BBC was one of the world's first media organizations to provide inline links to the Web, and in some ways its innovation made a lot of others think through strategies that were keeping (or trying to keep) users inside networks.
The idea was what the New York Times described as "editing the Web," and it meant there was nothing inherently wrong with sending users to external, related sites, because ultimately they could find them, anyway, and it was better to be that central resource than to just be another stop on the trail.
Now BBC has decided to discontinue the strategy, which it had been presenting with the Apture software firm, as it reviews policies. In reading between the lines of its announcement, it might be that the issue is more that it is disappointed with the technology than with the principle --- after all, nearly 90 per cent of the user comments on inline links suggested they were helpful. It sounds as if this is a temporary measure, not a permanent policy.

An intriguing presentation from BBC on the development of the electronic paper, in particular the work being conducted in Germany by Plastic Logic.

Wherever public-financed media exist, private media will express concerns that tax dollars are essentially at work to undermine their business. The latest fracas in this field is the concern in Britain that the BBC's new digital initiatives to generate more local relevance through a 68-million-pound investment in local video sites is an encroachment on the smaller-town newspaper franchises.
The Newspaper Society, the entity representing those papers, has submitted a lengthy argument to the federal regulating body that outlines its case. The BBC, meanwhile, has indicated its efforts are necessary for its own relevance.
It's a predictable dispute made even more predictable by foreseen circumstances --- the notion of national media breaks down in the digital sphere. Local relevance is easier to manufacture.

When the BBC announced earlier that its international Web presence would begin to feature advertising, it stood to reason that its formidable foreign service would compete for --- and often win --- advertising at others' expense.
Emily Bell, the Guardian's digital leader, has surfaced to call the initiative an "enormous state-funded intervention into the international news advertising market."
This is no small statement.
BBC has roughly eight million unique visitors from outside the U.K., so its clout is significant in the digital space.

Economist.com has, like its British counterpart at BBC News, stripped down its splash-page-heavy look and unveiled a sleeker, deeper-running home page with a respectable amount of interactivity.
For one of the world's most authoritative media, with a thundering pronouncement here and there and everywhere, one wouldn't expect The Economist to rub shoulders extensively with user-generated content. But it's at least elevated the "most commented" element of its site. The main story section is highly attractive.
As a design, it doesn't immediately stand out the way the BBC's did. Downpage there are still some spatial issues and clashing functions.
There are fewer, or lesser, ads. Which is not something every media can afford.
Click through, though, and there is a wide offering of the publication's digital and print content. With a really strong podcast, it was good to see they've given that more prominence. I suspect it'll be tweaked a few more times before settling in.

Sir Tim Berners-Lee, one of the original architects of the Internet, has given an interview to BBC News on the eve of the 15th anniversary of Web code being put in the public domain --- the effective start date of the mad rush that has spawned some 165 million sites and billions of user experiences.
In it he's philosophical about what is actually still a young technology. More good than bad, lots of new networks, plenty of problems solved.
But his expectations are about as grand as anything one might contemplate: data in everyone's hands, the opportunity to govern the planet within its grasp.

The new BBC site is no longer under wraps and it's highly impressive.
Most notable as a comparison to its old site is the design simplicity. I counted fewer than 20 stories on the splash page (less than a dozen if you count the duplicated files).
The modules are customizable, as is the colour scheme.
I'd love to see the research in behind the redesign, because I think many managers are looking at reducing the complexity of splash pages and permitting users to choose elements. CNN's recent changes went in that direction, although there's a lot of white space and small type that doesn't work as well as my first glance at the Beeb.