Information Technologies and Social Transformation (1985) / Chapter Skim
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Information Technologies in the Home
Information Technologies in the Home
Pages 123-151
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From page 123... ...
Besides television receivers, the first group includes radios, audio systems, microprocessors in appliances, videocassette recorders (VCRs) and players, videodisk players, videogames, cable TV converters, satellite TV receivers, hand calculators, and stand-alone personal computers (PCs)
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From page 124... ...
Nevertheless, the trend Is toward interconnecting traditionally standalone units within the home and then linking them through communications networks to the outside world. Personal computers provide a good illustration.
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From page 125... ...
Home computer purchases through 1983 were predominantly `'low end" machines used primarily for games and for reaming about computers themselves. Purchasers are now insisting that PCs also be useful for word processing, home management, and other more sophisticated and serious applications.
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From page 126... ...
There is little discussion of equity issues or possible government programs such as subsidies for cable television and home computers. Finally, the paper focuses on technologies for electronic communications, information distribution, and entertainment in the home.
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From page 127... ...
The bedroom can be used for work during nonsleeping hours, with reasonable privacy and relatively little interference with other home activities. Telework Many employees in white-collar occupations could work at home with communications networks linking their personal computers to company data bases and to co-workers.
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From page 128... ...
In addition to typing and editing stories, each reporter can maintain his or her own electronic files, as well as send and receive electronic messages through the system. The Times' editorial computer system was carefully designed to caITy heavy peak loads, since most reporters use the system dunug *
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From page 129... ...
All this has changed in the last two years. More than 100 Los Angeles Times reporters regularly use portable computers or PCs at home to write their stories and then send them electronically to the central computer system.
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From page 130... ...
Processing insurance claims or conducting financial analyses requires access to confidential data. The security problems include not just wiretapping and unauthorized access to computer data bases, but, more importantly, physical security in the home environment.
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From page 131... ...
Over the last several years, the Internal Revenue Service has tightened its position on deductions for home offices and home computers. It is now very difficult for an employee to deduct such costs if the employer provides work space and equipment at the office.
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From page 132... ...
by directly providing electronic information and transaction services from the home. Controlling Appliances "The technological systems that presently dominate our households were built on the assumption that a full-time housewife would be operating them .
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From page 133... ...
Home Infonnation and Transaction Services Personal computers and home terminals linked to external data bases will encourage more electronic information gathering and transactions from the home. The telephone, of course, has provided such services for more than a century.
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From page 134... ...
As more and more people become familiar with spreadsheet software programs in business, their use in the home for financial management will undoubtedly increase. These home transaction and information services are still in their infancy.
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From page 135... ...
Electronic transaction services in the home will not replace retail stores or seIvice businesses, however. As they do when canting a living, people like to mix with other people and are not likely to avoid TABLE 4 Consumer Perceptions of Information Technologies for Transactions at Home, 1983 and 1984 Percent Responding 1983 1984 Computers that allow for at-home purchasing - Make life better Make life worse Bank at home via personal computer or cable TV Makes life better Makes life worse 16 23 21 20 26 20 30 18 SOURCE: Yankelovich, Skelly, and White, Inc.
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From page 136... ...
Educational software accounted for about $100 million, or just under 10 percent of all software sales for home computers in 1983 (Holder, 1984~. It is important, however, to distinguish between learning and formal education.
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From page 137... ...
Computers in the home simply add another dimension to the knowledge gap between children from different socioeconomic backgrounds. One partial solution to the computer learning gap at home Is to provide computer instruction to all children at school.
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From page 138... ...
The conceptual foundations exist for involving parents in teaching critical television viewing skills to children (Dorr et al., 1980) or for incorporating pnme-time television programs into the school cumculum, but little implementation has occurred.
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From page 139... ...
We still do not understand the full personal and social implications of this shift to television viewing in the past generation. Technical Improvements in Television Given the vast market that television represents, much technical and economic activity is directed toward expanding and improving it.
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From page 140... ...
Cable television brings even more viewing options, including 2~hour-a-day channels devoted to movies, sports, news, weather reports, government events, and contemporary music. Many cable systems built In the past five years have the technical capacity to deliver 50 or more TV channels to the home, but not yet enough programming to fill them.
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From page 141... ...
Both the telephone and cable television industries are positioning themselves to provide fiber optic systems in the future (Beer, 1984~. Efforts are also under way to improve the image and sound quality · Stereo sound reception is already available in top-of-the-line receivers.
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From page 142... ...
Still, videodisk players are likely to have a narrow appeal to affluent early adopters rather than appealing to the mass home market. These technical developments in distribution systems, television receivers, VCRs, and videodisks continue the trend toward making more video channels available in the home with technically better image and sound quality.
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From page 143... ...
More people now think these games "make life worse" than "make life better," a reversal of attitude in the past two years. Interest is turnung away from videogame-only consoles to more sophisticated games played on home computers.
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From page 144... ...
Social commentators often criticize television viewing as a passive, lowest-common-denominator activity. Despite more program options and better technical image quality, most intellectuals still consider television a "vast wasteland." They would like to see television viewing replaced by more active pursuits, such as learning, conversing with others, and even game playing.
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From page 145... ...
Videogames may be displacing some television viewing time among children, although the data are still quite sparse (Greenfield, 1984~. In one study reviewed by Greenfield, children watched less television after they received home videogames.
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From page 146... ...
THE IMPACT OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGIES ON HOME ACTIVITIES How information technologies will affect these four broad categories of home activities working, doing chores, learning, and relaxing—is * I recall one recent evening when a TV viewer pressed the fast-forward button on his VCR controller as a commercial appeared, and nothing happened!
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From page 147... ...
Households make relatively modest use of information technologies principally the telephon~for doing chores. However, the trend seems clear for significantly increased use of microprocessor controls, home networks, and electronic transaction services over the next decade.
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From page 148... ...
These specific activities in the home raise broader questions of how information technologies may affect personal relationships, family structures, and the overall concept of the home itself. Certainly information technologies give individuals more options as to what activities they can perfo~ at home: · Earning a living Learning · Communicating with others · Playing and relaxing They encourage our efforts to customize our activities and our lifestyles.
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From page 149... ...
They provide us with more flexibility in obtaining information, making transactions, and communicating with individuals and institutions. They may even over time replace some passive television viewing with more active pursuits.
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From page 150... ...
1984. Will home computers transform schools?
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From page 151... ...
The issues he raises have two dimensions. He has highlighted one of these dimensions that of working, doing chores, learning, relaxing.
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