BBC Lab UK

rdf:langString BBC Lab UK

rdf:langString BBC Lab UK was a BBC website that allowed the public to take part in online experiments by completing tests and surveys. The website was active for four years until its data collection ceased in May 2013. Details of the experiments and projects have now been archived. Lab UK was commissioned in 2008 by BBC Commissioner Lisa Sargood, inspired by other online ‘citizen science’ projects such as Galaxy Zoo, the BBC Climate Change Experiment and BugGuide. The intention was to enable leading academics to harness the BBC's audience, using mass public participation to explore scientific hypotheses with very large data sets. The results would be published in academic journals and made available to the public through the BBC website and television. Lab UK was conceived by BBC executive producer Richard Cable, who also edited it from 2008-2011. A number of professional scientists were engaged to consult on the design and development of the website, as well as the design of individual experiments which the public would engage with. Each web experiment was structured to give feedback on the activity of the participant, immediately after they had submitted their data. Collectively, the experiment data would be handed over securely to the scientist who had designed the experiment. The analysis of the experiment data would be conducted by the scientist's research team. Where possible, the BBC actively encouraged the publication of the results in peer-reviewed journals. The first experiment was published in 2009 and the final experiment was launched in 2012. The website stopped collecting data in May 2013 after its migration to the Knowledge & Learning product. The website was formally archived in March 2016.