A Low Cost Terminal for the 1980´s: Project Green Thumb

During this decade, low cost informatiom retrieval terminals (IRT\´s) will be available to consumers, professionals, and small businessmen. The mass marketing and distributiom of IRT\´s through retail outlets and the accompanying developement of an information service industry will make it possible for users to have access to vast information banks through existing communication facilities. Despite the obvious complexity of the regulatory enviornment in which the "information age is evolving, market acceptance, technological barriers, the energy crisis, a drive for increased productivity, and other socio-economic factors will encourage the development of information services and equipment. Teletext and videotext information services are already available in Great Britain, France, Germany, Canada and Japan. Many of these are in the test phase and are jointly sponsored by government and industry. In the U.S.A., the first federally funded test is a videotext style farm information retrieval system (FIRS), and is currently being tested in Kentucky. A description of this particular FIRS, Project Green Thumb, its implementation and its future significance is the subject of this dissertation.