Happy birthday Digital Planet!

Happy birthday Digital Planet!

Author: BBC World Service September 6, 2022 Duration: 58:25

In this special 21st birthday show we’re bringing our Digital Planet community together for the first time since 2019. The team has been asking World Service listeners about their favourite bit of tech – we hear from around the world about the software and hardware that our listeners can’t live without. We will also be having not one but two special appearances – holograms from Canada and France – using the technology that President Zelensky used to beam himself to UN and London Tech week. We’ll be hearing from the listener who set up our Digital Planet Facebook group back in 2007 and we’ll also have a multimedia premier of Wiki-Piano that has been collaboratively composed by our listeners.

The programme is presented by Gareth Mitchell with expert commentary from Angelica Mair, Bill Thompson and Ghislaine Boddington.

Studio Managers: Andrew Garrett

Radio Theatre Manager: Mark Diamond Sound Balance: Guy Worth Stage Engineer: Alexander Russell Screen Visuals: Brendan Gormley PA Sound: Clive Painter Lighting: Marc Willcox Stage Hand: Alan Bissenden

Producer: Ania Lichtarowicz


Every week, the team at Digital Planet from the BBC World Service takes you beyond the headlines to explore how technology is reshaping lives, cultures, and economies across the globe. This isn't just a rundown of gadget releases or corporate earnings; it's a grounded conversation about the real-world impact of our digital choices. You'll hear from engineers in Nairobi, policymakers in Brussels, and coders in São Paulo, offering a genuinely international perspective that challenges the usual Silicon Valley narrative. Each episode digs into the human stories behind the innovations, examining both the promise and the peril of our connected age. We tackle questions about ethics, accessibility, and the unintended consequences of progress, making sense of complex issues with clear, thoughtful reporting. Tune in for a nuanced and curious exploration of our technological moment, where the focus is always on the people designing, using, and living with these tools every day. This podcast provides the context you need to understand not just what's new, but what it actually means.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 100

Digital Planet
Podcast Episodes
Smart speakers used in gaslighting [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 45:24
IoT devices like smart speakers and networked heating controls are increasingly being used by perpetrators of domestic violence – for instance by changing the temperature the heating is set to or the music that the victi…
Distress of TikTok fake school accounts [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 45:25
TikTok School challenge It’s November so school children in the US are being encouraged to “Kiss your friend’s girlfriend at school”. In September the TikTok school challenge suggested they “Vandalize the restroom”. Thes…
Blockchain’s e-waste a growing problem [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 43:50
We’ve reported before on the programme about the massive energy consumption of cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, which is based on blockchain technology. Now we’ll be looking at some of the other environmental impacts of bl…
How green is our data? [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 47:40
Digital Planet is looking at green tech during COP26. Firstly, we discover the green credentials of your favourite websites with the Green Web Foundation. Can we really make the internet more environmentally friendly? Al…
Online safety laws [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 38:05
This week former Facebook employee and whistleblower, Frances Haugen, was speaking to the committee that’s discussing the UK’s draft online safety bill, legislation that will tackle harmful content online. Canada is work…
Women's safety online [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 44:38
False information online has left one in five girls feeling physically unsafe, according to The Truth Gap, a new report by Plan International. One in three say false information is affecting their mental health, leaving…
Economic cost of the digital gender gap [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 45:21
Research by the World Wide Web Foundation has found that the gender gap for internet accessibility has cost countries billions of USD in lost GDP. In the 32 countries studied a third of women were connected to the intern…
Census goes digital in India [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 45:03
This decade’s Indian national census will be the first to be carried out digitally. However, COVID-related delays have slowed progress and there are growing concerns about its accuracy. Dean of the Fletcher School at Tuf…
Spyware threatening independent media [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 42:21
Spyware threatening independent media Samuel Woodhams, the author of a report entitled “Spyware: An unregulated and escalating threat to independent media”, is live on the show. His research shows that the current unchec…
Can AI predict Arctic ice loss? [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 43:31
Arctic AI Have you checked the ice-cap forecast? Melting sea ice might be a well-known symptom of global warming, but how do scientists predict how quickly ice will recede? A new Artificial Intelligence tool does a bette…