The Virtual Revolution - 4 Parts (2010)

This is a really great mini series, full of loads of information, especially about the early days of the internet, an area I am a little more familiar with as my Uni admission essay was on the ARPANET.

Though of course this does contain some faces we'd rather not see, but would expect to in a series that covers the World Wide Web. So do be prepared for faces such as Bill 'Depopulation' Gates, Al Gore and a few others. ~ Dunamis

Quote:

“Governments of the Industrial World, you weary giants of flesh and steel, I come from Cyberspace, the new home of Mind. On behalf of the future, I ask you of the past to leave us alone. You are not welcome among us. You have no sovereignty where we gather.”

– John Perry Barlow, A Declaration of the Independence of Cyberspace
- Full declaration: https://projects.eff.org/~barlow/Declaration-Final.html

The Virtual Revolution - BBC (2010)

Twenty years on from the invention of the world wide web, this major new series takes stock of its profound impact – how, for better and for worse, the digital revolution is reshaping our lives.

Over four themed episodes that criss-cross the globe, journalist and academic Dr Aleks Krotoski explores the meaning of a phenomenon that is transforming everything, from how we learn to how we shop, vote and make friends. With a quarter of the planet connected so far, this series examines what is in store for the remaining 75 per cent of the world's population as they come online.

Part 1: The Great Levelling?

The wonder and walls of Wikipedia; the blogger media revolution; the price of peer-to-peer piracy... who really has power on the web? Is it the online crowd or the 'gatekeepers'? Is the web a platform for sharing or is it inequality writ large?

In the first in this four-part series, Aleks charts the extraordinary rise of blogs, Wikipedia and YouTube, and traces an ongoing clash between the freedom the technology offers us, and our innate human desire to control and profit. Dr Aleks Krotoski looks at how it is reshaping almost every aspect of our lives. Joined by some of the web's biggest names - including the founders of Facebook, Twitter, Amazon, Apple and Microsoft, and the web's inventor - she explores how far the web has lived up to its early promise.

More content and info for part 1 - http://www.bbc.co.uk/virtualrevolution/makingofprog1.shtml

Part 2: Enemy of the State?

Is the web indestructable or can censorship, cybercrime or infrastructure attack bring it down? As the web trancends the barriers of the physical world the orthodox view is that the nation state will inevitably wither as the porous web of hyperlinks conquers the globe. But some states are fighting back.

Here, Aleks charts how the Web is forging a new brand of politics, both in democracies and authoritarian regimes. With contributions from Al Gore, Martha Lane Fox, Stephen Fry and Bill Gates, Aleks explores how interactive, unmediated sites like Twitter and YouTube have encouraged direct action and politicised young people in unprecedented numbers. Yet, at the same time, the Web's openness enables hardline states to spy and censor, and extremists to threaten with networks of hate and crippling cyber attacks.

More content and info for part 2 - http://www.bbc.co.uk/virtualrevolution/makingofprog2.shtml

Part 3: The Cost of Free

Free services, limitless information, endless opportunities for the user... the web seems to defy all the laws of economics. But are we trading our privacy for a 'free' web?

In the third programme of the series, Aleks gives the lowdown on how, for better and for worse, commerce has colonised the web - and reveals how web users are paying for what appear to be 'free' sites and services in hidden ways. Joined by some of the most influential business leaders of today's web, including Jeff Bezos (CEO of Amazon), Eric Schmidt (CEO of Google), Chad Hurley (CEO of YouTube), Bill Gates, Martha Lane Fox and Reed Hastings (CEO of Netflix), Aleks traces how business, with varying degrees of success, has attempted to make money on the web. She tells the inside story of the gold rush years of the dotcom bubble and reveals how retailers such as Amazon learned the lessons. She also charts how, out of the ashes, Google forged the business model that has come to dominate today's web, offering a plethora of highly attractive, overtly free web services, including search, maps and video, that are in fact funded through a sophisticated and highly lucrative advertising system which trades on what we users look for.

Aleks explores how web advertising is evolving further to become more targeted and relevant to individual consumers. Recommendation engines, pioneered by retailers such as Amazon, are also breaking down the barriers between commerce and consumer by marketing future purchases to us based on our previous choices. On the surface, the web appears to have brought about a revolution in convenience. But, as companies start to build up databases on our online habits and preferences, Aleks questions what this may mean for our notions of privacy and personal space in the 21st century.

More content and info for part 3 - http://www.bbc.co.uk/virtualrevolution/makingofprog3.shtml

Part 4: Homo Interneticus?

Are we empowered, connected and enlightened with the world's knowledge at our fingertips? Or distracted and addicted with shorter attention spans> Are our skittering brains bombarded and stupified by the 'yuck and wow' of the web? Is the web really changing us - the way we think, the way we behave, the way relate to each other? And is it for better or for worse?

Dr Aleks Krotoski concludes her investigation of how the World Wide Web is transforming almost every aspect of our lives. Joined by Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates, Al Gore and the neuroscientist Susan Greenfield, Aleks examines the popularity of social networks such as Facebook and asks how they are changing our relationships. And, in a ground-breaking test at University College London, Aleks investigates how the Web may be distracting and overloading our brains.

More content and info for part 4 - http://www.bbc.co.uk/virtualrevolution/makingofprog4.shtml

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Website - http://www.bbc.co.uk/virtualrevolution/makingof.shtml
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Enjoy learning Con|Cen.

------------:File Details:------------

Video Codec: XviD ISO MPEG-4
Video Bitrate: 1567 kbps
Video Resolution: 704x400
Video Aspect Ratio: 1.76
Frames per Second: 25
Audio Codec: (Dolby AC3)
Audio Bitrate: 192kbps @48.0KHz
Audio Languages: English,
RunTime Per Part: 58:59.:.mins
Part Size: 746 MB
Number of Parts: 4
Subtitles: English
ripped by: artistharry
Source: DVB-rip

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(Thanks Harry65@MVGroup for this rip and release).