About PBS Online
|| Mission || Web Development ||
Business Orientation ||
|| PBS Internet History
|| Awards || Reviews || Meet the Staff ||
About PBS Online
|| Mission || Web Development ||
Business Orientation ||
|| PBS Internet History
|| Awards || Reviews || Meet the Staff ||
Mission
PBS Online is designed to help the Public Broadcasting Service and its Member stations advance education, culture and citizenship in a digital world. Combining great content with imaginative technology, PBS Online strives to offer unsurpassed Web programming that educates, informs and enlightens audiences worldwide. As the worlds of online and television converge, PBS Online intends to be a leader in pioneering the digital future.
Web Development
PBS Online is part of the Learning Ventures division of the Public Broadcasting Service in Alexandria, VA. An on-site team manages the operations and editorial content for PBS Online and provides PBS Member stations and producers with a publishing framework, technology resources and promotional opportunities. PBS Online is a cross-departmental effort that integrates the work of Programming, Finance, Advertising and Creative Services, the Adult Learning Service, Development, Human Resources, Learning Media, the General Counsel, National Datacast, Business Affairs, Program Information, Satellite Services, and the Teacher Resource Service.At any given time, 50 to 100 off-site developers create and maintain PBS Online content on PBS servers. PBS Online producers include the Online NewsHour, WGBH's Interactive Division, WNET's New Media Group, and POV Interactive. In addition, more than 140 PBS member stations have established Web sites with locally produced content. All of those sites are interconnected within PBS Online, thus creating a "Web within the Web" for public television in the United States.
Business Orientation
PBS Online operates as a business within PBS's non-profit mission. PBS Online accepts sponsorships through its affiliation with the DoubleClick network and supports producers in seeking financing and underwriting for Web projects. PBS Online has a growing number of alliances with technology companies to provide both financial and technical support to the service. "shopPBS" provides full, state-of-the-art transactional capabilities for electronic purchases of PBS Home Video and program-related merchandise. And PBS Online is active in the market for international syndication of Web content. For more information about these enterprises, including ways that your company could participate, email Molly Breeden, Manager of Business Development, at mbreeden@pbs.org.
PBS Internet History
5/94 - PBS introduced its gopher server3/95 - PBS launched a corporate Web site
9/95 - PBS Online premiered; 25 PBS member stations have Web sites
1/96 - The Online NewsHour launched
6/96 - shopPBS launched
4/97 - PBS Online relaunched with new neighborhoods: PBS Kids, PBS Interface, PBS Science, Learn With PBS and The Point; over 140 PBS member stations have Web sites
*Note: In the coming months, PBS plans to introduce neighborhoods for History, Arts & Culture, and How-To topics.
Awards
PBS Online has received numerous "Best of the Web" awards. Highlights include:
"One of the Top 100 Web Sites"PC Magazine Online - May 1997
"Webby Award"TV/Radio Category (People's Voice) - February 1997
"One of the Top 100 Sites on the Internet"The Net Magazine - February 1997
"5-Star Award"Luckman Interactive - February 1997
"Editor's Choice"Bonus.com - February 1997
"5-Star Award"NetGuide - January 1997 "Gem of the Web" - Wall Street JournalFrontline Online - August 1996
Online NewsHour, February 1996 "Best of the Web"C|NET - June 1996 "4-Star Site"Magellan Internet Guide Point Interactive Creme de la Creme Award Stony Point South Elementary School - June 1997 Hong Kong '97: Lives in Transition - June 1997 PBS Online - June 1997 Hong Kong '97: Lives in Transition - May 1997 NOVA Online "Flood!" - May 1997 FRONTLINE Online "Secret Daughter" - April 1997 NOVA Online "Alive on Everest: The Story of Humans at Altitude" - April 1997 Frontline Online "Murder, Money, and Mexico" - April 1997 PBS Kids - April 1997 NOVA Inside Avalanche! - March 1997 Thomas Jefferson - February 1997 The American Experience "Technology in America" - February 1997 The West- October 1996 Tots TV - September 1996 Adventures from the Book of Virtues - September 1996 NOVA/PBS Online Adventure "Ice Mummies of the Inca" - September 1996 P.O.V. "Taking on the Kennedys" - July 1996 Triumph of the Nerds - June 1996 Frontline Online - June 1996 Life on the Internet - April 1996 NOVA Online "Kidnapped by UFOs" - March 1996 Online NewsHour - January 1996 On Tour - July 1997 Hong Kong '97: Lives in Transition - June 1997 Ready to Live: Art & Life Beyond Street Violence - June 1997 American Visions - June 1997 I, Cringely - June 1997 FRONTLINE Online "The Opium Kings" - June 1997 Hong Kong '97: Lives in Transition - May 1997 PBS Online (relaunch) - April 1997 NOVA/PBS Online Adventure "Pyramids: The Inside Story" - February 1997 Jefferson - February 1997 Online NewsHour "@The Capitol" - March 1997 The Inaugural Classroom - January 1997 PBS Online "Best of 1996" - December 1996 Arthur - December 1996 NOVA Online "Einstein Revealed" - October 1996 NOVA/PBS Online Adventure "Ice Mummies of the Inca" - September 1996 NOVA/PBS Online Adventure "Alive on Everest: The Story of Humans at Altitude" - April 1997 PBS Online (relaunch) - April 1997 Triumph of the Nerds - June 1996
Reviews
For as long as people have been observing the explosive growth of the World Wide Web, PBS Online has been one of the Web sites they've been talking about most. Below is a sampling of what people are saying about PBS Online:
"Evidence continues to mount that PBS is the only TV network that understands how to use the Internet. For more than two years, while its commercial brethren have squandered their Web development efforts churning out little more than promotional gimcracks, the non-profit network has written the book on how to use the Web as a meaningful second feed..."-David Plotnikoff, San Jose Mercury News "Sneak onto the Net today and don't feel guilty about it--surfing PBS is good for you. This site, really dozens of sites in one, expands all of the shows it offers to the laugh-track weary. Join in the debate at "NewsHour with Jim Lehrer." PBS.org has transcripts, essays, and RealAudio presentations in addition to live forums. "Nova" guides help science teachers in the classroom. You can follow archeologists into the chambers and passageways of pyramids. Sesame Street characters are also on call. And the recent redesign offers utterly clear navigation that makes surfing PBS time well-spent."
-"Top 100 Web Sites," PC Magazine "PBS Online moves beyond the headlines to chronicle the personal travails of Hong Kong's reunification with China this July. Heartfelt journal entries of 12 Hong Kong residents - among them an ordinary woman, a worker's union staffer and a young Asian-American student -- speak to the unanimous uncertainty that the colony's citizens face at the curtain call of a century of British rule. A clever angle and topnotch reporting inform PBS' exemplary coverage."
-Around the Net Column, New York Newsday "Not your father's PBS."
-Newsweek "A Web Gem: The Online NewsHour."
-Walter S. Mossberg, Wall Street Journal "People keep talking about merging the Internet with television. But when it comes to putting actual content online, the Public Broadcasting System may be outpacing the networks."
-San Jose Business Journal "The home page of the U.S.'s Public Broadcasting Corp. is beautifully organized, utterly unflashy and easy on the eyes with its white and ochre type against black background. It's also completely upfront, providing visitors with pretty much everything they need to navigate the site..."
-Newsweek International "In the more than just a pretty interface category, the Public Broadcasting Service's latest upgrade points the way for a future wave of news magazines and broadcast networks by taking the kind of news packaging practices that C|Net has made mainstream, and taking them to the next level for news magazines and long-form documentary series. Content links are rich and varied, connecting to areas within the PBS site, as well as outside resources...But they've also produced a superb top page that pulls up different packages daily, and thanks to some Java, has an interactive interface that explains a little about each area and package. All in all, PBS has learned much about what works online in its brief two years. Now it's time for new sites to take notes."
-Cowles Simba Media Digest
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