On February 8, 1996, Rick Smolan and the team that produced A Day in the Life of America, From Alice to Ocean and Passage to Vietnam will be taking on their biggest challenge yet. In the course of a single day, they will fan out around the globe to document how online technology is changing people's lives. 24 Hours in Cyberspace will put a human face on the digital revolution, and the results will be instantly visible around the world through one of the largest online events ever produced.

More than 100 of the world's top photojournalists will take part in 24 Hours in Cyberspace. Their targets will be the most intriguing stories from the on-line frontier, from rural Nepal to Oakland's inner-city ghetto to the boardrooms of New York City. Their focus will be on the human stories behind the technology; the new ways in which we work, play, learn, conduct business and interact.

Millions of online users and students are invited to join these photographers by submitting their own pictures and stories of how the digital revolution is affecting their lives. Instructions on how to submit stories are available elsewhere on this site.

"It is this participatory aspect of 24 Hours in Cyberspace that sets it apart from our previous projects. Our team spent the past 12 years traveling around the world, documenting different cultures," says project director Rick Smolan. "Our team was in China during the Tiananmen Square uprising, the Soviet Union at the birth of glasnost and in Vietnam last year as the trade embargo was lifted. For us, Cyberspace is another culture and place to visit, but this time around, because of the nature of the new medium itself, people around the world can actively take part in the project, and respond with their own point of view."

On February 8, the professional images and the amateurs' stories will be transmitted digitally back to the project's headquarters in San Francisco, where a team of editors, designers and programmers will assemble a unique "instant" World Wide Web site, with updates throughout the day.

Six weeks after the live February 8th event, a permanent World Wide Web site will be unveiled, featuring even more in-depth stories, photo essays, and commentaries. A 24 Hours in Cyberspace book and CD-ROM will follow, along with a prime-time television documentary and major newsweekly coverage.