Analysis
The Shipping Forecast is a catalogue of reports that share the same basic structure. The main difference between them is the time period each one represents. The narrator also changes. Isolated itens are useful for people navigating the waters around the British Isles. Grouped reports can be used by meteorologists. The audience also includes the general public, as the Shipping Forecast has its place in British culture.
The latest report can also be accessed on Met Office’s website alongside a map showing the locations of the different sea areas and whether or not there are gale warnings, shown in red.
Experiments in cataloguing
- Each episode is a song, each narrator an artist. Music charts can display the most listened and better reviewed episodes. The reports can be grouped by narrator into different albums and artists.
- The spoken words can be cut from the audio track and rearranged to create new texts.
- Looking for new meaning in the reports I can imagine them being used by a surveillance regime during a pandemic to control the population’s movement. The areas are people and the wind, precipitation and visibility represent movement direction, speed, mood and health.
- From the perspective of sealife, the more severe the weather conditions, the safer they would be, because that means less fishing boats on the sea.
- The binary way gale warnings are represented, either red or clear, can be replaced by a visual scale with more levels. The sea areas are also binary in a way. They could be represented in different ways, the ones with similar weather conditions merged. Or focus on the location of weather events, that don’t respect borders.
Maps as catalogue
The Shipping Forecast dates back to the peak of the British Empire. The traditional programme, aired every day for many decades on BBC radio, has become a national symbol. The coded language, structure, cadence and accent evoke feelings of reassurance, authority and neutrality.
These feelings can also translate to the website version. The map’s focus on the United Kingdom and the sea areas that reach from its the coast to nearby countries are a representation of power, which is never neutral.
In this context, the radio transmission and streamed episodes give way to the sea areas as itens and the map as a catalogue of places.
(Re)mapping
The sea areas from the Shipping Forecast overlap the Exclusive Economic Zones of several countries and international waters.
Shifting the focus to each area separately and revealing new information about each one, like the division by country, and showing historical and geopolitical context is a way to challenge the supposed objectivity and neutrality of the Shipping Forecast.
Media and form
Digital formats allow for widespread distribution and interactivity possibilities. Users can filter and sort by different criteria.
Print offers a variety of papers and finishes that can increase the perceived value of a work, but its distribution is limited and the costs are high for premium materials and processes.
Zines have been used to shine a light on alternative and inependnt world views that reveal information beyond what’s shown on mainstream media. The typically used yellow paper has associations with reference material, like phone books. A QR code on the backcover gives access to print and interactive PDFs that extend the distribution possibilities.