Cot~erertceslBook resiews

Alex Reid explained, the privacy of the

individual may also be threatened.

Opportunities will arise to force more

information on people. Individuals’ use

of communications facilities may be

monitored. a possible solution to which

would be building systems of instantly

selectable transparent shielded channels.

New telecommunications facilities will

upset the equilibrium of society, and

legislation. which usually lags behind

new technology, must respond to the

challenge.

There is a great need for a continued

monitoring of and planning for the

changes in society resulting from the

rapid development of computer

communications technology. David

Firnberg. UK National Computing

Centre. called for this to be done at the

national level. On the one hand,

technology can bring many benefits to

our material circumstances and way of

life. On the other. substantial changes in

employment patterns. for instance, have

already resulted in considerable

industrial conflict.

Funds should be made available to

equip schools with ready access to

computing facilities. Professional

institutions and higher education

establishments should be encouraged to

institute short courses, and employers

should urge their staff to attend them.

Parliamentarians. union leaders, the

media and all who influence public

opinion need to develop an

understanding of computers and tele-

communications. so that legislation and

social awareness can be kept ahead of

the impact of the new technology.

Alex Reid. There are three types of

service: alphanumeric, audio and audio-

visual; and three categories of audience,

ie one individual, groups of up to about

100. and audiences of thousands or

millions. The alphanumeric services will

be extended to the provision of

messages to groups (computer

conferencing and word processing) and

to millions (teletext). Audio services can

be extended to groups (citizens’ band

mobile radio and audioconferencing).

Audio-visual services can be provided

to groups (one-way cable television and

two-way television for holding meetings)

and to individuals (video telephone).

The pace of introduction of these

services will vary. Audio-visual

conferencing needs wide transmission

bandwidths that cannot be shared

simultaneously by many users, and is

thus very expensive. Books, magazines

and television use conventional

technology that is highly developed and

relatively cheap. In other cases, such as

with cable television, the market forces

will be constrained by government

regulation. Generally, however, as the

cost of technology falls, electronic

alternatives to a wide range of services

will become increasingly competitive.

French network

The decrease in data transmission costs

due to the introduction of public packet-

switched data networks opens the way

for the development of new

applications. Dr B. Lorig and Dr L.C.

Guillou, Centre Commun d’etudes de

Television et Telecommunications

(CCETT), described the services likely

to be implemented on Transpac, the

French network, in the next few years.

Message services will include electronic

mailboxes. value-added facsimile

services and electronic mail. Access to

databases will be provided via Titan (the

CCETT interactive teletext) terminals.

Electronic funds transfer systems will be

developed for such domestic

applications as point-of-sale systems.

German data services

The Deutsche Bundespost, FDR. has

been integrating its established digital

services with its new data services up to

9600 bit/s to keep costs down, and it

has recently been decided that the text-

communications service Teletex will be

operated in the integrated telex and data

network. Digital facsimile will also be

provided on this network.

W. Staudinger. Deutsche

Bundespost. outlined the facilities that

will be offered. They will include, as well

as the development of Euronet,

interconnections with other database

services such as ODIN. a German

decentralized databank system that will

provide access to a number of

databanks in 16 fields of specialized

information (eg medicine. energy,

physics and law). Pilot studies are being

undertaken on the provision of a

national packet-switching network, eg

the Bernet project of the Hahn-Meitner

Research Institute. which will take place

over 1978-79. As communication shifts from

pluralistic and diverse media to

multipurpose integrated electronic communication systems. fresh opportunities will arise for certain

groups. be they government, private

individuals or unions, to control the flow

of information. On the other hand, as

Book reviews Future for Viewdata

TELETEXT AND VIEWDATA The report presents a useful factual

review of the technical and commercial

A Mackintosh Monitor Report, 7 11 characteristics of the teletext and

pages. Mackintosh Publications, viewdata systems. But - as an

Victoria House, Victoria Street, Luton, admittedly biased reader - 1 would

Beds, UK, 1977 differ fundamentally from the authors

Amanda Harper,

G uildford, UK

on their approach to forecasts of

demand for viewdata.

Their central demand assumption is

that teletext - the broadcast text

services such as the BBC’s Ceefax and

the Independent Broadcasting Authority’s Oracle - will have a vastly

larger market than viewdata. the equivalent wired service offered over the

telephone network by the Post OBicc.

Thus the report assumes that about

TELECOMMUNICATIONS POLICY September 1978 255

10% of teletext customers will have

viewdata by 1985. Elsewhere it is

argued that the existence of teletext is

the key factor in creating the

opportunity for viewdata.

Range of services

Both these propositions are, in my view.

high]!, questionable. Although more

expensive then teletext, both in initial

purchase and use. viewdata can offer a

much wider range of services. Already

more than 100 information providers

have booked a total of 100 000 pages in

the viewdata market trial system. due to

come into operation in mid 1978. and

the computers for the public service

(due to be launched in the first quarter

of 1979) will have a capacity of at least

250 000 pages.

From the start. viewdata will offer an

‘action page’ feature. allowing the user

to send simple messages through the

computer to the information provider.

for example requests for sales literature.

We are already in discussion with credit

card companies to make arrangements

for credit card purchases to be made in

the same way. Later. viewdata will offer

other interactive services. such as

calculations. games and messages. This

range of services contrasts with the one-

wa!’ transmission of a few hundred

pages offered by teletext.

A customer who has invested in a

teletext set could - well before 1985 -

have access to the wealth of viewdata

serGes for a fairly modest additional

equipment cost. His or her use of the

serticcs could then be as much or as

little as desired. with charges incurred

according]!,. I find it improbable that

Broadcasting for consumers WHOSE MEDIA’

by Peter M. Lewis

176 pages, f3.95, Consumers’

Association, 7 4 Buckingham Street,

London WCZN 6DS. UK, 1978

Communications pohcy is a quicksand

round which UK governments tread

very gingerly. As a rule policy is made

by default. on the sound principle that

doing nothing looks like wise caution,

whereas making decisions creates more

enemies than friends. The future of UK

broadcasting is at the centre of the

quicksand. The Annan Report on the

Future of Broadcasting landed on the

Home Secretary’s desk in March 1977.

all 522 pages and f3 I5 000 worth of it,

and results in the form of a White Paper

were still awaited as of May 1978.

When the life of the IBA (Independent

Broadcasting Authority) was extended

to I98 I by Parliament in April of this

year. it became apparent that there is no

hope of legislation in the present

session. The delays have caused

despondency in many interested groups.

But the production of ‘Annan fodder’

has continued as voluminously since

His Lordship’s report as before it. Peter

Lewis’s book is an attempt to consider

the afterbirth to Annan.

Conservation in the air

The book is brief: seven chapters, an

introduction and a conclusion in less

than I50 pages of text. Its publication

by the Consumers’ Association (though

not without a cautious disclaimer about

the views expressed) is a clue to the

book‘s standpoint. Lewis sees himself as

a conservationist. ‘that is to say. I regard broadcasting as a use of part of

the natural environment and as worth)

of as serious public scrutiny as land use

planning’. But he is also an old hand at

both broadcast management and

lobbying. Among his more recent

adventures in the field were a salutary

spell as manager of one of the

experimental cable television stations,

Bristol Channel. He has since become a

ieading light in COMCOM. the recently

formed community communications

information exchange and pressure

group. The book is therefore informed

by the hard knocks of experience as well

as by the rosy, if exasperated, optimism

of a communications visionary.

The ‘media’ of the title means

broadcasting, and the book is intended

only 10% of teletext customers wou/d

take the viewdata option.

To argue that teletext is the ke!

factor in creating the opportunity for

viewdata is surely doubtful. There is an

overwhelming tide of technical

development in electronics - in the

pocket calculator. the digital watch.

automotive electronics. and the home

computer - which will bring the

computer terminal into the home and

office with or without teletext. Teletext

is part of this general movement. and a

ver! valuable part. But teletext (and

\,ie\\dnta) are thcmscl\,es part of a much

\\ ider process of invasion b\

microclcctronics of home and worh.

Alex Reid,

Director,

Post Office Viewdata,

London, UK

to put a little meat in the sandwich

between Annan last year and WARC

I979 (World Administrative Radio

Conference). the forthcoming wrangle

on frequency distribution no doubt

eagerly awaited by readers of this

journal.

Chapter one is a brief account of

broadcast technology. summarizing the

debate about frequency allocation fair]}

straightforwardly. though not without a

tilt at the obsessive and suspicious

secrecy surrounding the large chunks of

frequency space held by the Ministry of

Dcfencc. This is followed by a rather

unnecessary basic guide to the structure

of the IBA and BBC. including lists of

stations and other information available

in handbooks and annual reports.

Chapter three is about the post-Annan

debate. and summarizes the report, with

a commentary derived from

COMCOM’s response to it. COMCOM is envious of the Canadian system. and

wants to adopt Annan’s proposal for a

Local Broadcasting Authority, but with

longer grass roots in the form of public

and local scrutiny and debate of station

franchises and documents.

The remainder of the book turns from

production to consumption. It opens

with a guide on what to do if you

256 TELECOMMUNICATIONS POLICY September 1978