TechCon 08
Convergence: joining the bits together...
Convergence is one of the buzz words of our time. But what does it really mean?
From a technical perspective it’s simply the migration from obsolescent analogue platforms to shiny new digital ones.
But what are the technical challenges? What are the opportunities for radio in the converged multi-platform world? And what are the consequences for radio’s technical community?
Listen to some expert views, debate the issues and help create the future at TechCon 2008
Sessions
9.15am - 10.00am - Registration + refreshments
10.00am - EVENT INTRODUCTION
10.05am - TEST VOTE
10.10am - Session 1 DAB IS ON THE MOVE
On the Move ? Discover how live Traffic and Travel information that’s relevant to your location is being Broadcast via DABs TPEG protocol. What's TPEG ? Dave Francis from IT IS explains all. Alexander Zink from the Fraunhofer institute will demonstrate their browsable DAB information service, Journaline, designed for mobile use.
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10.40am - Session 2 DELIVERING LOCALISED TRAFFIC BULLETINS TO MOBILE LISTENERS
The ability to deliver targeted, localised traffic information is a valuable service for consumers. In this session we'll look at how Mobile Traffic Network have developed an innovative solution using mobile phone networks to deliver location-based audio traffic bulletins to handsets. We'll also examine how this technology could be used by radio stations, for delivering other location-based audio content to your listeners.
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11.00am - VOTING SESSION
11.05am - Refreshments
11.25am - Session 3 THE FUTURE OF SYSTEMS INTEGRATION
A look at architectures for joining systems across broadcasting ... from commissioning and finance to playout and archive. Why future Radio work flows will benefit from joining business, broadcast and on line systems and how this can achieved in sustainable manner using "middleware solutions".
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11.55am - Session 4 ANTENNAS: BITS OF BENT METAL OR BLACK MAGIC?
Explore the art of antenna design during this whistle-stop tour into the minds of the experts at Arqiva and OFCOM. This interactive presentation will take you through the theory and then apply the principles, to help you understand how to maximise your audience at minimum cost, whilst pleasing the regulator. What more could you ask for?
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12.40pm - Session 5 SWITCHING FROM GEARS TO CHIPS: REAL LIFE EXPERIENCES IN THE ALL - DIGITAL PRODUCTION WORLD
For the past 50 years, the broadcasting process has been primarily a mechanical process – gears, belts, rotating drums, flywheels and motors and governors have been the primary components of the systems used to create and transmit programmes.
We’re new entering the worlds of bits and bytes, codecs and files and that requires changing culture as well as technology...
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12.55pm - VOTING SESSION
1.00pm - Lunch
2.00pm - Session 6 STUDENT RADIO AND THE "C-WORD" (PART 1)
Students? On the radio? It will never work... or will it work better, cheaper and more innovatively? The Student Radio Association challenge you to leave this session without having decided to slash your engineering and production budgets, and hire in a bunch of students instead. We look at the innovations made by student broadcasters over the past year - you may be surprised!
2.25pm - Session 7 GOODBYE TO ALL THAT: A DAY IN THE LIFE OF A JOURNALIST
Broadcast journalists have to adopt and adapt to an every increasing range of equipment designed to make their job easier and get the stories to air quicker. However, are these ‘advances’ proposed by their Station Engineers really helping the news gathering process? Rory Higgins is used to filing reports from locations as diverse as Kandaharand Canada, and tells us of his experience ‘in the field’.
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2.50pm - Session 8 IP: SHUNTING BYTES AND SHIFTING PARADIGMS
In a converged world the power and economy of IT equipment and IP bandwidth are transforming the way future media will be produced, delivered, consumed and interacted with. Dan McQuillin will demonstrate how revolutionary technologies like Axia'sLivewire, MPLS and voIP are transforming broadcasting today and revealhow they are just a glimpse of the paradigm shift to come.
3.25pm - VOTING SESSION
3.30pm - Refreshments
3.45pm - Session 9 ENGINEERING RADIO FOR THE SOCIAL NETWORK
In a world where social networking is all the rage how has the BBC Olinda project engineered this to fit in? How can broadcasters help manufacturers develop new products and help listeners discover new programmes, new music and new stations. What are the challenges of prototyping this technology and combining hardware and software in a consumer device.
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4.15pm - Session 10 STUDENT RADIO AND THE "C-WORD" (PART 2)
Interested in the future of radio? Talk to the people who are living it already and find out if there are in fact any digital radios in student-land. An insight into how the ABC1s of tomorrow are consuming "radio" currently, and how student radio has morphed in tandem, from the analogue-only stations of 5 years ago to the multiplatform multifarious experience we have today. Forget all your market-research, this is the cutting edge.
4.40pm Session 11 AND THE MAIN POINTS AGAIN...
What have we learnt today? And how does this all fit into the future of radio? James Cridland, Radio at The Edge chairman, summarises the main learning points of the day, and tries to put it all in context. Will the ideas discussed today be the saviour of radio? What more do we need do to keep radio relevant for the YouTube generation? And where should we go next?
5.05pm FINAL VOTING SESSION
5.10pm Conference Closes
