There’s been quite a bit of buzz recently about Apture appearing on the BBC website (here, here, here). This past week, the BBC began a pilot of Apture on the UK-facing Science/Nature and Politics sections to include links inline in BBC stories. We have been honored to work with the BBC to roll out this functionality to readers, and I wanted to point out several stories they have enhanced that deserve attention. First, however, I would like to take a step back and explain some history.
Note: If you do not see any links in the following examples, it is because you need to switch to the UK version of the BBC site. Click “UK version” in the BBC page’s left sidebar. If you return to the BBC story page, you should see a box called “BBC trial – in page links.” Click the “Turn on in-page links” button, and Apture’s iconic links should appear on the page.
When we started Apture two years ago, we wanted to raise the bar of the everyday “flat” web experience. Newspapers and “old” media after all, are based on flat pieces of paper, and the web offers so many more dimensions to communicate. So we set out to build a platform to deliver endless context and background information in the dimensions that aren’t offered by any other communication medium. The question was: could you build something educational and informative, and drive interest in topics someone might not have known or cared about beforehand?
Enter this example BBC story on primates. The regular “flat” version of this story is a basic BBC page: text describing the intellectual capabilities of bonobo chimpanzees compared to other monkeys, along with a leading photo of Kanzi, a bonobo chimp. As an average reader who came across this story, are you likely to know much about bonobo chimps? For most people, probably not. And further, do bonobo chimps really matter to you, anyway? Probably not either. But here’s the key point: if a topic did pique your interest, and you did want to learn more, then you would have to do work. You’d have to leave the BBC, open a new browser window or tab, Google for “bonobo chimpanzees,” and probably end up reading an article on Wikipedia. With Apture, the BBC can instead curate this story with further links and bring the research and background information to you. The story comes alive. You can click on the link for “bonobo chimps,” read the description of the species from Wikipedia, open a slideshow of photos, or even dive into the section on the Psychological Characteristics of the bonobo with one more click—all without leaving the page. You can see maps of where bonobos are normally found (Indonesia), and see a video of Kanzi (the bonobo chimp)’s sister playing the piano and richly communicate her intelligence. Isn’t this more meaningful to see the raw source material, up close and personal, rather than to have to drill down or research on your own?
There is a balance. You can’t have too many links on a page. You wouldn’t want the contextual or background information to overwhelm the core story. But using Apture, the BBC can facilitate the discovery of meaningful information, and in this case, expose just how fascinating or intelligent bonobo monkeys really are, perhaps even make it interesting to a reader who wouldn’t otherwise care.
Take a look at some other examples of how the BBC has used the software, and let us know what you think. They have used Apture to link to speeches by Stephen Hawking, expose video animations and PDFs describing NASA’s Orion Cruise Vehicle, reference biographical information on humorous political commentators, and expose paintings and historical information about ancient Roman empresses.
Do you have ideas on how to make the web experience richer? What else could we do to lower the costs to access information on the web and go deeper? Leave a comment here, or send us your thoughts at contact@apture.com.
