On 31/10/14 21:21, Rob Dixon wrote:
I apologise if this covers old ground. I have read most, but not all of
the mail that has arisen from this situation.
Three solutions to this situastion come to mind. From least to most
attractive:
- Scrape the BBC web site directly for the information that used to come
from the RSS feeds. Apart from being a very clumsy approach, this is
almost certainly against the terms of service for the web site.
- Apply for a licence to use the Nitro API directly from get_iplayer,
and write a new interface to collect the necessary information from
there. This is by far the nicest of all options, but I doubt very much
whether the BCC would grant such a licence. At the moment, though, I
can't see any reason not to at least make the application. At least it
would demonstrate our willingess to be opend and cooperative.
- Write a new application that uses the Nitro API, ostensibly to provide
a different and more flexible way of viewing the BBC schedule, but
capable of exporting the information for use in get_iplayer. This could
even reconstruct the old XML RSS feeds, but I don't see a reason to add
such an awkward intermediate format.
This last option seems to me to be the most likely to succeed. I have
applied for a licence for my own use and I shall be experimenting with
what is possible. After some experimentation I will be glad to add an
export along the lines I have described, to be specified by those
responsible for get_iplayer.
What does the team think?
Having posted a request for help on finding out more about Nitro I have
just found a relevant BBC Nitro page. Having read their objectives:
"The best integrations will do all three: they will surface the huge
amount of available content (currently more than 500,000 programmes) in
easy to navigate ways, they will be part of the open web, and they will
entertain and inform users." I wonder what exactly the BBC has against
GiP. I certainly like the sound of the last option and wish you well
with your project.
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