(Duration 16:13) The internet has opened up the way people communicate, learn, teach and research. With the increase in social networking and collaboration over the internet, a unique production for BBC Two is underway which is looking at how the web is changing our lives. The documentary, with a working title of ‘Digital Revolution’, is starting with how the web started and is looking at its journey to the present day. As much of JISC’s work focuses on open source, collaboration and how digital technologies are used in teaching, learning and research Rebecca O’Brien from JISC caught up with Dan Biddle and Dan Gluckman from BBC Two’s production team to find out more about the project.
Rebecca O'Brien I'm joined by Dan [Biddell 0.44] and Dan Gluckman from the BBC, who are currently working on a new documentary series. So can you tell me what this new series is about?
A1 Yes. This is a four-part series for BBC2. It's what we call a landmark series about how the web has changed the world. The BBC has never really done a big series about the web, and this year and next year are the 20-year anniversary of the web being invented by Tim Berners-Lee, so it felt like a great time for us to do something really big, kind of looking at how the web is changing the world. The working title of the programme is Digital Revolution, and there is a sense that this is a revolution that we're going through at the moment, as big as agricultural and industrial revolutions we've been through before.
So a four-part series, very big themes about power on the web, about the impact on the nation's state, about the impact on economics, and about the impact on us as human beings. But the other big thing that we're doing with this series, partly because it is about the web, is involving the web in the production process.
Rebecca O'Brien That sounds as though it's obviously quite different and unique in the way that you're actually commissioning the programme to take place. Why have you decided to use the web as your main vehicle to find out information?
A2 It's not the only vehicle. The difference isn't so much in the commissioning, it's in the production process itself. The BBC has been commissioning what we call 360 productions, where web and TV are joined up and that's an ongoing thing that gets better as we do more and more of it. There is a traditional process going on with this programme where there's a production team in place, looking for stories, creating a highly crafted programme at the end. But what's completely different and completely innovative for this production, is making that an open process, so that the production's happening in communication with the web community. And the thinking here is really that people using the web a lot are actually very familiar with all the themes that the production team are just starting to get their heads around, and it would be completely crazy not to talk to them in an open way, using the most appropriate medium from as early a stage as possible, and really help shape the programme. Obviously there's a general theme across the whole of media, that audiences should be part of a production process in some way, trying to get user-generated content. That's a big theme that works across a whole load of productions. But for this one, it seemed really [inaudible 3.32].
Rebecca O'Brien And how successful has it been so far, in terms of engaging people in that open discussion and that open debate?
A1 It's been really good. The response has been very positive. From our launch, which had Tim Berners-Lee and Baroness Greenfield and Chris Anderson and various other luminaries at the launch, it's rolled on from there with our blog, upon which we've been putting out think pieces, mini theses from our programme, that will be feeding into the scripts. And we've had a really good response on that. Some subjects set the world more aflame than others, and Wikipedia for instance was a hot topic, and blogs, the blogasphere, the sort of thing that Andrew [Keane 4.17] would call the cult of the amateur and how the great levelling has occurred across content creation. And we've got quite a decent Twitter following now. And it's been really positive.
Rebecca O'Brien You've just touched on there actually a number of particular topics that you're looking for information on, and contributions on. Are there any particular areas that you're looking for, I suppose, more ideas or suggestions on than others?
A1 Yes. As part of the ongoing process, there are four programmes in the series and each programme, we are outlining on blogs, which are written by our present, Alex [Gratoski 5.00] who puts forward one of our current pieces of thinking, which I think we see it as flying the kite of an idea, which is there to be challenged, is there to be confirmed or denied by users. And at the same time, we're also looking for people to share their stories really. We're looking for examples that will help feed the series, will help feed the story of the series. So with programme one, as I say, we've been looking at Wikipedia, and Jimmy Wale’s[ 5.31] blogged with us for that, and we're looking for deletionists on Wikipedia. So we're looking at how there are actually strata and structures within Wikipedia, of power of editors, of people who are more equal than others perhaps in this ostensibly very open and level playing field. And so we've been looking for UK based deletionists, or people who have had perhaps experience of being deleted, and this is something that would probably feed in quite well with the academic angle. Are there any academics out there, for instance, in your group of users, who have experienced attempting to put their knowledge onto Wikipedia and finding it rebuffed by someone who seems to claim some form of ownership over that article? Has anyone come up against that?
And similarly, we're also trying to crowd source - this is quite late because it's next week, I believe - but Wiki Mania '09 is in Buenos Aires and unfortunately we're not able to go out there and film it because of our schedules, but we're hoping that in the spirit of the web and open source and crowd sourcing, we were hoping to get some people who would be going out there anyway to film some footage that could go up onto some form of open platform that everybody could use and we could use as well. And likewise, there are other stories across many of the programmes.
Programme two, we're currently looking for someone.... programme two being about the nation state, and the web, and how the two are surviving each other or making each other or better or worse. So we're looking at censorship and stories like that, but we're also looking at how people are being brought together and people are able to motivate and organise around themes such as the G20 Summit which is taking place in Pittsburgh on the 24th and 25th September, I think, and we'd really like to see how that has become.... the web has become a tool that can gather people in protest, that is perhaps being used actively by a group who are going to be active around the G20- hopefully not in any too subversive or violent way - but people who are trying to make change, trying to change in the democratic process and effect power via the tool that the web has provided.
Rebecca O'Brien It sounds an incredibly powerful series, especially in terms of what you've touched on there in terms of questioning some things around about academic freedom, freedom of information, copyright, who actually owns knowledge which obviously JISC has a large number of people that we work with, who are all promoting the use of social media and digital technologies. And in terms of the opening up of resources, what do programmes three and four touch on, whereby they might be able to contribute their ideas?
A1 Programme three is very much about the issue of free and economics, and about privacy, whereby we're looking at the digital footprints that we're creating and perhaps the ramifications of those. And we're looking at how we're becoming data, perhaps, and how that data is being used and is being perhaps exploited, knowingly or otherwise, in the process of our using ostensibly free services online. In terms of the education and open platforms, I think it would touch in programme four on the whole idea of how we are being changed, how our habits are being changed, how physiologically how we're being changed, and being affected by the web. And our very behaviour is being affected by the web. We had Baroness Greenfield join us at the launch, during which she threw out quite a few think bombs about the possibilities of the web not being this all-pervasive good and rather that perhaps we should be testing around this. I think she brought up the fact that people are being taught.... I think she said three-year olds are being taught how to Google. Well what is a three-year old going to Google? What is the point of that? And I think we'll be looking and following up from that with some tests ourselves. We're going to run some experiments, hopefully with the general public getting engaged on the site, to see just how the web is changing us and changing our behaviours. And, I suppose, that would tap into our learning as well.
Rebecca O'Brien There's a lot of work, like you said, that actually the web is changing the way that academics teach, the way that they research. And there's a whole study about the Google generation and about whether or not their research techniques, like you say, people will Google first rather than potentially going into a library, to actually use their services. So I think it's fascinating about how you're engaging, I guess, across society, at looking at people are using the web, how it's affecting their behaviour. And I suppose, looking at the much larger political arena and agenda, in terms of actually is it a good thing?
A2 Well that's right. You mentioned there the research on Google generation. We're working with David Nicholas' s group at UCL to see if we can design experiments that will set people problems, analyse the way people search to try and answer them, and then see if we can draw any conclusions from them. And as you say, that has some potentially really wide implications, politically as well as for us personally.
Rebecca O'Brien I suppose, my last question for you is, if you're looking for contributions and to get the debate engaged, obviously we're looking for people throughout JISC to take part, when would the cut-off be or deadline for them to take part on your blogs, Wikis and Twitter site?
A1 It's a very active process this, as part of the open process. It's ongoing. So it started about five or six weeks ago but we're only just really getting the directors of the programmes online and involved in writing scripts. So for instance, the script for programme one, I've seen the first draft but the first draft of many, I would imagine. And likewise, episode two, episode three, episode four, those scripts have not yet been written. So this is one of the great moments as of now that people can get involved and start changing the story. The best thing to do is to come the blog, read through where we're at. It's bbc.co.uk/digital revolution and you can follow the links through there to the blogs. It spans across all of our topics and please join in for comments. And that will directly affect, hopefully, if you've got a story that can feed into the scripts or the process, that will affect what we do and how we tell the story. We've had people already come on, talking about issues of education and learning, and specifically e-learning and privacy, and the idea of more and more data going up online. It's that whole thing of growing up in public that people fear for young celebrities. This person came from a point of view what about learning out in public, if suddenly everything you do in a learning process, in very formative years, is being placed online and being accessed by who knows what, be it open government, be it whatever, then they're very concerned about those issues of privacy and where things go with open data. And that's formed some of our thinking. We've had someone come on to our site and say that they found the sign-on system was a bit of a barrier to access to them, that you have to sign-up to blog on our site. Fair enough if someone finds that a little bit arduous or they find that a breach of their own privacy, or whatever the reasons are, we'd be very happy if you blog on your own site or find whatever platform you choose to write on, just let us know via Twitter, which we're at bbcdigrev and just follow us there and let us know that you've written something, written a comment apropos what we're working on. And we'll find you there and we'll link you there, and we'll comment to you there. So it's all.... we are open in that way. If it's not on our site, if you don't want to put it on our site, you can put it elsewhere and just let us know, so we can find it. And that, we will engage in anyway we can.
A2 I'll reiterate what Dan said there, basically, that it's a very live thing we're doing. In a way, quite experimental. I'd encourage people to join in now. The programme goes out in January, so we'll be being open about what we're doing, including getting people to help us come with a new name, because digital revolution is a working title. So that could go right late up. But I think now is a really critical time and the more people that join in now, the better.
Rebecca O'Brien If the programme is going live in January, will all of the materials that you've been collecting be available online?
A1 Well what we're planning to do is put up some of the rushes that we get during production actually as the process goes on, so during the production. So actually, there'll be content online long before the series goes live. And what we're hoping is that we can do this under some kind of open licence, so people will be able to download and use those rushes. That's something that's still in discussion here. But certainly, there'll be some of the content available within hopefully a few weeks to a month, because filming will start beginning of September.
Rebecca O'Brien So the best advice is for people to keep an eye on the blog, keep on the website, and to track your progress over the coming months?
A2 Absolutely. And sign-up to Twitter is a really good way, just to keep in touch with what's going on easily, I think, at bbcdigrev.
Rebecca O'Brien It sounds a fascinating project and I look forward to seeing the end results next year. Thanks ever so much indeed for your time.
A1 No problem. Thanks very much.
Back to previous page