roundtable: non-discriminatory video dial tone

roundtable: non-discriminatory video dial tone

non-discriminatory video dial tone

Glenn S. Tenney (tenney@netcom.com)
Tue, 15 Mar 1994 01:43:34 -0800 

Message-Id: <199403150943.BAA23516@netcom9.netcom.com>
Date: Tue, 15 Mar 1994 01:43:34 -0800
To: telecomreg@relay.adp.wisc.edu, roundtable@cni.org
From: tenney@netcom.com (Glenn S. Tenney)
Subject: non-discriminatory video dial tone

What does non-discriminatory access mean when it comes to video dial 
tone?  Let's say that the MSO has 5,000 video sources available and 
you want to add yours to make it 5,001 -- how do they add you to the 
GUI in a non-discriminatory way?

What does it mean when they present these 5,001 channels in a hierarchy 
of selections (one metaphor might be a video version of a major shopping 
mall)?   How do you provide all stores the same "visibility" as every 
other store?  Aren't some "stores" (ie. channels) going to be down 
infrequently travelled corridors?

If I were designing the GUI for such a system, please tell me how I can
make it easy to use, user friendly, convenient, *AND* satisfactorily
non-discriminatory.  On the surface, "non-discriminatory" seems to be at
odds with every other design criteria for a user interface.

Example: You are using Unix; all commands must be presented in a
non-discriminatory manner; presenting a menu of the 5,000 commands 
(hey, we're including all of the public domain software here too) can't 
be done by grouping them by "category" since some command's author might 
think their command was mis-categorized;  and ordering them alphabetically 
would make it virtually impossible to use...

---
Glenn Tenney
tenney@netcom.com   Amateur radio: AA6ER
(415) 574-3420      Fax: (415) 574-0546

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