ABSTRACT
Viewdata is a system which allows a user to access information stored in a remote computer via the public telephone service. This information can be displayed on a domestic television set. Thus viewdata is a type of interactive computer system. The gateway-compatible style of viewdata system is certainly rich enough to allow the development of the whole educational computing gamut, including CAL, information retrieval, messaging, and conferencing systems. As in the Open University, a viewdata system organised for distance education will normally reside on a medium to large central computer at a major site of the institution. Modern viewdata terminals have keyboards very similar to normal computer terminals and have benefited from the same ergonomic developments. A by-product of the ISDN should be a country-wide intelligent data network with reasonable transmission costs, permitting the widespread use of most of the viewdata and related computer techniques currently being developed.
