BBC launches Digital Planet

The BBC World Service programme Go Digital is evolving into Digital Planet. The name change reflects the changing place of digital technology in the world, as producer Julian Siddle explains.

The making of the final Go Digital programme

It was August 2001 when the World Service technology programme Go Digital went to air.

The brief was to look at the way digital technology was changing people's lives around the world.

Sceptics within the BBC wondered if there would be enough technology stories to sustain the programme for more than a few weeks and the programme was often criticised for talking about the use of technology in a development context, along the lines of "what do they need computers for they needs roads or water".

Over the years we found the latest technology and the oldest development issues often went hand in hand.

In collaboration with BBC News website technology index, the programme produced specials looking at the issues of the digital divide, visiting Senegal and Bangladesh. The stores covered are still available in a special Digital Destinations section.

But it is time for a change. In the past five years digital technology really has moved on. It has become ubiquitous, the world has gone digital.

Brave new planet

Looking back it is surprising how commonplace the new concepts we looked at in the programme have become.

Most of our listeners live in urban areas where digital technology is extremely present. The proportion of our listeners who own a mobile phone is incredibly high Neil Curry, World Service

One early edition featured an item on amazing new phones from Japan. They had a camera on them and could take rudimentary pictures. Is it now possible to buy a mobile phone without a camera?

The programme also introduced the concept of the new-fangled CD-Rom to its audience at a time when most computers only had floppy discs.

In the brave new Digital Planet we're going to do far less explaining what the technology is.

"We've got to accept that a title that says go digital is out of date," said the commissioner for BBC World Service English networks Neil Curry.

"We have to accept that there's much more of an awareness of the presence of digital technology on the planet than when we launched the programme five years ago.

"Most of our listeners live in urban areas where digital technology is extremely present. The proportion of our listeners who own a mobile phone is incredibly high."

Practical component

What can listeners expects from the new programme? Primarily an assumption that the audience is interested in technology, even if it is not directly accessible.

The programme talked about 'new-fangled CD-Roms'

We will aim to introduce new technological concepts and be less worried that the audience might not be familiar with them.

We will look at stuff most of us will never own such as hugely expensive pieces of kit, the digital equivalent of, say, unaffordable cars.

But we will continue to evaluate the latest technological developments and set them within a global context.

However the programme will not become a geekfest. It will retain a strong practical component, the core being how technology is affecting our lives worldwide.

We will continue to podcast the programme, although the RSS feed will change slightly and the programme page on this website will contain more information about what is in each week's show.

The podcast of the first edition of Digital Planet will be available late on Monday 27 March. The programme is broadcast on the BBC World Service on Tuesday