ECCOBEIT MIME

ED 168 214 CS 205 640

AUTBCR R.Immer TonyII7LE VIEWDATAInteractive Television, with Particular

Emitasis on tte Rritish Post Office's PEESTEL.PUB DATE Aug 79NOTE 57p.: Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the

Association for Education in Journalism (6211d,Houston, TY, August 5-6, ,1979).

ECES PRICE MFOI/PC03 Plus Postage.DESCRIPTORS Automation; Communication (Thought Tran,sfer):

*Communications; ComAprative Analysis: ForeignCountries: Euturez (of Society): *InformationNetworks: Information Science: Mass Media:Technology: *Ielevisior

IDENTIFIERS Great Britain: *Viewdata

ABSTRACTAn overview of ',Viewdata," an interactive medium that

connects the home or business television set with a central computerdatabase through telephone lines, is presented in this paper. Itnotes bog.: Viewdata differs from broadcast Teletext syste.ls andreviews the technical.aspects of the two media to clarify terminologyused in the systems. The paper suggests, for example, that althoughViewdata is marketed as an Hirterectiveu medium, the degree ofinteraction so fel: available on the system is still limited. Thedevelopment cf Prestel, a Viewdata system used by the Eritish PostOffice, Is discnssed in detail, and its technical characteristics aredescribed. Some of the problems encountered in introducing the systemin Great Brita:in are considered and the relevance of those problemsto efforts tc market the system in the United States are discussed.The paper questions whether the need for the medium has yet beendemonstrated teyc.nd the speculations of futurists and calls formarket research endeavors. It suggests that a delay in the adoptionof ary one particular system as standard in the United States wouldhe advantageous in that it would allow competing, and possibly moreattractive, systems to he developed further. (Author/FL)

************************t**********************************************Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made

from the original document.***********************************************************************

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EDUCATION

TNtS DOCUMENT HAS SEEN REPRO-DuCED EXACTLY AS RECEIVED f ROMTHE PERSON OR ORGANIZATION OR;CoN

. *TING tT POINTS OF VIEW OR OPtNtONSSTATED DO' NOT NECESSARILY REPRE-

r""11SENT OF F fCIAL NA T tONAL thiSti tuTE OFEDUC AT ION POSITION OR POL ICY

co

Newspaper Division

VIEWDATA - Interactive Television,with particular emphasis on theBritish Post Office's PRESTEL

By

Tony RimmerGraduate Student

Department of JournalismUniversity of Texas at Austin

Austin, Texas 78712512 471-7700

"PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE THISMATERIAL HAS SEEN GRANTED BY

Tony Rimmer

TO THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCESINFORMATION CENTER (ERIC)."

4

Paper presented to the Newspaper Division, Association for Educationin Journalism Annual Convention, Houston, Texas. Augusti 1979

Newspaper Division

VIEWDATA - Interactive Television,with particular emphasis on theBritish Post Office's PRESTEL

ByTony Rimmer

Graduate Student

Department of JournalismUniversity of Texas at Austin

Austin, Texas 78712512 471-7700

ABSTRACT

VIEWDATA is an interactive medium which connects the home or business TV setto a central computer database through telephone lines. PRESTEL, developedby the British Post Office, is one such VIEWDATA system. It is the first ofthese to be up and running in what may become a race to dominate the settingof internatibnal standards and capture what is seen to be a new, world-wide,infortrtion and advertising market. There are several other systems beingdeveloped round the world and they enjoy such acronyms as VIDEOTEX, TELIDON,TITAN, ANTIOPE and CAPTAINS.

The paper notes how VIEWDATA differs from broadcast TELETEXT systems such asCEEFAX, ORACLE, INFOTEXT and TELETEX,* and in reviewing the technical aspectsof the two media it attempts to clarify terminology used in the systems. Itsuggests, for example, that although VIEWDATA is marketed as an "interactive"medium, the degree of interaction so far available on the System is barelydeserving of the term.

The development of PRESTEL is discussed in some detail and its technicalcharacteristics described. Some of the problems encountered in introducingthe system in Britain are considered. These problems cover both technical andinstitutional areas and raise fundamental questions about the viability of themedium aS it is presently conceived. These problems are relevant to the U.S.A.since attempts are already being made to market the system in this country.

The paper questions whether a need has yet been established for the mediumbeyond the speculations of futurologists and calls for much needed marketresearch to be done. The paper also suggests that a delay in the adoption ofany one particular system as standard in the U.S.A would be advantageous inthat it would allow competing, and sometimes more attractive, systems to bedeveloped further.

Paper presented to the Newspaper Division, Association for Education inJournalism Annual Convention, Houston, Texas. August, 1979.

4.0.

47

Introduction

A paper presented to the Newspaper Divisionof the 1978 Associatic,

for Education in Journalism Convention noted the development of teletext

and viewdata services in Britain. The paper also noted that an American

publishing firm, Harte-Hanks Communications of San Antonio, Texas, was

involved in viewdata.' The author of the present paper, a doctoral stu-

dent, in communications at the University of Texas at Austin, has, for

most of the past year, been employed by Harte-Hanks helping them develop

materials to input into the British PRESTEL system in order to evaluate

the system's marketing potential in the U.S.A. The author's responsibi-

lity included travelling to Britain in October-December of 1978, to input

this material into the system. To some extent, this paper will reflect

this "hands on" experience.

The object of this paper is to flesh out the very sketchy picture

most of us have of the'viewdata-and teletext systems. The outcome, it .is

hoped, will be that discussion of these new media will tome down from the

grandiose heights of optimistic projections to the more mundane plains of

reality where the limitations of these media might be seen alongside their

virtues. The paper identifies the differences between viewdata and tele-

text systems and notes the simple form of interaction available with

PRESTEL. ,It notes the possible range of services available with interac-

tive televiscn and describes earlier attempts to set up computer-home

services. The development of PRESTEL is outlined and its technical charac-

teristics described. Some of the problems vncountered in introducing the

4

system in Britain are noted and the implications of these problems are

reviewed in considering the viability of PRESTEL as a viewdata medium in

the U.S.A.

Viewdata is an interactive medium which connects the home or business

TV set to a central computer database through telephone lines. PRESTEL,

developed by the British Post Office, is one such viewdata system.2

Teletext is a non-interactive medium which utilizes either (et) a few bands

of the blanking period in a television signal as a transmission inserted

in a broadcast signal. (CEEFFA and ORACLE' are broadcast teletext systems);3

or (b) a full band transmission in a dedicated cable system. Reuters

newswire in the Manhattan Cable System in New York is one such full band

teletext system. In the English versions of viewdata and teletext, although

one is over-wire (PRESTEL) and the other over-the-air (CEEFAX/ORACLE), both

have similar decodingicircuitry and character Jots. The on-Screen displays

are similar. Both systems are designed for the dissemination of computer

based information.

Futurologists have been looking forward co computer-homehook-ups for

some time. Toffler sees it.as a powerful decentralizing force in society

and expresses concern for the significance of this. 4 Baran sees it as an

exciting new industry with an earning potential'of 20 billion dollars a

year before the ena of the l980s.5 Whether viewdata or teletext are har-

bingers of the wired city or just passing fads remains to be seen.

Along a continuum of computor7home hook-ups, the term "interactive"

comes into play. What was once a one-way connection, now becomes two-way.

Home can talk back to computer. Teletext is a one-way computer-home hook-

up; viewdata is two-way. There are, however, degrees of interactiveness,

2

and it should be noted that PRESTEL, the British viewdata system with

which this paper is concerned, offers so primitive a form of interaction.

that is is barely deserving of the term.

A dictionary offers the meaning of interaction between two entities:

they act reciprocally, act on each other. A computer text describes the

interactive mode as "direct access," "conver=tational."8 Acting recipro-

cally or conversationally suggests that both entities influence one another

through the course of their interaction. From the user's point of view,

this means that there must be the ability to manipulate the material

offered in the computer. There must be a programming function to realize

the ideal interactive state for the user. FRESTEL does not offer this.

It is a programmed database-searching system in which a frame or screen

of information presented includes directions to other frames as search

options guiding the user. The user is not able to manipulate the mate-

rial, but mere/Y wanders through the database, whether purposefully or"as

a browser,under, the system's direction. From the point of view of present

users of online information retrieval services, viewdata, with its lack of

inverted files and boolean operators, is not a very sophisticated retrieval

systen.7

It appears to be suited to users who have simple information needs,

who have no computer training and do not intend to undergo such training.

This.suggests a role as a retrieval system in the home and, indeed, this is

the intention of the designers of the scheme,8 Other media prognosticators

have suggested a role for viewdata as part of a "homevideo environment

center" around the television set. Just as there has been a revolution in

the development of the modular audio systems in the home, so too is a revo-

lution being forecast in home video systems. William J. Donnelly, a Vice-

kit

President of Young & Rubicam in New York, suggested recently that the

current TV set will become the modular display device for

of electronic information and entertainment resources. It

whole host

could be fed

by several devices: a video cassette machine, a video disc, program-

mable video games, a home computer, a printer (facsimile and computer

printout) and a hook-up to a telephone wire through a transaction tele-

pbone with one or more databases such as viewdata.9

Many more servces have been proposed for interactive television.

As an illustrA.t;on, the following is a list of possible system and ser-

vices for interactive television.

SUBSCRIBER-ORIENTED

10

Interactive instructional programsFire and burglar alarm monitoringTelevision ratingsUtility meter readingsControl of utility servicesOpinion pollingMarket research surveysInteractive TV gamesQuiz showsPay TVSpecial interest group conver-

t sationsElectronic mail deliveryElectronic delivery of (dedi-

cated).newspapers andperiodicals

Remote calculating and com-puter time-sharing

Catalog displaysStock market quotationsTransportation schedulesReservation services, ticket

salesBanking servicesInquiries from verious

directoriesLocal auction sales and ywap

chopsElectronic votingSubcriber originated

programming

INSTITUTIONAL

Computer data exchangeTeleconferencingSurveillance of public areasFire detectionPollution monitoringTraffic controlFingerprint and photograph

identificationCivil defense communicationsArea transceivers for mdbile

radioClassroom instructional TVEducation extension classesTelevision municipal meetings

and hearingsDirect response on local issuesAutomatic vehicle identifi-

cationCommunity relations program-

mingInformation retrieval servicesEducation for the handi-

cappedDrug and alcohol abuse programsHealth care, safety, legal and

other public informationprograms

Business transactionsCredit checksSignature and photo identi-

fication

Interactive vocational counselingLocal ombudsmanEqployment, health care, how!ing,

welfare, or other social ser-vice information

Library refe7ence and other :nfor-mation services

Dial-up video and audio librariesVideophgneMessage recordingSecretarial assistanceAnswering servicesGrocery price list, information,

and orderingPast aul forthcoming eventsDaily calendar and appointment

reminderRestaurantsIndex to system services

Facsimile servicesIndustrial trainingCorporate news tickerTelediagnostsMedical record exchangeCashless society transactionsPerson-to-Person paid work

at homeAccess to ccimpany filesConsumers' advisory serviceWeather bureau

Adapted from Baran, P. "Broad Band Interactive Communication Ser-vices to the Hame: Part I-Potential Market Demand." IEEE Trans-actions on Communications, Vol. COM-23. Ma. 1, January 1975. p. 7;and Rubinstean, E. "Societal Aspects of Technology." IEEE Spectrum,January 1974, p. 89.

Early Attempts at Computer-home Communication

The idea of accessing a computer data bank from a remote point

using telephone lines is not new. It was demonstrated in the mid 1960's at

the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.11

Since then, many commercial

computer services have used the system to serve business and scientific

clients, either as a computer service bureau or on an in-house basis. View-

data, with its more simplified user conditions, is part of a computer system

intended more for the general public.than specialist clients.

It is not the first, nor the only attempt to brng computer-based

information to the general public. Some other examples are:

(1) DIALS (Calculation by telephone). A system developed by

Nippon Telephone and Telegraph Company (NTT), the public telephone adminis-

tration -in Japan. It offered subscribers a real-time, online calculation

service. The transmit and receive terminal is the push button telephones

the computer response is a voice signal. The service, which was introduced

in 1970/71 (it is not known whether it is still available) , included simple

arithmetic operations (addition, subtraction, division, multiplication,

square root), trigonometic functions, logarithms, algebraic expressions,

and a call-up for statistical programs such as compound interest calculations.

It should be apparent that all this computational potIntial via a standard

12 button telephone panel was very ccuplex. There wss considerable doUbltng

up of button function and the coding instructions which had to be followed

to effect a calculation were complex. To compound this problem, the fact

that the only computer response was by voice with its consequent recall

problems must underline the problem of complexity that the system had.12

(2) Picturephone. The facility to display computer generated

information was included as part _of the development by the Bell System in

the United States of Picturephone in 1970.13 Picturephone's main objective

was to provide face-to-face communication between telephone subscribers.

The fact that computer communication was piggybacked into the system as

well probably was a hindrance to the long-term development of linking

computer systems with the home. Picturephone required extra telephone lines

to carry its video signal and the hmme terminal had no storage facilities.

This meant that the screen display required continuous refreshing. The

wisdom of hindsight suggests Picturephone was an innovation for which no

user demand had eve-: really existed. The increase in cost to the subscriber

at the time was apparently too nigh to make the system more attractive than

the voice telephone.14

This technology oriented approach to innovation

rather than a user orientation will be discussed later in this paper with

6

r

g

regard to viewdata. This is a critical factor around which the success of

innovation in the area hinges. Yet, the history of the area is littered

with problems and even failures for want of a user orientation.

(3) Mitre Corporation's Reston Experiment, 1971.15 This system

used the Mitre Corporation TICCIT system (time shared, interactive, computer

controlled, information television) an4 required a standard television re-

ceiver plus a video tape recorder in tbe home, connected to the system th,lugh4

a wideband cable TV network. The system could transmit 60 different frames

per second. Assuming an information cycle time of 10 seconds, the system

could support 600 users simultaneously on a dedicated TV channel, each user

receiving his own selection of information. The user's selection of frames

is communicated to the computer through a push button telephone and tele-

phone connection. The transmitted slide is captured by the home video tape

recorder which retransmits the slide to the TV set. Tbe system worked well,

but was technologically complex and expensive, requiring a TV set, video-

tape recorder, te3ephone connection and a wideband cible.

(4) In-Touch banking services.16

Introduced in Seattle,

Washington in 1973 by the Seattle First National Bank, it used the push

button telephone to send instructions to the computer which gave a voice

respons?1. The experiment failed because the system, with its lengthy book

of procedures, was too complicated for many people. 17

(5) Credit Card Payment. As reported in 1976, people in

Minneapolis, Pittsburgh, Des Moines and Seattle are paying their credit

card monthly bills by telephone.18 A system supplied by Telephone Computing

Service, Inc. is being used by 10 banks with an additional 40 more under

contract. This represents more than 13,000 merchants' credit cards in

seven states.

(6) Catalogue Ordering. In Canada, Sears were reported in 1976 to

have tried catalog ordering by Touch-Tone telephone.19

With a one page in-

strUction sheet and an ordinary Sears catalogue, only 20 percent of 1,150

test orders required operator intervention because of customer confusion.

(7) QUBE, Columbus, Ohio. In 1977, Warner Cable Corporation intro-

duced computer assisted interactive television in their Columbus, Ohio cable ,

TV system. The application of the computer in the system is more as a mar-

keting tool than it is a database to satisfy the inforMation needs of their

customers. TIle computer's main.function is to "sweep" the vieWer population

every 6 seconds to see which charnels are being viewed for billing and ratine

purposes. security options (security, fire, medical) are being introduced

and would beaccommodated by the computer in its 6 second sweep. On being

alerted, the system points ot to the appropriate agency (police, fire depart-

ment, hot ,s1) the location of the emergency and appropriate historical

information about that location or person.20

Video games may also be iLte-

grated into QUBE. Warner owns the Atari electronic game company. 21 What

seams to have excited futurologists is the push-button interactive facility

each viewer is provided with. This allows users to enter a choice into the

system in response to questions on, for example, political sues, marketing

or program preferences. To date, it appears to be meeting the needs of

marketing people rather than the social theorists looking for the new order

in-democratic society. The QUBE keyboard in each home has five response

buttons, sufficient for a scale approach to user testing, hut hardly inter-.

active in the full sense of the word. The user most cerLainly does not

initiate interactive activity. He merely responds to questions posed by

the designers of the program. As one commentator has noted, QUBE may not

be democratic so much as demagogic. 22There are no plans so far for QUBS to

8

a

c.

offer access to any information databases. In fact, Warners do not believe'

there is yet a market for 1ar4e database eervices.23

(8) Japanese pptical Fiber Network (li-OVIS Higashi-Ikoma-Optical

Visual Information System): In 1977 the Hi-OVIS CATV network began testing.an

interactive system capable of providing 11,..)useholds with twd-way services

ranging from requested entertainment through computer assisted instruction,

cashless shopping, medical assistance, police and fire protection and remote

telemetering .24

(9) Canadian Videotex: (aell Canada's VISTA; Canadian Department of

CommunicatiOn's TETEDON). Bell Canada and two publishing companies are cooper-

ating in a pilot :Fcoject of VISTA this year and a larger emrket study.in 1980.

The system appears to be more sophisticated than PRESTEL in that there is the

facility for terminal to terminal contact which bypasees the central computer.

The Department of Communication's TELIDON offers a more sophisticated image on7

the TV screen by dividing the screen up. more finely. TELIDON can display

curved lines rather than the more jagged graphics of PRESTEL. TELIDON requires

a more intelligent terminal than PRESTEL to achieve thia.25

(10) French ANTIOPE System:26 ANTIOPel'is a terminal display sy6t,pm5 .\

which can accept, format and display both teletext (TELETEL) and viewdata

(TITAN). TELETEL, the French teletext system is transmitted via DIDON which

is the French broadcast papket transmission system for telex, teletext, facsimile

and other data transmission. Advantages put forward for ANTIOPE include

greater flexibility in the characters displayed and compatibility between

broadcast and interactive services.

9

12

This character flexibility has some importance when international aspects

. of viewdata are considered. It has the capacity to backspace and overstrike

and with this, more than one language,can be used. Letter accentig (umlauts,

grave, acute and circumflex) can be accommodated. There is a considerable

amount of dis:mssion in the literature over what is referred to as the'"rivalry",

between the British and the French systems to become "the international

. Istandard" and the advantages of one over the other, if any, are clouded by some

,strongly held points of.view. The French report their system .(TITgN) is

operating in the-Paris Bourse, and trials have been run with it in New Orleans,

Montreal, TorontO,'Buenos Aires and in Peru. There is also the suggestion that_

ANTIOPE might be the system used ;for the results and information service at the

Moscow Olympics in 1980. The system has been licensed for trials in the U.S.A.

On the-British side of the rivalry a PRgSTEL packege has Been sold to the West

German Buridepost WhiCh will market the system under the name BILDSCHIRMTEXT.

Holland, too, -has bought PRESTEL and negotiations are underway for sales of the

system to Australia, Hong Kong and Spain. A marketing arm of the British National

Enterprise Board, INSAC Group Inc., is preiently attempting to set up a PRESTEL

system in the U.S.A.

(11) Japanese CAPTAINS System (Character and pattern telephone access

infprmation network system):27

In many respects CAPTAINS appears to be similar

to PRESTEL in concept, except that it can offer an audio service as well as

video. How well integrated the audio and video channels are is not yet clear.

Some reports have suggested that the system has a more refined visual image,

better able.to handle the Japanese text Qharacter. The large number of characters

in the Japanese alphabet suggest the need for some form of central ch'aracter

generation and broadband (cable rather than telephone) transmission. Public

trials of the system, offering a similar information range as PRESTEL, are

presently underway.

10

13,

4

(12) There are several other interactive systems noted briefly

in the literature from the experimental transmissions of facsimile news-

papers in Japan and th- U.S. to a variety of security and fire telemetering

services throughout the U.S.28

Two final problems of name. :lature arise. First, viewdata, as

the British see it, is a system for disseminating and retrieving computer-

based information, using the domestic telephone line Tor communication

and the domestic television set for display. The system could work just

as well, or even better, over cable TV circuits. And this is, perhaps,

,how such a system might go in the U.S. where cable TV services are so much

more extensive than in Britain. The different syStems noted above required

either or both telephone and cable circuits to operate. This has confused

the British concept of viewdata. Since this paper\is primarily concerned

with the British system, what follows will now use their system of

nomenclature. Viewdata is an over-the-telephone form of interactive data

transmission.

The second problem of nomenclature is that the British have now

. 'adopted the term viewdata as a generic term to describe all over-the-

telephone types of interactive data transmission. They were not able to

register their system as VIEWDATA because of the word's.generic nature.

The U.K. Patent Office Trade Marks Registry considered the name too

descriptive of what the service does. So they now call their system

PRESTEL. To remain consistent with the British literature, the term

PRESTEL will be used in this paper. The tendency in the U.S. so far

seems to be to refer to the PRESTEL system as VIEWDATA. A final irony

for the British is that an objection to the new name has been.lodged by

11

14

an Italian manufacturer named PRESTEL which sells a range of field strength

meters in the U.K.29

The Histo-r of Prestel

The telephone system in Britain is owned and operated by a state

monopoly, the British Post Office. Telephones aw paid for on a rental and

a per call basis. Consequently, there is an ongoing push for the Post

Office to find ways to increase telephone traffic so as to increase revenues.

This is particularly relevant to the home telephone where usage is charac-

teristically just a few minutes a day. PRESTEL was one of the responses of

the Post Office's researdh arM to meet this need to promote traffic. The

man behind the idea is generally considered to be Sam Fedida, whoejoined

the Post Office as managerof theircomputer applications and research and

development in 1970. He was formerly Assistant Director of Research f9r the

English Electric CoMpany and now works as an industrial consultant mainly

in the field of promotion of PRESTEL.

Fedida had drawn up his concept of PRESTEL by 1971. After

several years of development at the Post Cffice's research establishments

at Dallis Hill in London and Marylesham, near Ipswich, it appears to have

first been unveiled tc5 the public early in 1976. Development in the early

1970's meant that the researchers were able to draw on the new technologies

of large scale Integrated (L.S.I.) circuitry which permitted miniaturi-

. zation of subscriber equipment.

The promotion of PRESTEL has coincided with several administrative

and technical innovations made by the Post Office: (1) ,To make the medium

more receptive to market forces, the Post Office telecommunications division

has set up its PRESTEL department as a ceparate profit making operation:

(2). Along with many telephone administrationsaround the world, the British

Post Office formerly did not permit the use of foreign attachments, including

hardwired modems. However, the expense of existing commercial modems, com-

bined with the desire to stimulate electronics manufacturers to enter the

market and develop inexpensive local service modems, eventually led to the

dropping of the.foreign modem ban." (3) The Post Office has undertaken

only to underwrite early development,,and in the long term, provide storage

and networking facilities. It has made a unique arrangement whereby TV

r

irmanufacturers and the information i ustry are involved in the development

of PRESTEL. The Post Office looks to the TV manufacturing industry to

develop and market TV sets with integral modems (for reasons noted above

in #2) and it looks to the information industry to develop and input the

information into the database. This, too was an innovative idea and

conceptually .overcomes several ethical problems for a state organization

of having editorial.control over a database aimed at the general public.

The Post Office offers no editing censorship or monitoring facilities.

What is lost.with this approach is the potential for a comprehensive, inte-

grated database.. What remains is a system where information providers

.(IPs) come to the database facility on an ad Wic basis to enter their

information more or less independently. The Post Office does provide a

crude indexing service 'which identifies Information Providers and their

subject areas. A database searcher might access this index for preliminary

subject guidance.

How PRESTEL Works

The designer of the system, Sam Fedida, has outlined some initial

design assumptions, the consequences of which have some impact on the way

13

16

PRESTEL works.31

(1) The database.had to be very large in order to sAtisfy the

information needs of modern society and to ensure that the range was broad

enough to attract a sufficiently large body of users to establish a low

cost mass market.

(2) The communications medium between user and data bank was to

be the existing telephone network, a well developed, but essentially narrow

band service.

.

(3) The time taken for informatipn retrieval had Co be very

short, a maximum of two seconds to ensure satisfactory quality.

(4) The viewdata system potentially had to be capable of supporting

a host of communications and other facilities, e.g. person to person

messages, educational services, and computational services for the student

and small business.

The consequences of these assumptions were that the information

provided had to be based on a dj.stributed network of computers (to give users

local call rates) eadh of which would be capable of storing the data in

a random access device. A wideband medium such as cable TV could have

been used, but the cost to install such a network nationwide was so high

that the idea was discarded. In any case, it would not serve the purpoie

of increasing telephone usage and hence revenues on the existing net:ork.

Though developed on an HP2100, PRESTEL now is running on a GEC

4080 computer. The PRESTEL software is written in CORAL/BABBAGE and the GEC

operating system is written in CORAL. It is claimed that the PRESTEL

software took some 20 man-years to write.32

The GEC 4080 is a process cont-

trol computer rather than a "number cruncher," since the need c.as for data

coficentration and.communications switching to give quick response times.

14

tl

It is a small machine, virtually a mini-computer. The nearest comparable system

in,the U.S.A. would be the PDP-11/70.

To establish a connection with the PRESTEL computer, the user

dials the computer's telephone 'umber (or presses an autodialer button

on the keypad). The signal iL then switched from the telephone set to

a modem (modulator-demodulator). This device modulates the code on to

a voice frequency carrier, within the speech band, thus obviating the

problems encountered with very low frequency transmission over the

telephone network.33 It converts analogue telephone signals tc a digital

signal.. The modem is part of the decoding apparatus of the terminal.

Other 'elements of the deeoderAthis list is oversimplified)

are a line isolator (to protect-the telephone network from dangerous

high voltages present in the TV), a memory (to store data foe divlay),

a display generator (which transforms characters stored in the memory to

the dot patterns required for display), and a controller/processor (to

synchronize the operation of the components). TranSMission to the computer

from the terMinal is at 75 baud (75 bits per second) and from the computer

to the terminal at 1200 baud.- This standard was arrived at to fit in with

a well tried and readily available iodem.

On connection with the system, the computer transmits a first

frame-which requires the user to enter a user number. An autodialler could

conceivably do this without the user being aware. The user is then offered

the first of a series of PRESTEL'index frames. To.access the information

, desired, the user has two options: (1) If the frame number is known, he

can key directly to it by pressing the three button keypad sequence,

15

18

Diagram 1 - Simplified layout of the PRESTIL systemshowing the telephone system at the top and the hOme

and office terminal at the bottor.

Overall pictwv of connections inViewdata, showing the telephonesystem cut the top and the home andolnke terminal at the bottom.

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touowerir IN NIE CM=". ;Zw ft

f

From S. redid*, "Viewdata 3 - Operation of the system:terminals and codes." Wireless World 83:1496:65(Apri1,1977)

. 9

0

* frame number #; (2) The user can interactively search through the database

using first the index alkd then key options offeree on each frame as the

search progresses.

The database is structured as an hierarchical tree. Other database

retrieval systemswhich could have been used are: (1) Print'and publish a

total index and make it available to ail users. This involves an added

expense in printing and distribution and presents updating problems. In

fact, an abbreviated subject and Information Provider index is being pub-

lished and three different magazines (one each published by International

Printing Corporation, Eastern Counties Newspapers and the Pinancial Times;

have arisen around this index as service industries; (2) Use a Keyword

index approach.. This posed three pioblems which, although suited it to

professional use, had facets which w,.!re seen as inappropriate to PRESTEL:34

(a) the keyword approach requires a thesaurus of sYnonyms or

descriptors which are meaningful to the computer.

(b) a more complex.keyboard would be required.

(c) keywords increase the complexity and hence cost of the search.

The tree structure Appears to-be the most appropriate hierarchy

for a medium like PRESTEL. It has been suggested that this is because the

tree approach seems to replicate the structure of cognitive.thought pro-

cesses in humans most closely.35 'Earlier work has suggested that tb f. common

classification systemsare too shallow and too broad, whereas the optimal

shape for a structure (in terms of minimum user search time) should be

narrow and deep, three to five information items to be selected at each

successive level of the structure, and with as many levels as necessary

for the datAbase size.36 This is more or less the PRESTEL situation.

17

The system has 10 levels with 10 potential choices at each level, giving

a present theoretical 'capacity of sc e ten thousand million frames. In

reality, Information Providers are being placed in the system at the

third level, which positions them above some 10 million frames. In

practice, although ten selection choices are available from each frame,

information providers seem to ese no more than half of them once preli-

minary indexes have been offered and the search becomes more specific.

So PRESTAappears to meet the format suggested by Thompson. At least

in general terms, it'is deep and not too broad. A powerful option

available in PRESTEL is the crossreferencing facility which allows re-

direction to other points in the database rather than just step by stepr

vertical movement. As an example of database design, diagram 2 shows.

a "Travel to the U.S.A." promotion.

The Onscreen Display

PRESTEL displays static alphanumeric information in the ISO-7

sub-set of the international ASCII code of 96 characters. Seven colors

are available: red, rreen, Amdlow, blue, cyan, magenta, and white. In

this writer's experience, aome of the colors are "more equal" than others

and this tends to restrfct the color range to fewer than seven. Red

and blue are dark colors which tend to blur along character edges making

the characters indistinct. Since the usual background color is black

(more recent terminal developments allow the back4round color to he

varied), this aggravates,an already less than desirable situation. Given

does not blur across character edges, but it, too, is a dark color whose

use might be discouraged because of this feature. Magenta is a strong

color, almost'too strong, in the sense that it is uniettling (dissonant?

. le

2 1

-Lima '

3 Fam-hUS dex US History

& Factbook

3General TraveVisitor 'Ito US

Information

SaUS ndex

3bU S

t

1

Regular . BudgetAirlines Standby

-eharters

Reg onsof US

Major Ne3 co

Cities

Airfares Destination Des ination10 Cities Region

1

ndex , New York

Nth East

3c 0

Atlanta

1

Boston

2

& Washington Hiami &D.C. & Sth EastNid-Atlantic

2

Chicago

1 2

US Index General How to aetInformation Aroun

22

Dallas

4

Chicago & Atlanta Dallas &Mid West & South Sth West

4

mit

trl II 11igi*Eas"sax01,mfals1;54,00

...t

441346:ow* /sixw. A.osir 2prne

21.6Los Allgeles,._

& West ""a)

5

Los Angeles Miami

--TrawWhere to What to

Stay See

r 00 Poo

7 8 9

New Orleans New York San WashingtFransisco DC

r 17 18 -19Where to Where to Sports & Theatres Regional

Eat Shop Recreation & Clubs Trips

21

offensive?) to the eye. It is appropriate for use only as an effect and

does not seem tocoordinate well with the other colors, which probably will

further limit its u3e in combination with others.

After sustained use of an editing terminal, white, too, became

an outcast', if only because it seemed like a "hole" waiting for a color

to bAinserted. This effectively.left just cyan and yellow as base

colors for the text. They are bright, intense colors, attractive and easy

to read.

How these colors perform on the gray scale of a monochrome

screen was never observed, nor is it mentioned anywhere in the literature.

Yet monochrome sets are planned to be the basic terminal CRT for the

business market. The display format is 24 rows each of 40 characters

giving a total capacity of 960 characters per frame. In practice, frame

capacity is less than this. 'The top row is reserved for frame identity

information, the Information Provider name, the frame's unique number, and

the frame cost to the user. The bottom row is used for computer control

messages. Control characters are invisible, e.g. color change characters,

graphic/letter change characters between word spaces, and these make up a

proportion, say 10 percent of the total character allotment. Distortion

and cutoff on the edge of the TV screen suggest the television production

:faction area" allowance should be made, thus avoiding the fringe of the

screen in frame layout. Thus, aesthetic reasons also limit the total

characters used per frame. In a text only frame, the limit approaches

100 words. If a graphic was also included, the word count drops away

sharply. This writer further found that certain graphic formats could

force the 960 character limit to be exceeded early in the frame design.

20

24

ige

To4,51

If a vertical line was set up near the right edge of the frame, the

character counter in the system appeared to count all character positions

to the left of the line as used, even if they were not. This aspect

prohibited the use of continuous vertical lines in design which tend to

the right of the frame.

Characters are formed on the screen using a 9x5 dot matrix.41,

"."; Upper case characters used a 7x5 matrix with the two extra lines of the

matrix aVailable for lower case descenders. Graphic displays are based on

-a character posiiion, dividellinto a 2x3 matrix. A color could occupy

just one cell in the matrix or all 6. But each matrix can only take one

color. This matrix system leads to a "stepped graphic" format in visuals

which does not lend itself to curves or diagonals. In earlier editing

terminals, a blank character position was required to hold a color change

control character. In other words, colors could not butt against each

other in tkie same row. This has been overcome with a specification amend-

4

V t. Other display facilities include a larger (three row) text format

ca, i alphagraphics, double size lettering, flashing of specified

characters, and background colors other than black. An example of a

"stepped graphic" visual is included as Appendix II.

'The Editing Terminal and the Input Mode

The manual inputting of materials is a slow and laborious

business. Yet, to date, it is the only way to ensure a unique frame

design. Bulk inputting, so far, does not lend itself to anytitinq more

than the inputting of text. Manual inputting times range from 5 minutes

for a text only frame to an hout for a complex graphic and text frame.

21

0-

Although this writer kept no down-time stacistics, his experience in

Britain from October-December, 1976, suggestel 10-20 percent,of time was

spent recoverine from system error. Line interference distorted portions

of frames which then had to be i:ebuilt. Half-built frames could be "lose

in transmiseion and Would have to be rebuilt. Experience suggested

that complex visuals be built and sent for encoding in the computer a

qua-ter of a frame at a time to cover the potential for loss of a sub-

stantial inputting effort. The check-recheck process to ensure that a

frame was encoded error-free further aggravated the heavy time investment

of operators. The transmission speeds are slow and are a fusrther encum-

brance to a proficient operator. Ali this points to offline, intelligent

editing systems with bulk transfer to PRESTEL in order to exploit ad-

vanced editing.facilities not available to the online terminal.

There are five change modes available online to an editing

terminal:

(1) Enter- the creation of new fram.-.

(2) Delete- the deletion of frames.

(3) _Amend- the alteration of frames, but not their -ross refer-.

encing selections.

(4) Overwrite- the alteration of frames and cross referencing

seleitions.

(5) Copy- the copying of frames from one part of the database

to another.

All these modes are heavily constrained, ostensibly to protect frames in

the tree below the one being edited.. these restrictions are sometimes

difficult to comprehend. For example, bulk deletion is difficult, but

22

26

a. s-

rather deletion has to be effected frame by frame.

Types of Services on PRESTEL

(1) General access infOrmation. This is material available to

-anY user, theerange of which is indicated by the subject and Information

Providerindez in Appendix I. Three examples which might have diffekent

updating requirernts are sports results (updated constantly); news,

weather, and classified ads (updated daily or more frequently); travel time-4

tables (updated infrequently).

(2) Closed user groups (CUG). This is a restricted access

facility of interest perhaps to_ trade organizations, multi-plant com-

genies, suppliers to a specific commodity area. (e.g. pharmacies or travel

agencies in Houston) or subscribers to a specialist research service.. In

eath Closed User Group, there is a gammunitir of interest on the one hand

and some proprietary information to be distributed on the other. AcCess

to the CUG hy its members would 5e controlled through a special passv-rd;

(3) Action Frame. This is one of the strOngest marketing

features of PRESTEL. It is a facility which allows a user to respond to

an.inquiry by sending a message to an Information Provider through the

system. The user can do this either 1y authorizing the release of his

-name and address or by entering a credit card number. All this is done

merely by pressing the appropriate keys on the user keypad. The user

responses are stored in the central computer where they can be called up

by the appropriate Information Provider kor display on his screen. Future

enhancements could involve ;a) storage of user responses downstream:at

an Information Provider's intelligent terminal; (b) compatibility with a

23

third party database, e.g. an airline reservation system, whereby a user

could make timetable inquiries, reservations and,ticket purchases all off

his 'lime scrip. -Possible exploiters of this facility include Book of

the Month Club,.Record of the Month, magazine and club subscriptions,

mail order retailers utilities bill payments.

(4) Messages. This is a facility whereoy USers can send messages

to each other using the computer to store the message,until the receiver

calls it up. Since the user keypad so'far has only a numeric facility,

the message would have to be of a preformatted nature, e.g. birthday

greetings, personal travel schedules--"I will be home at (enter timel

tonight:" The message facility is not available at the moment. A future

enhancement might be terminal-to-terminal message exchanges without going

through the central computer. Another enhanCement might be an alphanumeric

keypad so the user can actually compose his own messages.

(5) Conversation. Although not generally available, this

facility was derdonstrated in 1978 as an aid to the'deaf. Using a split

screen, 2,users can carry,on a liye conversation written on screen.

(61 There are several other Uses which exploit a more interactive

mode through algorithmic conptruction. These include (a) calculations

(mortgage payment analysis, for example), (b) questions with choice of

answer dictating subsequent computer responses (e.g. a question sequence

to identify eligible adoptive parents (c) teaching exercises, e.g. a '

demonstraiionQf the principle of mothents in which balance is displayed on

screen and the user selects choices of pivot position and Weight. SubSequent

frames display the effect of these pivot and weight choices on the balance.

The system can also impose a time limit within which the user should complete

the problem.

24

28

Future Enhancements Possible on PRESTEL

,Mlany opportunities and directions for development are offered in

the literature surrounding PRESTEL. Estimates of the time these develop-

ments might vane 'online are necessarily vague, hanging as they do on:

(1) User acceptance of viewdata systems, which in the view of this writer

is the most critical yet least understood factor of all; (2) The Post

Office's ability to ineet system development deadlines. So far, failures

in this area have caused serious credibility problems in the launching of

the system. (3) Developments in the transmission network, for example, _into

eptical fiber technologyi with consequent higher transmissicin speeds. These

are seen as becoming available in the 1:::e 1980s..

There are a lot of enhancements possible under the current standards

of the system and projections have them coming online through the mid 1980s.

.1Some examples of future enhancements are:

(I) Intelligent terminals. These are terminals with built-in

. computing and storage facilities which could operate offline or online with

the PRESTEL system and cope with bulk transfer of material.41.

(2) Portable terminals.. These are small handheld terminals which,

dOuld be connected t, the.PRESTEL system through any telephone receiver.

(3) Radio terminais. These are terminals with the facility to hook

into the telephone system from some.remote location by radio.

(4)- Public terminals. These are coin operated and, in fact, are

already available. They wou.ld be plaaed in public areas such as libraries,

railway stations, large building lobbies.

(5) Clustered terminals. At the moment, transmission speeds are such

25

29

that one terminal connection to PRESTEL uses the telephone lines for,only

about one fifth of the time. Thus, with multiplexing, it is possible to

have 4 or 5 terminals connected to the same line and operating at the sane

time with consequent line charge economies.

(6) multi-language terminals. Expanded terminals which can aCcommo-

date, for example, the Cyrillic alphabet of Eastern Europe or the accented

langua4es 'of western Europe. HoweVer, this intrudes on the sensitive area

of international standardization (if across the border networking is the aim).

The situation is further aggravated by the fact that same European countries

(e..g,. France, Sweden) are developing their own viewdata systems and to dif-1'

ferent standards.

(7) Terminal attachments. This is a poten4ally prolific area, the

range of which is probably only limited by the ingenuity of suppliers. Same

examples might,be: a) Printers--2 types of printers are possible, one which.

gives a crude facsimile of what haS appeared on screen for.recoidkegping

purposes only. The other need, of perhaps more.appeal to bUsiness than the

home, is a high quality print format which can produce material offscreen to

be used as a.medium of communication in its own right, e.g. letters,.nemoranda.

b) Ca ette retorder--as an alternate storage device of onscreen material.r

c) Call indicator--perhaps a small light on'the terminal Which would indicate

to a user that.a message awaits him in the system. This is analogous to the'

message indicator seen on a hotel telephone.

(8) Access to third party databases. This facility could be of

considerable importance to the success of the system. At the moment, there is

no compatibility, with other databases and new information fer PRESTEL has to

be entered frame by frame. This is obviously a limiting factor on the amount

'

26

of information whial can ever be available on the system. Experience in

existing interactive online systems, which are primarily in the drea of

bibliographic'search, underline the need for access to more than one data-

base. This same experience, however, also underlines the fact that campati-

°

bility across different systems is not easily achieved.37

An example of

-the advantages from access to third party databases is that of accessing an

,aiiline'and a hotel 'database in order tc plan, reserve and purchase a trip

all from one terminal.

A qualification should be made to the point that there is preSently

no compatibility with thirdIdatabases. There are, in fact, two options which

give a rather tenuous form of coipatibility:

a) Private viewdata systems. These are an elaboration of the

intelligent terminal. Two electro4cs firms have announced private viewdata

systems (Philips & GEC) and claim compatibility with PRESTEL inaofar as

-bulk transfer of information is possible between them. The facility for a

.PRESTEL usei to search a database on these private systems is not available.

GEC system's mai'n\parketing thrust (as of DeceMberc 1978) was at

the Information Provider population.38 For larger IP operations, the faster

transmission speeds available on the closed systems (2400-9600 baud) and the

ability to program special editing features to be performed automatically can

lead to improved operator productivity.39

Although Philips has announced a

Private viewdata system for small office Computers, no company has announced

a private viewdata system in competition for the same market as PRESTEL. The

Post Office claims it is geared, as a common carrier, to provide netwcirks as

required, and that it would welcome competition for PRESTEL.40

It remains to

be seen whether the Post Offiqg can, institutionally, tolerate competition to

27

PREsTEL.

b) A seocond approach which points to compatibility with third party

databases is tbat of software packages for converting information held on con-

ventional computer filet into the format and structure required for loading

onto PRESTEL. One such package is PREvIEW.41

Such packages are a step in the

direction of transparept interactive televition't i.e. systems

containing the necessary converter or translator to help the user circumvent.

the need for understanding all the specific differences of databases, systems,

pomman4 languages, vocabularies and access protocols.42

PREVIEW, however, is

not uier oriented in this sense. Bather, it is aimed at the Information

Provider ind effects the restructuring and loading of existing databases into

PRESTEL. It is not interactive and nor, at this stage of its development; is

it very sophisticated in terms of graphic display and technical variability

beyond IBM files.

(9).Opti3al scan input. With the rather primitive inputting facilities

available to information providers at the moment, there is a need to be able

to optically scan materials as an input mode. This_might help operator produc-

tivity. Primitive forms of this enhancement are available.

(10) Connection to telex. This would give three key advantages to-A'

the telex systemS: a) it would eliminate the need to reenter messages for

multiple recipients; b) it would provide a store and f-rward capability;

c) it would increase the number of telex and viewdata outlets as well as

providing a new message mode, telex to viewdata or viewdata to telex.

(11) Downstream loading of.software. This is another capability

accruing to intelligent terminals. In this instance, not just frames of

information are transmitted to user terminals, but whole software packages.

28

32

An immediate example is that of videoganes where, at'present, a cassette

has to be purchased. In the future, A software package could be "rented" ,

online for downstream loading onto the home terminal.

(12) Electronic "newspaper." The provision of this enhancement could

be further refined using a saftware package which helps develop an information-

need profile for each,user. The "pre-edited" newspaper (unique to that user)

could then be held, say, in the message storage area ready for recall online

at the users convenience.

(13) Electronic mail. Given the increasing cost of delivery of Mail,

there is considerable scope,' in the long term, for electronic mail delivery.

Using a printer at the delivery terminal, the end result could look very

much as it does now - a letter aelivered by a postal carrier. Yet, with

increasing transmission ppeeds and visual definition being improved. the

prospect for overnight delivery (when line use is low) is a very real one, and

with potentially large savings.

(14) Word' and graphic processing. This is a software enhancement

which is needed immediately to give Informatioa Providers more flexbility.

At the moment, there is no facility to insert new lines of text and shuffle

succeeding lines, no automatic editing functions, no automatic curs= positioning,

no scope for graphic manipulation in size or onscreenlposition. The input

mode is primitive and changes are only possible through deletion and reentry

or overstriking.

(15) Full alphanumeric capability in user keypads. For users without

an editing terminal, the user keypad, at'the moment, is numeric only on tha

output side. This allows the addreasing of particular numbered frames, and

on the input side, the triggering of preset character strings for message

29

purposes or 'credit card purchases. A full alphanumeric keypad would give

greatly increased interactive power to the user, provided, of pourse, the

software was available for the full keypad to be exploited.,

(17) The ultimate enhancement, from the User's point of view, is

surely the ability to proliide a two-way audio channel and a moving picture%

instead of the present still frame. The viewdata literature does not oVer

any ideas on the viability of this idea. Viewdata is seen, at the moment, as

primarily a medium for text and not pictures. The fact that Lnformation

Providets ate even trying to build visuals on their frames is considered

somewhat revolutionary. A two-way audio channel implies the system has a

speech tecognition channel as a user input mode, as well.as a keypad. The

state-of speech recognition in information science is such that this notion

is probably sti.l verging on sdience fiction.

Some PRESTEL Costs (in U.S. dollars)

The following is a sampling of PRESTEL mists to give some indication

of the medium's expense. Since many of the costs are of a proprietary nature,

these figures have of neceisity been drawn from press reports. Although this

writer is confident that they approximate reality, the figures should be

treated with appropriate caution.

(1) The basic Mark I editing terminal can be tented fi41M the Post

0 Office for $800 per .year.

(2) A more advanced Mark II or intelligent terminal can be purchased

from a manufacturer for $12,000 to $20,000.

(3) Offline multiple terminal intelligent editing systems cost from

$30,000 upward.

30

3 4

.(4) The bulk loading program PREVIEW is priced at $16,000 as a one-

off establishment cost and $44000 per year subsequently.

(5) Decoder prices are volume sensitive. Early quotations are

around $600, but mass production promises to bring the price down to under

$50 over the next few years. Texas Instruments are one of the leading decoder

manufacturers up to March 31, 1979.

(6) Information Providers have paid $500 a year to the Post Office

as an annual service charge, plus $2.00 'a year per frame of their allotment

as rental. These charges are increasing from April 1, 1979 to $8,000 service

charge and $8.00 per fraMe rental. A plan by the Post Office to 'impose charges

for editing frames is presently being vigorously opposed by the Information

Providers.

(7) Up to now (March, 1979) user frame charges were quoted by Infor-

tuition Providers on a per frame basis from .$0.01 upward, depending on the

Information Provider's estimate of what the market will bear (usually 2-5

cents for general information and up to 500 for proprietary finanCial infor-

mationY. Included in this charge was a frame levy of $.01 charged by the

Post Ofkice. From April, 1979, a new.charge basis is being introduced, laraely

-

at the instigation of the Association of Viewdata Information Providers. The

charg,s,proposed are 3p. ($.06) per minute in peak times and $.02 a minute

in of6eak times. The time.zones have not yet been clarified but presumably

will coincide with telephone call time zones. This charge will be levied in

addition to the prices Information Providers charge for accessing their frames.43

All charges are recorded by the computer and incorporated with the regular

telephone accounts. With purposeful use of the printed directory, personal

noting of favorite frames and automatic frathe retrieval facilities built into

31

35

4

the receivers, .the new tariff is considered to be a cost saving advance for

users.

(8) A high volume electrical and TV/audio products chain has taken

up 400 frames (plus management services) in another Information Provider's

allotMent at a cost of $20,000 far a year. That works out at $50 it frame.

(9) The British Post Office estimates that by 1980, it will have

invested $70 million on PRESTEL, including an extra $46 million made available

early in 1978 for the provision of new computer'centers in London Birmingham,

Norwich, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Leeds and Manchester. The,service presently

operates with one computer in London. Expenditure is expected to increase

to $200 milli6n by 1985.

'A User Orientation

Throughout the literature cm PRESTEL and viewdata, one thing stands

out. The point's of view of prospective users are conspicuous by-their

absence. The Medium has been the play9round'of electronic technicians who,

with little or no help from social science, have been left to invoketheir

own concept of a user. For example:

"encycloiedic databases should be worth a few million calls a week"

"The general public is anxious to use the capabilities of.computers"

"How to communicate with someone who has only had a high school

education or less"

"You also have to configure hardware and software consistent with

customers who are not sophisticated and therefore do not expect^

anything to break"

The designers of viewdata do not look down on the user as being

32

36

"naive," "unsophisticated" or slightly below par as regar4s to'

educational standards.

"'Viewdata will be an important force in the change to a society where

electronic retrieval is increasingly being considered normal and

cost effective."

An investment of some $40 million of public funds to date and projec-

tioni to $200 million by 1985, have been fuelled by the optimistic forecasting

of system designers and marketing executives who really have not proved that

the system is anything more than a laboratory indulgence. "You have a humber

of technicaia driven people out there who are trying to make a. business case

out of their own perceptions..44

This is a critical point. Not only because

public funds are t stake in England, but because this development in the

marketing of the computer from a specialist to a mass audience is a radical

innovation and if a dramatic slope on the diffusion curve is to be. achieved,

then surely the user profile should be a more important input in the process.11

The alternative is the fate which befell AT&T's Picturephone and the signifi-,

cance of that lesson is the setback it apparently:gave to subsequent movements

to provide computer information services to the public.45

Theodore Levitt's argument for a consumer orientation seems relevant

here.46

After examining organizational failures in several industries (but

not the information industry), Levitt concilded that the reason the growth

or organizations is threatened, slowed or stopped is not that people do not

need the products or services, but that managers have been product-orientd,

rather than consumer-oriented. He emphasizes that managers must probe deeply'

into the baSic human needs that an organization is trying to satisfy, rather

concentrate on the raw materials the organization works' with in ''order to

33

31

Vs

deliver customer or client satisfaction. A plea has been made for study of

the information needs and information-seeking habits of the target population

to ensure that design goals are plausible.47

Although this study related to

the more specialized field of bibliographic search, the point seems relevant

here too. 'The twa authors suggest that a general survey of anticipated

users may reveal predictors of behavior that would be overlooked in a narrower

focus on the user at a particular interface. .0n the other Ilan), .they'concede

that it is very difficult to assess how people will feact to 4 new technology

iter

before they have experienced it. The prospective user often has an unclear

picture of the proposed interactive facility. Therefo/-e his opinions may be

of limited value in helpingthe researcher predict the impact of.the innovation.

The di;igners of PRESTEL are confrontet by this-problem. What is clear from all

this is that the int'roduction of an effective.service will cause a change in

user habits.48

Thus, there is a need to continuously collect data to help make

appropriate changes in the system. New users mUst continuously be sought and

49aggregated. One list of suggested recommendations is:

(1) the application of consumer behavior models;

(2) the use of channel-of-distribution techniques (to gain insights

into the efficiency with which g utility is transferred from production to

consumption);

(3) the development, of organizational structures capable of coordi-

nating the uSe of marketing tools in public and private organizations;

(4) the use of market segmentation to define and measure the needs

of sUbgroups of ,users.

. Given thalt 'this type of information niay well exist, but because of

its proprietaiy nature it is being withheld, this writer suspects that none

34

38

..... 041

of Kuehl's recommendations are being applied,to the marketing of viewdata.

Item 3 has been attempted insofar as the Post office has set up its PRESTEL

organization as a separate profit center to help in marketing the system.

This has not stilled criticism that the Post Office does not have the .

marketing, managerial and software skills to deliver the system.50

Why a feedback gap between user and designer exists is difficult to

understand. It has been suggested that this may be because the user is the

one least under the designers' control.51

Two other ideas presented are

(1) that historically there has always been a feedback gap between researchers

and innovation developers and administrators, and (2) the functional specifi-

cations of the financial sources ofmany innovations do not see any justifi-.

cation-for investment in the feedback component.52

This point-seems valid

in the case of PRESTEL, where it appears that the Post Office has adopted

jabs view that the "system will work so let's get on with its implementation."

PRESTEL is not alone in this area. In the U.S., the Educational

Resources Information Center (ERIC) have already experienced similar problems

in not having a user study component.53

In light of this, it is suggested

that PRESTEL, too,needs clearer empirical data on:

(1) the detinition and characteristics of potential users;

(2) Mae conimunication behaviors and information needs of these

potential users;

(3) the information diffusion and dissemination strategies for the

new system, and

(4) strategies to facilitate user feedback and consequent system

modification.

35-d.

There is a large literature Store extant on this subject of

behavioral issues in the use of interactive systems. It has developed Gut ,

- of the more specialized area of the searching of bibliographic databases

54by specialists. This literature is full of questions and insights Which

do not always agree with conventional wisdom.

All this is not to say that the initiators of PhESTEL have moved

fOrward without any user research at all. But it does suggest that not

enough has or is being dclne. There is a need to know more about attitudes

to this new medium and sto its different services, to-what kind of concern ,

it:engenders in usets. The readability of the text format and colors is

unknown, online times in duration and time of dayi search strategies including

those not available on the system, privacy concerns, attitudes to costs,

system response time, system reliability and search success rate are.all

aspects on which information is sparse or non existent.

The Post Office has been involved with two research projects of.

note. The first in 1977 which involved interviewing 500 private residents

and .100 business people. This study apparently gave some directions for

c' database content, plus, predictable interest in the medium.. A larger,

more scientifically designed study is currently under way inl:rolving 1500

subjects (750 residential, 750 business), most of what are randomly sampled

from three metropolitan areas. Some business people will be selected as .

well to ensure a range of business types. This study is longitudinal in

nature and should present useful demographic/attitude data. Usage and

search data is still less than satisfactory as the "housekeeping" software

in the PRESTEL computer is not yet able (at December 1978) to report valid

frame accessin% data.

36

40

4

4

A predictably optimistic report for the potential of viewdata

in the U.S. has recently appeared based on a "representative saigple" oi

52 people who were given demonstrations and then discussed the new medium

in "focus group meetings,55.' All this user research material appears to

be structured to aid in the planning of marketing programs for the medium

-ritther than as a tool to aid in thi': system's user orientation development.

There is surely need for both approaches.

Some Problems in the Development Triad

(1) The Post Office:

The problems of standards in the quality of information being

entered in the database is a subject which has not really been attacked,

and under the present structure, is one not easily attacked. That is, of

course, if it should be attacked at all. There are factions amongst the

Information Providers who fear that controls might lead to debilitating

regulation.

There are two types of quality problems: whether, from a user's

point of view, the material he is accessing is current, or whether information

accessed is consistent with existing advertising standards (Or whether it

should be?).

Both problems are potentially serious ones, mainly because of tde

facility available in the design of PRESTEL for direct'purchase off the

screen. This can be affected, for example, by the inputting of a credit

card number. The Post Office has shown little concern with the problem so

far.' This is consistent with its approach of having no editorial control

over the medium. There have been "discussions" held at the instigation of

31

the British Standards Authority

uphold the standards of honesty,

traditionail media."56 The ASA's concern is that viewdata could become "a

haven for all sorts of crooks and misleading advertisezs'who could not find

a bbme in the existing media," and since information providers can input'

their inforination directly from their own terminals, there is no way that

advertising material submitted to the system cab be scrutinized in advance."

The ASA has suggested that existing COdes of practice be extended to PRESTEL..

,

The Post Office's position is that criminal and civil law provides an adequate

standard. The Post Office contract with Information Providers has a clause

(ASA) about how material on viewdata "should

decency and integrity observ_d by more

rprotecting the Post Office against civil liability with regard to inputted

information. But the Post-Office has no protection against criminal liabi-

'lit*. The organ,ization of Informatibn Providers already in the system,

the AsSociation of Viewdata Information Providers (AVIP), is known to be

concerned about the problem of advertising standards if only-because there

is the potential for the loss of goodwill towards the medium. The AVIP is

trying to draw up a "Code of Conduct," but since the Association is a

voluntary'organization which does not have all Information Providers as

members(approximately 30% are members), it is not clear how effective this

move will be. No formulas have yet been offered which might resolve the

problem.

(2) The TV Manufacturers:

The set manufacturers have had a lot of trouble in their corner

of the triad. They have seen the Post Office shift its position several times

on critical technical matters. The Post Office has modified its ban on

foreign attachments to the telephone network to try and encourage decoder

38

_

development in the prtvate sector. But the Post Office has also imposed

vigorous standards on those attachments. It took some time for the Post

Office to announce the standards and it is taking the set manufacturers some

time to obtain Approval within those standards.

The Post Office, after promoting PRESTEL as an information medium

for the home, realized that its databases would not be large enough, and

the price of sets and decoders (up to $2000) would be too large to rely on

46 the residential market to launch the system. So, in 1977, the Post Office

switched its aspirations to the business community, presumSbly a less price

sensitive sector, to launch the-public trials of PRESTEL in 1979. Thus the

set manufacturers were then encouraged to produce a smaller monochrome set-wa

' for business use. Frustration at the rate of production of these sets

apparently provoked the Post Olfice into announcing it might market business

terminals itself.57

Anticipating a demand of no more than a few thousand

sets, in the,first year or two, the set manufacturers were treading wailly.

The fact that teletext and PRESTEL are two or three years apart in

development; with teletext in operation now (trade union problems, notwith-

standing), has made the set manufacturers the subject of a rumor among

Information Providers that the manufacturers might try and exploit the

situation by developing a teletext-only decoder for marketing immediately and

hold the combined teletext/PRESTEL decoder for a later generation of TV sets.

This would enhance the marketing cycle of TV sets, an ol5tion perhaps

attractive to an industry facihg a more or less saturated market. There has

been no indication if there was any truth to the rumor. But Information

Providers, with heavy investments in PRESTEL frame content, are sensitive to

suggestions that there will be no TV sets capable of accessing their frames

39

4 3

in the marketplace in the near future.

(3) The Information Provider:

The Information Provider is in a vulnerable position, between the

Post Office and the TV set manufacturers. Frequently small operations,

they have signed on to a system without an established market, an idea

looking for a home. Since PRESTEL cannot accommodate existing computer.

files, the Information Providers have had to generate new frames manually.

Limitations in the supply of editing terminals had slowed their ability to

generate their databases. This delay, plus managerial confusion in the

Post Office has meant several missed start-up dates in public trials. And

this, in turn, has jeopardized the viability of some Information Providers

'who\need their frames to.be on display to generate revenues. To add even

further to the confusion, there has been some question about the ability

of the Post Office's "housekeeping" system to account for and pass on the

revenues, and generate the frame access data needed for assessment of the

efficacy of an Information Provider's database.

Information Ptoviders live found:

(1) limitations in software developmentlgivinq them bulk transfer

problems;

(2) an inflexibility on the part of the Post Office to handle

system modifications;

(3) unannounced computer downtime;

(4) difficulties in gaining acceSs to the computer for editing

during peak hours;

(5) too rigid frame pricing arrangements which did not allow the

Information Providers to price individual frames as they saw fit.

40

4 4

(6) 'restricted facilities for the updating of frame information

throughout the proposed computer network. one amusing instance was disclo-

-sure of the plan to update other computers in the network by the overnight

transfer of tapes using road. transports

As of December, 1978 there were 151 Information Providers on the

system and 85,500 frames had been inputted out of 4,tatikof 190,000 frames

allocated.. TV set delivery delays were causing serious problems in

launching the large scale research trial and raising questions again about

the ability of the industry to deliver sufficient sets to meet the hoped

for user demand when the system yent public some time this year.

The Prospects.for PRESTEL'in the U.S.

A small preliminary market trial of the PRESTEL system of viewdata

in the U.S. suggested "the likelihood of viewdata taking on in a big way in

-8the U.S This optimism is countered by the reality of the situation in

the U.S. where a different regulatory system ha's shaped a different tele-

communications stru ture. The British Post Office can oifer a complete

PRESTEL service in B itain. It can operate the computer centers, rent

storage space to Information Providers and provide the communications

network. In contrast, U.S. policies have sought to separate communi-

cations from data processing functions. As a result, it appears at the

moment that no single entity in the U.S. can assume.the strong entre-

preneurial role of the British POst Office in introducing a service such

as PRESTEL in the

Grundfest and Baer go on to point out that regulation may core.1

from more than just the FCC, but also from state public utility commis-,

sions, a regulator of intrasUtte common carrier service. They note that

41 5

the general information service would probably classified as data processing

and be left relatively free of regulation. But services like PRESTEL's

message forwarding facility arguably make PRESTEL a hybrid telecommuni-

cations service.and thus would be subject to FCC regulation.

Grundfest and Baer also see serious problems with collection of

frame charges as this might revire access to telephone carrier's billing

systems. This raises complex issues analagous to the cable TV pole attach-.

ment controversy where the telephone companies tried to deny access to

cable operators.

The,question of the idapact of costs on the user is a difficult one

to assess before reliable information comes available. Assuming there

is a demand for this type of information retrieval in the U.S., it would

seem safe to also assume that the system might succeed even at a higher

cost level in the U.S. than _in England. Per capita income and disposible

income.is higher in the U.S. The U.S. seems to have a large market-for

electronic gadgetry--witness the CB rad4D and videogame boom. There is.

some evidence too, that automated information channels provided by many

cable TV operators do enjoy approval and frequent use.6° The advantage

cited for automated information channels is their availability, 24 hours a

day. That is one of the key claims of PRESTEL.

The larger population in the U.S. also suggests that (a) specialist

information markets with their inelastic demand curves might be viable as

well as or instead of a mass market; and (b) the volume/price sensitive

decoder can more easily achieve economies of scale in production with the

possibility of a conseql:Int dramatic drop in prices. It.has been noted

that a fragmentary and system-incompatible development process would be

detrimental to the evolution of the medium in the U.S.61

This may be

42

4 6 r,

true, but surely a fragmentaiy system is more consistent with American

aspirations for a dispersed/diverse press. If the analogy holds, then

there is merit in diverse databases. And the advent of tr-Insparency

systems to provide compatability between dgferent databases coad help

solve problems of fragmentation-.62

It is the opinion of this writer that any delay in the intro-;

dUction of the PRESTEL version of viewdata caused by institutional

barriers should be seen as an advantage. It gives the British Post

Office a chance to prove that it can shake its system out of its

present managerial and technical doldrums and deliver useful market-.

ing data and workable systems. The delay will also cut the load time

the British system has over its competitors, thFs allowing U.S.

interests to select a tehenology from a range of offerings. These

would include the Canadian, French and German systems as well., The

British system is very much a prototype. Its delivery system and

display format is primitive and restricted in scope. There is a need

for more evaluation and development of PRESTEL and of competing systems

as these come online.

References

'Kenneth Edwards, "Electronic news delivery needs only FCCencouragement for Invasion of USA" (paper presented to the Newspaper

Division, Association for Education in Joyxnalimm, Seattle, Washingtoh,

Ap5ust, 1978).

2S. Fedida,. "Viewdata, The Post Office's textual information and.

communications system: 1 .-,background and introduction," Wireless World

33:1494 (February 1977), 32-36.

3"BBC Ceefax." Mimeo. -C Engineering Information. Sheet 4008(5).October, 1975. BBC Engineering Information Department, London.

4Alvin Toffler, Future Shock (London: Pan Books, 1971), p. 226.

sPaul Baran, "Potential market demind for two-iir54 information

services to the home, 1970-1990," Report No IFF-R-71-26, Institute for the

Futuxe, Menlo Park, California, December, 1971, p. 1.

6Rdb2rt E. Lynch and John R. Rice, v2,e_ntirimast±_tICcmters:Tlndse

(New York: Holt, Rinehart, Winston, 1977), p. 421.

7"Viewdata--a Review and bibliography," Online Review 2:3 (1978),

217-224.

sS. Fedida, "Viewdata, The post Office's textual information and

communications system...," p. 32.

9"The state of the fifth estate: perils and prospects over the

.

electronic horizon," Broadcasting 96:1 (January 1, 1979), p. 42.

1()Louis Vagianos, "Today is tomorrow: a look at therfuture infor-

mation arena," Library Journal 101:1 (January 1, 1976), p. 163.

11S. Fedida, "Viewdata, The Post Office's textual information and

oommunications.system...," p. 33.

12Ibid.

13P.S. Warwick and G.W. Phipps, "The Picturephone system, Computeraccess," Bell System Technical Journal 50:2 (February, 1971), 600A3-700.

14E. Bryan Carne, "Telecommunications: .Its.impact on business,"

Harvard Business Review 50:4 (July-August, 1972), 127.

44

48

15Wa1ter S. Blier, "Interactive-Television prosgects for two-way

servi4es on cable," Rs....rt R-888-RM, (Santa Monica, Cllifornia: RandCorporation, November, 1971) p. 77.

16Lynn Hopewell, "Computer Communications: an introduction and

overview," in Computer. and Communicationi: Proceedings of the,FederalCommunications Comiesion Planning Conference, November 8-9, 1976, (Montvale,New Jersey: APIPS Press, n.d.),,-p. 15.

17New York Times, December 29, 1973, p. 31, cited by Walter S. Baer,

"Intelli5ent Terminals for new communication services," Hand Paper P5460,(Santa Mbnioa, California: Rand Corporation, August, 1975), p. 13.

18Lynn Hopewell, "Computer Communications: an introduction

and overview," p. 15.

19Ibid.

20William Kowinskif "Talk Back to Television," Penthouse 10:7

(March, 1979) 125-128+1 David Lachenbruch, "Will it Play in Columbus?"TV Guide a0:52 (December 24, 1977), 2-5; Harry F. Waters, "TV of Tomorrow,"Newsweek, July 3, 19780 pp. 62-73.

21"Tvo-way cable poised for major test in Columbus," Broadcasting

(November 21, 1977) 42-43.

"William Kowinski, "Talk Back' to Television," p. 128.

23"When a .computer bank teams up with a TV set," Business Week,

Junat 19, 1978, P- 40M-

. 24.Optical fiber network to link Japanese homes," Canadian

Datasystems 9:4 (April, 1977), 55-57.

25"Three firms agree on data system for TV viewers." Wall Street

Journal, August 18, 1978; "Pilot demonstration is paanned of informationsystemfor home," Globe and Mail, August 18, 1978/ "Videotex - the homegrown

'Canadian viewdata system," Communications InternatiOnal, 5:11 (November, 1978),6; "Viewdata Systems" Supplement, Financial Times, May 9, 1979. 6,9.

26"Systems rivalry for international viewdata and teletext: the

Antiope system," Wireless World, (Auguet, 1978), 40-41; John Lloyd, 4PostOffice viewdata system leaas world," Financial Times, Noirember 9, 1978,p. 9.

27John Lloyd, Ibid.

28"When a computer bank teams up with a TV set."; "Viewdata Systems,"

Supplement, Financial Times, May 9, 1979.

29"PO is pressed on Prestel," Conutin Eurcye, July 20, 1978.

45

49

I.

30G.D. Rosch, "Technical side of viewdata," Telephony, 195

(July 10, 1978), 140+.

31S. Fedida, "The viewdata computer: How information is retrieved

at the command of the subscriber," Wireless World, 84:1508 (April, 1978),44.

32Rex Malik, "The TV as a terminal: viewdata would enable British

'ICIV viewers to dial up databases," Datamation 24:3 (March, 1978), 213-214.

33S. Fedida "Viewdata 4 - The viewdata terminal in more detail,"

Wireless World 83:1497 (May, 1977), 56.

34S. Fedida, "Viewdata, The Post Office's textual information and

communications system," p. 36.

35David A. Thompson, °Interface deiign for an interactive infor-

mation retrieval *17 gem: a literature survey and a research systemdescription," Journal of the American Society for Information Science (ASISJournal), 22:6 (November/December, 1971), 361.

36David A. Thompson, Lawrence A. Bennigson and David Whitmanx "Aproposed structure for disp1ajedw4mformati6n to minimize search time througha database," American Documentation, 19:1 (January, 1968), 81.

4037Martha E. Williams, "Online retrieval - today and tomorrow,"

Online Review, 2:4 (December, 1978), 359.

A.V. Xorda, Personal interview. GEOPrivate Viewdata SystemsCommercial %tanager. Wembley, England, December 18, 1978.

39"GEC Editing system and remote data entry station for viewdatainformation providers," Sales brochure, The General Electric Company ofEngland, Hirst Research Centre, Wembley, Eqgland, May, 1978.

40A.A.L. Reid, "Competition for viewdata welcomed," Correspondence

from.Viewdata Project Manager, Post apace Telecommunications Headquarters,Wireless WOrld, 84:1507 (March, 1978), 55.

41"PREVIEW user manual," Langton Information Systems, London, no

date (1978?).

42Martha E. Williams, "Online retrieval," p. 361.

43"PO switch to time charges soon," Viewdata and TV User, 1:2

(January, 1979), 9.

44"When a computer bank teams up with a TV set," p. 40M.

.111,

45E. Bryan Carne, "Telecommunications," p. 127; S. Fedida, "Viewdata,The Post Office's textual information and communications system," p. 36.

46

46Theodore Levitt, "Marketing myopia," Harvard Business Review, 53:5

(September/Otobsr, 1975) 26+.

47Thomas H. Martin and Edwin B. Parker, "Designing for user acceptance

of an interactive bibliographic search facility," in Donald E. Walker (ed.),Interactive Bibliographic Search: The User-Computer,Interface (Montvale,New Jersey: AFIPS Press, 1971) pp. 45-52.

48John L. Bennett,

in Carlos A. Cuadra, AnnualVolume 7 (Washington, D.C.:

"The 'user interface in interactive systems,"Review of Information Science and Technology,ASIS, 1972), pp. 159-196.

49Philip G. Kuehl, "Marketing perspectives for 'ERIC-liAe' infor-

mation systems," Journal of the American Society for Information Science,23:6 (November/December, 1972), 359-364..

5°"Viewdata needs endouragement," Editorial, Wireless World, 84:1506(Februery, 1978), 25.

51John L. Bennett, "The user interface," pp. 159-196.

52Nan Lin and William D. Garvey, "Information needs and uses,"

in Carlos A. Cuadra .(ed.) Annual Review of Information Science and TechnologyVolume 7 (Washington, D.C.: ASIS, 1972) pp. 5-37.

53Ibid.

54Lance A. Miller and John C. Thomas, Jr., "Behavioural issues in

the use of interactive systems," International Journal of Man-Machine Studies,9:5 (September, 1977), 509-536; Thomas H. Martin, "The user interface ininteractive systems," in Carlos A. Cuadra (ed.) Annual Review of InformationScience and Technology Volume 8 (Washington, D.C.: ASIS, 1973), pp. 203-219;John L. Bennett, "The user interface," pp. 159-196.

55"Enthusiasm for viewdata in the U.S.," Viewdata and TV User,

1:2 (January, 1979), 13.

56.viewdata morality under discussion,". Computing, March 30, 1978.

57John Lloyd, "PO may market Prestel business terminalsr" Financial

Times, December 8, 1978.,

58.Enthusiasm for viewdata in the U.S.," p. 13.

59Joseph Grundfest and Walter Baer, "Regulatory barriers to home

information services," Rand Corporation Paper P6106 (Santa Monica, California:Rand Corporation, June, 1978).

60Stuart J. Kaplan, "The impact of cable television services on the

use Of competing media," Journal of Broadcasting, 22:2 (Spring, 1978), 155-165

61Kenneth Edwards, "Electronic news delivery."

62Martha E. Williams, "Online retrieval," p. 361.

47

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REMEMBER. TO

53GET TO THE PAGE YOU

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1268 14231

1651 164SAC 4421815PEC 234

315 Institute for Scientific Information 555I i 5 Institute of Terreatnat Ecology 274

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WANT. PRESS *PAGE NUMEIRT:Z

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