Hello and a warm welcome to this latest instalment of your UniSkills Focus On… blog. In this edition we will be exploring a very useful resource called Box of Broadcasts.
What does Box of Broadcasts offer?
Box of Broadcasts, or BoB as it is often called, is a huge archive of radio and TV programmes. It is produced by Learning on Screen, a charity which promotes the use of audio-visual material in education and research, and it contains over 2.2 million radio and TV programmes from over 75 free to air channels.
The television channels include:
- BBC channels: BBC1, BBC2, BBC3, BBC4, BBC News, BBC Parliament and the regional BBC Channels.
- ITV1, ITV2, ITV3 and ITV4
- Channel4, E4, More4, Film4
- Channel5, 5Star and 5USA
- Sky News, CNN, GB News and Aljazeera
- Foreign language channels, including France24, 3Sat, Arte, Tagesschau24, and RAI News 24
The radio stations include:
- The BBC national stations: Radio1, Radio2, Radio3, Radio4, Radio4 Extra, Radio5 Live, Radio5 LiveSports Extra, 6 Music, Asian Network, BBC World Service
- The main BBC regional stations: Radio Scotland, Radio Ulster, Radio Wales, plus Radio Cymru and Radio Nan Gàidheal
- TalkSport, Classic FM
What are the benefits of using Box of Broadcasts?
If you think of the wide range of subjects covered by all the radio and TV programmes that are broadcast, you can easily recognise that BoB is potentially of use for all academic subjects, including health, education, the sciences, business, the arts, literature, media and more! Obviously, a large number of programmes are made purely for entertainment value, but even these have an academic aspect you may not have thought of.
Research has also shown that leisure activities can have a positive influence on academic study by reducing feelings of stress and improving your mental health and emotional well-being. It’s also important to take a break when studying to help your concentration and stop you feeling tired. What better way to unwind than watching your favourite TV show on BoB?
BoB also has some great features that are really useful:
- You can watch or listen on a PC, Mac, phone or tablet
- There is a programme guide, and you can request that a programme be recorded
- You can create clips of programmes and can preview these before saving them
- You can create playlists of useful or your most liked programmes
How to access Box of Broadcasts
If you go to the Subject Resources webpages for your subject, access the Additional Resources tab you will find the link to BoB in this list of resources. Of course, there are also lots of links to BoB in this blog post and you can click on any of these to go direct to the BoB homepage right now.
Further Help and Support
Remember, if you need any further help or support finding, accessing, or getting the most out of your resources head over to the UniSkills web pages. From here you can access lots more information, toolkits and video tutorials, book on a UniSkills Workshop and even book a one-to-one appointment.
Join us next time on the UniSkills Focus On… blog, when we will be discussing the benefits and features of a database called JSTOR.
