Last year PBS Frontline aired an excellent documentary called Growing Up Online that chronicled the lives of several young digital natives, showing both the positive and negative impact that the net can have on teenagers. Now the same producers, led by producer/director Rachel Dretzin, are working on a new program called digital_nation that will be aired in winter 2010.

The program aims to explore how digital media "are changing the way we think, work, learn and interact."

What's different about the upcoming show is that rather than work on their own to gather footage for a single one-hour program, the show's staff will be releasing footage as it's shot over the next several months and seeking suggestions and feedback from site visitors. Topics will include education and technology, human development, online privacy, virtual worlds and online games, technology in the military, digital media in the workplace and more.

Frontline hosted a preview event in Washington on Tuesday to coincide with the launch of the show's Web site. Work has already started according to the program's correspondent, Douglas Rushkof.  He recently spent some time shooting in Korea where they looked at the lives of "pro-gamers," elite very well paid young cyber-athletes who compete professionally in pursuit of large purses. The crew also checked in on a rescue camp for Internet addiction where teenage boys are exposed to physical games, camping and all things non-digital. And there's a clip from an elementary school classroom where children sing a song about Internet "netiquette."

Last year's Growing Up Online segment was -- by far -- the high-point for TV's coverage on Internet issues. And with digital_nation, the producers are taking on a far more ambitious project.