Just saw an interesting piece about an experiment being conducted in a town in Belgium. People can have their own 'channels' on TV set top box, and determine who is allowed to watch. So its a sort of local TV with some concepts taken from the net, but different to the net.
>From what I could gather the experiment is being run by a corporation providing equipemnt & network, and a sociology department. Seems there is an interest in whether such stuff can help 'social cohesion' and other things. The BBC reporter isnt sure if it will catch on, that maybe it is too controlled compared to the net, and that states seem to love the idea so maybe people wont lol. Also said its what the internet might have been like if it was designed by the EU. There were a few interviews with locals who were using it, they seemed to have some good uses for it and like the closer nature of the communication, eg les nasty comments about videos, less like youtube. Anyway Im not sure if you can watch the piece outside the UK but here's the link anyway: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/newsnight/6917982.stm I havent gone looking for any other websites that document this Belgian experiment, but I think its called 'Lommel TV'. Meanwhile they've also brought back 'Oh My Newsnight' where people can contribute their own filsm, via upload to whatever video site, youtube or whatever, although I have to say I find quite a few of the newsnight presenters are rather condescending about videoblogging, user-generated content etc. Cheers Steve Elbows
