An Interactive videodisc project: a case study from the Technical Research Centre of Finland

At the Technical Research Centre of Finland (VTT), an interactive videodisc project was carried out in order to gain experience in videodisc technology and its usefulness for information delivery purposes. The disc ‘Optical data storage and the construction industry’ was produced by the urban planning and building design laboratory. Off‐the‐shelf videodisc products available in Finland were investigated by the Information Service of VTT in order to find the most efficient and versatile Hardwareand software combination. The Information Service also took care of the disc programming. This article looks at the characteristics of optical discs in general and videodiscs in particular. The interactive videodisc system Hardwareand software and the disc production process are described. Guidelines are provided for videodisc designing and production with the needs of libraries and information services in mind.