Coincidences in the Signed Department

Published on 17 March 2005 in , , , ,

It was one of those spooky coincidences. There I was reviewing the BBCi What’s On service and planning a few minor changes to the way the listings are shown on screen, which we should be making later in the year.

And there I was looking at the various labels for subtitles, repeats and so on and thinking that we should add on a label for programmes which are signed. But what to use? There didn’t seem to be any standards anywhere on the matter and about the only thing relevant I could find was that the BBC What’s On website uses [signed].

And lo, what should appear in my inbox. An email from Ofcom’s press department telling me all about their new standard abbreviations for things like subtitles, audio description and signed programmes for electronic programme guides on TV, as well as hopefully being used in print.

Bamm. We’ll have a bit of that I thought, writing it down in my document complete with link to the Ofcom website to explain all. After all, if you’ve got standards, best to use ’em.

And with that I can sit back and wait until someone important in charge of these things, sends an email to someone important in my department to say "can we do this" so that I can sit back and smuggle say, "already on the plans" and sit back safe in the knowledge that I have just made myself look quite frankly outstandingly indepensible.

Oh and if anyone is wondering, Ofcom have plumped for SL for signed programmes.

And that email from someone important better happen. Cos if it doesn’t, how else am I going to find an excuse to sit there and look like a complete smug git?