Great Britain’s videotext Prestel was the first viewdata system in the world and is considered a prototype to the Internet. It was a planned, technological wonder for online information and communication that other countries adopted. After a whirlwind of demonstrations and promotions, it failed to achieve a mass market in its own country and its creators’ dreams of a networked world. This article analyses why and how Prestel was developed and marketed, and its public reception, using the framework of platform studies and adding systems theory.

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Sound & Vision
doi.org/10.18146/tmg.845
Tijdschrift voor Mediageschiedenis
creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0

Davenport, Lucinda D. (2023). The Viability of Viewdata as a Mass Medium: A Case Study of Prestel, the Prototype for Computerized Information Systems, the Internet. Tijdschrift voor Mediageschiedenis, 26(2), 1–29. doi:10.18146/tmg.845