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Interactive television is something that is becoming quite widely talked about these days. In the United States they are going to have 500 television channels but not all of them will be interactive. I understand that there is one called the fish channel, or fish net, or something like this, and it just consists of fish swimming round in front of your eyes for nearly 24 hours out of 24; so it might be very relaxing but I do not know if you can really interact with them much, unless you just open your mouth in the same way they do. Our speakers are going to talk about interactive television. They are going to tell us what it is exactly. They are going to tell us about the transmission technologies that you are able to use, how you actually interact with the programmes. They are going to talk about who is involved in interactive television, and why, and they are going to talk about potential services that one can have available with these devices. Our very first speaker is going to tell us about what interactive television is — Judith Jeffcoate. She is an independent consultant specialising in new markets for information technology, she was the lead author on a report by Ovum on interactive television multimedia, and she has just written a book on introduction to multimedia technology and applications.

This Special Issue of The Electronic Library on the “Impact of information technology on indigenous peoples” gathers articles from several different countries and cultures in an effort not only to highlight the difficulties faced by indigenous peoples with accessing the Internet or using computers, but also to show how they are aiming at self‐determination and supporting their goals as sovereign nations, as well as preserving their heritage. The articles, in most cases specially written for this Issue, illustrate how tribal nations are using information technology to explore their culture, document these efforts, and share elements of their perspectives with the larger world.

The paper will first discuss certain sociocultural trends such as population growth, increased life expectancy, the labour force and education, and look at how these are affecting society as a whole. Such trends are linked with the global economy and the industrial sector as well as the environment. The consequences of such trends are a number of problems which face the world in the future, particularly in developing countries. These problems include overpopulation, levelling off of food supplies, diseases, natural resources depletion, and conflicts and clashes in areas where immigration and cultural differences exist. Such problems are discussed together with their implications. Some ideas are then given on how these future difficulties might be overcome; and it is clear that information will have an enormous role to play in this respect. Topics covered comprise global awareness (for example of the environment, birth control, women's rights, healthcare) through education and information; frontierless transactions; global information access, dissemination, communication and transfer of knowledge; knowledge build‐up and transfer through CDROM archiving of latent skills and know‐how; and the like.

There has been some recent discussion that online, as we know it, is now old‐fashioned and out‐dated—being superseded by CD‐ROM and other technologies. The paper examines the various arguments and looks at where online is going by briefly reviewing some of the developments and trends happening in Europe and elsewhere. It does not purport to be a detailed technical report, but merely provides an overview.

This article summarises a 1989 survey on the use of optical products in libraries and information centres in Western Europe. Out of a total of over 13,500 questionnaires distributed to eighteen countries, some 23% were returned and of these just under 10% said they were using optical products (primarily CD‐ROMs) in their libraries or information centres. Nearly half of the respondents who were using CD‐ROMs had acquired only one product, which, in the main, was used by library staff as opposed to end users. This accounts for the high popularity of products such as Books in Print, BL/BN Pilot disk, BookBank, Ulrich Plus and Verzeichnis lieferbarer Bücher—though Medline was the single most used disc. Many respondents had not yet had their CD‐ROM products long enough to be able to give much information on their experience with them or the impact on users. Where details were provided, it was plain that the optical products seemed to be appreciated by users, contributed to greater information awareness and permitted the library to offer a better and faster service. It is interesting to note that these are exactly the kinds of things that libraries not yet using optical products expected to achieve if and when they did use them. While CD‐ROMs had reduced online searching to some extent, feelings were mixed regarding the pros and cons of various optical products. Searching may have been speeded up, but too infrequent updating of the information was seen as a negative factor together with the price. The price or cost of optical products as well as lack of a suitable budget was also cited by many as the reason for not getting such products in the foreseeable future. In fact, nearly 60% of those replying they were not using optical products in their libraries said they would not be getting them. It is clear that it is the bigger academic libraries with a large collection, a lot of staff and a large user community which are presently using CD‐ROMs and other optical technologies.

Remember that old saying, the customer is always right? Or at least important? Forget it! Like chivalry and Shakespeare, it's dead. Would that I had never heard of A Very Well Known Library Computer System Company Inc. (now both overtaken and taken over!), let alone bought their library system on false promises. How could I ever have been so stupid as to give them my address to add to their mailing list? It obviously works on the same monolithic principles as their library system — you can purge all the records but you can never ever get rid of just the one you want. How many times have I writ‐ten to them begging, pleading to get taken off their mailing list for their smug little press releases and their chintzy little newsletters? All to no avail — like the rest of their customer support, nothing happens.

“Is it the wine or the subject of your next editorial which makes you look so meditative?” — I teased David Raitt on climbing back into the bus when returning from a wine tasting party we both attended along with 350 librarians and information specialists from fifty‐three countries who participated in the recent Second International Conference on the Application of Microcomputers in Information, Documentation and Libraries, in Baden‐Baden.

The Bulgarian national information policy is directed towards the practical realisation of two aims: the development of an efficient information infrastructure satisfying the country's information needs; and the improvement of international information exchange. Both these aims were apparent at the 3rd National Conference on Automation of Information Services which took place in Bourgas, Bulgaria from 17–21 September 1987.

The first Asian Information Meeting was held this autumn in Hong Kong, as a response to the rapid economic growth of the South East Asian region in recent years. Chairman David Raitt said that between now and the end of the decade, Asia as a whole will account for half the growth in world trade, and much of that growth will come from intra‐Asia trading. Asia is a region of social stability, flexible social and economic policies, and a well‐educated labour force, and by the next century will have a consumer market of over one billion people. It is also a region renowned for its advances in technical innovation.