With more than 10,000 people a day now taking to the Internet for the first time in the UK, a nationwide project is being launched to teach the public how to get the most out of the new medium.

Chris Nuttall: The campaign explains the basics of the WWW and e-mail

Webwise, organised by BBC Education, involves 5,000 organisations, a special Website and a six-week campaign of TV and radio programmes, all beginning on Monday.

Internet use is booming with computer prices plunging and dozens of companies offering subscription-free access to the World Wide Web.

A survey carried out by BMRB in March suggested that 10.6 million people in the UK use the Internet. An NOP survey for December 1998 showed the medium was attracting 10,900 new adult users in Britain every day.

Net centres everywhere

Computers are being set up in supermarkets, pubs, football clubs and other centres around the country for the public to drop in and learn Internet basics. They will gain a certificate if they complete a course on Internet basics, which runs on a CD ROM.

The man who invented the Web will take part in an online chat

A series of TV and radio programmes will showcase how the Internet is being put to creative use from artistic collaborations to athletes racing each other over the Web.

And the man who invented the World Wide Web 10 years ago, Britain's Tim Berners Lee, will take part in an online chat.