Book reviews

And now . . . the telephone

THE SOCIAL IMPACT OF THE

TELEPHONE

edited by lthiel de Sola Pool

502 pp, MIT Press, Cambridge, Mass,

andLondon, 1977, f 11.20

Social scientists’ interest in the telephone has been relatively recent, in sharp contrast to the extensive attention given to the mass media, especially television. To quote from the introduction to this book, ‘In some complex causal way, all the changes of the century may have stemmed from science and technology. But how

important was the telephone’s specific technology in these processes of change? It is extraordinary how little has been written exploring the question’. This does not seem to have occurred because there is no intrinsic interest in the social effects of the telephone, but rather because the telephone had ceased to be an innovation before social science became a fully developed discipline (even social scientists are prone to fads!) Nevertheless, it is surprising that this is the first substantial book on the social impact of the telephone in its 100 years history. Professor Pool deserves

congratulations for having brought together the material.

The twenty-one chapters cover the following areas: The Early Years, The Telephone in Life, The Telephone and the City, The Telephone and Human Interaction, and Social Uses of the Telephone. The contributions are of varying tenor and quality. Several are essentially historical, repeating anecdotes of the late 1800s. Others are too embedded in a particular approach to give us much overall view of the telephone’s place in society (especially the chapters on telephone literature and on conversational openings on the telephone). However, there are a number of chapters (especially by Pool et al, Pierce, Wurtxel and Turner, Abler and Reid) which are full of important facts and insights, and can begin to form firm foundations for a coherent understanding of the telephone’s impact. In addition, the chapters on the telephone and counselling (Lester) and instructional uses (Rao) give interesting details of specific applications.

The telephone system is the world’s largest interconnected machine, and to grow it costs billions of pounds per annum. Telephone administrations know that it is good business, but it is only quite recently that we have begun

The Carnelian approach

THE CAMELIA REPORT

A study of technical alternatives and

technical choices in teleconferencing

by Robert Johansen, Jacques Vallee,

Kathleen Spangler and R. Gamy Shirts

Report R-37, Institute for the Future,

Menlo Park, CA, 19 7 7

The year is 1985. The African state of Camelia is threatened by a severe drought. Or is it? What are the facts,

and how can these facts be interpreted into suggestions for action? Better consult the experts.

These are to be found in Camelia, elsewhere in Africa, in Europe, and in the USA. They represent meteorological and agricultural expertise, political and international interests, not to forget agribusiness. The experts are, needless to say, different individuals, have different backgrounds, different priorities - and display different ways of communicating with other people. What would be the most appropriate way of

TELECOMMUNICATIONS POLICY June 1978

to get an idea of whether it is good for mankind. There is increasing support in this area for social science research for two main reasons. First, in some countries telephone penetration is nearing saturation, but efforts to design new telecommunications devices are being frustrated by the basic lack of understanding of human communi- cation needs. It seems that the capabilities of the telecommunications engineers have far outstripped our knowledge of human behaviour, so that we are increasingly seeing ‘solutions looking for problems’. Second, public opinion is turning against complex technology, especially supersonic aircraft, power stations and the like; there is a clear incentive and desire to demonstrate that in telecom- munications we have a technology with benefits that outweigh any ptoblems. Few social scientists have yet risen to the challenge, despite the numerous possibilities for worthwhile research. Let us hope that this book stimulates more of them to enter the field, for without such a solid basis in fact, predictions of social impact may be as wild as the following from the Chief Engineer of AT&T in 1907: ‘Some day we will build up a world telephone system making necessary to all peoples the use of a common language . . . which will join all the people of the earth into one brotherhood’.

Ederyn Williams

Telecommunications Systems

StrategyDepartment, BPO. Cambridge, UK

organizing their exchange of viewpoints?

In 1985, four different conferencing methods are readily available: normal face-to-face meetings; audio conferencing; video conferencing; and computer conferencing. The Report is, basically, the result of a comprehensive literature survey on the advantages and disadvantages of these four different conferencing methods.

But the interpretation and presentation of the survey results are most imaginative. The reader is brought to the scene of the Camelia conference, carried out in the four different ways. Actually, there are eight scenarios showing how the eleven conferees would

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Book reviews/Publications

behave with the different conference modes.

The authors describe eight possibilities because each conference method has both advantages and disadvantages: each encourages typical mistakes as well as providing shortcuts to success. Consequently, success and failure stories are presented for each mode.

Thus we do not learn the end of the Camelia story. What we do see, through the lively presentation, and in a sense through our own experience, are the virtues and shortcomings of each method. The authors have not embarked on a piece of science or other kind of fiction: they have presented a piece of technology assessment at its best - by interpreting a wealth of scientific results into a language and form not only understandable but even enjoyable and enlightening to a public outside the field of communication science. I simply hope that the Camelia Report will set a pattern for future publications, and I wish it a wide circulation, perhaps appropriately re- edited for publication in paperback form.

I have a good conscience in advertising Camelia’s innovative

Publications

Communications Technology and Democratic Participation by Kenneth C. Laundon (Praeger, New York, 1977, 116 PP). Information Technology and Political Democracy. Citizen Technology: Contemporary Designs and Experiments. The Requisites of Democracy. An Experiment with Citizen Technology. Other Applications: A Fantasy. Realistic Prospects for Citizen Technology.

Computers and Communications: Implications for Education by Robert J. Seidel and Martin L. Rubin (Academic Press, London and New York, 1977, 351 pp, f 11.00, S15.00). Proceedings of a three-day invitational conference entitled ‘Ten-Year Forecast for Computers and Communications: Implications for Education - 1985’ Airlie, Virginia, 16-18 September 1975. The Conference was conducted in five sessions, each of which covered a major technology area. The sessions were entitled: Large-Scale Integration; Storage; Communications;

scenario technique only because it has a firm factual background. It is not only based on a thorough survey of the literature - the results are also meticulously reported.

Thus each pair of ‘for’ and ‘against’ scenarios is followed by an analysis of the advantages and disadvantages of the technique described and displayed in the scenarios. The analyses included, of course, references to the literature.

The findings are also organized in another way. For each conferencing mode there is a list of strengths and weaknesses, and under each item a bibliography of references revealing these. 127 different studies are tabulated and classified, giving study type, media usage, number of participants, length of media usage, conferencing arrange- ments, and research task. There is a list of the different computer, audio, and video conferencing systems available, and a bibliography with 258 entries.

The authors have left themselves open to all ,sorts of criticism for being non-scientific, pseudo-psychologists, fiction writers in disguise. After all, they have ventured to invent Bishop Ampleby, Council of African Ministers, Abu Arume, Camelian economic minister who ‘once flung his coat on the

Artificial Intelligence; Man-Machine Interface.

Data Processing for Control and Management (Central Books, London, 1977,374 pp, f2.50). Aimed at students majoring in management information and control systems and also at practical engineers in the field, the book is concerned with automated management information control. The authors focus on codes and coding data communication, and data preparation for entry into a computer. Separate chapters deal with punched-card and punched-tape devices, I/O operations and peripherals.

EDP Coq/izrence Analyzer (Management Information Corporation, Cherry Hill, NJ, 1978). A compilation of conference reports published during 1977 in MIC Datacomm Awareness. Includes reports on Datacom 77, Interface 77, OCR User Conference, Intelcomm 77 and First Annual Data Entry Management Conference.

EFT in the United States: Policy Recommendations and the Public Interest (NCEFT, Washington, DC, 1977,389 pp). The Final Report of the National Commission on Electronic Fund Transfers.

parliamentary floor’, Helene Dubarieux, Lutte Contre la Famine, who feeds French into the computer, and George Clemmons, Jr, big shot of US-based Consolidated Produce. But I think more researchers should be encouraged to put their results into context. Nor would I wish to nail the authors down on details, such as the omission of conferencing with circulating video tapes, with the addition of a video camera.

In summary, I am very enthusiastic about this Report. It should be studied by scientists and people interested in science far outside the world of tele- conferencing, and it is no less relevant to the communications specialists themselves.

Bengt-Arne Vedin, Esselte Video,

Stockholm,

Sweden

The article ‘Social evaluations of teleconferencing’ by Robert Johansen, Telecommunications Policy, Vol 1, No 5, 1977, pp 395-419. is taken from The Camelia Report.

Presents all of the conclusions and recommendations of the Commission. Particular concerns are the rights and responsibilities of consumers in EFT. Also included are recommendations on the avagability of EFT services, the deployment and sharing of EFT systems, the competitive implications of EFT, technological considerations in EFT development, the role of the government as an operator of EFT systems, the potential impact of EFT on monetary policy, and other issues that need government attention at both federal and state levels.

The Politics of Technology, by G. Boyle, D. Elliot and R. Roy (Longman Group, Essex, 1977,351 pp,f4.15). Part of a third-level Open University course. The book is intended to provide students with access to recent theoretical and political literature on various means of bringing technology under social control. Topics covered include government intervention, technology assessment, accountability and public participation, and the development of decentralized community technologies.

The Production of Political Television by Michael Tracey (Routledge and Kegan Paul,Oxon, 1977,283 pages,f4.95).

174 TELECOMMUNICATIONS POLICY June 1978