Education on Channel 4 includes peaktime programmes, the morning schedule for schools, and cross platform projects for 14 - 19 year olds. Peaktime education programmes are commissioned by the relevant genre departments (including History, Science, Documentaries, Features and Factual Entertainment), and content for 14 – 19 year olds is commissioned by the Education Department.
The Education team is...
Head of Education – Janey Walker
Commissioning Editor – Matt Locke
Commissioning Editor - Alice Taylor
Project Manager – Azka Malik
Editorial Administrator – Carys Morgan
Commercial Affairs Exec – Kimberley Sofianou
C4 Education Mission Statement
C4 Education delivers interactive digital projects aimed at 14-19 yr olds in the UK, helping them to
• understand the world they live in
• achieve their personal potential
• make the decisions that affect their lives
Our projects tackle the most important issues facing teens, and how they use media and technology to discover, share and learn from their families, friends and social networks.
Our goals are:
To develop projects addressing the issues facing young people in a rapidly changing world
To reach teens who are underserved or disaffected with traditional educational content
To amplify the voices and opinions of our audience, develop their confidence and encourage them to participate
To use social media, games and emerging technologies to reach and engage with our audience
To partner with the best educational bodies, charities and other organisations to increase the reach and impact of our work
Following our June 2009 Briefing session (outlined in the briefing document at the top of this page) we are now open to pitches for 2010 proposals on the themes of both territories, and mental health.
On the theme of mental health and/or happiness for 2010, we are looking for online ideas - single or multi platform - that approach teen mental health in new and interesting ways. We'd like to commission projects that are tangibly useful, that are relevant, and that find new ways to examine and discuss mental health. There is some baseline research available for registered companies: email Carys Morgan (cmorgan@Channel4.co.uk ) for access. The deadline for top line ideas is July 3rd.
On the theme of territory, we’ve commissioned some research from Ruby Pseudo Consulting about the ‘territories’ brief. In this brief, we want to commission projects looking at teens’ relationship with public space, commuting and related issues. We’re after projects that aren’t about gangs per se, but that can help the vast majority of teens who have a bad experience of ‘getting from A to B’, either because of fear of violence/threats from their peers; adults’ attitude to teens in general; or private/public bodies legislating against teens using public space.
Because this is a large and complex issue, we’ve commissioned the research specifically to ask teens what issues they have with travelling in public space, and what kind of things would make their everyday journeys safer and more enjoyable. We’ll present this research and give more background to the brief at a special briefing session on Sept 8th at 2pm. The event will be held at Channel 4, and should last about 2 hours, including Q&As and informal teas/coffees after the event.
If you’d like to come to this event, please let us know ASAP by replying to cmorgan@Channel4.co.uk . While the capacity of the venue is limited, the full transcript and research presentation will be available on 4Producers at the link above directly after the event.
Our Audience
The web is 19 years old in 2009, so 14-19 year olds are the first generation that has grown up with the web as part of their life. This means that their expectations and attitudes are different: they expect to engage and control their media experiences, and to share experiences with friends across platforms and technologies. When developing a cross-platform project, we think its more important to think about the different kinds of social spaces teens are using online (and offline), rather than about technology platforms or formats. As teens’ real worlds have become more regulated and controlled (for example, access to public spaces, parents’ paranoia about letting them out of the home, etc) they are adopting spaces online that offer the same opportunities to socialise and experiment with their emerging identities and values.
To help you think about this, we’ve created a rough typology of teens’ social spaces, based on who they are socialising with, and what kinds of relationships and interactions they might engage in. Some of these spaces map to specific technologies or platforms, but there are lots of cross-overs and grey areas between them as well. One of the opportunities of cross-platform commissioning will be exploring these spaces, and the cross-overs between them.
Secret Spaces
Technologies like SMS and IM (Instant Messaging) are very popular for teens, creating intimate spaces for gossip and chat within public spaces and wider social events. How is this changing the way teens relate to each other, to their parents, or to institutions like schools? Is it possible to create content for these spaces, or are they guarded as individual personal spaces?
Group Spaces
These are spaces where teens can chat and share content with a group of like-minded friends. Many of the group spaces online (eg facebook, myspace, bebo, etc) use buddy-lists to define your network, but often messages between friends are visible to a much wider, ‘invisible’ audience. How do these group networks differ from more ‘traditional’ networks based around schools, clubs or the workplace? Will they continue to be valued support networks throughout your life, or are they part of the process of becoming a socialised adult? What are the new opportunities or pressures when your social status is visible to everyone online?
Publishing Spaces
Technology has made it easier than ever before for teens to publish their thoughts and creative work to a global audience. Sites like Blogger, Flickr, Odeo and Youtube have made it easy to create and distribute audio-visual content. As a result, 14-19 yr-olds have the opportunity to test their opinions, their beliefs, their talents – to discover their ‘voice’ – and to get feedback from friends and strangers all over the worlds. Does creating and publishing your own content change your attitude to traditional media?
Performing Spaces
These are spaces where teens can show off their skills within a game structure – anything from World of Warcraft to playing for a football team or appearing in a play. Performing spaces use rules to create a platform for expression, for showing off, for fantasy, or for team work. They are spaces for extreme behaviour, where teens can imaging what it would be like to be someone else or somewhere else, and to transcend their everyday lives. How can these spaces be used to explore difficult or complex issues? How can we create compelling, playful experiences that empower teens and help them understand the boundaries and opportunities in their everyday life?
Participation Spaces
The internet has enabled large groups of people to collaborate and achieve their goals. This could be meeting up to discuss shared issues www.meetup.com organising an event to protest or raise awareness, or creating a market to share goods or skills eg Treadless. We’re interested in projects that use these new platforms to encourage participation, creating real impact in the world, not just asking you to sign a petition of send a text message of support. What are the triggers for participation online? What are the issues that teens are, or should be, really passionate about? We’re interested in projects that are about more than politics – about teens working together to create things for fun, to make money or to develop their skills and networks, as well as for more social or political goals.
Watching Spaces
Linear media is still a major part of teens lives online. Gigs, Theatre, Cinema and Television are still important parts of teens’ cultural and social lives, but technology has enhances the social experience around these events, helping you to organise a night out, meet up and chat with friends, or share memories and photos after an event. How are these technologies changing teens attitudes to linear media? In our timeshifted, on-demand culture, what kind of events still demand our attention and attendance? What kind of content demands to be experienced as part of a crowd, rather than an individual?
How to Pitch
We are asking people to pitch in a way that is very different from existing TV pitches, and also slightly different from traditional software pitches. Here’s some guidelines for indies about how to pitch.
The initial pitch
Intial pitches should be 1/2 pages, leading on the story or issue that the project addresses, and submitted via the online commissioning system. We would suggest using the ‘NABC’ format, focusing on four key elements of the project:
Need–what is the audience need that your idea will address?
Approach –how will the project you propose address these needs?
Benefits–what are the benefits of your approach for the user/client?
Competition –what else is there in the market that addresses the same needs?
Detailed technology strategies are not as important in initial pitches as proving that the story/issue is relevant to our target audience, and that it addresses a real need.
Development pitches
If we decide to fund development work, we will ask indies to answer more specific questions about the platforms for delivery, and also to think about the lifecycle of the whole project – the Before/During/After. This will require more of a user-centric approach to describing the project. Example questions might include:
Before
Who are your target users?
Where are they spending their time?
What platforms/spaces are they using?
What is the competition for their attention?
What is the gap/need you’re targeting?
How are your users going to first hear about the project?
How are they going to tell their friends?
How can they register their commitment to the project?
During
What will we ask users to do?
How is this different from what they are already doing?
Who will they be doing this with?
How can they share the experience?
How will we encourage participation?
What will they need to take part?
How will we reward participation?
How will we users credit C4 as the brand behind the project?
After
How will the project end?
How can people record their experience?
How can they share it with others?
How can they take their content to other places?
How can they take control of the project and make it their own?
How will the project make participants feel?
How useful was the experience?
How will we archive the project online after it is finished?
Development pitches should also include the following:
• Statement on collaboration agreements between TV/NM indies (if appropriate)
• Statement on proposed rights ownership
• Description of project team and the time they will be dedicating to the project
• Project Timeline
• Budget
• Other Partnerships/dependencies outside of Indie/C4
• Risks analysis
The Education team is...
Head of Education – Janey Walker
Commissioning Editor – Matt Locke
Commissioning Editor - Alice Taylor
Project Manager – Azka Malik
Editorial Administrator – Carys Morgan
Commercial Affairs Exec – Kimberley Sofianou
C4 Education Mission Statement
C4 Education delivers interactive digital projects aimed at 14-19 yr olds in the UK, helping them to
• understand the world they live in
• achieve their personal potential
• make the decisions that affect their lives
Our projects tackle the most important issues facing teens, and how they use media and technology to discover, share and learn from their families, friends and social networks.
Our goals are:
To develop projects addressing the issues facing young people in a rapidly changing world
To reach teens who are underserved or disaffected with traditional educational content
To amplify the voices and opinions of our audience, develop their confidence and encourage them to participate
To use social media, games and emerging technologies to reach and engage with our audience
To partner with the best educational bodies, charities and other organisations to increase the reach and impact of our work
Following our June 2009 Briefing session (outlined in the briefing document at the top of this page) we are now open to pitches for 2010 proposals on the themes of both territories, and mental health.
On the theme of mental health and/or happiness for 2010, we are looking for online ideas - single or multi platform - that approach teen mental health in new and interesting ways. We'd like to commission projects that are tangibly useful, that are relevant, and that find new ways to examine and discuss mental health. There is some baseline research available for registered companies: email Carys Morgan (cmorgan@Channel4.co.uk ) for access. The deadline for top line ideas is July 3rd.
On the theme of territory, we’ve commissioned some research from Ruby Pseudo Consulting about the ‘territories’ brief. In this brief, we want to commission projects looking at teens’ relationship with public space, commuting and related issues. We’re after projects that aren’t about gangs per se, but that can help the vast majority of teens who have a bad experience of ‘getting from A to B’, either because of fear of violence/threats from their peers; adults’ attitude to teens in general; or private/public bodies legislating against teens using public space.
Because this is a large and complex issue, we’ve commissioned the research specifically to ask teens what issues they have with travelling in public space, and what kind of things would make their everyday journeys safer and more enjoyable. We’ll present this research and give more background to the brief at a special briefing session on Sept 8th at 2pm. The event will be held at Channel 4, and should last about 2 hours, including Q&As and informal teas/coffees after the event.
If you’d like to come to this event, please let us know ASAP by replying to cmorgan@Channel4.co.uk . While the capacity of the venue is limited, the full transcript and research presentation will be available on 4Producers at the link above directly after the event.
Our Audience
The web is 19 years old in 2009, so 14-19 year olds are the first generation that has grown up with the web as part of their life. This means that their expectations and attitudes are different: they expect to engage and control their media experiences, and to share experiences with friends across platforms and technologies. When developing a cross-platform project, we think its more important to think about the different kinds of social spaces teens are using online (and offline), rather than about technology platforms or formats. As teens’ real worlds have become more regulated and controlled (for example, access to public spaces, parents’ paranoia about letting them out of the home, etc) they are adopting spaces online that offer the same opportunities to socialise and experiment with their emerging identities and values.
To help you think about this, we’ve created a rough typology of teens’ social spaces, based on who they are socialising with, and what kinds of relationships and interactions they might engage in. Some of these spaces map to specific technologies or platforms, but there are lots of cross-overs and grey areas between them as well. One of the opportunities of cross-platform commissioning will be exploring these spaces, and the cross-overs between them.
Secret Spaces
Technologies like SMS and IM (Instant Messaging) are very popular for teens, creating intimate spaces for gossip and chat within public spaces and wider social events. How is this changing the way teens relate to each other, to their parents, or to institutions like schools? Is it possible to create content for these spaces, or are they guarded as individual personal spaces?
Group Spaces
These are spaces where teens can chat and share content with a group of like-minded friends. Many of the group spaces online (eg facebook, myspace, bebo, etc) use buddy-lists to define your network, but often messages between friends are visible to a much wider, ‘invisible’ audience. How do these group networks differ from more ‘traditional’ networks based around schools, clubs or the workplace? Will they continue to be valued support networks throughout your life, or are they part of the process of becoming a socialised adult? What are the new opportunities or pressures when your social status is visible to everyone online?
Publishing Spaces
Technology has made it easier than ever before for teens to publish their thoughts and creative work to a global audience. Sites like Blogger, Flickr, Odeo and Youtube have made it easy to create and distribute audio-visual content. As a result, 14-19 yr-olds have the opportunity to test their opinions, their beliefs, their talents – to discover their ‘voice’ – and to get feedback from friends and strangers all over the worlds. Does creating and publishing your own content change your attitude to traditional media?
Performing Spaces
These are spaces where teens can show off their skills within a game structure – anything from World of Warcraft to playing for a football team or appearing in a play. Performing spaces use rules to create a platform for expression, for showing off, for fantasy, or for team work. They are spaces for extreme behaviour, where teens can imaging what it would be like to be someone else or somewhere else, and to transcend their everyday lives. How can these spaces be used to explore difficult or complex issues? How can we create compelling, playful experiences that empower teens and help them understand the boundaries and opportunities in their everyday life?
Participation Spaces
The internet has enabled large groups of people to collaborate and achieve their goals. This could be meeting up to discuss shared issues www.meetup.com organising an event to protest or raise awareness, or creating a market to share goods or skills eg Treadless. We’re interested in projects that use these new platforms to encourage participation, creating real impact in the world, not just asking you to sign a petition of send a text message of support. What are the triggers for participation online? What are the issues that teens are, or should be, really passionate about? We’re interested in projects that are about more than politics – about teens working together to create things for fun, to make money or to develop their skills and networks, as well as for more social or political goals.
Watching Spaces
Linear media is still a major part of teens lives online. Gigs, Theatre, Cinema and Television are still important parts of teens’ cultural and social lives, but technology has enhances the social experience around these events, helping you to organise a night out, meet up and chat with friends, or share memories and photos after an event. How are these technologies changing teens attitudes to linear media? In our timeshifted, on-demand culture, what kind of events still demand our attention and attendance? What kind of content demands to be experienced as part of a crowd, rather than an individual?
How to Pitch
We are asking people to pitch in a way that is very different from existing TV pitches, and also slightly different from traditional software pitches. Here’s some guidelines for indies about how to pitch.
The initial pitch
Intial pitches should be 1/2 pages, leading on the story or issue that the project addresses, and submitted via the online commissioning system. We would suggest using the ‘NABC’ format, focusing on four key elements of the project:
Need–what is the audience need that your idea will address?
Approach –how will the project you propose address these needs?
Benefits–what are the benefits of your approach for the user/client?
Competition –what else is there in the market that addresses the same needs?
Detailed technology strategies are not as important in initial pitches as proving that the story/issue is relevant to our target audience, and that it addresses a real need.
Development pitches
If we decide to fund development work, we will ask indies to answer more specific questions about the platforms for delivery, and also to think about the lifecycle of the whole project – the Before/During/After. This will require more of a user-centric approach to describing the project. Example questions might include:
Before
Who are your target users?
Where are they spending their time?
What platforms/spaces are they using?
What is the competition for their attention?
What is the gap/need you’re targeting?
How are your users going to first hear about the project?
How are they going to tell their friends?
How can they register their commitment to the project?
During
What will we ask users to do?
How is this different from what they are already doing?
Who will they be doing this with?
How can they share the experience?
How will we encourage participation?
What will they need to take part?
How will we reward participation?
How will we users credit C4 as the brand behind the project?
After
How will the project end?
How can people record their experience?
How can they share it with others?
How can they take their content to other places?
How can they take control of the project and make it their own?
How will the project make participants feel?
How useful was the experience?
How will we archive the project online after it is finished?
Development pitches should also include the following:
• Statement on collaboration agreements between TV/NM indies (if appropriate)
• Statement on proposed rights ownership
• Description of project team and the time they will be dedicating to the project
• Project Timeline
• Budget
• Other Partnerships/dependencies outside of Indie/C4
• Risks analysis
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