When the BBC aired The Net last spring, about a million prime-time viewers each week tuned in to follow everything from the frivolous (say, new Nintendo games) to the frightful (neo-Nazi mobilization on BBSes). The second series of the TV news magazine on cyberspace is scheduled for spring 1995 and will include analysis of how technology is changing work and culture.
Inspired by the series about the Net, the BBC Networking Club, sponsored by BBC Education, has put the BBC on the Net in the form of a Web page and a BBS called Auntie. Viewers weigh in with suggested improvements for future programming; they also log on to delve further into topics introduced on the show or to download program scripts. John Wyver, the independent producer of The Net, is listening closely to the online discussions as he puts together the next series.
Although software bugs and reticence on the part of some BBC officials has slowed progress of the BBC Networking Club's services, Julian Ellison, the club's head, is jockeying to make his organization the electronic forum for all BBC programming, including educational programs for British schools as well as news and educational programs delivered internationally through BBC World Service Radio.
To see for yourself set your WWW browser to http://www.bbcnc.org.uk.
ELECTRIC WORD
Q: What Is the Information Superhighway?
Making Cyberspace Safe for Democracy
Oxygen: Breathing Space for Virtual Communities
Prime Time Online
