Just to let you know that the Learning On Screen folks, formally called the BUFVC, have announced the release of the new and improved version of Box of Broadcasts, otherwise known as “BoB”.

Picture (c) BUFVC
If you have attended the recent Embedding Content sessions over the summer, you’ll have seen how easy it is to find, view, and record television and radio programmes which provide valuable visual resources for teaching and learning across all faculties and schools at the University.
You may ask yourself “How do I find BoB in our digital labyrinth”? The library recommends to first click on the red Library tile on the iCity page, which takes you through to the ‘Find Resources’ page, and then to the ‘A-Z list of Resources’. It may seem like a long winded process, but guarantees you are properly authenticated with a “cookie” and avoiding unnecessary steps.
There have been several noticeable changes. You certainly know that you’re in the right place with the big splash screen. I noticed right away that the programme guide has changed. It’s much bigger and easier to navigate, to see all the channels available to record and make clips.
The colour status of programmes availability has been replaced with links that tell you what to do. You request a programme, watch it, or wait for it to become available. I don’t really miss the red, amber, and green colour blocks which indicated the programme status but others may disagree. If you request a programme, an email is sent to notify you that the programme is ready to view.
The search feature is so much better in my opinion. The old BoB search feature wasn’t always helpful as the TRILT search capability. You might get something totally unexpected from a television advert transcript!
If you signed up with your email to access the television and radio content in the past, be prepared for a message to ask you to sign again with your email details. No worries, if you can’t remember which account which you used, drop me a line. While these improvements continue this month, clips and saved programmes will be restored in early September. Other benefits will be that 10 instead of 5 programmes a day can be recorded, and clips will no longer eat into the limit allowed.
If you’re interested in more information about BoB features or would like a demonstration, please contact beth.delwiche@bcu.ac.uk or elibrary@bcu.ac.uk.
^Posted on behalf of Beth Delwiche