(CC) by-sa videocrab/flickrRoutes, Channel 4's innovative, sprawling, complex and fascinating multi-platform production, will be making the move to Channel 4 television, when some shorts will feature in C4's '3 Minute Wonders' strand, Broadcast reports.

Routes is a very complicated proposition, featuring elements of reality, documentary, gaming, drama and ARG (alternate reality gaming). Comedian Katherine Ryan delivers short videos about her experiences with cancer, and explores the secrets hidden in her genes; you can play mini-games involving genetics in the world around you; there is an interactive drama, in which (fictional character) Rachel Burren attempts to find out the truth behind the death of her uncle who is a famous geneticist - and the resident expert for the C4's Routes! Complicated and self-referential, yes, but you get the picture: this is a multi-platform creation exploring genetics, and it's no wonder that this comes out of C4 Education, and is sponsored by the Wellcome Trust.

3 Minute Wonders are exactly what they sound like - and are one of the best showcases for short film in the UK. They've previously featured the output from another of Channel 4's multi-platform ventures, its flagship user generated short-form documentary site FourDocs. Talented producers from that site were commissioned to produce or re-edit their submitted docs for transmission on the channel. FourDocs closed at the end of 2008, after C4 decided that there was now a wide ecosystem for showcasing works online, something that I believe the site helped to engender.