The Public Broadcasting Service’s (PBS) investigative show Frontline will air a deep look into how digital media and the Internet have transformed human lives and the subject of videogames is featured heavily in the program.

Digital Nation: Life on the Virtual Frontier will debut on February 2 at 9:00 ET. The 90 minute show was produced by Rachel Dretzin, who also created the recent Frontline special Growing Up Online, and will feature commentary from Douglas Rushkoff. Segments include Living Faster, Relationships, Waging War, Virtual Worlds and Learning.

Many individual videos are already available for viewing on the PBS website and a trailer for the show offers a quick overview of what it’s all about.

The Waging War section features game-related topics such as the military’s use of virtual reality training, as well as looks at both America’s Army and the Army Experience Center.

Virtual Worlds contains a cornucopia of videogame segments, including the use of virtual reality therapy for veterans, gaming addiction, professional gamers, violent games, Second Life and about 20 more pieces.

Another cool aspect to the program is that the Digital Nation website launched about a year ago ago in a bid to let users collaborate with the project by sharing their own experiences.

Every gamer's favorite academic, Dr. Henry Jenkins of M.I.T., is heading to Hollywood.

In a recent post on his blog, Jenkins writes that he will be moving on to the University of Southern California. A combination of new opportunities and old-fashioned burnout seems to be driving the change:

Even Green Lantern needs to recharge his ring now and again. When I began this process, I had the body of a 37 year old. I woke up one morning and discovered that aliens has swapped it out for the body of a 50 year old. We had enjoyed dramatic expansion over the past few years, but with it has come dramatic increases in my responsibilities, until I reached a point where it was not humanly possible to continue to work at the pace I have been working...

 

USC offered me a truly interdisciplinary position, one which straddles the Communications and Cinema Schools... USC is already doing exciting work along many of the axises which has defined my own research interests -- media literacy, civic media, games, creative industries, and fan culture/audience research... And it's hard for anyone who works on media to resist the attractions of being so close to the heart of the American entertainment industry.

GP: Henry Jenkins is so cool/influential that he's just been awarded his own category tag here at GamePolitics.