Digital Planet

By BBC World ServiceTechnology

Digital Planet episodes

February 08, 2022 Tonga internet satellite kit deployed
Télécoms Sans Frontières has sent satellite kits to Tonga to improve connectivity on the islands following the volcanic eruption. Before the pandemic TSF would have immediately deployed to Tonga after it went dark, but strict quarantine rules limit what they can do. As their engineers can’t go out, they’ve had to adapt the equipment they send so that it can be set up on the island. Their kit is now out of quarantine and should be deployed imminently and will eventually bring internet connectivity to the smaller islands where people are still completely cut off. TSF Regional Manager Sebastien Latouille also tells us in the podcast about their latest deployment to Madagascar following Cyclone Batsirai.
Could NFT protect our health data?
If you think NFT’s (non-fungible tokens) are just the new way to buy art then think again as they could be the way to secure our medical data. Once our medical information is digitised into an electronic health record we have no control over what is done with it. Writing in the journal Science, Prof Kristin Konstick-Quenet, suggests that NFTs could provide a way to secure ownership over the management of digital information using blockchain technology. However, will the companies who currently monetise our medical records be willing to give up access to it? Legislation will be necessary if we are to have any control over our own health data.
Enhanced Audio Description
Reporter Fern Lulham begins her first in a series of reports into the latest disability tech looking at audio descriptions of films and TV shows. There's plenty of evidence to show that despite the draw of social media and endless other activities, watching telly or going to the cinema remain extremely popular. In the UK for example, figures tell us that even before the pandemic, people spent an average of just over three hours a day watching TV, And since the mid -80s, visits to the cinema had risen quite dramatically to well over 150 million a year before Covid19 restrictions kicked in. But how accessible are these media if you're blind or visually impaired?
The programme is presented by Gareth Mitchell with expert commentary from Ghislaine Boddington.
Studio Manager: Bob Nettles
Producer: Ania Lichtarowicz
(Image: Aftermath of volcanic eruption and Tsunami in Tonga. Credit: Malau Media/via Reuters)
53 min
February 01, 2022 First-ever unassisted robotic surgery
The first-ever robotic surgery without a human surgeon guiding it has been successfully performed at Johns Hopkins University. The Smart Tissues Autonomous Robot (STAR) completed a keyhole procedure called intestinal anastomosis – the sewing together of two sections of soft bowel - on pigs. More than a million of these surgeries are performed each year in the US alone and they need to be carried out very precisely and accurately to avoid potentially fatal complications. Professor Axel Krieger, the mechanical engineer on the team, tells Gareth how this is a major advancement in robotic surgery.
Singapore Surveillance
Singapore often introduces innovative tech to its citizens, but there is a lack of transparency about the way the data is collected and used. As public tech becomes more affordable it is becoming increasingly available. While the hope is it will solve complex social problems there is no transparency over the algorithms used. This means we don’t know the kind of prejudices, privileges, and assumptions being built in. Without intervention, societal prejudices will continue to be perpetuated. Peter Guest from the Rest of World website has been looking into the dangers of public tech in Singapore and beyond. He tells us why tech companies need to be more transparent.
unReal City
Backstage at the Brighton Dome looks more like the technical suite of a TV studio than a theatre, as technicians watch multiple screens showing the audience and actors in different rooms - and showing a variety of feeds from their VR headsets - because this piece of immersive theatre, unReal City, takes place in both physical and virtual reality. Reporter Claire Jordan has been meeting with the Director of dreamthinkspeak and disabled artists from Access All Areas – the two companies behind the production - which explores if it’s easier or better to connect in the flesh or as an avatar and if links are stronger in reality or could the Metaverse allow us to re-invent ourselves.
The programme is presented by Gareth Mitchell with expert commentary from Bill Thompson.
Studio Manager: Giles Aspen
Producer: Ania Lichtarowicz
Photo: The smart tissue autonomous robot performing laparoscopic anastomosis. Credit to Jiawei Ge//Johns Hopkins University
43 min
January 25, 2022 Internet connectivity still patchy in Tonga
Connectivity to Tonga partially restored but undersea cable repair could take weeks. The underwater volcanic eruption severed the country’s only underwater network cable and ash clouds have made satellite connectivity impossible. Professor Nicole Starosielski from NYU, an expert in underwater connectivity and author of “The undersea network”, joins us on the show. An underwater cable is severed every three days somewhere in the world, yet the network has the capacity to usually cope with this disruption. Many developing countries do not have this extra capacity as they cannot afford it. Professor Starosielski argues that richer nations should step up and fund this lack of spare connectivity.
Virtual IT brain drain in Argentina
IT workers in Argentina are being enticed by US and European tech companies to work remotely for them, by offering very attractive salaries and remote working contracts. Local IT businesses are struggling to retain workers as they leave for salaries in US$ or Euros that can be four times what they are currently earning. And this is what is different about this type of employment, unlike outsourced IT workers in India or Africa, the employees are not working on local conditions. As reporter Lucila Pelletieri from Global Press Journal tells Gareth, the loss of local talent will impact not only the country’s IT companies but potentially the economy as well.
Robot training made easy
We hear about machine learning all the time, but how does a machine actually learn? Say it’s a robot that you need to teach to perform a task in a factory, or even in your home. Well, it’s ok if you happen to be an ace programmer and are happy to dash off a load of computer code. But at the Robot Learning Lab at Imperial College London, they want to make it easier for us to train the machines - as easy as grabbing the robot’s arm and moving it through the task, so that next time, the bot does the movement itself. The Lab presented its latest work at a robot learning conference just before Christmas. The lab’s director is Dr. Edward Johns and Gareth has been to pay him – and his robot – a visit.
The programme is presented by Gareth Mitchell with expert commentary from Ghislaine Boddington.
Studio Manager: Giles Aspen
Producer: Ania Lichtarowicz
(Image: Underwater fiber-optic cable on ocean floor. Credit: Getty Images)
44 min
January 18, 2022 Twitter returns to Nigeria
After 222 days the social media platform is back up and running in Nigeria. The country suspended Twitter after it deleted a tweet by President Buhari and Nigerians have been accessing the platform via VPN, but now Twitter has agreed to the government's demands which include opening a local office, paying taxes, and being respectful of Nigerian laws. Abubakar Idris, the reporter for tech site Rest of World, joins us on the show. We are waiting on a response from Twitter.
100 years of the BBC
The BBC Historian Robert Seatter joins us live to talk about some of the tech innovations that the BBC developed over the last 100 years. He’s behind these amazing websites - Objects of the BBC - BBC 100 www.bbc.co.uk/100 and even more will be revealed throughout the year. He will be discussing the first OB in 1924 (The Cello and the Nightingale), the development of the first ribbon microphone by BBC engineers (as the BBC could not afford those designed in Hollywood), the fully digitised audio archive, and many other marvels of tech innovation.
Ban on online education classes in China
A few months ago, we reported on the Chinese government’s ban on online video gaming in children, where it restricted it to three hours a week. That was followed by a new set of regulations on private tutoring that has hit some of the biggest tech companies in China. While the new rules will certainly give young people more leisure, there’s a lot more to it than children’s well-being. On the show today we have science and technology journalist Yuan Ren to explain one of the biggest shakeups in Chinese education.
The programme is presented by Gareth Mitchell with expert commentary from Bill Thompson.
Studio Manager: John Boland
Producer: Ania Lichtarowicz
(Image: Pius Utomi Ekpei /AFP via Getty Images)
47 min
January 12, 2022 Robots under the Thwaites Glacier
Huge robots, including a seven-metre two-tonne vessel named Ran, are on their way to the Thwaites Glacier to learn more about the retreating ice and its impact on Climate Change. But this won’t be the only tech that’s being deployed on the 65-day mission; British Antarctic Survey’s Boaty McBoatface and the Autosub Long Range vehicle operated by the National Oceanography Centre in the UK, will travel under the ice shelf along with Ran. Professor Anna Wåhlin from the University of Gothenburg tells us more about her robot Ran and about the data she’ll be collecting.
Tiny light engines
We’re talking to Ed Tang, the CEO of Avegant. They’re the company behind the world’s smallest light engines for augmented reality. Developing projectors thinner than the width of a pencil means we’re on the brink of AR glasses that will barely look different from standard glasses. Alongside talking about how this technology works, Ed also spoke to us about what this means for the future of AR.
James Webb telescope tech
Space journalist Kate Arkless-Gray is live on the show to tell us about the tech that got the James Webb Telescope into space and how vital it is that none of the tech deployed goes wrong - unlike the Hubble space telescope, repair missions to James Webb are impossible.
The programme is presented by Gareth Mitchell with expert commentary from Ghislaine Boddington.
Studio Manager: Nigel Dix
Producer: Ania Lichtarowicz
(Image: Ran navigates its way under the ice front of Thwaites Glacier.
Photo credit: Filip Stedt)
45 min
January 04, 2022 Afrofuturism and tech innovation
This week we have a special programme on Afrofuturism and tech innovation. It’s a subject often covered in science fiction, but what makes Afrofuturism different from standard science fiction is that ancient African traditions and black identity is steeped throughout the story. A text that has a black character in a futuristic world is not enough. But Afrofuturism is more than just Sci-fi. It’s the reimagining of a future filled with arts, science and technology seen through the perspective of black people.
We will be exploring Afrofuturism and technology with India Gary-Martin, formerly JPMorgan’s MD and COO for investment banking tech and operations, Dr. Mave Houston, Head of UXR Disney+ and Nana Baffour, a Ghanaian born venture capitalist and investor who is now CEO of one of Brazil’s largest tech companies join us on the programme. In addition, we have an extract of Afrofuturism Sci-Fi, Ale Santos’s new book “The Last Ancestral” and his view on Afrofuturism and its role in the development of technology.
The programme is presented by Gareth Mitchell with expert commentary from Angelica Mari.
Studio Manager: Bob Nettles
Producer: Ania Lichtarowicz
(Image: Getty Images)
45 min
December 28, 2021 A tech review of 2021
We look back on some of the stories we covered in 2021 – from age appropriate design to protect children, through internet shutdowns, a remote air traffic control tower and a WhatsApp school in Zimbabwe to a virtual reality opera.
The podcast has even more stories: comparing Mars locations to Earth locations, a smart phone test to detect malaria, how technology can help prep for a date at home if you’re blind and controlling our devices with a muscle in our ear! Available on BBC Sounds.
The programme is presented by Gareth Mitchell with expert commentary from Angelica Mari, Bill Thompson and Ghislaine Boddington.
Image: Man using mobile phone
Credit: Chaiwat Chaythawin/EyeEm/Getty Images
Studio Manager: Donald MacDonald
Producer: Ania Lichtarowicz
50 min
December 21, 2021 The Internet Archive is 25!
Twenty-five years ago the world wide web was 2.5 terabytes and you needed to dial-up via your phone line to get onto it, so Brewster Kahle decided to set up a project to archive what was out there already. Now the Internet Archive consists of more than 588 billion web pages, as well as 28 million books and texts, 14 million audio items, and 580,000 software titles, making it one of the world’s largest digital libraries. Brewster tells Gareth how they’ve done this – especially making content that runs on old and absolute technologies accessible today.
The Future of Text
Why is our tech for text so simple and boring – in effect it’s little more than an electronic copy of a paper page? But this changes with new technology bringing books and documents to life with interaction and metadata tags that allow you to search, source and organise text as never before. Father of the internet, Vint Cerf and Frode Hegland, Founder of the Augmented Text Company, are on the show to tell us why we’re now able to move on from using the click of a mouse to manage our text.
Moonshot – tech used to learn more about neglected diseases is fighting COVID
The COVID Moonshot project began as a virtual collaboration during UK 2020 lockdown. Scientists, academics, researchers & students started a twitter-fuelled race against the clock to identify new molecules that could block SARS-CoV-2 and develop treatments that would be globally affordable and easily manufactured for most vulnerable communities. Coordinating this effort is the Drugs for Neglected Diseases Initiative, using the AI tools and computer crowdsourcing tech they’ve adopted for neglected diseases as well as the use of the Diamond Light Source technology. All of this tech allows the scientists to build up a huge catalogue of the structures of disease-causing parasites and then model potential treatments to see if they might work. Dr. Nathalie Strub-Wourgaft, Director of Neglected Tropical Diseases, DNDi joins us.
The programme is presented by Gareth Mitchell with expert commentary from Bill Thompson.
Studio Manager: Bill Nettles
Producer: Ania Lichtarowicz
(Image credit: Internet Archive)
44 min
December 14, 2021 Brazil: Where is all the Covid data?
Ministry of Health websites in Brazil are still down following a number of cyber-attacks. Millions of people now do not have access to their Covid-19 vaccination data (including certificates). It is estimated that 50TB of data has been removed by Lapsus$ Group, which is claiming responsibility for the ransomware attack. Dr Patricia Peck, who is on the board of the National Data Protection Authority is on the programme with the latest on the attacks.
First-ever delivery of medicines by drone in Sierra Leone
The first-ever delivery of medicines by drone in Sierra Leone has been a success. The drones are not the typical helicopter drones, but small plane types with propellers that have a number of advantages. The fixed-winged drones can carry much heavier payloads over much further distances. We hear from Daniel Ronen from the UK drone specialist, UAVaid, who is behind the project.
Reimagining the new Spider-Man trailer through animation
Fans prepared to dedicate hundreds of hours looking for the perfect clips have been making their own trailers that reimagine popular content. One such creation from the YouTube channel 100Bombs Studio has recreated the latest Spider-Man trailer using clips from the original animated series. Filmmaker and critic Maxim Thompson has been talking to us about these projects and how they allow people to engage with films.
The programme is presented by Gareth Mitchell with expert commentary from Ghislaine Boddington
Studio Manager: Giles Aspen
Producer: Ania Lichtarowicz
(Image: Hacker with computers in a dark room. Credit: Getty Images)
38 min
December 07, 2021 Mobile phones not always beneficial to displaced people
New research shows that mobile phones may not be as beneficial to displaced people as previously thought. Using video diaries, where displaced people in Somalia recorded their mobile phone use, researchers found that women, in particular, are being exploited by employers who fail to pay them using mobile money. Professor Jutta Bakonyi from Durham University is on the show and her colleague Dr. Peter Chonka joins us in the podcast.
Slaughterbots – autonomous lethal weapons
Slaughterbots - if human: kill(), is a short film that warns of humanity's accelerating path towards the widespread use of slaughterbots – autonomous weapons that use artificial intelligence (AI) to identify, select, and kill people without human intervention. It’s produced by The Future of Life Institute and its lead on autonomous weapons Dr. Emilia Javorsky explains how the UN is currently looking at banning this type of tech.
WikiAfrica
A growing movement to create and edit Wikipedia articles in official African languages is proving successful following a series of Afrocurations, organised by the Moleskine Foundation, where young people from South Africa, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, and Morocco are learning how to tell the stories of their lives, culture, and history through Wikipedia. We hear from one of these students and also Lwando Xaso, a South African lawyer, writer and activist, who helped set up the events.
The programme is presented by Gareth Mitchell with expert commentary from Bill Thompson.
Studio Manager: John Boland
Producers: Alex Mansfield and Ania Lichtarowicz
(Image: Getty Images)
48 min