About 30 suppliers were present, hand-picked from over 100 applicants - no easy feat as the judges had been overwhelmed by the standard on offer. There was real enthusiasm and ambition and I am hopeful the showcase will lead to a host of creative opportunities to work together.

User experience and design is core to what we do - it's our touch point with our audiences. What better way to raise the imaginative and quality bar than by exploring inspired partnerships with the industry.

A case in point is the creative partnership we've had over the last few months with influential designer Neville Brody. You may recall the BBC Trust tasked us about 2 years ago, to make the BBC website greater than the sum of its parts, so the user had a more coherent experience via better navigation across the site. Neville and his agency, Research Studios, have been working with us on this journey.

In the following post, to be published later today (Ed's update: it's now available here), our Head of UX&D, Bronwyn Van Der Merwe, introduces the new global visual language for the BBC's digital services.

Seetha Kumar is Controller, BBC Online.

• Read Seetha's post on the feedback from the previous suppliers' meeting .
• Watch the video of the previous suppliers' meeting.

As the BBC today celebrates its ongoing commitment to science, this year Lab UK will be working with UCL and Stanford University to test whether the internet has changed the physiology of our brains. By working in partnership with leading external institutions we can help collate data that throws light on how technology may be changing the very way we think. Our hope is this will be the biggest ever study evaluating human behaviour in cyberspace. If this is the case, the results of this analysis should be very interesting indeed.

Today also sees the revamp of the BBC science portal.

Across the BBC, programme sites for Bang Goes The Theory and Nina and the Neurons are offering family and parents experiments and tests that they can try at home, with our new astronomy archive Planet Explorer coming up later this year. Planet Explorer is about the BBC at your fingertips, using a similar format to our successful nature portal Wildlife Finder, which Tom Scott wrote about last year.

Planet Explorer will feature more than 100 clips from 1969 through to 2010, of unforgettable moments including Sir Patrick Moore's first words on The Sky At Night through to footage of NASA's Apollo missions. It's about leveraging the power of BBC Online to offer genuine insights into the world we live in - by curating BBC content and complementing what exists on the internet about the Milky Way we will provide a very distinctive proposition. We hope to deliver many more projects on these lines over the coming year, and, as ever I would be interested in your thoughts.

Seetha Kumar is Controller BBC Online and the BBC's Online Access Champion.

'why are you still peddling the myth that 'old fogies' can't cope with computers?'

I agree with rexel: the BBC is not perpetuating the myth that older people can't cope with computers - we are trying to do the exact opposite.

True many parents and grandparents were using computers in the work-place before anyone thought about having "a computer in every home". And yes it's true - some younger people might not have access to a PC in their home.

We have a commitment to digital inclusion (it's actually part of the BBC's charter) and to reach audiences who do not have access to the internet. We point audiences to where they can get access to the internet and where to get help in developing their online skills.

We run a number of initiatives to this end and target all sections of the population not yet online, currently over 10 million adults. Just over half (54%) of those are aged 65 or over. And whilst it's true to say that not all young people have broadband access, the proportion who don't have access to broadband is much smaller in younger age groups (14% of 15 to 34 year olds). These age groups also have a higher tendency to connect to the internet via mobile phone.

Our research has shown that mentoring and help from friends and families is one of the most effective ways to help online adopters. They can make a real difference to developing online skills and boosting confidence for those new to computers and the internet and it's something I will be working on with Martha Lane Fox and Race Online

You can see an existing scheme run by UK Online Centres here.

Seetha Kumar is Controller BBC Online and the BBC's Online Access Champion.

Younger audiences who have grown up with the internet and technology will be familiar with logging onto a site and watching programmes online. It's intrinsic to their lives. However, some older audiences might not be.

I know John Yorke, Controller of Drama Production and New Talent genuinely hopes that people who don't normally use the internet will, because of this perhaps get the net, see it and discover a whole new world for themselves.

Part of EastEnders 25th Anniversary celebrations, and predominantly aimed at a younger audience, the 12 part series, was innovatively conceived as a way of nurturing new talent - a potential training ground for new talent in acting, writing, and remixing music etc. The writers are aged 17-22 years.

You can see how they got on, and see interviews with cast members, amongst others the director and producer about elements of getting the series made in our behind the scenes guide. You can see 4 short films about the idea, the casting and scripting process, the shoot and all the finishing touches. It's called EastEnders: E20 - The Making of an Online Drama.

For producer Deborah Sathe, E20 is also an opportunity for young people to show the older generations in their family how modern technology works. So if you have a friend or family member who is a huge EastEnders fan but might need some help watching E20, please give them a hand. Once they've watched the programmes, they may just be inspired to explore the internet further. They can find all sorts of useful learning material on the BBC Media Literacy website.

Seetha Kumar is the Controller of BBC Online.

I am the Controller of BBC Online, but earlier this year I also took on the role of the BBC's Online Access Champion and it's in this capacity that I want to talk about why digital inclusion and participation is important.

I believe passionately in the principles of public service: the Reithian tradition of inform, educate and entertain is as true today as it was over 80 years ago. In the world of the internet and e-skills, the skills for life we all need are the abilities to understand, participate and influence the world around us.

But how do we enable this when there are large sections of society who - due to a lack of skills and other barriers - are still offline and consequently not experiencing or even being able to access the diverse benefits of the internet?

Recent audience research specially commissioned by the BBC shows the scale of the challenge of getting people online. 13.8 million UK adults do not have the internet at home and, of this number, 10.6 million do not use the internet anywhere else either.

In other words, more than a fifth of all adults in the UK are completely excluded from the internet and from being part of the daily dialogue that happens, be it locally, nationally or globally. This is a very significant segment of society which risks getting left behind as the web becomes more and more embedded in our daily lives.

The BBC has a pivotal role to play for the public good. So, how can we better use our offer of world-class News, shows created specifically for the web - such as the recently announced EastEnders: E20 - and the multi award-winning BBC iPlayer, to help close the digital exclusion gap?

Firstly: during Get Online day last month we made use of our range of outlets to reflect the message about the benefits of getting online, with coverage about the day appearing on the BBC homepage and our regional websites, on BBC Breakfast and Working Lunch, on television and and on Jeremy Vine's Radio 2 show.

We have also recently launched a Media Literacy website - which brings together our offer in a cohesive way in order to help people equip themselves for the digital age.

This is a long standing tradition with the BBC and is core to our public service ethos. Over the last thirty years, there are many examples of encouraging UK citizens to develop their media skills: the development of BBC Micro in the 80s; the 'Computers Don't Bite' campaign in the 90s, and 'WebWise' - a guide to using the internet - at the start of the new millennium.

The BBC was one of the first media organisations in the world to have a website - BBC Online will be 12 years old next month - and when it was approved, there was a clear understanding from the Department for Culture, Media & Sport that education was to be one of its key purposes.

We have played host to several initiatives over the years, and increasingly our formal learning content - for adults as well as children - has migrated online and includes: Raw; My Story; BBC languages; Skillswise and Ouch!

While TV and radio retains its motivational power, it is online that is ideally suited to the interactive and multi-dimensional process that is learning. Moving forwards and working in partnership, there are big opportunities to play a useful role in alleviating social exclusion through not being online.

While I would never underestimate the scale of the challenge, by using our ability to inspire and motivate through telling stories, and by capitalising on our reach across radio, television and online, the BBC is well positioned to play its part in encouraging people to get online and benefit from all that the web has to offer.

Seetha Kumar is the Controller of BBC Online.

(This post is an edited extract from a speech given at the Skills for Life Conference. You can find the full speech here. )

Talk about timing. It's this Friday. Hosted by Mark Thompson, the day is part of the ongoing collaborative and productive dialogue taking place with a number of different organisations. Earlier this week, I heard Martha Lane Fox, Digital Inclusion Champion on Radio 4's Today programme passionately championing the rights of people to have the same choices and same rights as the people who are connected. A new report makes sombre reading. Digitally excluded households are missing out on making savings between £270 and £560 per year from shopping and paying bills online, and the most economically disadvantaged families are missing out on combined savings of over £1billion.

I sit on the task force Martha chairs and what's energising is the commitment of organisations such as UK Online Centres and the determination of initiatives such as Totally Online Barnsley to get everyone in Barnsley online by 2012. Together, we now have Race Online 2012 a national call to action. Have a look and see if you can get involved.

Why does digital literacy matter? The facts tell their own story. More than 10 million adults across the UK have never used the internet, and worryingly 4 million of this group is also socially excluded. All of them are missing out on the connections, the opportunities and the cost efficiencies that the web has to offer. Of the 4 million adults offline who are socially excluded: 39% are over 65 years old; 23% are unemployed and 19% are in families with children.

At its core, inclusion is about enabling people to be part of our community. Or in other words, it's a wonderful way of opening up worlds, of communicating, and alleviating loneliness and exclusion.

What can we do to help those who have never had the opportunity to use the web for simple day-to-day life-enhancing activities?

There is a generation now retired who missed the IT revolution completely. Why should they not be able to enjoy all the opportunities and benefits offered by the Internet? Take the simple question of language. We put up web addresses - but to some this makes no sense at all. They need help to understand- what for them is a new way of life that has somehow by passed them over the last 10-15 years.

We need to ensure that the bewildering often mystifying language and terminology is made simple and clear. They also need help which is not patronising. Then there is fear; fear of learning and being shown up. Perhaps this can be lightened with support from a family member or neighbour? Perhaps volunteering is one part of the overall solution. I'd like your thoughts and suggestions on what we can do individually and collectively to make a difference. Do you have examples of helping an older relative get connected, or perhaps a friend?

I believe a simple and effective need is making bog standard technology simple - easier to understand and therefore use. We have all known the frustration of the system crashing and the sheer rage that can sometimes grip you when you've lost hours of work. I deal with the frustration of my wireless not working (even though the modem is winking green) by pulling all the wires out, taking a deep breath and starting again. Websites that crash give new hesitant users a feeling of failure rather than frustration. They need reassurance that it's not them - it's the machine!

Flickr, online shopping, Skype, free phone calls, video conferencing, consumer advice and information, find-a-friend services have over the years helped make the web relevant to our lives. What the BBC can do with the myriad stories it tells is to use our creative storytelling skills across a variety of platforms to help encourage that take up. And we can do this with the faces that have become familiar over the years.

At the Access Forum tomorrow, we will show e contributions from Terry Wogan, Adrian Chiles, Kirsty Young, Jonathan Ross, Kirsty Wark, Ken Bruce, Kwame Kwei-Armah and members of the EastEnders cast and Blue Peter team. I'll make sure this is available for you to see

A sizeable group of those not online at home are the young. Most access digital services at their friends' houses, schools, colleges, or universities. It is now about making them more confident, better users, so they appreciate what they need to do or not do, and how to express themselves creatively. They need to grasp how (and why) media works as it does, what is legal and what is not, and how to protect their identities and rights...

Later this evening, I am going to the launch of a new Consortium by OFCOM to promote Digital Participation. The aim is to increase the reach, breadth and depth of digital technology use across all sections of society. The Consortium has over fifty members who will contribute expertise and communications channels to promote Digital Participation. Some of the larger members include BT, the BBC, Channel 4 and Google.

The forum we are hosting tomorrow is but one chapter in this continuing narrative. Chaired by Gavin Esler, speakers include: Martha Lane Fox, the Government's Champion for Digital Inclusion; Peter Barron, Director of Communications, Google; Simon Milner, Group Director, Industry Policy, BT and the broadcaster Johnny Ball. Members of the public, who have just embarked on their own online journeys, will tell it like it is.

Nick Reynolds will blog about the day and you will also be able to see some of the short films we will show during the discussions. We will publish our research into home broadband adoption. There is a huge groundswell of support in trying to get the country online - but we need your help. Please post your ideas in the comments.

Seetha Kumar is Controller, BBC Online.

The panel (The Guardian's Meg Pickard, The Telegraph's Kate Day and the BBC's Nic Newman) reflected on the dynamics created by the web's unique ability to support the 'many to many conversation'. It was a lively discussion with unanimous agreement that 'social media' enables the telling of better stories and making better relationships.

User engagement (or what we have long thought of as audience involvement) was a recurrent theme last week. On Friday night I was at the BFI participating in a discussion on web production, with members of our audience. It was a useful forum to ruminate on topics such as BBC Online reaching its 12th birthday this December, the current challenges of digital literacy and social exclusion, the worrying lack of viable business models for commercial online publishers, and the creativity and new forms of storytelling made possible by the web.

Afterwards, mingling and chatting, I was asked about press reports about 'plans for a radical 'social' overhaul of our websites'. I had read the stories earlier last week with bemusement and the incorrect reporting of our plans has clearly caused confusion.

Our continuing concern is to make BBC Online better for our users. This includes looking at how we can genuinely make BBC Online part of the web and meet our users growing expectations that they can contribute in different ways to our site. A number of ideas are in train; including allowing users to add comments to news stories as they can at many sites, including The Times and The Guardian. However, those ideas are aimed at allowing us to keep pace with what users have come to expect - they do not add up to a radical" social" overhaul!

The BBC has always sought a close relationship with the people who provide its income. Interacting with audiences is intrinsic to our heritage even if the means of doing so constantly evolve. I remember debates with viewers via letter, arguing in response to complaints and closely monitoring daily call logs during my programme making days. These kinds of feedback helped - and still help - programme makers to shape and sharpen the output for which they are responsible.

Newer forms of audience participation are audible or visible across our output, whether in Nicky Campbell's compelling morning show on R 5 or in texts to BBC Breakfast. And, of course, feedback is the u.s.p of shows such as the appropriately named Feedback on Radio 4 and Points of View on BBC ONE. In these programmes, value for the whole audience is provided by the contributions of a few - and this is a pattern we want to be part of BBC Online in future.

Mark Thompson talked recently of the importance of the BBC as a 'shared, independent, not-for-profit public space.' Key to this is the power of digital media to build deeper and closer relationships with our audiences. And BBC Online is uniquely positioned to enrich and sustain this 'public space.' The web, with its developing tools and functionality provides a great platform for a mutually enriching, many to many conversation.

The Apprentice Predictor is a recent example. Users could predict which apprentice they thought was going to be fired, - a good example of how social functionality can add interest and drama to our best-loved shows. We hope to build on this kind of interaction with Strictly Social, a recent addition to the Strictly Come Dancing site. Users will be welcomed to the site by an avatar of Judge Len Goodman, and can submit their own ratings for the contestants as well as select their favourite moments while the show is on air to view afterwards.

So, we are looking at a number of ideas. But in addition to asking what our users want we also need to be aware of the impact anything we do might have on other UK sites and services. Our aim is to be part of the much more joined up internet that is emerging; not compete with other service providers. Indeed, in order to become more part of the web we need to interact successfully with other sites and services - and that means effective collaboration. From being a digital repository for the BBC's digital content, BBC Online aims to co-exist more fruitfully with other services and significantly improve the way it signposts and embraces content and services that exist outside the BBC.

More ambitious, but also more complex perhaps, are emerging plans to work with partners in the sharing of technology and other service elements like metadata. This is the thinking behind many of our partnership proposals - such as open iPlayer and Project Canvas. The same principles and intentions are informing our thinking on social media.

Seetha Kumar is Controller, BBC Online

As it's generally hard to get things right first time round, I was reassured as I walked into Nesta to hear genuine support for the initiative we were taking. Looking through the constructive feedback we've received since, many found it helpful and insightful. This was the first event that tried to outline what BBC Online is going to focus on over the next 6 - 9 months and we plan to do more in future.

External linking came up. We'd already taken steps to expand the ways in which BBC Online links to other websites and click throughs have been running at 10 -12million per month. We want to establish new and richer connections to the wider web where they are editorially relevant and meet our public purposes. We know that our users want us to do this and it's a process that we take very seriously.

I know we inevitably disappointed some who attended. Some areas - particularly formal learning - were covered in insufficient detail for people who feel the BBC competes with their businesses in this area. In this case, it was because we are currently assessing the range of what the BBC provides to support learning by children and teenagers, in order to shape a discussion with the BBC Trust later this year which will inform our ongoing strategy.

Unsurprisingly - given the audience who attended - there were questions and concerns about the effectiveness and transparency of the new media Approved Supplier List (ASL). This provided an opportunity to explain that we are currently reviewing the ASL, a shared, central repository of information - where they are, what they do, what they have worked on in the past and so on - on external suppliers for the use of BBC commissioners.

I want to emphasise that this review, which will be completed by early next year, is aimed specifically at BBC Online. We are working towards establishing a clear and concise process which enables the BBC to commission the best output from the best qualified supplier for any given project. Since online does involve a level of technical complexity, we want external suppliers to have access to clear information about what we require, so that the process is as efficient and transparent as it can possibly be. Through working closely with suppliers, we aim to use their feedback to streamline the process for outsourcing content and services.

It is business as usual whilst the review is conducted and we continue to commission content and services across BBC Online from a wide range of supplier companies.

Seetha Kumar is Controller, BBC Online.

• Watch the videos of the Open day here.

One of the few advantages of taking on a role that was born out of a time of difficulty is the opportunity to start afresh. My role you may recall was created in response to a somewhat critical report from the BBC Trust when it reviewed the Online Service Licence last year. In the past the BBC's online services have been criticised for seeming opaque and perhaps too closed.

Openness and transparency are values the BBC espouses. We are trying to build a more open BBC and build more partnerships across the whole web. Have a look at nature's library.

So, as a first step, I am hosting the first BBC Online 'Open meeting' where myself and colleagues will be sharing the plans we have for the next few months E.g. News, sport, weather, knowledge building, radio and music, entertainment and children's.

It's tomorrow and as we focus our efforts on planning the session, I know we won't get it entirely right. This is fine, because we can only learn how to do so next time.
 
We'll be reporting back next week and I'd welcome any feedback you have.

Editorial reviews are an intrinsically creative process which needs to be embraced by site owners. The logic is simple - if you take pride in what you do, and care about your user, it is a win win. How else do we improve our offer? There must be wisdom and benefit in standing back, interrogating what we have in order to understand what's not quite working or what's working well - in which case there are shared learnings. In the end it's all about pushing ourselves to offer real utility to our users, and in a way that clarifies our point of differentiation in the market place.

It's never easy when you introduce something new. After three trial runs we have come up with a blueprint for how to run the reviews - or MOTs as we call them. I like the MOT analogy. We are all used to testing cars which have to be kept roadworthy after three years - now I am hoping that the BBC Online teams will get used to having their websites tested to ensure they serve our audiences well and meet our current quality and accessibility standards.

As part of the ongoing MOT process we'll be reviewing the h2g2 website next week. h2g2 is one of the BBC's few websites that has no broadcast equivalent on TV or radio, and it relies wholly on its users' contributions for its content. As such we thought it'd be good to share some of the thinking that goes into an MOT and we'd invite you to contribute to our thinking on this occasion.

The Online MOT has a core set of questions which the website owners should answer. The broad themes are:

• Strategic fit: How does this site fit into the wider BBC Online service? Does it serve the BBC's public purposes clearly?


• Place in the market: Where does it sit in the wider UK market? How does it relate to external sites covering similar themes?


• Audience: What is the key audience need that the site seeks to meet? What is the target demographic?


• Quality: Does the site clearly display the BBC's editorial values of accuracy, independence, impartiality, taste and decency.? Does the sit adhere to our publisher principles? Does it meet best practice technical, UX and accessibility standards?

Seetha Kumar is Controller, BBC Online.

However for those for whom the internet feels like alien territory, anxieties around issues such as safety, security and privacy can stand in the way of making the most of what the web has to offer.

These concerns are real. Our public service ethos acts as a powerful motivator: we want to provide a safe environment within which people can enjoy our offer.

Recently, there have been a lot of column inches on the use of so-called 'behavioural targeting' - the delivery of adverts to audiences based on their internet activity. Phorm's behavioural targeting service, for instance, has received particularly widespread coverage.

I thought it worth sharing my thoughts. First, a recap on the main ways in which behavioural targeting works.

First-party targeting is where user behaviour is tracked by means of a cookie on a specific website. The data is kept by the website owner (or its contracted company), and targeted ads are served up whilst you're using the site. In a "network" advertising model a number of sites contract with each other to share the data about user journeys across a specified network of sites. The website's privacy policy should tell you how to opt out if you do not want your user journey site used in this way.

Of course, UK users are not served up ads on bbc.co.uk. We are a public service offering - funded by the licence fee. However, we do use cookies in order to provide users with a more customised service. But, you as the user are in control - you have the option of setting your device to accept all cookies, to alert you when a cookie is issued or to opt out - i.e. not to receive cookies at any time. If you want to know more, check Section 13 of our Privacy Policy for more information on our use of cookies.

A commercial company cannot provide good free content on the web without relying on advertising revenues. In which case, the better targeted the marketing - the more sales that are generated. I believe bbc.co.uk thrives by being part of a bigger competitive landscape of amazing content providers - mostly funded by advertising.

Our commercial arm, BBC Worldwide, uses first-party targeting technology on its UK sites - such as topgear.com - and the international facing, advertising funded website at bbc.com, through a company called Audience Science. On our Privacy Policy we include a link for international users explaining more about the technology used and how to opt out of it. (You will find it at the top right hand corner of the privacy page). In a nutshell, Audience Science places a cookie that tracks the pages visited by international users of bbc.com, forms a profile based on that activity, and serves up adverts based on that profile.

Ads can be specifically targeted to users falling within specific "segments" - and there is a user benefit in that. It can also generate revenues that can be reinvested into supporting our public service remit of creating useful propositions for our audiences, as well as new ways of delivering them. Naturally, as a user, you have the choice to opt out.

Then, there is a further type of targeted marketing - ISP based behavioural targeted advertising (such as Phorm) - which is different. Targeted marketing here works by putting their technology into the ISPs networks. They intercept all users' browsing activity using 'deep-packet inspection', putting each user into a 'bucket' that broadly and anonymously categorises them, and serves them ads based on which "bucket" they are in. Whilst this enhances the quality of the targeting (as it covers a broader range of sites) it is also more invasive than first-person or network targeting as it collects the user's entire web activity.

My understanding is that Phorm is not currently deployed on a UK ISP, though it has been trialled. So the jury is still out.

Some principles remain true. They are quite simple - the privacy of our user and the code we follow as a public service broadcaster. This means it is not appropriate for third parties to use the data profiles of the users of BBC services for commercial gain.
Your ISP should always give you the choice of opting into their use of this type of behavioural targeted advertising. This has been laid down by the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) last year. As it's your ISP who decides whether or not to use this type of technology, it is worth knowing that there are steps you can take. In the case of Phorm, in particular, you can also opt out via their website.

Deep packet inspection is a big issue in Europe. So is the allied topic of users being in the driving seat and being able to give informed consent. The European Commission issued an action about a month ago against the UK Government querying whether the law here goes far enough to protect users.

We are watching this space closely and waiting for details of the Government's response, which is due around mid June.

I am keen to hear your thoughts. There's more coverage of the subject in the links below if you are after further information.

Seetha Kumar is Controller, BBC Online and the BBC's Online Access Champion.

"The Phorm Storm" from Open Rights Group
"Stop Phoul Play" website
"Phorm - one year on" from the BBC's dot.life
"Phorm controversy starts up again" from FT.com techblog

Nobody likes being excluded. That's just a fact. Yet, today nearly one third of society is currently excluded - around 17m adults are not using computers and the internet.

These 17 million are not part of the national or global conversations - they are unable to access Government services online, less able to find out information about their local community and unable to undertake activities such as finding and applying for jobs online. As our world becomes increasingly connected, those who lack these key skills may find themselves even more excluded, lonely and alienated. This does not feel right- it is just wrong.

And, as we shift ever faster to a knowledge based economy - exchanging ideas, information, music, games, images - to be a vibrant part of this society and not be left out, the onus is, I realise on us to work together to find effective solutions to close the digital divide.

As Controller of BBC Online, responsible for the overall editorial direction and strategy for bbc.co.uk, I'm well placed to make a difference. Whatever level one is at, or whatever extent one wishes to interact, as a minimum, media or digital literacy material must be available.

I am passionate about bringing the benefits of getting online to as wide an audience as possible, and I am determined that the BBC will do more to encourage the unconnected to develop the skills they need.

How can the BBC help promote online access?

The BBC has done a great deal in the past. The BBC has a strong track record in helping people join the communications revolution. Approximately one in 10 internet users cite BBC Online as one of the main reasons they first got connected, opening the door to a new world of skills and opportunities. But I believe we can do even more in the future. [Source:TNS, Dec 2007]

This is why I agree with Lord Carter that the BBC must continue to play a key role, just as it has in digital broadcast, to support the take up of broadband and promote online access.

Digital inclusion and literacy is not a one-off project but a fundamental shift in how we do everything. If we put universal access at the heart of our commitment to the country as a whole - the very best available to all - then a truly digitally literate Britain could actually be achieved.

The BBC can provide unique scale, the programmes we make act as the access or touch points for audiences. What we need to do now is to look at what more we can achieve through our unique platform of television, radio and online services and also by acting as a catalyst for industry-wide partnerships.

And that's why I'm privileged to stand here today as the BBC's first 'Online Access Champion'. I have three key priorities: make our services accessible and attractive and communicate the benefits and utility of being online, better understand audience needs and fears so we can ensure the tools we offer are relevant to their lives, and as a starting point play our part in maximising the strength of partnerships. I am fortunate that I have a useful background in running major social action campaigns and have learnt that one of the most effective ways to achieve impact and real difference is through the power of partnerships.

One of the first things I would like to do is explore how we can use the energy that partnerships bring to unlock what can be done to promote online access.

The BBC has a history of innovative partnerships: from Acorn and the BBC Micro, to our community buses which worked with local groups to bring new technology and the internet to hard to reach groups like the elderly and unemployed. We also did this through creative magic - projects such as Digital Storytelling, People's War and over the last 18 months piloting Memoryshare.

We will build on our existing partnership with libraries and explore the potential for further partnerships to provide on-the-ground support for those inspired to take their first steps into going online. The BBC, through its literacy offer 'Raw', has also partnered with UK Online Centres. I am aware we can do more. We can do more to encourage access to content beyond the BBC: from enabling higher traffic from our website to others; to opening up the iPlayer to other broadcasters; to sharing and syndicating BBC content more widely and using our broadcasts to tell people what's available online, excite their interest and overcome their fears.

Later this year, we will convene an Online access forum, further building on the BBC's existing relationships and partnerships across the sector.

My key priority will be to listen and hear what you have to say about the role we can play and how we might work together.

The second key priority is to gain a deeper understanding of audiences through new research.

This is why we are conducting new audience research to gain better insight of why different groups do not use the internet and what more can be done to stimulate take-up. We will share this research with government, Ofcom and other bodies working in the field.

This research will be invaluable in understanding the 17 million currently not connected - the barriers that are stopping them from getting online, and how we can work together to overcome them.

Thirdly and no less important : we will develop our services and work with our partners to make online services as accessible and attractive as possible to a wide audience, to communicate the benefits and to give people a reason to get online

Accessibility is not an optional extra. We'll continue to improve our services to make them even more accessible, regardless of ability or disability. I'm talking here in terms of giving the user more control of display features such as font sizes, page layout, contrast and colour, The BBC has led the way in terms of accessible web pages - you can set all this up for yourselves from the accessibility link in the top left corner of the BBC's homepage.

What we will also do is explore what more can be done such as:

- Developing new content and products unique to broadband that could encourage people to get online

- Supporting new internet users with advice on navigating the web

- Using our TV and radio programmes to drive interest in what the BBC and others already offer online.

- Using developing platforms such as mobile and broadband-connected television (IPTV) as a means of getting internet content without needing a PC.

I don't underestimate the scale of the challenge - but I'm inspired and energised by it and keen to get round the table with our partners and get to work.

Seetha Kumar is Controller, BBC Online.

Last week I shared with my commissioning and production colleagues a set of ten principles which should underpin all new activities on BBC Online. These principles are based on a looser set which has existed for a couple of years (and can still be found on Tom Loosemore's blog) but I have tightened them up.

I want to inspire editorial and technical teams to think not just about their project in isolation but how it will really work for the audience, how it will relate to or build upon the best of what already exists on BBC Online and how we can be part of the wider web.

The principles are:

1. Web sites and products should be designed to meet a clearly-defined audience need

Anticipate needs not yet fully articulated by audiences and meet them with products that set new standards and even exceed expectations.

2. The best websites do one thing really, really well

Do less, keep it simple, execute perfectly.

3. Ensure there is nothing similar already published on BBC Online

We are all contributors to one website. How are you adding to what exists already? Can you reuse what has been built and is your content, in turn, reusable? Don't create a web cul-de-sac - we have so many of those already!

4. Any website is only as good as its worst page

Ensure best practice editorial processes, technology and UX standards are adopted and adhered to. Your content may be linked to, forever, so plan for the full lifecycle. Consider how will it look in three year's time, how it can be curated. Will it degrade gracefully - or should you set a date for it to be mothballed or archived?

5. Accessibility is not an optional extra

Sites designed that way from the ground up work better for all users. Your site should, where appropriate, easily translate into other languages.

6. Maximise routes to content

How will people know your site exists? Keep the URL as simple and memorable as possible (and remember that all URLs should be lower case). Optimise your site to rank high in Google and other search engines. Develop permanent URLs and contextualise with as many aggregations of content about people, places, topics, channels, networks and time as possible.

7. Free up your content for consumers to take away

Don't reinvent Facebook or Bebo - just make it easy for users to take nuggets of content with them, with links back to your site or the wider BBC from wherever they are. Wherever and whenever users find your content make sure the feedback loops work.

8. Do not attempt to do everything yourselves - "do what you do best and then link to the rest"

Link to other high-quality sites - your users will thank you. Use other people's content & tools to enhance your site and vice versa.Don't feel you have to host the conversations about your content, just link to them or join in as appropriate.

9. Consistent design & navigation needn't mean one-size-fits-all

Users should always know they're on a BBC website, even if it doesn't look exactly like another. Clear signposting is vital to ensure users won't get lost within or beyond your site.

10. Personalisation should be unobtrusive, elegant and transparent

After all, it's our users' most personal data - respect it. And adhere to our forthcoming cookie policy!

These will be reviewed every few months and we welcome your views. We are also currently reviewing our Standards and Guidelines and I shall be writing about this soon.

Seetha Kumar is Controller, BBC Online.

When a site has evolved as ours has, it just isn't wise or cost effective to continue working on some of the pages we published in the past. At the same time, routinely deleting inactive content doesn't feel entirely right either, does it? (More on this below).

Whilst we work through the sensible way forward, the best approach at present is to clearly label pages which are no longer being updated but which have been left online either for reference or because they may still be of some interest. I hope we've done this elegantly even as we alert our users to the fact that the content provided may now be outdated. Of course we will continue to remove sites and pages which have become so outdated that they may lead to actual harm or damage.

To date, we've used a yellow "virtual sticky" note - like a floating label on the page. It had its' pluses in that it was simple and effective. But it partially obscured some of the site content, was tricky to implement technically, and just did not sit comfortably on the page.

This is why we've moved to a simple banner label across the top of each page. It links to a Help page explaining why we're no longer updating the page.

The aim of this labelling project is in part to show more clearly the extent to which we actively manage or "curate" our online content. I believe BBC Online should be an actively managed resource of information, tools and services which support and enhance the BBC's six public purposes for our audience.

It's all part of our ongoing efforts to improve the quality of user experience across BBC Online. The Barlesque templates which have been introduced gradually over the last 12 months support a consistent site wide look and feel. However, the migration of every page to the new template, even when it isn't any longer actively managed, is not a prudent use of resources. So in most cases, sites and pages which aren't being migrated to the new visual style will be labelled as "no longer updated". None of this applies, of course, to BBC News pages which generally carry a "last updated" message to inform users about the timeliness of information on that page.

There is a view, that perhaps we should grasp the nettle and delete "old" pages. As currybet points out, we continue to harbour some very old sites which pre-date even the previous templating language. (Most of the old sites currybet links to in his blog are no longer available, although at the time of writing, there is still Politics 97; and there may well be others).

There are others who would passionately veto deletion because of the inevitable broken links. I don't entirely buy this argument though I do sympathise with the considered view that these sites can offer information or stimulate memories around a particular BBC programme or event which may just be of value or interest in the future. As can be seen from currybet's examples, in their inimitable way, they can add to the history of the web and the BBC and its activities online.

As we debate this, we've been pondering what we should call the labelling project. It's obviously related to the traditional activity of archiving, but it's not exactly the same. My colleague Dan Taylor, had some interesting thoughts about archiving the web on his personal blog back in June last year.

Incidentally some of you (including the community at the Archers and Points of View message boards) noticed that yesterday the banner appeared on the sign in page on some of our message boards and blogs. This was an error, a bug which has now been fixed. My apologies.

Seetha Kumar is Controller, BBC Online .

I am curious to understand what people really mean when they use the 'i' word and the real world examples they intuitively embrace. Being practical, I understand it to mean both BBC iPlayer - the fastest growing search term on Google last year - and more recently the engaging Bugbears. Check it out and let me know what you think.

I talked about quality in December - this will be a recurrent theme.

It was interesting to read the diverse selection of comments about branding from my last post - I had to smile when I read the remarks about the 'cyclical nature of the BBC's management decisions'. Yes, sometimes it does come across that way. In this case, though, I disagree that 'it matters very little to people who use the service, just those within the organisation looking for ways to spend their allocated budget.' The key task - as addressed by old boar - was to make all our services part of the 'normal' BBC, by simultaneously removing surplus brands and simplifying the overall branding.

Old boar and lucas42 are right - consistency is important. We need a uniform url policy, it's something we've started thinking about late last year - more on this later. And yes, if we are trying to work towards consistent branding, making the site operate consistently is vital. Three c's I worry about are: clarity, consistency and coherence, and I comfortably predict these will be the subject of many more musings.

Picking up on Sue Aitch's positive comment on our commitment to accessibility, I hope you have read my colleague Jonathan Hassell's two recent posts and some of the aspirations we have for the year. They include improved live subtitle synchronisation, improving the iPlayer's media player so it can display the colours currently used in broadcast subtitles to indicate different speakers, and inclusion of subtitles on BBC channels simulcast on bbc.co.uk.

In this post I wanted to tell you about another step we are taking towards being clearer about we do and don't do. Today will see the end of the web search option on BBC Online. I know that when we removed this from the re-launched homepage over a year ago, (we replaced it later) a number of users complained so I want to set out the thinking behind this decision.

When I took this job on following the BBC Trust Service License review last year, there were several actions pending in my in tray. One of these being a request from the Trust that we look at web search.

Reviewing the service recently you cannot help but come to the conclusion that BBC web search was not sufficiently different in quality or character from others like Google or MSN to justify the time and money spent maintaining it. Users have easy access usually in their browser, to a very similar service. Usage is not high, accounting, on average, for between 10 -15% of the total amount of searches made on BBC Online.

We'd do far better to concentrate on making our own BBC website search as good as it can be, for example by developing our topics proposition and improving the way we point users to other related content around and off the site. To be honest, there is a lot we can do to provide users with a range of editorially selected links to other high quality sites in the UK and elsewhere. This is why we have decided - with the endorsement of the BBC Trust - to end the web search option.

I realise that some of you may find this inconvenient, but do not believe that in the current search market the BBC can genuinely make enough of a difference. We need to focus our energies where we can truly do so. I want to direct our efforts over the coming months on providing a richer selection of external links across BBC Online. At the moment, these can look thin.

For example, although our health page on autism has a good selection of external links, these are not available on our autism topics page and there are none at all on our search results page for autism.

In fact, there is a huge number of excellent links across the site. The problem is that these links can be a bit buried away. So we need to bring all our links into a single database so that they can be presented to users in a wider range of contexts across BBC Online - rather as we do in News with alternative coverage of some stories.

Seetha Kumar is Controller, BBC Online.