Hi-OVIS:
The world's first completely interactive optical visual information system

Hi-OVIS (Highly Interactive Optical Visual Information System), developed under the auspices of Ministry of International Trade and Industry, is the world's first completely interactive optical visual information system. Actual operational experiments were conducted in 156 homes in the Higashi-Ikoma District of Nara Prefecture. The experiment was completed in March 1986, having achieved the original goals.

The phase 1 experimet, which started in July on 1978 and lasted until March 1982, acheived the following four objectives:

• Establishment of new community in which the public can participate of their own accord
  
• Establishment of the initiative in the selection of information
  
• Contribution to lifelong education
  
• Formation of the local welfare society

The phase 2 experiment, which started in 1982 and lasted until March of 1986, achieved the following practical, business-oriented goals in addition to the phase 1 golas:

• Contribution to the New Media Age
  
• Promotion of application development
  
• Promotion of the use of new media
  
• Examination of various information services as a business

The new system has not only created a frontier for new technology such as optical fibers, but has also provided practical experience in new services bynew media: pay TV, home shopping, home banking, and home security , and has greatly benefited the development and promotion of new media in Japan.

About 35,000 people visited the Hi-OVIS experiment site, and in October of 1984, we had the honor of receiving his majesty the Emperor at the site.
The results of the operational experiment of Hi-OVIS are summarized in a comprehensive evaluation report in English which was published in 1987.

Photograph of the Hi-OVIS Center

Participation in a Two-Way Program at Home