for non-commercial use.
— It must be whole: Material
should be provided in its entirety for non-commercial use and
not only in excerpted form.
— It must be soon: the material
that the BBC already owns the rights in should be a part of the
Archive at its launch or as soon after its launch as is possible,
with other material to follow as soon as rights are cleared.
— It must be complete: the BBC
should take steps to clear the rights to the independently produced
material in its archive and make this material available.
— It must be sustainable: future
licensing agreements with independent producers must allow the
BBC to make the works freely available in the Creative Archive
for non-commercial use.
In light of the BBC's accelerated schedule for
submitting new charter language, we have decided to release the
attached letter signed by some of the many supporters of the "Friends
of the Creative Domain".
We see this as the start of a longer public
conversation on the form and function of a fully-realised Creative
Archive and we look forward to speaking with you about these issues.
We write to express our support for the BBC
Creative Archive, and our concerns relating to how it will be
implemented.
As TV licence holders, citizens concerned about
access to our national heritage, and artists and students who
have witnessed the shrinkage of the creative domain, we strongly
supported Greg Dyke's August 2003 commitment to take "a massive
step forward in opening our content to all—be they young
or old, rich or poor."
There are many obvious reasons for taking such
a step. Digital technology now gives us the chance to unlock and
democratise an otherwise inaccessible part of our national culture,
an opportunity of immeasurable educational value. An online archive
of past and present BBC material could give artists and students
unprecedented ways to build creative works, and making material
available for non-commercial use would open new markets for our
nation's artists and the Corporation. In short, the Archive has
the potential to ignite a "digital campfire" for the
nation.
However, we have become concerned that the BBC
will not ultimately implement the Archive in a way that is conducive
to these social goods. Some commercial broadcasters have already
expressed opposition to an accessible archive of free material
for non-commercial use, even while asking the BBC to "seed"
the market for digital content. We worry that the BBC will face
political pressure from these broadcasters to pursue commercialisation
above access.
We also worry that the recent changing of the
BBC guard places the original vision of the Archive in jeopardy.
The BBC's new chairman, Michael Grade, has said that a top priority
of his is creating a commercial plan for the archives. Recent
reports that the Board of Governors will take more control of
the BBC's policy and planning division suggest that champions
of the Creative Archive may not be able to overcome pressures
to limit access.
We do not object to a commercial plan in principle,
as long as it does not unreasonably impede non-commercial use
by licence holders. However, the latest reports about the initial
implementation of the Creative Archive indicate that only short
three-minute clips will be available. Although we are confident
that the BBC management has more ambitious long-term plans, the
lack of concrete proposals or public discussion of these plans
stokes our fears that the Archive will not go beyond a shop window
for content that TV licence holders have already paid for.
We believe that the stakes for the Creative
Archive are high enough to merit a public discussion on how to
achieve the project's fullest potential. This discussion should
bring in all the relevant stakeholders, including TV licence holders,
digital video artists, actors. musicians, producers, librarians,
archivists, historians and students.
Now is an ideal time to open this discussion
and to update the BBC Charter to allow the BBC to fulfil its public
mission in the digital age. We support new charter language that
would:
— Make the Creative Archive one of
the primary objectives of the Corporation, with an emphasis on
access and creative use.
— Specify prospective licensing of
content for online use in a way that allows licence holders to
get their best value for money.
— Specify the conditions of retrospective
licensing of content for online use in a way that would maximise
the educational and cultural value of the archives.
We respectfully request a meeting with you and
your staff so that we may discuss these concerns and proposals.
10 June 2004
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