Poster

How do people describe programmes?

Sandra Green

The BBC intend to deliver TV and Radio programmes over the internet in the near future. In order to watch the programmes, the public first need to be able to find them. In a timeshifted, on demand universe, the schedule becomes less important as a way of finding programmes. So how do people want to browse programmes if not in a schedule? What are the ways they like to describe programmes if not by title or broadcast time? We conducted some research to try to find out.

This poster will present analysis of survey data obtained through interviews undertaken with 167 members of the general public in London. The purpose of the interviews was to aid understanding of how people would search and browse for programmes, specifically looking at the types of keywords they use, with an overall aim of informing work to establish the primary navigation method for the "Player" interface.

The poster will show how the way programmes are described depends on the type of programme. Some of the ways are by genre, audience, programme format, element or contributors to the programme. Some of the types of programme are soap, chat show, quiz or game show, childrens shows, factual shows or documentaries. The poster will show what people find important for each programme type.