BBC demonstrates revolutionary 'perceptive media'

Imagine a TV or radio program that adapts to its viewers by offering them information based on what it knows about them.

 

The British Broadcasting Co. recently demonstrated such an experimental media, which it appropriately dubbed "Perceptive Media."

 

"Essentially, it’s media – either video or audio – that adapts itself based on information it knows about individual viewers. So, if you were watching a game show that you’d never seen before, it might show you an explanation of the rules in detail, while regular views are shown bonus, behind-the-scenes footage instead," tech site The Next Web said.

 

It added the perceptive media will have the music playing on the radio in a TV drama might be different, depending on an individual viewer or listener's tastes.

 

BBC's Ian Forrester likened perceptive media to a storyteller and an audience around a campfire, using Internet technologies and sensibility to create a personal theater experience.

 

"Once you start to see narrative as a set of variables it's easy to see many other opportunities. What Perceptive Media tries to do is remove the broadcast technology barrier between the storyteller and the audience. It takes advantage of the implicit and explicit data we all generate, without triggering a privacy problem," he said.

 

The Next Web said other perceptive media ideas may involve TV hardware that can automatically recognize who was watching and tailor TV content to them automatically.

 

But if groups were watching together, it could compare their tastes and reach the best compromise for them all, The Next Web said.

 

Early form

 

An early form of perceptive media involves audio only - "Breaking Out," an audio play hosted at futurebroadcasts.com.

 

The experiment is optimized for Google's Chrome, which supports the Web Audio API, although it will also work in other browsers.

 

The BBC said the perceptive media is best experienced from the UK, since it is tailored to a UK audience.

 

"Based on your specific location (if you’re in the UK), aspects of the story such as the weather, date, news, the social networks you’re logged into in your browser and other elements affect the story," it said.

 

Listeners in the UK may notice a sort of personalized audio that can give a different experience depending on where a specific listener is based.

 

"Most people may not even notice and assume it was selected by the storyteller in advance. But the effect of having your town’s landmarks weaved into the narrative in a intelligent natrual way, we think could add to the overall engagement level in a way which storytellers have been trying to do for decades with interactive media," Forrester said.

 

"With thoughtful uses of Perceptive media we can re-imagine media and make it highly relevant without taking the narrative off the rails. Taking the best parts of Internet/IP technology and the ability to broadcast to many people in a timely fashion," he added. — TJD, GMA News