Virtual Revolution - ECS involvement in major new BBC series

A new series beginning on BBC2 on Saturday 30 January features ECS Professor Sir Tim Berners-Lee in an exploration of how the Web has reshaped our lives over the last 20 years.

Professor Nigel Shadbolt, who has been working with Sir Tim Berners-Lee over the last seven months advising the UK Government on the release of public data, has been a consultant to the new four-part series, Virtual Revolution.

The series charts two decades of profound change since the invention of the World Wide Web, weighing up the huge benefits and the unforeseen downsides, and is presented by Aleks Krotoski. The first episode ‘The Great Levelling’ is shown on Saturday 30 January at 8.30 pm on BBC2 and then repeated at 11.20 pm on Monday 1 February, again on BBC2.

Virtual Revolution was an open and collaborative production, which encouraged the Web audience and developers to get involved in helping shape the series. In the early production stage, the BBC team attended a WebFest in ECS which involved a large number of researchers in a day of exploration and innovation on the Web.

The series covers the rise of social media, the effects of the Web on state power and influence, new business models arising from the opportunities on the Web, and the impact of the Web on the way we think, behave and relate to each other.