Digital Planet
BBC World Service
Technological and digital news from around the world.
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Top 10 Digital Planet Episodes
Goodpods has curated a list of the 10 best Digital Planet episodes, ranked by the number of listens and likes each episode have garnered from our listeners. If you are listening to Digital Planet for the first time, there's no better place to start than with one of these standout episodes. If you are a fan of the show, vote for your favorite Digital Planet episode by adding your comments to the episode page.
AI chatbot takes witness statements
Digital Planet
03/23/21 • 44 min
Court cases can collapse due to unreliable witness statements. These are often taken some time after the crime has happened – but what if it was possible to take a witness statement very quickly using AI chatbots? Dr Julia Shaw is on the programme discussing her latest research into using an AI chatbot in reporting harassment in the workplace. Not only are statements taken more quickly, they are done better by a machine than a person, as people can interrupt, misinterpret, judge or incorrectly record statements. The AI chatbot sticks to a script and allows the witness to do the same.
Machine learning to understand Tinnitus AI is helping to advance research into tinnitus, a condition often described as a ringing, buzzing or hissing in the ears, which affects up to 1 in 5 adults. Clinicians currently have no objective means of diagnosing tinnitus and must rely on the accounts of people living with the condition. But machine learning algorithms, combined with brain imaging techniques, are allowing scientists to develop a clinical tool to measure tinnitus objectively. Anthea Lacchia reports.
Women’s Engineering Society Prize Shrouk El-Attar describes herself as an Electronics Engineer, a bellydancer, an LGBTQ+ campaigner and refugee. She is the winner of the WES Prize IET Young Woman Engineer of the Year Award, to add to a multitude of prizes she has already received. She’s helped design a pelvic floor trainer - a treatment for incontinence - and is redesigning the breast pump to allow women to express their milk much more easily and quietly. Gareth finds out what inspires her and more about the tech she designs.
The programme was presented by Gareth Mitchell with expert commentary from Ghislaine Boddington.
Image: AI chatbot Credit: tadamichi/iStock Getty Images
Studio Manager: Giles Aspen Producer: Ania Lichtarowicz and Emil Petrie
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AI captain to sail the Atlantic
Digital Planet
09/15/20 • 44 min
The Mayflower Autonomous Ship (MAS) is due to set sail this week (scheduled for Wednesday) from Plymouth, England to Plymouth, Massachusetts with no crew on board. The AI captain will steer the trimaran across the Atlantic with the help of servers and cloud and edge computing, gathering data on global warming, micro-plastic pollution and marine mammal conservation. If successful, it will be one of the first self-navigating, full-sized vessels to cross the Atlantic Ocean and could herald a new era of autonomous research ships. Andy Stanford-Clark, Chief Technology Officer at IBM, tells Gareth about the tech on board.
Farmbot - tech to ensure cattle have water Crop and livestock farming uses around 70 per cent of the world’s fresh water supply, and access to water is something every farmer in the world thinks about, every single day. Is there enough of it, is there too much or too little, and are there any problems that need fixing. Those problems get even bigger for farmers who don’t live on-site, or – as is the case in Australia – an issue with a water pipe or dam might be several hours’ drive away. Robotic devices are increasingly taking the strain, even now linking to satellites to help farmers keep their livestock healthy. Corinne Podger reports.
Lie Machines Have you ever been lured to false political messaging online or been attracted to clickbait that has directed you to a conspiracy theories or false news? How and why this happens is the subject of a book “Lie Machines: How to Save Democracy from Troll Armies, Deceitful Robots, Junk News Operations, and Political Operatives”. Its author, Philip Howard, Director of the Oxford Internet Institute in the UK explains how to take these lie machines apart.
The programme is presented by Gareth Mitchell with expert commentary from Bill Thompson.
(Image: The Mayflower Autonomous Ship. Credit: IBM)
Studio Manager: Donald MacDonald Producer: Ania Lichtarowicz
Coronovirus tech handbook online
Digital Planet
03/17/20 • 36 min
In these unprecedented times of a global pandemic many people are working or studying from home, doctors are facing new challenges, so medical equipment is in short supply – how do deal with this? Perhaps check the coronavirus tech as a shared open source online document where anyone can post their experiences or advice.
Open source tech for COVID-19 A 3d printed ventilator that could be used for COVID-19 patients could be ready by the end of the week. An open source project has led to a collaboration of IT professionals and engineers to work on the project.
Developing responsible AI Cultural anthropologist Genevieve Bell joins us on the programme to talk about developing AI safely and responsibly. She’s cofounded an innovation institute - the 3Ai Institute at the Australian National University and is looking for new students from around the world to apply.
(Image: Coronavirus tech handbook. Credit: Newspeak House)
Producer: Ania Lichtarowicz
Is this the end of facial recognition tech?
Digital Planet
06/16/20 • 47 min
Facial recognition – what’s the future for the tech with the big names pulling out? Most of the big tech companies have now declared they will not sell facial recognition tech to police, but will this mean that police forces will stop using this tech? There are many smaller companies that have so far not declared their intentions and others are clearly breaking the few regulations in place by using people’s images without consent. It’s widely known that facial recognition technology is racially and sexually biased, and there is little, if any, evidence that this tech does help to reduce crime levels. Dr.Stephanie Hare discusses what might now happen with this tech.
Online gambling surge during COVID-19 Lockdowns are making many players and gamblers move to online gambling platforms, the big issue here is that they do not come under strict regulations like their real world counterparts. Silvia Lazzaris and Katie Kropshofer report on this growing problem. Can you protect a rising number of online gamblers, many of whom suffer from addiction and are bunkered in their homes, from targeted advertising and fraud? And how can regulation catch up with this sudden shift to the online world?
Will gaze tech replace touch tech in times of the pandemic? As computer processing speeds continue to increase, so does the versatility and accuracy of gaze tech – using your eyes instead of a computer mouse or touchpad. Dr. David Souto, from the University of Leicester, explains that as our eye muscles do not tire this technology has untapped benefits. His work is part of the British Academy Virtual Summer Showcase which goes live online this week.
The programme is presented by Gareth Mitchell with expert commentary from Ghislaine Boddington.
(Image: Human face recognition scanning system illustration. Credit: Getty Images)
Studio Manager: John Boland Producer: Ania Lichtarowicz
Privacy concerns over contact tracing apps
Digital Planet
04/28/20 • 44 min
Contact tracing is an essential part of controlling the Coronavirus pandemic but how should this data be collected and shared? In previous pandemics the tech wasn’t advanced enough to be used widely, but now country by country new contact tracing apps are appearing. But what about our privacy, should our personal health information be so easily available and potentially be unsecure? Some of the tech giants have even developed new protocols to anonymise our data – but not all governments think this will work? Journalist Timandra Harkness tells us what types of apps are being used where and about the tech behind them.
Making computers intuitive Is it possible to make computers intuitive like us? That’s a question that Professor Mateja Jamnik from Cambridge University is trying to answer by building computational models that capture human informal reasoning – essentially trying to humanise computer thinking. Gareth Mitchell and Bill Thompson visited Professor Jamnik in Cambridge before the lockdown.
Tech to tackle locust storms update Gareth speaks to Senior Locust Forecasting Officer Keith Cressman to find out if any of the tech that was being deployed to try and control the locust storms in the Horn of Arica and the Indian Subcontinent is working.
The programme is presented by Gareth Mitchell with expert commentary from Bill Thompson.
The Studio Manager is Duncan Hannant.
(Image: Covid-19 app on smartphone software in a crowd of people with Bluetooth. Credit: iStock / Getty Images Plus)
Producer: Ania Lichtarowicz
North Korean digital control
Digital Planet
05/10/22 • 45 min
North Korea is known as one of the most isolated countries in the world. Yet, there are North Koreans who have access to some of the same kind of technologies that are available to the rest of the world, albeit with severe restrictions. A new report suggests that some even hack their smartphones to get around the stringent digital controls. The authors of the report looked at North Korean phones and spoke to two escapees, a former computer programmer for the North Korean government and a former computer science student. One of the authors Martyn Williams as well as North Korea expert and co-host of the BBC podcast The Lazarus Heist Jean H. Lee join us on the programme.
Clean Drinking water at the push of a button Researchers at MIT have created a portable device that can clean and desalinate seawater. It works by creating an electrical field that pulls salt and suspended solids out of the water. Unlike other methods, this requires little electricity and no filters. Research scientist Junghyo Yoon is hoping to improve and commercialise the technology in the next couple of years.
Military virtual and augmented reality Microsoft has recently been contracted to construct more than 120,000 augmented reality headsets for the U.S. Army. How is virtual and augmented reality used in the military? Will it be used on the battlefield? Gareth speaks to journalist and VR training expert Andy Fawkes.
The programme is presented by Gareth Mitchell with expert commentary from Ghislaine Boddington.
Studio Manager: Steve Greenwood Producer: Florian Bohr
(Image: Woman browsing on tablet in the dark Credit: Christina Reichl Photography/Getty Images)
Will digital sobriety help reduce energy use?
Digital Planet
03/03/20 • 35 min
ITU emissions standard The UN ICT agency, the ITU, wants to cut greenhouse gas emissions by nearly half in the next decade. It’s the only way that the ICT industry is to stay in line with the Paris Agreement and its target of limiting global warming to one and a half degrees. The new technical standard announced by the ITU says renewable energy and digital sobriety are the best way of achieving these cuts.
Domestic violence AI AI could help police forces determine who might be the most at risk of domestic abuse. A new study from the Centre for Economic Performance at the LSE in London, suggests that by using already available data about individuals AI could help police decide which emergency calls they need to prioritise.
Circulo safety app A safety app that is used only in dangerous situations is helping female journalists stay safe in Mexico. The Circulo app allows users to check in and tell up to six contacts at a time that you’re safe OR raise the alarm if you’re in danger.
(Photo: Wind turbines. Credit: Getty Images)
Ethiopia’s new law banning online hate speech
Digital Planet
02/25/20 • 38 min
Ethiopia’s online hate speech law Disseminating hate speech online in Ethiopia could now land you with a prison sentence of up to three years and a fine of $3000US, but the new law has proved controversial. Julie Owonp, Excutive Director of Internet without borders explains their concerns.
Kivuwatt Rwanda has an ambitious plan to go from half of the population having electricity at the moment to everyone within the next four years. Digital Planet has been given access to one project that aims to be a key part of that expansion. In the depths of Lake Kivu – one of East Africa’s great lakes – there’s methane and they’re burning the methane to generate electricity. Kivu is one of Africa’s so-called ‘killer lakes’, because the gases it harbours could be deadly for the thousands who live on shore. Burning some of the gas could help make it safer. Gareth Mitchell reports from the floating barge that is supplying 30% of the country’s electricity.
Carnival 4.0 It’s Carnival week in Rio and this year for the first time celebrations have gone fully hi-tech with augmented reality floats, QR Codes and RFID tags tracking costumes and smart bands monitoring the health of performers. But there have also been warnings about facial recognition. Brazil-based journalist Angelica Mari has been following proceedings. And joins us on the programme.
(Image: Vector illustration of a set of emoticons. Credit: Getty Images)
Producer: Ania Lichtarowicz
04/06/23 • 27 min
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FAQ
How many episodes does Digital Planet have?
Digital Planet currently has 197 episodes available.
What topics does Digital Planet cover?
The podcast is about Podcasts and Technology.
What is the most popular episode on Digital Planet?
The episode title 'AI chatbot takes witness statements' is the most popular.
What is the average episode length on Digital Planet?
The average episode length on Digital Planet is 43 minutes.
How often are episodes of Digital Planet released?
Episodes of Digital Planet are typically released every 7 days.
When was the first episode of Digital Planet?
The first episode of Digital Planet was released on Jun 25, 2019.
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