Viewdata and SCITEL Bring Interactive Information Systems Into the House

Many Americans with cable television already enjoy the ability to receive various kinds of information on their home TV screens. But continuously displayed news headlines, weather, and stock market information is primitive in comparison to the on-line information access that many professional people have become accustomed to. That is why the imminent availability of interactive communication between citizens in their homes and computerized data banks is news of far-reaching social significance. Since the technology already exists to convert your home television set into a computer terminal operated over regular telephone lines, ISI@ has been investigating potential applications. Recently we have become involved in the development of a system called Viewdata. So far the system, operating in Britain, is in the prototype stage. But if tests planned for next year prove successful, a new era will have begun. In less than a decade more than a million private homes in Britain may have access to an array of information banks that would boggle the imagination even of H.G. Wells, creator of the World Brain. I Undoubtedly, once the political and other impediments are overcome,we can expect that a similar system will become available in the United States, where even more advanced technology exists. Viewdata, developed by the British Post OffIce, allows subscribers to use their telephone lines to select “pages” of text for display on their home TV screens. The information now available to a small test market through Viewdata includes general news, sports, radio and TV program schedules, entertainment (film and performance schedules), holiday and travel information, stock market reports, general marketplace information, and science news. Each Viewdata “page” consists of about 1,000 characters (200 words). What makes the system especially attractive is that the user needs