NOTICE: The project that is the subject of this report was approved by the Governing Board of the National Research Council, whose members are drawn from the councils of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the Institute of Medicine. The members of the committee responsible for the report were chosen for their special competences and with regard for appropriate balance.
This report has been reviewed by a group other than the authors according to procedures approved by a Report Review Committee consisting of members of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the Institute of Medicine.
Support for this project was provided by the Department of Energy (Grant No. DE-FG02-93ER25161), and that support does not constitute an endorsement by the Department of Energy of the views expressed in the report.
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TECHNOLOGY AND TELECOMMUTING: ISSUES AND IMPACTS COMMITTEE
ROBERT KRAUT,
Carnegie Mellon University,
Chair
KATHLEEN CHRISTENSEN,
City University of New York
CLEMENT COLE,
Locus Computing Corporation
FRED GOLDSTEIN,
Digital Equipment Corporation
GIL GORDON,
Gil Gordon Associates
G. ANTHONY GORRY,
Rice University
IRENE GREIF,
Lotus Development Corporation
PATRICIA MOKHTARIAN,
University of California at Davis
LISA NEAL, EDS
Center for Advanced Research
LAWRENCE ROWE,
University of California at Berkeley
CHRISTOPHER SCHMANDT,
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
MISCHA SCHWARTZ,
Columbia University
JAMES MALLORY,
Computer Science and Telecommunications Board
STEPHEN GODWIN,
Transportation Research Board
GLORIA BEMAH, Project Assistant
COMPUTER SCIENCE AND TELECOMMUNICATIONS BOARD
WILLIAM A. WULF,
University of Virginia,
Chair
FRANCES E. ALLEN,
IBM T.J. Watson Research Center
JEFF DOZIER,
University of California at Santa Barbara
DAVID J. FARBER,
University of Pennsylvania
HENRY FUCHS,
University of North Carolina
CHARLES GESCHKE,
Adobe Systems Inc.
JAMES GRAY,
San Francisco, California
BARBARA GROSZ,
Harvard University
DEBORAH A. JOSEPH,
University of Wisconsin
RICHARD M. KARP,
University of California at Berkeley
BUTLER W. LAMPSON,
Digital Equipment Corporation
BARBARA LISKOV,
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
JOHN MAJOR,
Motorola
ROBERT L. MARTIN,
AT&T Network Systems
DAVID G. MESSERSCHMITT,
University of California at Berkeley
WILLIAM PRESS,
Harvard University
CHARLES L. SEITZ,
Myricom Inc.
EDWARD SHORTLIFFE,
Stanford University School of Medicine
CASMIR S. SKRZYPCZAK,
NYNEX Corporation
LESLIE L. VADASZ,
Intel Corporation
MARJORY S. BLUMENTHAL, Director
LOUISE A. ARNHEIM, Senior Staff Officer
HERBERT S. LIN, Senior Staff Officer
JAMES MALLORY, Staff Officer
RENEE A. HAWKINS, Staff Associate
GLORIA BEMAH, Administrative Assistant
KIMBERLY STRIKER, Project Assistant
LESLIE WADE, Project Assistant
COMMISSION ON PHYSICAL SCIENCES, MATHEMATICS, AND APPLICATIONS
RICHARD N. ZARE,
Stanford University,
Chair
RICHARD S. NICHOLSON,
American Association for the Advancement of Science,
Vice Chair
STEPHEN L. ADLER,
Institute for Advanced Study
JOHN A. ARMSTRONG,
IBM Corporation (retired)
SYLVIA T. CEYER,
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
AVNER FRIEDMAN,
University of Minnesota
SUSAN L. GRAHAM,
University of California at Berkeley
ROBERT J. HERMANN,
United Technologies Corporation
HANS MARK,
University of Texas at Austin
CLAIRE E. MAX,
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
CHRISTOPHER F. McKEE,
University of California at Berkeley
JAMES W. MITCHELL,
AT&T Bell Laboratories
JEROME SACKS,
National Institute of Statistical Sciences
A. RICHARD SEEBASS III,
University of Colorado
LEON T. SILVER,
California Institute of Technology
CHARLES P. SLICHTER,
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
ALVIN W. TRIVELPIECE,
Oak Ridge National Laboratory
NORMAN METZGER, Executive Director
The National Academy of Sciences is a private, nonprofit, self-perpetuating society of distinguished scholars engaged in scientific and engineering research, dedicated to the furtherance of science and technology and to their use for the general welfare. Upon the authority of the charter granted to it by Congress in 1863, the Academy has a mandate that requires it to advise the federal government on scientific and technical matters. Dr. Bruce Alberts is president of the National Academy of Sciences.
The National Academy of Engineering was established in 1964, under the charter of the National Academy of Sciences, as a parallel organization of outstanding engineers. It is autonomous in its administration and in the selection of its members, sharing with the National Academy of Sciences the responsibility for advising the federal government. The National Academy of Engineering also sponsors engineering programs aimed at meeting national needs, encourages education and research, and recognizes the superior achievements of engineers. Dr. Robert M. White is president of the National Academy of Engineering.
The Institute of Medicine was established in 1970 by the National Academy of Sciences to secure the services of eminent members of appropriate professions in the examination of policy matters pertaining to the health of the public. The Institute acts under the responsibility given to the National Academy of Sciences by its congressional charter to be an adviser to the federal government and, upon its own initiative, to identify issues of medical care, research, and education. Dr. Kenneth I. Shine is president of the Institute of Medicine.
The National Research Council was organized by the National Academy of Sciences in 1916 to associate the broad community of science and technology with the Academy's purposes of furthering knowledge and advising the federal government. Functioning in accordance with general policies determined by the Academy, the Council has become the principal operating agency of both the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering in providing services to the government, the public, and the scientific and engineering communities. The Council is administered jointly by both Academies and the Institute of Medicine. Dr. Bruce Alberts and Dr. Robert M. White are chairman and vice chairman, respectively, of the National Research Council.
Preface
In 1993, the Department of Energy (DOE) asked the Computer Science and Telecommunications Board (CSTB) of the National Research Council to organize a study of the technological issues and impacts related to telecommuting. In response, CSTB, in collaboration with the NRC's Transportation Research Board (TRB), convened a committee of researchers and practitioners with both technical and sociological expertise. The committee's task was to recommend research into relevant computing and communications technologies that could enable increased telecommuting. In developing these recommendations the committee relied on existing literature, briefings, and its own expertise and deliberations. With the agreement of DOE, the study committee chose to broaden its approach to its task in two specific ways. First, it chose to examine both telecommuting and the broader topic of distributed work, because it believed that focusing solely on telecommuting would overlook more far-reaching impacts of computing and telecommunications technology on the way work is done. Second, the committee chose to examine technological issues within a broad social context in order to ensure the relevance of its recommendations.
This study is the result of the study committee's deliberations. It is independent of and complementary to the April 1993 Department of Transportation study, Transportation Implications of Telecommuting
(U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C.), on the future impacts of telecommuting on transportation, and to the DOE study Energy, Emissions, and Social Consequences of Telecommuting (U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C.), which was released in early 1994. The publication of Research Recommendations to Facilitate Distributed Work during 1994 will allow its conclusions and recommendations to be considered during the development of the National Information Infrastructure (NII) in the same manner as those regarding other nationally important applications such as education and health care.
At another level, the committee is convinced that computing, telecommunications, and related technologies are profoundly changing the ways in which society acquires, manages, and distributes information. In the private sector, the development of new tools for distributed work could enable new forms of collaboration, allowing employees to work effectively at any location that is mutually agreeable to them and their employers. One result could be new, more productive configurations of people, processes, and technology. In the public sector, new tools for distributed work could be used to address high-priority needs, such as rural and inner-city health care, and to remedy long-standing inequities among the nation's classrooms.
A nationwide information and network infrastructure could open new avenues for mutual cooperation and support among our workplaces, schools, neighborhood centers, community groups, and government. This new digital environment has the potential to enable a richness in information access and sharing that could help us restore a sense of community within and between the public and private sectors. Achieving such goals will depend on having both the specific knowledge and broad understanding needed to implement appropriate technology wisely. In accordance with that concept, this report complements two other recent CSTB reports, Information Technology in the Service Society and Realizing the Information Future (both published by National Academy Press, Washington, D.C., 1994), and the forthcoming Rights and Responsibilities of Participants in Networked Communities.
The Technology and Telecommuting: Issues and Impacts Committee is grateful to the numerous individuals who contributed to its deliberations and to those who commented on early drafts of this report. The anonymous reviewers in particular helped to sharpen and focus the material. The staff of the Computer Science and Telecommunications Board and the Transportation Research Board were indispensable in creating the report. Gloria Bemah attended to the
multitude of details required for committee meetings and report production, Leslie Wade helped check references, and Jim Mallory transformed the committee's submissions into the final text. The committee, however, retains responsibility for the final content of the report.
Robert Kraut, Chair
Technology and Telecommuting: Issues and Impacts Committee