INDEED, THE NETWORKS are already making prime-time shows (Desperate Housewives and Lost, among others) available online, either on their own sites or through services such as iTunes. Some have even created programs exclusively for the web, a step that is already making the Internet a proving ground for television shows.

When Ball State sought funding ($25,000 of which came in the form of a grant from the Discovery Group, a local foundation made up of community women) to support its interactive endeavor, it didn't need a fistful of studies, even though studies are readily available.

It's clear that we're spending as much time in front of the computer as we are in front of the TV. Adults spend about 14 hours a week watching the tube and another 14 online, compared with the 11 hours they spent watching TV and the 10 they spent online two years ago, according to JupiterResearch, which analyzes Internet use. College-age consumers average about 10 hours a week online, two hours more than they spend watching TV. Many students interviewed for this story said that they didn't have a TV in their dorm room but that they couldn't function without a laptop.

"I kind of passively watch the news," says Austin Arnett, a senior computer science major who is part of the interactive team. "Often I'm trying to catch the first 30 seconds, to get teasers. If anything interests me, I'll go to Google News and be done with it."

Suzanne Plesha, assistant director and communications officer of the Center for Media Design, the campus-based, independent-research think tank that used portions of a $20 million grant to help fund this pursuit, says the question is how to make things more appealing for truly digital natives, or young media consumers.