An article by Jem Stone in the BBC Internet blog explained that the BBC has recently joined the OpenID Foundation. OpenID is a movement from the open source community to try and create a single standard compliant login that can be used across a range of sites rather than having to remember individual logins for each site. There are a number of big corporate players on board such as AOL, Microsoft, Sun, Novell. The BBC is one of the first big media players to sign up to the foundation.
Jem Stone says doesn't mean that they will be offering OpenID logins immediately however are considering it as a replacement for their single sign in application currently in use which is getting pretty out of date.
This move would be in line with other moves by the BBC to open up feeds and API's through their backstage.bbc.co.uk project. Backstage allows non-BBC developers to access data and feeds from the BBC to create their own applications and mash-ups for non commercial purposes. It seems to have an active core of BBC techies and external developers that are involoved in the community. You can submit ideas and protoypes and get help with resources and input.
It makes a lot of sense that a public broadcaster would move into this space and engage with a broader developer community around open standards. This seems to be to me the real starting point for participatory media but is not a space that many broadcasters would feel too comfortable in.
Some people it seems think the BBC are not doing enough in this direction with a recent article in TechCrunch calling for a more open approach to working with developers and particularly start-ups to promote innovation in the industry.
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