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 collabora tion 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 techn ologies 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 a pproach 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 telecom munications 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 Resear ch 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 im portant 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 too ls 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 impl ement 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, Was hington, 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 sharp en 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
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