BBC Computer Literacy Project

Lesley Judd previews the entries in next week's Computer Animation Film Festival competition, with exclusive clips of the latest and best in computer graphics, and Ian McNaught-Davis and American reporter Freff examine the ups and downs of the computer industry since the last series.

Fred Harris joins the army on manoeuvres and discovers whether data is secure on the battlefield, Ian McNaught-Davis explains how data encryption works, and there's news of The Listener Crack the Code competition and its prizes.

Few rock and pop records are made today without the help of sophisticated computer-based synthesisers. They can reproduce the sound of virtually any instrument and replay strings of notes more accurately than session musicians. This film traces their development from the 19th-century Telharmonium to the Fairlight Computer Musical Instrument.

The doomed Three Mile Island reactor in Pennsylvania is the focus for work on artificial intelligence by the robotics department of nearby Carnegie Mellon University, and American reporter Freff looks at some of the problems involved in designing robot vehicles which can move around on their own, recognise objects, and do useful work.

This week's programme comes direct from a secondary school in Berkshire and examines the role of computers in schools, Lesley Judd asks why the Government is cutting back school software, and Ian McNaught-Davis discovers how chalk and talk is giving way to bits and bytes.

A look behind the scenes at one of the world's most successful games software companies, Fred Harris takes a further look at how to make music on your home micro, and Freff reports on an American company that has spent $15 million setting up a kind of technological Aladdin's cave to project its image to both employees and customers.

IBM, known as Big Blue, is the largest computer company in the world, ten times the size of its nearest rival. Its first personal computer was so successful that it set a technical standard. Forty other manufacturers now use IBM standards in designing their machines. Ian McNaught-Davis finds out if, now they are embracing Big Blue's standards, the 40 Dwarves can get out of its clutches.

Boston, Massachusetts has the only museum in the world in which all the exhibits are less than 40 years old. American reporter Freff, who is also less than 40 years old, visits the Computer Museum, and discovers a very important teapot.

American reporter Freff risks using a computer database before buying a painting in a New York antique shop, Fred Harris explains how the home micro can be used to communicate with other computers down the telephone line, and Ian McNaught-Davis takes a trip down memory lane to explain the way that computer storage devices have developed over the years.

Freff visits the New York Institute of Technology Computer Animation department and checks out some break-dancing fractal trees, John Coll takes a look at Christmas presents for computer addicts, and Dick Gilbert announces the results of The Listener Crack the Code competition.

Ian McNaught-Davis and Fred Harris look at some of the new products and software on display, Lesley Judd presents the Micro Live RITA awards for achievement in Information Technology, and some of the industry's top personalities, including Sir Clive Sinclair, face up to the Micro Live version of Any Questions?

Micro Live visits a garden centre which uses a database to help its customers find the plants they need and Fred Harris explains how to use a database on a home micro. From America, Freff reports on the fascinating world of fractals, and Ian McNaught-Davis takes a look at a promising new British development in flat-screen technology.

Freff reports from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where Carnegie Mellon University is engaged in a massive computer project. The buildings in the university are being linked by fibre optic cable. Individual students will be required to have a computer and even to have access to the computer network from their rooms.

Is Prestel a world-beating information service or just a hacker's delight? Fred Harris investigates British Telecom's dial-up service, and compares it with the French system, Minitel. Lesley Judd tries out a micro-based system for training RAF air-traffic controllers, and visits a disused bra factory in the Cardiff docklands.

Electronic information is changing the way we do business, forcing even our most ancient British institutions to update themselves. Andrew Neil, Editor of the Sunday Times, gives a special report on the way that the Stock Exchange, Fleet Street and the legal profession are falling dangerously behind as they struggle to keep pace with the booming electronic information market.

Ian McNaught-Davis asks if the computer will ever be able to make judgments, learn from its mistakes, or write creatively. Freff visits a computer in New York's Greenwich Village that has just published its first book of poetry, and Lesley Judd tries the Turing test to find out if she's working with men or machines!

Imagine a machine that can read out loud from any book or magazine or a synthesiser that can reproduce the sound of an entire orchestra, both have been invented by Ray Kurzweil. Freff reports from Boston, Lesley Judd tries out some software that lets you be your own Robert Maxwell, and Ian McNaught-Davis finds out why a £25,000 car needs ten computers to keep it going.

Technology is poised to be much more widely used and to change some jobs hitherto seen as safe, including those in the professions. Speculating with Ian McNaught-Davis and Fred Harris about the future effects of computers on work, are the Rt. Hon. Shirley Williams, who is also a director of the Turing Institute for Artificial Intelligence, and Bob Latin of Standard Telephones and Cables.

How many languages do you speak? Most home micros come with only one, BASIC. It's fashionable to knock BASIC, so Fred Harris considers learning some other languages such as PASCAL, LOGO and C, and a music teacher in Reading explains how a computer has revolutionised her lessons.

Fred Harris talks to John Coll about the meaning of benchmarks, and contrasts the performance of the Commodore Amiga with the Atari 520S, Freff explains why the computers of the future will have to be capable of doing many things at once, and Ian McNaught-Davis looks at the British Transputer.