Reid, Alex Communications EDRS PRICE on technology. Now research about the human factors is ...

62 Pages·2007·1.28 MB·English

DOCUMENT RESUME
EM 009 846
ED 062 803
Reid, Alex
AUTHOR
Telecommunications Research.
New Directio:Is in
TITLE
N.Y.
Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, New York,
INSTITUTION
Jun 71
PUB DATE
Commission cn Cable
62p.; Report of the Sloan
NOTE
Communications
MF-$0.65 HC-$3.29
EDRS PRICE
Communications;
Cable Television; City Planning;
DESCRIPTCRS
Systems; Information
Human Engineering; Information
Research;
Theory; Man Machine Systems; *Media
Telephone
*Research Needs; *Telecommunication;
Communications Industry
Communications
*Sloan Commission on Cable
IDENTIFIERS
ABSTRACT
mainly
Telecommunications research has been focused
is crucial. This
research about the human factors
on technology. Now
must
(1) TLe needs telecommunications
four areas.
can be divided into
(2) The
behavior.
satisfy--needs can be extrapolated from current
developments are
technological alternatives available--important
switching equipment and user
being made in transmission and
alternatives for meeting the
The effectiveness of the
terminals.
(3)
and outside world and
needs--studies should combine the laboratory
(4) The
well as business users.
should focus on typical consumers as
difficult and usually begin
secondary effects--impact studies are
impact study approach can be to
after the impact has been felt. An
loosened by the presence of a
ask what constraints would be
telecommunications
technological development. For example, lower cost
distance calls and could lead to
would remove one constraint on long
research
Several disciplines are relevant to
new group associations.
theory, management studies,
that is needed, including information
planning and geogTaphy.
psychology, sociology, urban and regional
(MG)
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vascataatramais
RESEARCH
NEW DIRECTIONS IN
by
Alex Reid
Cccumnications Studies Group
Joint Unit for Planning Research
Economics)
(University College London and London School of
June 1971
for the
A Report Prepared
CABLE COMMUNICATIONS
SLOAN COMMISSION ON
views of the author
expressed herein are the
The opinions
the members
necessarily the opinions of
and do not reflect
of the
Cable Communications or
of the Sloan Commission on
Foundation.
Alfred P. Sloan
2
Abstract
that ol two-way. person-person
The prcblem area is defined as
development
Alternative criteria for the future
telecommunication.
and
telecommunication system are considered
of the perim-person
pc,licy must be based on
It is suggested that future
rejected.
need, telecom..
understanding of telecommunications
a thorough
effectiveness, and
unications technology, telecommunications
Methods of tackling each of these
telecommunications impact.
problem areas are discussed.
described.
of relevant resear01 are
In Part 2 a number of areas
information thaory, applied vychology,
These include the fields of
management studies, sociology,
experimental social psychology,
The intention is to
and geography.
urban & regional planning,
telecommunications,
of person-person
demonstrate the general neglect
directly relevant items of research.
while describing some of the few
suggested.
lines of future research are
In Part 3 some worthwhile
technological
should occur away from
It is argued that a shift
studies of the human aspects
telecommunications research towards
such.research should
It is also argued that
of.telecommunications.
communication problems of the whole corm-
be concernees with the
the needs of business firms.
unity, rather than simply with
3
PRCGRESS
PART I: CRITFRIA FOR TELECOMMUNICATIONS
The problem area
into one-way (e.g.
Telecommunication may be classified firstly
It may also be
communication.
broadcast) and two-way (e.g. telephone)
machine-machine
classified into person-person, person-machine, or
This paper is concerned only with two-way, person-
communication.
Moreover it is concerned with such systems
person, telecommunication.
channels of human comm-
not as items of electronic hardware, but as
unication.
telecommunications
By what criteria must the developing system of
in facilitating human
be judged, if it is to play its full part
capable
And are we, in the present state of research,
communication?
of applying such criteria?
The technological fallacy
not a sufficient
Technological feasibility is a necessary, but
The fact that a particular telecommunications
criterion for innovation.
technologically feasible is no
system, such as the video-telephone, is
It is extremely dangenius to
justification for its development (1).
kind of 'logical' and even
argue that such developments form some
To take an example from the field of ,trans-
inevitable progression.
increased in
;ortation, the fact that civil aircraft have steadily
usefully extrapolated
airspeed does not prove that this trend can be
must be
At each stage of innovation the probable costs
ad infinitum.
of action
weighed against the probable benefits, alternative courses
And of course the great weakness of
being compared on this basis.
altern-
technology as a strategic criterion is that there always are
feasible.
ative courses of action, each of then technologically
video-telephone
In the case of telecommunications, although the
rapid transmission of
is technologically feasible, so also is the
Technological feasibility in itself is
paperwork by facsimile (2).
should be attached to each alternative.
no guide to the priority which
Imitation of the irrelevant
tech-
/nstead of regarding telecommunication as driven on by a
towards
nological dynamic, it is possible to regard it as progressing
A
contact.
the increasingly accurate simulation of face-to-face
exists along many
difficulty of such an approach is that accuracy
4
would involve an
Wholly accuriqe telecommunications
dimensions (3).
dimensions, and with
full colour, in three
image that was full: size,
thene kinds of
How important are each of
perfectly reproduced speech.
There 1:; no simple
trade-off between them?
accuracy, and what is the
site black and
of whether, for example, a full
answer to the question
Some of these
(4).
to a small coloured one
white image is preferable
others, and some
much more important than
aspects of realism may be
to replace wood
In specifying a plastic
at all.
may not be important
decide
it would be necessary first to
in a particular application
Slavish imitation
important in the context.
what features of wood were
reproduction of
to unnecessary and costly
of the original might lead
grain and bark.
irrelevant features such as
in mind that an increase in accuracy,
It must also be borne
necessarily
single dimension, will not
particularly if it occurs along a
and may even be counter-productive.
lead to an increase in realism,
remarkable ability
that the brain has a
Experiments in perception show
it (5),
features of the signals'reaching
both to sift out the salient
fragmentary and incom-
these features, however
and to construct out of
It has been said that the senses
world.
plete, a coherent picture of the
rather they provide
of the world directly;
do not give us a picture
Attempts at
about what lies lefore us (6).
evidence for check$mg hypotheses
Thus the listener to a
this process.
too much realism may frustrate
actors .4lich,
form in his mind an image of the
radio play may be able to
product2on
realistic than any theatrical
while innacurate, is far more
A
proscenium, scenery and greasepaint.
with its artificialities of
of depth to
which invites us by its imitation
stereoscopic photograph,
impression
by its lack of movement an
treat it as a real view, creates
two-dimensional photo-
which is absent from a
of unrealistic stillness
reproductiz.0 of face-to-face
Simply to pursue the accurate
graph (7).
counter-prodUctive as well as unnecessary.
contact may therefore be
fallacY
The inferior substitute
face-to-face
treated as a simulation of
If telecommunications is
In fact tele-
second best alternative.
contact it it by definition a
face-
considerable potential advantages over
communicp'..lons systems have
systems
which will not be exploited if such
to-face contact, advantages
The full
inferior substitutes for the real thing.
are treated as
regarded
unreatised until they ceased to be
potential of plastics was
treated instead
for natural materials, and were
as man-made substitutes
4
5
The
right, with their own unique qualities.
as materials in their own
telecommunications,namely that, as in the
most obvious disadvantage of
communication
it excludes the visual channel of
case of the telephone,
We seek privacy in a
positive advantage.
may in itself constitute a
The businessman
the clothes we wear.
nuMber of ways, In for example
platform, will often feel more
in his office, or the lecturer on a
defensive position behind a piece of
comfortable if he can take up a
contact, the
Because, compared with face-to-face
furniture (84.
of communication, it represents the
telephone provides a reduced channel
And because, unlike the face-to-face
shield.
same kind of privacy
customary associationu of host
visit, the telephone does not invoke the
obligations and commitment inherent in
and guest, it is free of the
face-to-face communication (9).
telecommunication is that it com-
But the outstanding feNture of
of mail and face-to-face
bines in one medium the important advantaws
distance, thus
Like mail, it is largely indiHerent to
communication.
potential contact (10).
providing an enormous geoaraphical range of
negotiation, which require the
But activities, such as n15cussion and
information (11), cannot be conducted
rapid exchange of small packets of
delays between transmission and
via a system which inserts such long
:7se be conducted face-to-
Such activities can c.
reception (12).
participants to be all Ln
But fv.:e-to-face contact requires .:he
face.
time, a constrant which restricts consid-
the same place at the same
individual's communication
erably the variety and flexibility of an
to this
The individual may make some limited extensions
network.
of considerable time and
network by travelling, but only at the cost
in unacceptable damage to the
Too much travel may also result
effort.
The ability of tele-
base.
1ndividual's communication network at his
packets of information .
communications, therefore, to transmit small
represents a unique capability,
rapidly to a variety of destinations
kind of infer ior substitute
which must not be regarded simply as some
for face-to-face contact.
impact.
Needs, technology, effectiveness and
the .,..ditation of face-
Thus neither the pursuit of technology, nor
which to base policy for
to-face contact are adequate philosophies on
At the
telecommunications.
the future development of person-perspn
thorough understanding of the
least, such policy should be based on a
following four factors:
5
6
which telecommunicatiocz
of communication needs
1. What is the pattern
must try to satisfy?
tewhnologv are likely to be
to telecommunications
2. What improvements
at what cost?
feasible, at what date, and
terms of satisfying
systems likely to be, in
3. How effective are such
communication need?
wtdespread introduction
impacts would arise from the
4. What secondary
of such systems?
needs.
The pattern of communication
point
needs should be the starting
The pattern of communications
needs of the
policy, just as the educational
of telecommunications
system, or
point for the design of a school
chi)dren form the starting
point for designing a transportation
travel needs form the starting
thorough
need may be assessed from a
At one level, communication
system.
although this itself
patterns of communication,
knowledge of the existing
information, certainly as
which there is very little
is something about
field of transport-
knowledge in the analogous
compnred to the state of
level, the problem of assessing
more general
But at
ation (13).
akin to
and intangible one, much more
communication need is a complex
need, than to the
of assessing educational
the equally tricky one
This is partly
matter of personal transport.
comparatively clear cut
singularly
of human communication are
because the purposes and process
The purpose of a trip can
describe (14).
difficult to measure and
to or fron work,
fairly ensi!y as ;..he journey
usually be categorised
communication is
The purpose of a
etc.
delivery of goods, shopping
various
individual purposes of the
define; moreover the
more difficult to
If the
unlikely to coincide (15).
participants in a communication are
is uifficult,
the purpose of a communication
problem of categorising
has been
the extent to which that purpose
the problem of measuring
travels from A
The speed at which a vehicle
achieved is doubly so.
unambiguously determined.
arrives safely, may be
to B, end whether it
at which it
achieves its purpose, and the rate
Whether a communication
But
(16).
argument rather than measurement
does so, is a matter of
be identified,
pattern of communications can
even if the existing
to which
potential needs for coamunication
there will be underlying
limit-
This may be because of the
little clue.
existing patterns give
because the poss-
telecommunications technology, or
ations of current
This very.naturat
technology are unexploited.
ibilities of the current
7
behaviour is an important factor
inertia in adapting our communication
Despite revolutionary advances in transmission
to be reckoned with.
links) the telephone
technology (including satellites and micro-wave
it did fifty
still performs the same function, in much the same way, as
Perhaps ona reason for this isthat the telephone
years ago (17).
innovations
instrument represents the interface with the human user;
in the transmission
which take place beyond this interface, for example
behaviour
Ittie or no adaptaLion of communication
of the signal, require
But
con therei-ore proceed unhindeted.(18).
on the part of the user,
communication behaviour should not be
pUblic resistance
r
ch2nc,,=,
because
A case In point is television which, perhaps
over-estimated.
rathor than active
it demands of the vtrwti pas:;ive acquiescence
in the course of
participation, was able to tr.:mfform behaviour patterns
communic-
Thus thP ytuiy of the existinc, patterns of
a few years (19).
of
7.ot the whole answer to the questior
ation, necessary as it
Erif:ing patterns must be treated as the datum
communication needs.
organisational or social
from which, in the light rf careful analysis of
goals, future communicateh Aeeds can bft extrapolated.
:morovements to telecemr-arications technology
the tele-
Three types of ...ecnni,..t; Innovation are possible within
equipment, switching equip
communication system; i.nnovations in terminal
The most important directions in which
ment, and transmission equipmert.
communication,
terminal equipment is likely to advance are towards video
:n each case the options are numerous.
and towards data capability.
images, the latter being
Video communication may involve moving or still
tube display, or
'resented either in ephemeral form on a cathode ray
Wide variations
permanently by means of nard copy facsimile printing.
usual extremes being those of
in information rate are possible.the
facsimile systems (approx 3kHz)
the telephone channel, as used in slow
This rep-
channel (approx 511Hz).
and the broad band colour television
transmission capacity, and a range
reoents a range of over 1:1000 in
Although their costs may be estimated
of the order of 1:100 in co5t.
the likely useful-
.1th some confideace. the lack of information about
makes it exceedingly difficult to choose
ness of these various systems
The choice is made alb the more agonising by the fact
between them.
plant,
that, because of the large fixed cost of telecommunications
such choices once made are very costly to reverse.
the scope
The qyestion of data communication is strictly outside
1
8
terminal equipment is
because telecommunications
of this paper, but
and person-machine
needs of person-person
likely to serve the joint
Personmschine telecomm-
touched on here.
communication, it must be
data input, and data output.
require facilities for
unication terminals
data input device, but
dial is, of course, a
The ordinary telephone
rate of the
The limited information
limited purpose.
for a specific and
The
telephone.
by moving to a push-button
dial (20) may be overcome
telephone as an input device
of the push-button
most severe limitation
information (21);
conveniently transmit alphabetic
is that it cannot
alpha-numeric keyboard similar
eventual move to a full
this suggests an
possibility, which might
An attractive theoretical
to a typewriter.
voice recog-
is the advent of practicable
overtake these developments,
person-machine communication
enabled purely verbal
nition systems which
the keyboard, and
the physical need for
This wculd aviate both
(22).
skills.
to acquire keyboard
the necessity for users
is confined to
device the ordinary telephone
As a data output
including the ringing tone and
distinguishable audio signals,
a few
already
Recorded verbal announcements are
signal.
the engaged (busy)
machines, time checks,
(busy) signalling, answering
in use for engaged
They have considerable
and sports information.
and weather, shopping
communication (23).
channel for machine-person
potential as an output
alphanumeric or full tele-
incorporate either an
The alternative is to
In each case the terminal
data may be carried.
vision display, on which
100 times the cost of
say between 10 and
equipment would be expensive,
of short-term storage of
If however it was capable
a normal telephone.
kind could operate in
received, a display of this
the information it
:Low
data circuit of comparatil.aly
conjunction with a telephow or
be
system could potentially
A visual data display
bandwidth (24).
facsimile, or even
of documents by rapid
extended to the transmission
It is
another person.
still or moving images of
the transmission of
person-machine communications
person-person and
here that the needs of
overlap.
number of
communication and data capability a
Apart fro!d video
One possibility
likely in terminal equirment.
other innovations are
commundcation
high-fidelity channel for voice
is the provision of a
voice corm-
achieving two-way loudspeaking
(25). The difficulties of
thezooms in use
considerable, particularly so if
unication are in fact
aLstant from the
treated, and the microphone is
cannot be acoustically
of mobile
Another possibility !A the expansion
speaker's mouth (26).
9
services; the lowest form of mobility being that of the 'cordless
telephone' which could be carried around a room.
In the ultimate it is
conceivable that an individunl would carry a telephone, small enough to
be kept in the pocket, worn oi the wrist, or even placed inside the ear,
which enabled him to communicate freely anywhere.
However the practical
realisation of such a concept, like that of fully three-dimensional
video communication, must await considerable and so far ue.foreseeable
advances in technology.
Innovation in switching systems will have the effect of increasing
the capacity and efficiency of the telecommunications system in general,
The purely technological
rather thdn in providing any new services.
questions which this raises are outside the scope of the present paper.
The main implication for the user is that automation will allow the
rising cost of labour to be offset.
Innovation in transmission systems, on the other hand, will have
an important direct effect on the telecommunications user.
Firstly,
there is the prospective growth of cable communications, bringing
Although present
numerous video channels into the home or office.
s7stems, based as they are upon tree-like distribution networks, are
suited to the one-wai distribution of programming, rather than the
conduct of many-to-many conversations, future systems are unlikely to
be so restrictive (27).
The provision of a return voice or data channel
will enable the viewer to select from a wide range of materiel, and
Ultimately it will be possible
interact with the programmes he selects.
to provide return wideband channels, so that full two-way video comm-
unication can occur on a many-to-many multiplexed basis (28).
Secondly, there are the new technologies of satellitess wave
All of these point towards a steal), Jscrease
guides, and optical fibres.
Only a minor:part of the
in the cost of long distance transmission.
cost of a telephone call is attributable to the costs.of.long-distance
transmission of the signal; the bulk of the cost is accounted for by
terminal equipment, local distribution, and switching (29).
In the
case of video communication, however, the costs of long distance
tranmission predominate over terminal and switching costs, ani
is
here that the new technologies of transmission are likely to have their
most dramatic effecT...
Mere are therefore three possible types of innovation; in term-
inal equipment, in switching equipment, and in transmission equipment.
But another quite different and considerably more important kind of