Joanne Parkes (2020 cohort) has been very lucky to have 2 supervisors from BBC R&D who she describes as being incredibly friendly, welcoming, enthusiastic and supportive.
This resulted in the establishment of regular interactions going all the way back to the familiarization fortnight and the opportunity for her to share insights and make contributions to some R&D projects on an adhoc basis throughout the first semester.
Jo has now officially kicked off her placement on a 1 day per week basis as of last month (February 2021) and so far, has been involved in the creation of an ‘Inclusion’ survey, trial of a BBC Orchestra-based app and analysis of an iPlayer user survey.
The ‘Inclusion’ survey has been piloted within BBC R&Ds Diversity & Inclusion team and is due for roll out through HR for trialing across R&D over the next few months. This tool is designed with the intention of being used during PDRs (Personal Development Reviews), allowing participants to critically evaluate the extent to which they feel they and their contributions are valued within the organization and encouraging conversations resulting in positive, tangible actions where this might not be the case.
Jo was inspired by the app trial whereby through the syncing up of multiple devices, it is possible to immerse the listener with surround sound whilst also allowing them the ability to switch different elements such as 1st violin and cello and mix instrument volumes to perhaps focus on a particular musician. She is giving thought to how this could be adapted to create an immersive experience for ‘setting the scene’ based assessments.
Currently, Jo is working on a survey which has asked iPlayer users to rate how well it caters to the 14 Human Values in the BBC Framework which it released last year. She has been involved in the initial item review and is helping to conduct analysis on the survey results, the findings of which may help identify areas of strength as well as areas underserved.
Her background in Employee Engagement and Personality Profiling has made Jo feel well-positioned to make useful contributions to the projects so far and she is pleased to be able to put her skillsets to good use.
Best of Luck, Jo!
