Interactive Electronic Text in the United States: Can Videotex Ever Go Home Again?

James S. Ettema*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingChapter

Abstract

This chapter considers some of the lessons learned and some of the issues still to be addressed in the adoption and use of interactive electronic text. Despite the business and professional orientation particularly of ‘Dow Jones News/Retrieval’ and ‘CompuServe’ these services probably had the most potential for consumer and citizenship-oriented use of interactive electronic text in this period. A number of the problems in bringing interactive electronic text to market are illustrated by the field trail of ‘FirstHand’ a system that included several consumer and business-oriented information services and thus provided an opportunity for the side-by-side comparison of these applications. The alternative to research on user response to imaginary systems (i.e., user response to actual systems) is also problematic if the goal is to understand the possibilities and problems of widespread consumer and citizenship-oriented use of interactive electronic text. Interactive electronic text seems unlikely to develop into a mass medium in the next few years, perhaps even decades.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Title of host publicationMedia Use in the Information Age
Subtitle of host publicationEmerging Patterns of Adoption and Consumer Use
PublisherTaylor and Francis
Pages105-123
Number of pages19
ISBN (Electronic)9781003820260
ISBN (Print)9781032643809
DOIs
StatePublished - Jan 1 2023

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General Arts and Humanities

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