BBC Domesday Project
It included a new "survey" of the United Kingdom, in which people, mostly school children, wrote about geography, history or social issues in their local area or just about their daily lives.
Questionnaires about geography, amenities and land use were to be completed, with school pupils and other contributors also able to write about their local area and "the issues affecting them" in their own words.
And this really is just the start.The project was stored on adapted LaserDiscs in the LaserVision Read Only Memory (LV-ROM) format, which contained not only analogue video and still pictures, but also digital data, with 300 MB of storage space on each side of the disc.
Initial estimates indicated a total storage capacity of 2 GB per disc, described as sufficient for 80,000 pictures (including satellite images) and "half a million text pages" plus software to process maps and graphical information.
[14][15] Aside from the difficulty of emulating the original code, a major issue was that the still images had been stored on the laserdisc as single-frame analogue video, which were overlaid by the computer system's graphical interface.
In November 2023, a podcast episode by Tim Harford, "Laser Versus Parchment: Doomsday for the Disc," from the series Cautionary Tales, described and contextualized many of the troubled issues surrounding the historical trajectory of the BBC Domesday Project's data.
[18] The CAMiLEON project transferred the text and database files stored on the Domesday laserdiscs to a Linux-based computer using an SCSI connection to the player.
[32] The National Museum of Computing based beside Bletchley Park in Milton Keynes has a working Domesday system in its BBC Micro Classroom for visitors to use.
[36] Virgin's North Polar Expedition title, in contrast to Ecodisc, provided the software to support interaction on separate floppy disks instead of as LV-ROM content.
[44] Having received one unfavourable verdict that the title offered "a tired question and answer format in what should be an innovative new medium",[45] a response to this particular review attempted to address such criticisms by noting the limitations of the interaction method employed by the Domesday system, the tightly coupled sound and video capabilities of the medium, and the need to deliver and improve the software without involving the "expensive and complex LV-ROM mastering process".
The response also questioned the future of the LV-ROM format, in contrast to Laservision and CD-ROM, also indicating that CD-I would remove various restrictions experienced with the laserdisc medium.
[46] The BBC's Countryside disc provided various census and agricultural datasets and was sponsored by a broad consortium of public and private sector organisations.
[50] Support software was also made for the AIV platform such as the Domesday Display application suite which allowed users to extract data and pictures from the laserdiscs and to present them in the form of a slideshow.
[53][54] Ivan Berg Software (a one-time partner with Acornsoft on various titles) offered the Take Five system on Betamax format video tape with the BBC Micro supplying "question-and-answer frames" in interactive training course material.
[38] The Polymedia PCL 1000 also offered a combination of BBC Micro and Sony Betamax video tape recorder bundled with interface, single disc drive, colour monitor and software for £2,450.
[55] Earlier competitors included the Felix Link interface from Felix Learning Systems, supporting laserdisc, VHD video discs, U-Matic tapes, with VHS tapes promised, along with Cameron Communications' Interact B system offering touchscreen control over a Thorn EMI VHD video disc player.
For instance, a system was offered by Eltec Computers and the British Nuclear Forum consisting of a BBC A3000, LaserVision 406 player, genlock card, and three discs designed by educators at Newcastle University aimed at secondary schools.
[58] Oak Solutions' Genesis product supported use of laserdisc hardware, with The Battle of the Somme title, produced by Netherhall School in conjunction with NCET and the Imperial War Museum, incorporating "Laservision material which really brings the project alive" and offering "potentially a new beginning for that old Domesday system".
