The Vision

At the heart of the vision for 360 - Changing the World by Degrees are the United Nations four key challenges to address the humanitarian needs of the world, spelt out in November 2001 by Kofi Annan. They are: the eradication of poverty; the fight against AIDS and other preventable diseases; resolving armed conflicts and protecting the environment.

Impossible dreams? Kofi Annan is committed to trying;and so is BBCi's 360 community site. With your help, we will create The 360 Book of Solutions - a guide to how the world's problems can be alleviated - if not completely solved.

The 360 Book of Solutions will be composed of 360 members' ideas, honed and developed by the community itself, and offered to the United Nations as a constructive way forward for the world.

We are also committed to creating uplifting media (television and on-line) with the people who are willing to try and change the world. Through the BBC World Service, the Television Trust for the Environment and United Nations contacts worldwide, we already have access to thousands of inspiring under-reported events, many supported by celebrities like Julia Roberts and Leonardo di Caprio, which revolve around these four challenges.

Events such as the Nairobi shantytown youth football players who took over the city rubbish collection. And the Israelis, Jordanians and Palestinians who are working together, despite the Middle East crisis, to save the dolphins in the Red Sea.

360 will seek out such projects using volunteer researchers, who are members of BBCi's 360 community website and work together to enhance and support them.

We will also add adventure to our purpose. From the start we will be using microlights, which fly 'Low and Slow', to drop in on 360 projects in those remote parts of the world that other vehicles can't reach - and can be tracked on the Internet at the same time.

Volunteer microlight pilots, who will form the 360 Squadron, will team up with celebrities and 360 researchers to shoot stories in state-of-the-art' flying filming platforms.

BBC's Online Community

The radical foundation for 360 - Changing the World by Degrees is collaborative user-generated content, commissioning from the bottom up, for all 360 programming - web and television. The 360 website will use the already successful h2g2 software, conceived by Douglas Adams.

BBCi's h2g2 site has 90,000 volunteer researchers in over 90 different countries. Many of these volunteers will join 360 along with others who work with hundreds of 'dot org' trusts, Non Governmental Organisations (NGOs) and Action Groups. Indeed anyone who contributes to 360, including celebrities, BBC correspondents and stringers around the world, will become 360 community members.

Alongside them will be dozens of microlight aviators, who have already indicated their willingness to fly for the 360, dropping in on people and places all over the world. Where they go, what they film and who they talk to will be decided by the BBCi's 360 Community. Be sure to let us know your ideas.

Content Creation

Thousands of 360 Researchers will search out 360 stories from the hundreds of thousands of inspiring actions, which revolve around Kofi Annan's four challenges. These will be turned into pitches for The 360 Book of Solutions , moderated by BBCi's 360 Editors, and finally, selected for entry in the Book via a voting system.

Along the way, where relevant these stories will be passed to the 360 Squadron pilots.

Each story needs a team. The two core members (as far as the online and television audience is concerned) are the 360 Squadron Pilot and the 360 Researcher(s) that champion the story. (The 360 Researcher might be a lone enthusiast, or a group of enthusiasts that worked up the pitch together.)

But it's not just the 360 Community who will be involved in 360. All online users - from schoolchildren working in the National Curriculum to octogenarians - will be encouraged to suggest events for the 360 to explore. They will be able to track their progress, swap information with other users, view streaming video, chat with the 360 celebrities and researchers, get involved in online debates, win prizes, and map their own virtual journey to the event location.