Prestel: what it is and why trainers should get in on it

It is just about a year, now, since Prestel, the Post Office's new telephone to television communication system was officially opened as a public service. The year has been marked, as is so often the case in this country when we are faced by a brilliant ‘British world first’ technological development, by caution, some moderate public interest and what seems like a desperate unwillingness to grasp the potential which lies beyond the initial presentation of the service. Had Prestel first appeared in America or France the whole world would have been buzzing with interest (indeed it seems that more people have read in the press about the French proposals for a viewdata system which is still a long way from being a public service, than know about our Prestel system which has been working pretty efficiently for a full year) but somehow we British manage not to get too excited in case something goes wrong! Mercifully, not everyone is equally infected by this unwillingness to commit themselves to new ideas. The Post Office has bravely (and they deserve that description) backed Sam Fedida's invention not only by millions of pounds of investment but also by a supportive management attitude and by a willingness to alter some of their own rules to accommodate new demands. Over one hundred companies and public organisations have joined the system as information providers, investing their own time and money, knowing that, during the period of establishment of the system, they will get little return on their investment. The television receiver manufacturers, too, though tardily and very cautiously, have invested in the development and production of appropriately‐modified sets for a market which has yet to be formed by advertising and public demand. So the show is really on the road; and it is up to every one of us whose business is in communication to see what it offers to us now and what opportunities it will offer to us in the future.