''Digital Planet'' (previously known as ''Click'' and originally ''Go Digital'') was a radio programme broadcast on the

BBC World Service The BBC World Service is a British Public broadcasting, public service broadcaster owned and operated by the BBC. It is the world's largest external broadcaster in terms of reception area, language selection and audience reach. It broadcas ...

presented by Gareth Mitchell. Alternating as contributors were Bill Thompson, Ghislaine Boddington and Angelica Mari, who comment on items in the programme and discuss them with Mitchell. The show, broadcast weekly, covered

technology Technology is the application of Conceptual model, conceptual knowledge to achieve practical goals, especially in a reproducible way. The word ''technology'' can also mean the products resulting from such efforts, including both tangible too ...

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 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 broad ...

and BBC World News. 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.''

Closure

On the 29th September 2022, shortly after celebrating its 21st anniversary with a special as live 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’. At the end of the sho
broadcast on Tuesday 21st March 2023
it was announced by the host Gareth Mitchell that the following week's episode would be the last ever edition. After the end of ''Digital Planet'', in April 2023, Mitchell and Thompson returned with a new technology podcast, ''The Gareth and BillCast''. At the end of October 2023, Ania Lichtarowicz, one of the producers of Digital Planet, released the first episode of a new weekly global technology podcast starring Gareth Mitchell along with new presenters and previous presenters:
Somewhere on Earth Podcast
'

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 a field of study that discovers and organizes methods, Mathematical theory, theories and theorems that are developed and Mathematical proof, proved for the needs of empirical sciences and mathematics itself. There are many ar ...

calculations to help

cure A cure is a substance or procedure that resolves a medical condition. This may include a medication, a surgery, surgical operation, a lifestyle change, or even a philosophical shift that alleviates a person's suffering or achieves a state of heali ...

malaria Malaria is a Mosquito-borne disease, mosquito-borne infectious disease that affects vertebrates and ''Anopheles'' mosquitoes. Human malaria causes Signs and symptoms, symptoms that typically include fever, Fatigue (medical), fatigue, vomitin ...

. Other topics covered have included: * Modern plane

* problems with

smartphone A smartphone is a mobile phone with advanced computing capabilities. It typically has a touchscreen interface, allowing users to access a wide range of applications and services, such as web browsing, email, and social media, as well as multi ...

set up *

Blu-ray Disc Blu-ray (Blu-ray Disc or BD) is a Digital media, digital optical disc data storage format designed to supersede the DVD format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released worldwide on June 20, 2006, capable of storing several hours of ...

vs.

HD DVD HD DVD (short for High Density Digital Versatile Disc) is an obsolete high-density optical disc format for storing data and playback of high-definition video.

* 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 and view the source code, design documents, or content of the product. The open source model is a decentrali ...

software around the world Usually views sent either by

e-mail Electronic mail (usually shortened to email; alternatively hyphenated e-mail) is a method of transmitting and receiving Digital media, digital messages using electronics, electronic devices over a computer network. It was conceived in the ...

Facebook Facebook is a social media and social networking service owned by the American technology conglomerate Meta Platforms, Meta. Created in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with four other Harvard College students and roommates, Eduardo Saverin, Andre ...

Twitter Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...

or using the

website A website (also written as a web site) is any web page whose content is identified by a common domain name and is published on at least one web server. Websites are typically dedicated to a particular topic or purpose, such as news, educatio ...

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. From 2016 to 2023, th
"Digital Planet Listeners" Facebook group
had a running theme hashtagged #FlatDarkStanleyNet in which Gareth Mitchell's copy of Jamie Bartlett's '' The Dark Net'' containing a bookmark (made by the illustrator Justine Rykiel) of Mitchell in his familiar checked shirt was passed around among listeners. It was based on th
Flat Stanley Project
The bookmark and the book went around the world and were eventually returned to Mitchell.

References

External links

*
Digital Planet Podcast

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