The BBC’s programme catalogue (on Rails)
October 31st, 2005 | Published in rails
UPDATE: The BBC Programme Catalogue has launched at http://open.bbc.co.uk/catalogue/infax
“The BBC plans to open up its archive to make a treasure trove of material available to everyone.” – BBC Press Release, August 2003
Ever wondered what’s in that archive? Who looks after it? It turns out there’s a huge database that’s been carefully tended by a gang of crack BBC librarians for decades. Nearly a million programmes are catalogued, with descriptions, contributor details and annotations drawn from a wonderfully detailed controlled vocabulary.
I’m the lucky developer who gets to turn this hidden treasure into a public website. No programme downloads yet, but a massive searchable programme catalogue.