Author Douglas Adams has launched an Internet version of his long running sci-fi novel The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy. The book, which became a TV series, a stage play, a computer game and is soon to be made into a film, has found itself on the Internet as a website to which users can contribute.

People signing up, at http://h2g2.com, can post snippets of information which will build up into a real-world guide.

Mr Adams said: "It is surprising that 21 years after the book was written there is something like the World Wide Web that is perfect for a thing such as The Hitch Hikers's Guide to the Galaxy.

"It is absolutely the ideal place for it to exist as the Internet is all about collaborations and the sharing of information, which is how we hope the guide to develop.

"We are making this a very serious project and we want people to come to the website and get information about things on a global scale that they might not come across anywhere else.

"But we want it to be entertaining too.

"Anyone we wants to put information on it can really put anything they like, so I suppose there will be some fiction in there as well.

The website was launched live on the BBC's Tomorrow's World and received more than 30,000 visits during the half-hour programme.