BBC archival research document downloads

[Guest]

I stumbled across a little goldmine of esoteric stuff available online and published by the old BBC Research Dept. For example

http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/rd/pubs/reports/1980-02.pdf

I haven't found a way of getting to any sort of index but if you ring the changes ..eg 1979-01.pdf 1979-10.pdf then serendipity might be your friend.

[OldTechie]

I haven't found a way of getting to any sort of index but if you ring the changes ..eg 1979-01.pdf 1979-10.pdf then serendipity might be your friend.

Try http://www.bbc.co.uk/rd/publications/rdreports.shtml

The BBC website seems to contain a wealth of information that is hidden from easy access.

[Gordon]

This stuff has been available at this location for many years - it isn't "hidden", it's in the folder www.bbc.co.uk//rd/ which is the R&D department's location. Here's a list or index:

http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/rd/pubs/reports/bbc-rd-report-list.pdf

Much of the work reported was seminal in its field. The R&D facility at Kingswood Warren near Reigate in Surrey is no more and many of the staff have retired but a more focussed "R&D" function remains, located in W London. The role of R&D now is described here:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/rd/about/introduction.shtml

They don't do R&D Reports as such any more but they do publish "White Papers", a list of which to be found here:

http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/rd/pubs/whp/bbc-rd-whitepaper-list.pdf

[OldTechie]

it isn't "hidden

It's not locked away, but starting on the BBC home page you rather have to know where you are going to find it. And, as I meant, there is a lot of interesting stuff on the site which requires a bit of determination to find.

The best route to browse around it is the "MORE" button at the top of the screen, and then the "Full a-z" option. You can navigate to the R&D department under the R section.

But there is more about the R&D activity here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/researchanddevelopment/ .Again, its not too easy to find. I can't see a link to it in the main R&D pages, but you can navigate to it via the "Full a-z", "B", "Blogs", "R" route.

There is an interesting article here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/radiolabs...oms_afte.shtml - and I can't see any way to navigate to it through the menus, so it is more "hidden" than the main R&D pages.

RM's original post fired me off looking through old reports. There are quite a few written by Paul Terry, once my boss at the BBC. (e.g. http://www.bbc.co.uk/rd/publications..._1939_02.shtml) He seemed to be firmly in the world of disc recording and playback at the time. It's great that they have scanned all these old papers. I was surprised to find that they were in the habit of smearing records with Vaseline to reduce wear from playback, and to prevent chemical deterioration triggered by the paper storage sleeves. The papers by DEL Shorter on loudspeakers I find interesting.

[Gordon]

Yes, you are right that you can't get to the \rd\ folder from the main front page so you do need to know that that folder exists. I thought you meant we [the general public] weren't supposed to see it - sorry!! Those old papers really are something to marvel at - the range of research was quite remarkable. The atmosphere there was more like a Cambridge college than a lab!! My era was later, begining in the mid-late 60s, but I do remember Dr Shorter and colleagues and the work done then on digital audio and then, kater, digital video. Like you, reading down the list, over the years brought back memories and faces to go with the names too!! One or two of my contemporaries - not many - are still there!!