TELETEXT AND ITS USE IN SCHOOLS by GARY DAVID COOKE A Master's by Course Dissertation submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the award of the degree of MSc in Computer Education of Loughborough University of Technology, January 1989. Supervisor: Mrs M P A Green by GARY DAVID COOKE 1989 ABSTRACT Television teletext is a public viewdata service, a British invention in the nineteen-seventies, that was envisaged as a data store for a national computer­ literacy project. This dissertation examines the devel­ opment of the technology and its benefits to schools. Although both the IBA and the BBC transmit a teletext viewdata service, it is the BBC's CEEFAX that has had the greatest influence on education. After launching a computer-literacy project along with its microcomputer and television transmissions, the BBC developed its teletext service to provide both information and a transfer ·of computer-based learning materials. Reception of the latter became possible with the BBC microcomputer teletext adapter. This, in turn, gave rise to the the CEEFAX Telesoftware Service, a section of CEEFAX dedicated to the provision of electronic data, primarily for education purposes. The educational achievements of BBC Telesoftware have been barely documented and this dissertation largely has that as its aim. i DEDICATION This dissertation is dedicated to Jeremy Brayshaw, the Telesoftware Organiser of BBC CEEFAX. When the time came to submit this work for final assessment the BBC introduced sweeping changes to the format of its teletext service and this necessitated the closure of the BBC Telesoftware service. During the time that it had been in existence, the BBC Telesoftware Office had. achieved a great deal in making information technology a familiar tool for schools and home users. Jeremy Brayshaw was the Telesoftware Organiser throughout most of that period and is to be credited with steering the telesoftware service towards the achievements that are recorded in the text that follows. ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I am indebted to the following for their assistance in the completion of this dissertation: Jeremy Brayshaw ............ BBC Telesoftware Office Mrs M.P.A. Green ........... Dissertation Superviser Corinne Cooke •........... for the patience & coffee iii DECLARATION This text in this dissertation is the sole work of Gary Cooke unless otherwise credited. Gary Cooke 28.11.89 iv CONTENTS i. Abstract . i ii. Dedication ii iii. Acknowledgements. iii iv. Declaration iv v. CONTENTS. V 1 . Introduction. 1 2. The development of Teletext Systems • • 6 3. How teletext works. • . • • • • . 12 4. CEEFAX - The BBC Teletext Service . • 22 5. ORACLE - The IBA Teletext Service • . • 29 6. The CEEFAX Telesoftware Department. 35 7. Viewdata software in schools .....• 52 8. Teletext as a resource for schools. • • 58 9. Conclusion. 67 10. References & Bibliography . 76 Appendix. 8 2 ·---·----------------------------------- Chapter l G.D. Cooke I. Introduction The development of microcomputer technology in the twentieth century has enabled man to construct the computer, a machine capable of handling enormous amounts of information. As in­ creasing amounts of information have become stored as data, so the technology has been developed to enable the data to be accessed more rapidly, more cheaply, and with smaller machines. Commentators[l] on the period have indicated that the effects of this development have heralded such transfor­ mations on so many aspects of our lives that there seems little doubt that we are undergoing a twentieth century technological revolution - the information revolution: Individuals are going to have more control than before over the information that flows around them •.. more power to call for the information ... they need ••• to maintain communication with individuals elsewhere ..• to make use of files and databanks and libraries ... more individual control over information resources no longer far away, no longer restricted from their use.[2] If we are to benefit from the opportunities that this revo­ lution presents us then we must equip society with the skills necessary to handle the tools which control information: Page 1 Chapter 1 G.D. Cooke ... if we are to avoid the fate of other generations that have experienced technological revolution, we have to subordinate the new assets to human need and social control so that we are the beneficiaries rather than the victims of change.[3] If we accept the above as valid comment on the time in which we live then it is likely that we look to Education to equip society with the necessary skills. State Education does not hold a very good track record in responding to the implica­ tions and demands brought about by technological revolutions (see both Ward[4] and Musgrave[S] on the Industrial Revolu­ tion, and Large[6] on the current Information Revolution). The problems are numerous: equipment, buildings, capital, resources, training, and support. But, if Education is to succeed in providing the skills for the new age then a fundamental requirement must be the training of the teachers themselves. They must have the relevant knowledge and a sufficient depth of understanding in order to develop the appropriate skills in their s·tudents. Much of this can be acquired through practice. A great deal can be gained from researching the relevant literature on current technology in education. It is with the latter in mind that I decided to write this dissertation. There is a good deal of literature about the use of computers in Education, but in the research that I have undertaken in studying for this degree I have found Page 2 Chapter 1 G.D. Cooke very little mention of the achievements of Teletext or its potential as a resource for Education. Only Large credits Teletext as having played a role in making us aware of the information resources now at our disposal and the potential it offers for our future: Computer networks can be brought into the home without the help of a home computer. Twin British inventions called teletext and videotex do the job through an ordinary TV set with a few microchLps inside ... symbols of the ·transition to the post-industrial society. [7] This dissertation attempts to record how Teletext technology was developed (chapters 1 and 2), and how the various broad­ casting organisations have embraced the technology to develop their individual teletext information services. For historical reasons the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) has been the most active of our broadcasting services in embracing the technology and developing a variety of information departments and supporting hardware tools. Following the broadcast of the BBC Horizon programme When The Chips Are Down[B], there emerged great concern[9] about the growth of information technology and the comparative illiteracy of the British population. The BBC saw the opportunity of developments with teletext and home microcomputers as a way to combat this national dilemma, and so was born the BBC's Computer Literacy Project in 1979 and the subsequent development of the CEEFAX Telesoftware service. Page 3 Chapter 1 G.D. Cooke The dissertation focuses on the achievements of CEEFAX that have been directly relevant to schools - the development of teletext technology (chapter 3), the facilities offered by the CEEFAX information service (chapter 4), the development of the BBC/Acorn Teletext Adaptor (chapter 6), and the CEEFAX Telesoftware service (chapter 8). Consequently, the dissertation focuses on these achievements and records their development and their use in schools. Chapter 5 looks at the achievements relevant to schools of the Independent Broad­ casting Authority's teletext service, ORACLE. The existence and proliferation of viewdata information services in many aspects of our lives (tourism, travel and banks, as well as television based services) make it inevi­ table that schools might want to emulate this use of tech­ nology and design their own community information services. A review of appropriate software is therefore included in chapter 7 in order to encourage more schools to explore the potential they offer. There are many educational benefits in producing and managing such services and, in spite of the appearance being similar to the larger information services of CEEFAX and PRESTEL, the dissertation shows how the same results can be achieved with very little effort. Teletext is new technology. It is now only fifteen years old but, in that short time, it has undergone a change of style and emphasis. Some of these developments have been benefi­ cial to schools, others less so. It is inevitable that there Page 4 Chapter 1 G.D. Cooke will be further changes and the final chapter attempts to draw together the current trends with a view to estimating how schools may advantage from useful developments in the ~ immediate future. Page 5 Chapter 2 G.D. Cooke II. The Development of Teletext Systems Teletext is a computer-run public information service broadcast as part of the television service transmissions. Teletext services are currently run by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), the Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA) and, more recently, Sky, the satellite television service. The information they provide ranges from news items and the latest share prices to sports results and pop music charts. Teletext information is transmitted as part of the television signal, however, unlike a normal television signal the teletext information is in digital form. This means that only televisions equipped with a suitable teletext decoder are capable of interpreting th~ teletext signal to display the information. This enables the television to act as a source of updated information - an instant newspaper, an encyclopaedia, consumer guide and professional advice centre. Being in digital form the teletext signal is also well suited for use with computers. Both ORACLE and CEEFAX have transmitted computer programs as part of the teletext service they provide. Teletext .was developed in 1971 by the BBC who were seeking ways to provide subtitles on the television screen for the deaf.