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| Only 15% of the pioneer Prestel terminals are domestic. The resistance may have an economic component - the terminals are, as yet, too expensive for the household market. However, the less-studied psychological component is worth exploring. It may be, as argued above, that videotex is viewed, consciously or unconsciously, within the context of enclave theory - that is, a future in which people communicate with the world outside the home largely through the mediation of such devices. A more precise where question arises once the videotex terminal does penetrate the portals of the home - where, within the house, will it be used? It is not obvious that it will be the living-room (or wherever the television set is located). If its potential is fully realized, it will not be simply yet another channel on the television set, albeit with interactive potential. It may be where the telephone is located, since people seem to prefer to use it to take action (make reservations at a restaurant, order groceries, make withdrawal from bank accounts, and so on) rather than to acquire information. Peter Desbarats suggests that academics, who conduct research on field trials of videotex, are the only group which has so far made money in the industry. They tend to overemphasize the information needs of the lay-person. As John Carey points out, most people read their morning newspaper as a comforting habit rather than as a means of acquiring information. Marshall McLuhan used to describe the reading of one's regular newspaper as stepping into a warm bath. |
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