The BBC maintains an A-Z archive of television and radio interviews on its BBC4 webpage. BBC4 is a division of BBC television created as an "intelligent alternative" to mainstream programming. The archive is open access to all users. The interface is simple and easy to use- clicking on the "A-Z" tab and then "Interviews" links to an alphabetical index of available audio and video interviews organized by interview subject, last name first. The index provides brief descriptive metadata about the available material. Once the user selects an interview subject, a page opens including photographs, biographical information, metadata about the actual program (original air date, audio or video, division of the BBC in which the interview appeared) and links to media clips along with a brief summary of the topics discussed and the duration of the clip.
The clips require RealPlayer to view/ listen.
The archive is very user friendly, although it might be nice to provide access to the entire body of an interview rather than limit the user to topical soundbites. The site provides excellent metadata with regards to the circumstances of the interview and interview subject, and seems aimed at a general audience, although the availability of primary source data could be helpful to scholars as well. While entertainment-based interviews are frequently short question and answer sessions, the archive also provides access to older radio broadcasts of speeches by prime ministers and other political figures in their entirety. Additionally, each subject's page includes links to additional information about them elsewhere on the BBC site, which is a massive repository of information in and of itself. The interview archive provides a useful inroad to research using the BBC's resources.
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