Abstract
The Gateshead Shopping and Information Service (SIS) is an unusual experiment in computerised ‘home shopping’ in that it is oriented to disadvantaged consumers (mainly the elderly and disabled) rather than to affluent sections of the population. The immediate objectives are to explore the utilities and effectiveness of new information technologies for helping immobile shoppers; but more broadly the organisers are seeking to address the concern that commercial teleshopping developments might prove to be socially divisive unless special complementary services are also provided for the less well-off. This paper is a review of the progress of the experiment to date and a consideration of what problems and prospects lie ahead.
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