[00:00 - 00:10]
The word TELIDON and the acronyms NAPLPS and NABTS appear several times in the same size and font. The words are depicted in gray, three-dimensional block letters with diagonal gray streaks across them, resembling the reflective surface of metal. A small white line streaks across the top edges of the letters, and creates a subtle glint when it hits a new letter.
Image: Black screen. Small white dots of varying intensity fill the space. A small grey circle appears to the left, lower centre. An asteroid or shooting star streaks through space towards the grey planet. It circles it twice and disappears into a brief, small, bright cross.
Voiceover: 1978 was the year when Canadian expertise in information technology made itself known outside Canada’s borders with the development of Telidon.
[00:10 - 00:24]
Voiceover: This provided the basis for the North American Presentation Level Protocol Syntax or NAPLPS.
Image: In blue, the year 1978 grows and overtakes the screen, landing on the lower part of the 8. Inside is a blocky map of Canada in hues of red. The map disappears.
Metallic letters: TELIDON
Green text: NORTH AMERICAN PRESENTATION LEVEL PROTOCOL SYNTAX
Metallic letters: NAPLPS
[00:25 - 00:29]
Voiceover: Just as the ASCII standard made an impact on textual communications the NAPLPS standard will have an even greater impact on graphic communications.
Image: The screen fills with seemingly random green letters, numbers and punctuation marks. Two rows in the middle third dim. In the space…
Green text: ASCII IS THE FOUNDATION OF TEXTUAL COMMUNICATIONS
[00:30 - 00:44]
Voiceover: This videotex and teletext standard implemented in Canada as Telidon received unanimous approval by Canadian and American standards bodies.
A montage of images and text examples of Telidon messages, art and use cases include:
Text: VIDETEX INFO SERVICE: Canadian companies continue to find new and varied uses for Videotex both in the market and the home
Image: A red telephone handset with a coiled wire over a two-toned blue background.
Text: 1984 FISHING DERBY THE LAKE ERIE FISHING DERBY COMENCES ON MAY 24TH PRIZES ARE DONATED BY LOCAL TACKLE AND BAIT SHOPS
Image: Under dark blue water, a brown fish has a hook in its mouth.
Yellow text on a dark grey background with slightly lighter grey grid lines on it: GOLFCO CANADA
Image: Three golf club heads and an unknown diagram with a slightly left-leaning triangle, a white circle is butted against it to the right and a grey vertical rectangle is behind them. Each diagram is labelled in purple.
Text: Elongated blade for more contact area. Unique brass toe weight. Low centre of gravity. Epoxy filled cavity dampens vibrations.
Orange text on a red title bar: MACROS IN ANIMATION
Orange block letters on a blue background: FLIGHT
Image: The Royal Blue background is a sky above a low lying grey city skyline. Three white clouds with flat undersides dot the sky. A small blue plane descends erratically from the top left. It leaves puffs of smoke behind it. It crashes and turns into orange flames on a city building.
Orange text on a red title bar: APPLICATION FEATURING INCREMENTAL
Image on a black background: Different parts of the line drawing appear in succession:
A line drawing of a red bird with yellow stomach and beak is perched on the left of a blue bench. Yellow music notes appear briefly. In blue, a person in a suit and tie sits on the bench and reads a book or newspaper. On the top part of the person’s head, a line drawing of a camera appears, focused on the bird. The word “CLICK” appears.
Image on a black background: Finer details of a red apple with a brown stem and green leaf fill in. Behind it slightly above and to the left is a blocky grey hued apple. It is smaller, but resembles the shape. The red apple sits on a horizontal dark grey surface with slightly lighter grey grid lines. The grid gets more tightly packed as it recedes into the background and meets the blue. Light and dark blue lines mark the end.
Metallic letters: TELIDON
Red text in a red frame is stamped on TELIDON. It reads APPROVAL
[00:57 - 01:07]
Voiceover: Canadian companies continue to lead the way with applications in the videotex area: Knight Rider, Times Mirror, Grassroots, and Teleguide all offer interactive or two-way services that include banking, travel and tourism information, official airline guides, electronic encyclopedias and at home shopping.
A montage of images and text examples of telidon messages, art and use cases.
1. A bar graph titled: Harkem Corporation, MEDIAN AGE BY STATE
2. Labelled diagram of: DRILLING RIG ASSEMBLY AND DETAILS
3. A map of Canada by External Affairs Canada. It reads INTRODUCTION and lists four general areas of Canada from East to West.
4. A small graphic of a computer by External Affairs Canada. The title reads: ELEKTRONISCHE DATENVERARBEITUNG and both the information and controls for the page are also in German.
5. Labour Canada Collective Agreement Provisions. Several bullet points are listed. A graphic of a female-presenting nurse is to the right.
6. A bar graph titled JOB OPPORTUNITIES
7. A possible math statement. The problem is about the average weekly earnings in 1981 of butchers, candlestick makers and bakers. The instructions below read “Press 4 + GO for next question”
[01:08 - 01:20]
On a Dark grey background, four logos or titles appear.
Grey text: VIEWTRON
Red text: GATEWAY
Yellow text: Grassroots
First syllable in green, the second red: Teleguide
Image: A grey, double sided arrow is framed in a grey rectangle.
[01:20 - 01:36]
A montage of images and text examples of Telidon pages.
1. A simple banking transaction spreadsheet titled: TELEBANKER
2. A ship with the title TRAVEL. Menu options include schedules, travel agencies and a Tourist guide.
3. Image: A wavy Canadian Flag
Text: WELCOME To Ottawa, Canada’s capital. Year round sights and sounds are yours to discover in our beautiful city.
4. An airplane above flight schedule updates
5. Image: A red-hued frog with a white belly.
Text: Frog small and often colourful, these insect eating amphibians are found around the world.
6. An ad for STAR WEST MEN’S SUITS with a graphic of a person in a royal blue suit jacket, over a white button down and red tie.
[01:37 - 02:06]
Voiceover: In its teletext application the same NAPLPS standard plus the delivery mechanism combined to produce the North American basic teletext specification or NABTS. Teletext, which is broadcast videotex, is a one-way service transmitted via broadcast or cable television either in the vertical blanking interval called VBI. Or on a dedicated channel known as full channel teletext.
Blue block letters in 3 dimensions: TELETEXT
Green text: NORTH AMERICAN BASIC TELETEXT SPECIFICATION
Metallic letters: NABTS
Blue block letters in 3 dimensions: TELETEXT
Image: A grey hued horizontal rectangle covers the width of the screen and covers the middle section of the TELETEXT word. The bottom of the line has what resembles a thin row of train tracks. It fills in, then opens up again.
The view pulls back. The lines are on the screen of a boxy television set. Its top right quarter is in view. It has a panel of numbered buttons. Above the buttons is a display with red numbers. The numbers descend by twos from 24 to 14. With each change, the TV disappears briefly and reappears slightly to the left of its previous position, then for 16 and 14, it appears closer to us.
[02:05 - 02:13]
Voiceover: Currently, CBC, CBS, and NBC are all running teletext services offering news, weather, sports, stock market, and financial information, travel and leisure and consumer and community information.
On a blue background, three logos or titles appear:
Logo: CBC
Beside it in light grey: IRIS
Rainbow coloured text beside an eye: EXTRAVISION
Logo: A multicoloured peacock tail appears over an “N”.
[02:14 - 02:44]
Voiceover: Broadcast teletext may also be used for program-related services such as captioning for the deaf, allowing text and pictures to be overlaid on the television image for simultaneous translation or for telesoftware.
A montage of images and text examples of Telidon pages.
1. NEWS with options to choose Local, National or International
2. OTTAWA AREA FORECAST, with a sun, clouds, and rain clouds.
3. A sports page announcing a Community fencing competition. $2 FOR AN AFTERNOON OF FABULOUS FENCING.
4. A chart showing DOW-JONES AVERAGES with OPENING/CLOSING INDUSTRIALS
5. FINANCE REPORT with the word INFLATION taking up most of the screen. It has a red jagged line running through it from bottom left to top right. Options are STOCK MARKET, GOLD & SILVER, or MAIN INDEX PAGE
6. The same ship with travel information as shown earlier.
7. The word GAMES with graphics of cards, a ladder and snake, a chess pawn piece. G is written using dice. the rest of the word is in red over a grid.
8. A COMMUNITY EVENTS announcing a ROUNDROBIN TOURNAMENT beside a graphic of a glass with a straw, lime wheel and some green leaves. In front of it is a yellow ball, likely tennis.
9. Behind open venetian blinds, a purple person (likely to indicate they are in shadow), peeks through one of the blinds. In the bottom right corner a yellow handle and keyhole appear. At the bottom, the text reads: HEY, JOEY IT’S THE COPS!
[02:45 - 02:59]
Voiceover: With the respected expertise acquired as a leader of videotex and teletext trials and services Canadian companies developed extensive knowledge and professional skills within the information technology industry.
Image: A dark blue background on the top of the screen, green on the bottom. Over the green, grid lines appear. The grid gets more tightly packed as it recedes into the background and meets the blue.
A small white line zips around the centre of the screen and leaves a red outline behind it. It is the outline of a red maple leaf. The leaf fills with a translucent red. It fills with solid red.
[03:00 - 03:25]
Voiceover: Canadian industry continues to provide consulting services on teletext and videotex worldwide. What does it all mean? Information lies at the heart of any business large or small? If the information systems of your company are faster, clearer, or more persuasive than those of your competitor you have a powerful advantage.
Metallic letters on a blue background: TELIDON NAPLPS
Green text on a black background: VIDEOTEX
Blue text on a black background: TELETEXT
Image: A map of North America. Shades of green generally delineate Canada, The US and Mexico.
Image: The screen fills with three rows of five red question marks.
A green dollar sign replaces a question mark at the top left. Every two seconds, every second question mark turns into a dollar sign.
[03:26 - 03:45]
Voiceover: Videotex and teletext are the basis of the electronic information industry with the cost-effective delivery and distribution of services. They are here now and in operation blending themselves to vast ranges of applications. What are these applications and the benefits to users?
Image: Blue background. The top of the boxy television set appears at the bottom of the screen. About every second the TV disappears briefly and reappears slightly higher than its previous position. The display panel number stays at 24. Once fully in the view, the TV comes towards us until its screen fills the view. In the screen:
Green text on a black background: THEY ARE HERE
Blue 3-D block letters: NOW A smaller version of “NOW” in the same font gets incrementally bigger until it covers the first “NOW”.
[03:46 - 3:49]
Voiceover: In the burgeoning field of education and training where a superior visual aid is essential;
Image: The side view of a person. They sit, hands poised as if about to type. Additional parts of the graphic loads sequentially: a table, computer monitor, keyboard, the black coiled wire of the keyboard attaches to the monitor.
[03:50 - 04:46]
Voiceover: in advertising as a powerful marketing tool; in publishing to reach vast new audiences in tourism providing immediate information that can be quickly accessed and updated; in banking for convenient home services; in real estate where multiple listings enjoy immediate posting and always remain current; in retail merchandising offering easy in-home shopping with the latest product information; as a service to the hearing impaired offering a visual substitute to sound. NAPLPS provides a powerful tool to enhance existing textual information media. And most of all provides an unparalleled opportunity for the creation of totally new methods of training, advertising, and selling.
Deep pink text on a midnight blue background: Century “T” Type FEATURES FOR 1984 3.0 Litre V-6 3 Speed Automatic Aluminum Wheels
Image: The front, rear and side view of a boxy grey Buick.
Image: Two people look at a television screen with a keyboard in front of it. The glow of the TV highlights their silhouettes. The screen is filled with illegible green text and a graphic of a white man in a blue suit is at the top right. A third person appears in silhouette.
Image: The red sun sinks below the horizon and casts light on a purple body of water. Palm trees are in the foreground.
Text: The Great Winter Getaway… SEAT SALE $549
Image: A graphic of a grey building with pillars in front of it. There is a “B” on the facing of the peaked roof. A coiled cord loads coil by coil. It runs from the side of the building towards us. A keyboard appears on top of it.
Text: HOME BANKING
Image: A red house with a two car garage. The house has a solar panel or a sky light, a chimney and shrubbery around the yard.
Text: The ‘Franklin' Our fabulous home can be yours to own with only an $8,000 down payment and $900 a month for 9 years or the rest of your life which ever comes first.
Image: Two stacked grey stereo receivers are labelled and priced.
Text: SHOP AT HOME A, $329.00 B, $460.00 Prices good until Saturday
Image: Three rows of four evenly spaced squares. Each square has an object in it. They are: a bell, a barking dog, a bomb with a lit fuse, an airplane. A teary eye, lightening, an explosion, a door handle with a keyhole, a ringing telephone, a horn, gun and TV.
Text: A visual substitute to sound.
Image: A labelled cross section of a heart
Text: Basic Electrocardiography: Leads, Axes, Arrhythmias
Image: A labelled pelvic bone
Text: Stress Fractures and Related Disorders of the pelvis. Apophysitis Osteitis condensans Ilii; Sacroiliitis Gluteus medius muscle Strain Osteitis pubis
Image: A grey haired man in a blue suit sits at a desk with a computer and keyboard on it.
Image: A close up of a red coiled wire.
Text: Overseas calls Are getting less Expensive. All the time. You can save half the cost of your call if you phone after ten o clock on any night of the Week.
Image: A film camera loads piece by piece
Text: QUALITY OPTICAL EQUIPMENT TO CAPTURE THE GREAT OUTDOORS
Image: A purple mushroom house sits in long blades of grass. Smoke wafts from the chimney.
Text: Once upon a time there was a small magical Mushroom growing in the forest.
[04:47 - 05:13]
Voiceover: As the personal computer industry implements the NAPLPS standard market reach is taking a quantum leap. Canadian companies are currently working with major US corporations providing videotex and teletext systems services and equipment to you now.
Image: The boxy television set. The screen shows a grey coloured owl with black and white feathers on its head. A snow-capped mountain is in the background. The screen changes to show a man in black and white. He wears a fedora hat, a trench coat and a white shirt with a black tie.
HOME ENTERTAINMENT Great movies are just the beginning
Image: An orange wired telephone on a blue background. The phone shape is repeated four times. It is placed behind and to the right of the previous version and each is a darker orange.
Image: The top 2 thirds of a piece of three ring binder paper with blue ruled lines. The white letters D O N appear over a scribble of yellow, pink or green.
Image: A digital rendition of Vermeer’s oil painting called, The Milkmaid. A brown haired woman pours milk from a pitcher into another vessel that sits on a table with a green table cloth. She wears a dress. The top is light blue with three quarter length sleeves, most of which are dark green. Her skirt is a grey-blue. She wears a beige hair covering.
Image: A digital watch with a dark grey face and made of grey metal. The view zooms in. The face reads 10 10 59. Unclear dark grey and red details are above and bel1ow it. The time changes to 10 11 00.
Image: A 2-dimensional graphic: a screen with a keypad panel beside it. There is a floppy disk drive on the right. They sit on a red and white checked surface. A coiled cord loads coil by coil. It runs from the side of the screen. A keyboard appears over the end of the coil.
[05:14 - 05:27]
Green text on a midnight blue background: VIDEOTEX
Blue text on a midnight blue background: TELETEXT
Above the words, two flags inch in from the sides. They are Canada and the US. They join in the middle.
[05:28 - 05:42]
Black screen. After two seconds credits appear:
Aqua text on black: Produced by
White text on black: norpak corporation
Red text on black: copyright 1984
Aqua text on black: Acknowledgements
A red maple leaf of the Canadian flag:
Department of External Affairs
Department of Communications
The screen glitches. Black screen.
Video description by Kat Germain. Modified by Shauna Jean Doherty.
