Guest Editorial: Interactive Picture Information Systems Where From? Where To?

The system concept and technology threads which are being woven together to yield the interactive picture information systems of today have evolved over many years. The first part of this paper looks at the current systems called, generically, TELETEXT and VIDEOTEX. It then traces major threads in the evolution of these and some extended systems and presents some interesting, and, undoubtedly in some instances, some surprising historical background. The final part gives an overview of the contributed papers of this special issue and some editorial comments.