Interview with the Scheduler

dublin | arts and media | feature

Wednesday March 19, 2008 13:26

by seedot

Hacking Cable - talking to the future of television in Ireland

Spot the scheduler - the new face of Irish TV

Your correspondent talks to The Scheduler, whose computer is connected to more than 300,000 TV screens around Ireland which receive material chosen according to the Scheduler's own 'logic system'. Using one of the most complex, egalitarian and incomprehensible algorithms written in plain English the scheduler delivers programmes to the viewers of Dublin Community Television (DCTV) 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

DCTV is a non-profit co-operative based station the likes of which are unheard of within the media landscape of Ireland.

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membership offers you a say in the station whether it is proposing programming or working on schedules etc. The station is evolving organically with different ideas and self-critics itself via the people who become apart of it.

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the essential motivation and ethos of DCTV is different we are non-profit organisation thus do not have to adhere to advertising demands as we have none. I feel this gives us a lot of autonomy over the schedule

On the Idiot Box
Revolt on DCTV , Seattle Showdown - Indymedia Video on DCTV
, Health Meeting on DCTV

The room was in a Georgian building in the part of the city that the authorities are trying to sell as 'the next big thing' – the DigitalHub where the space left by media lab glitz and bullshit is gradually being filled by other techy types.

The scheduler sits at a computer desk in the room answering my questions surrounded by a mixture of impressive enough PCs and LCD screens and consumer electronics all wired together in a jumble. There were external hard drives and various disks and tapes all over the room, signs of people moving a lot of data around – transferring and distributing it. I'd been in loads of rooms like this before, but this one had The Scheduler in it, whose computer is connected to more than 300,000 TV screens around Ireland which receive material chosen according to the scheduler's own 'logic system'.

As The Scheduler explained in a bit more detail than I wanted to hear, this material is compiled from an archive of videos into 7 different blocks of programmes loosely grouped according to theme. Taking control of the airwaves sounded a lot less revolutionary and stylish than I had supposed – raised on visions of army fatigues and pistols storming the TV studios. (from a Woody Allen film I think). While the scheduler was busy getting their kicks pumping independent media films about Rossport, Shell To Sea, Seattle et al into the homes of Ireland the day to day selecting seemed closer to a film club than an insurrection. At the same time, in the words of the scheduler,

I feel this is material mainstream media is scared of and doesn't understand thus does not show.

And maybe the fact cable viewers across Ireland now have a channel showing Deep Dish and Indymedia programmes is revolutionary in itself. The structure of the channel definitely seems to be.

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DCTV is a non-profit co-operative based station the likes of which are unheard of within the media landscape of Ireland.

.........

membership offers you a say in the station whether it is proposing programming or working on schedules etc. The station is evolving organically with different ideas and self-critics itself via the people who become apart of it.

..........

the essential motivation and ethos of DCTV is different we are non-profit organisation thus do not have to adhere to advertising demands as we have none. I feel this gives us a lot of autonomy over the schedule

The more you question the scheduler the more it becomes apparent that this is different, not what you'd expected. I've heard answers like this, heard people putting forward the case for flatter, more accountable organisations, for creating non-commercial spaces, providing access and redefining the media. After all, I'm writing this on Indymedia. But that was all internetty virtual stuff. To meet somebody saying this while deciding what was on telly that evening was a bit of a leap.

So, if this is a revolution and The Scheduler is the vanguardist who has seized the reins of power on behalf of the media dispossessed are we in danger of the development of new thought police? Will we just be swapping one set of alien corporatist overlords for yet another in a line of people who know what we want and what is good for us? But asking how they became the scheduler doesn't reveal stories of a ruthless seeking of power, plotting and scheming to become 'the special one'.

nobody's bothered to do this job so I got full control J

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I feel the process of scheduling is an essential part of DCTV and has been ignored to some extent and hindered by others who feel it is theirs and only theirs.

In fact, I hear a reluctance in the schedulers voice, a feeling that they have held this burden almost too long and now its time for another to take on the role. This type of rotation is not how media is supposed to work. What happened to the celebrity culture to the competitive zero sum game that passes for our global conversation? As people get tired of what the scheduler refers to as the rigid structures of mainstream indocturned media maybe more will seek a space where they can voice there opinions and also different media can be seen and experimented with

And the scheduler has a role for these people, as members of DCTV:

I would like the membership to take more control over the different blocks of programming we broadcast

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I would to see it develop as members take ownership of blocks of programming and realise the potential of having a television station they are a part of and own!

I left the scheduler in the room, preparing the Easter week viewing pretty sure that the religious fare provided by the state broadcaster during my childhood was not part of the 'logic system' being employed. Not sure I understood what was going on but knowing that when I flicked around on my remote of an evening The Scheduler was not who I was expecting to meet.

Note: After this column was prepared the scheduler contacted your reporter to state that they were seeking apprentice and, hopefully , replacement schedulers. Information about how you can pick the telly will be appearing here shortly.

Tips from The Scheduler – How to build a community TV Schedule
I feel it is essential to know the material you have to work with and other material that suits this or even complements it..........
If you want to be scheduler remember the power you wield and try to displace yourself from what you want and learn self-critic and get opinions on your decisions.
www.dctv.ie, ch 802 NTL Digital,