''Digital Planet'' (previously known as ''Click'' and originally ''Go Digital'') is a

radio programme A radio program, radio programme, or radio show is a segment of content intended for broadcast on radio. It may be a one-time production or part of a periodically recurring series. A single program in a series is called an episode. Radio networ ...

broadcast on the

BBC World Service The BBC World Service is an international broadcasting, international broadcaster owned and operated by the BBC, with funding from the Government of the United Kingdom, British Government through the Foreign Secretary, Foreign Secretary's o ...

presented by Gareth Mitchell. Alternating as contributors are Bill Thompson,

Ghislaine Boddington Ghislaine Boddington (born 11 October 1962) is a British artist, curator, presenter and director specialising in body responsive technologies, immersive experiences and collective embodiment, pioneering it as 'hyper-enhancement of the senses' an ...

and Angelica Mari, who comment on items in the programme and discuss them with Mitchell. The show, broadcast weekly, covers

technology Technology is the application of knowledge to reach practical goals in a specifiable and reproducible way. The word ''technology'' may also mean the product of such an endeavor. The use of technology is widely prevalent in medicine, science, ...

stories and news from around the world.

History

From 2001 to 2005, it was presented by Tracey Logan and during that time it was one of the BBC's few

webcast A webcast is a media presentation distributed over the Internet using streaming media technology to distribute a single content source to many simultaneous listeners/viewers. A webcast may either be distributed live or on demand. Essentially, web ...

programmes, with cameras providing a live feed. Regular guest presenter Gareth Mitchell, who had been with the show since 2001, took over as presenter full time on 11 January 2005. Originally named Go Digital, the show was renamed ''Digital Planet'' on 28 March 2006. It was again renamed ''Click'' on 29 March 2011 to make it easier to recognise its status as a sister programme of the TV programme '' Click'', which is broadcast on

BBC News BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broadca ...

and

BBC World News BBC World News is an international English-language pay television network, operated under the ''BBC Global News Limited'' division of the BBC, which is a public corporation of the UK government's Department for Digital, Culture, Media and S ...

. The show's running time was reduced from 28 minutes to 18 minutes. In the episode aired 1 May 2019, the show announced that it had renamed itself back to ''Digital Planet.''

Proposed Closure

On the 29^th September 2022, shortly after celebrating its 21^st anniversary with a special broadcast from the BBC’s Radio Theatre in Old Broadcasting House in London, it was proposed ending the show as part of a restructure of programming as part of the wider ‘Proposals for a digital-first World Service’.

Show format and topics

''Digital Planet'' covers a wide range of issues affecting technology. The first broadcast each week is also live (at 20:30 UK time on a Tuesday evening), whereas before the 2011 changes, it was recorded. The show is now around 27 minutes long. Often there are segments on technological solutions to problems facing charitable or humanitarian causes, with a speaker representing the cause being interviewed by Mitchell. One example is the segment on a screen saver which harnessed the power of idling home PCs to help perform complex

mathematical Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. These topics are represented in modern mathematics ...

calculations A calculation is a deliberate mathematical process that transforms one or more inputs into one or more outputs or ''results''. The term is used in a variety of senses, from the very definite arithmetical calculation of using an algorithm, to t ...

to help

cure A cure is a substance or procedure that ends a medical condition, such as a medication, a surgical operation, a change in lifestyle or even a philosophical mindset that helps end a person's sufferings; or the state of being healed, or cured. The ...

malaria Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease that affects humans and other animals. Malaria causes symptoms that typically include fever, tiredness, vomiting, and headaches. In severe cases, it can cause jaundice, seizures, coma, or death. S ...

. Other topics covered have included: * Modern

plane Plane(s) most often refers to: * Aero- or airplane, a powered, fixed-wing aircraft * Plane (geometry), a flat, 2-dimensional surface Plane or planes may also refer to: Biology * Plane (tree) or ''Platanus'', wetland native plant * ''Planes' ...

* problems with

smartphone A smartphone is a portable computer device that combines mobile telephone and computing functions into one unit. They are distinguished from feature phones by their stronger hardware capabilities and extensive mobile operating systems, whic ...

set up *

Blu-ray Disc The Blu-ray Disc (BD), often known simply as Blu-ray, is a Digital media, digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released on June 20, 2006 worldwide. It is designed to supersede the DVD format, and c ...

vs.

HD DVD HD DVD (short for High Definition Digital Versatile Disc) is an obsolete high-density optical disc format for storing data and playback of high-definition video. Supported principally by Toshiba, HD DVD was envisioned to be the successor to th ...

* The use of

open source Open source is source code that is made freely available for possible modification and redistribution. Products include permission to use the source code, design documents, or content of the product. The open-source model is a decentralized sof ...

software around the world Usually views sent either by

e-mail Electronic mail (email or e-mail) is a method of exchanging messages ("mail") between people using electronic devices. Email was thus conceived as the electronic ( digital) version of, or counterpart to, mail, at a time when "mail" meant ...

Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin M ...

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

or using the

website A website (also written as a web site) is a collection of web pages and related content that is identified by a common domain name and published on at least one web server. Examples of notable websites are Google Search, Google, Facebook, Amaz ...

are read out and discussed briefly by the hosts. A special pre- and post show session for podcast listeners is produced which cannot be heard by those listening to broadcast radio. The fan club's Prezzi created a special picture for the show, which was framed, delivered and discussed on line, and held a Google Hangout during the show where listeners discussed the show in real time, and engaged with the presenters - see Thompson engaging with the Hangout on Air. The presenters were interviewed for the Project Kazimierz Podcast in 2015. Since 2016, th
"Digital Planet Listeners" Facebook group
has a running theme hashtagged #FlatDarkStanleyNet in which Gareth Mitchell's copy of

Jamie Bartlett James Bartlett (9 July 1966 – 23 May 2022) was a British-born South African actor best known for his role as the wicked puppet master, David Genaro, in '' Rhythm City'' and his theatre work. Career Television Bartlett was a well-known South ...

's ''

The Dark Net ''The Dark Net: Inside the Digital Underworld'' is a 2014 nonfiction book by Jamie Bartlett. It is published in the United Kingdom by Heinemann, in the United States by Melville House Publishers, and in Australia by Random House. Bartlett discu ...

'' containing a bookmark of Mitchell is passed around among listeners. It is based on th
Flat Stanley Project

References

External links

*
Digital Planet Podcast

Digital Planet listener's group on Facebook
{{BBC World Service BBC World Service programmes BBC news radio programmes