Make It Digital

In 2015, the BBC’s Make it Digital initiative will shine a light on the world of digital creativity and coding. post

Why are we doing this? The BBC has already inspired a generation to get passionate about computing. Back in the Eighties the BBC broadcast hundreds of hours of TV, created a new coding language, and gave millions their first taste of computing with the BBC Micro.

As part of Make it Digital, we’d like to create a hands-on learning experience that allows any level of young coder from absolute beginner to advanced maker to get involved and be part of something exciting. We are looking for partners, large and small, who are both willing and able to contribute services and/or funding to the delivery of this project alongside the BBC.

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I have corresponded with this project. They have encouraged me to enter within their cone of silence. I said I was willing but failed to keep up with their correspondence schedule and dropped out.

The phrases "hands-on", and "beginner to advanced maker" are telling. The enthusiasm for raspberry pi, beagle bone and now intel edison in this space suggest their desire for partners.

Given such a hardware platform, its hard to imagine it being anything other than unix. Its powerful, like a game engine, but with no games.

A pre-installed federated wiki along with regular data feeds out of and back into the bbc would bootstrap a new level of social networking, social activism, social responsibility.

Individually owned and operated servers would connect to and aggregate a world of things creating a new mass version of scientific inquiry.