Union for the Public Domain

Cover letter

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 realized Creative Archive could transform the BBC's precious, deep archive into a springboard for a new century of participatory creation by Britons. The project stands to make the BBC the banner-carrier for public service broadcasting in the information age, but if the BBC bends to pressure to scale back its ambition, the Creative Archive could amount to little more than brochureware and failed promise.

On May 26th, a group of students, educators, archivists, artists and TV-licence payers gathered in London to kick off the “Friends of the Creative Domain,” a group that stands in support of a fully realised BBC Creative Archive. Over the course of many discussions, we have concluded that these are some of the elements critical to the creation of a real, useful, relevant Creative Archive:

• It must be broad: drawing from all areas of the BBC's broadcasting from factual 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 licenced 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, not only in excerpted form.
• It must be soon: the BBC's own internally producted material should be released into the Archive as soon as possible, to prove to the world that the sky won't fall if you relax your copyright stance.
• It must be complete: the BBC should take steps to clear the rights to the independently produced material in its archive.
• It must be sustainable: the BBC's new licensing agreements with independents should all include the right for the BBC to make the works available in the Creative Archive for full 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 many of the supporters of the “Friends of the Creative Domain.” We see this as the start of a longer public conversation, and as we continue to organise support for a robust Archive, we look forward to speaking with you on these issues.

Friends of the Creative Domain Letter

To whom it may concern:

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.

Thank you for your consideration.

Sincerely yours,