The Japanese New Media Development Association (NMDA), an auxiliary organization of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI), was originally established in 1972 as the "Visual Information System Development Association" to develop the Hi-OVIS (the world first completely interactive optical visual information system). In October of 1984 the organization was renamed the "New Media Development Association," and modified and expanded to add study and technical consulting for new media and their further application to the original activities.