Analysis of information sources in references of the Wikipedia article "Viewtron" in English language version.
People bought it. We delivered. They were satisfied. But they quit using it because they didn't really want it. It wasn't more news or more information that users wanted, it was communication—interaction not with a machine, but with each other.
Like letters to the editor, people can enter frames for everyone else to read. There will be editorial control. We'll read the messages first and not let anything through we consider libelous or obscene
Discussion about users always centered on what was being offered for them to consume rather than what they might do with the technology to share information once it was in their possession
Bulletin board contributors were held at arm's length when they tried to converse. In the rare case where individuals' innovative uses were recorded, they were derided, and the picture of a dystopia without newspapers was painted.
It was always assumed early adopters would be welloff
The memo described the general stability of the Southern Bell phone network that would provide Viewtron data connection.
A crossed out section of the memo reads: "Don't expect videotext to follow the newspaper model. It will probably become a much more competitive business, with much lower barriers to entry and exit." Recognizing the low barriers to entry and crossing that statement out of the memo suggests an unwillingness to recognize the shaping of the technology that was happening before VCA's eyes. This also speaks to the nature of the project itself as an experiment in a technology by a company who viewed that same technology as a threat. At times it seems as though KR was content to build a $50 million technological straw man just to watch it burn.
In fact, internal documents show a strong understanding of the challenges of providing a product that could potentially create its own market and an understanding of the new market emerging as people shaped the technology. It was not ignorance that led VCA to shut down; it was a fully conscious decision not to pursue the technology that, when fully developed would have low profit margins and low barriers to entry. Rather than continuing to develop online media, they chose to kill the project. They began to envision a world beyond proprietary electronic media. They did not like it, and KR got out after losing $50 million, which was, after all, the price of a midsized newspaper at the time...It often seems at though the project was an expensive exercise in proving that the newspaper was a superior information delivery format.
Because my staff had planned from day one that this was likely to happen, we needed about 24 hours to tweak our code to work in the new system. Not so with other departments. The "vision" wasn't very far out.
Viewtron was spending about 80 percent of its budget to create news, which generated less than 20 percent of the revenue. That's when KR executives decided that this was NOT a news medium and they wanted to continue to be a news company.
The more closely we approached a viable service, the less it looked like a newspaper.
Like letters to the editor, people can enter frames for everyone else to read. There will be editorial control. We'll read the messages first and not let anything through we consider libelous or obscene
Discussion about users always centered on what was being offered for them to consume rather than what they might do with the technology to share information once it was in their possession
Bulletin board contributors were held at arm's length when they tried to converse. In the rare case where individuals' innovative uses were recorded, they were derided, and the picture of a dystopia without newspapers was painted.
It was always assumed early adopters would be welloff
The memo described the general stability of the Southern Bell phone network that would provide Viewtron data connection.
A crossed out section of the memo reads: "Don't expect videotext to follow the newspaper model. It will probably become a much more competitive business, with much lower barriers to entry and exit." Recognizing the low barriers to entry and crossing that statement out of the memo suggests an unwillingness to recognize the shaping of the technology that was happening before VCA's eyes. This also speaks to the nature of the project itself as an experiment in a technology by a company who viewed that same technology as a threat. At times it seems as though KR was content to build a $50 million technological straw man just to watch it burn.
In fact, internal documents show a strong understanding of the challenges of providing a product that could potentially create its own market and an understanding of the new market emerging as people shaped the technology. It was not ignorance that led VCA to shut down; it was a fully conscious decision not to pursue the technology that, when fully developed would have low profit margins and low barriers to entry. Rather than continuing to develop online media, they chose to kill the project. They began to envision a world beyond proprietary electronic media. They did not like it, and KR got out after losing $50 million, which was, after all, the price of a midsized newspaper at the time...It often seems at though the project was an expensive exercise in proving that the newspaper was a superior information delivery format.
