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Information Technologies
in the Home
WALTER S. BAER
INTRODUCTION
Despite the frenetic life-styles of 1984 America, most of us spend
more time at home than anywhere else. We sleep, eat, and take care
of our personal needs at home. We cook, clean, and do other household
chores, take care of children, pay bills, prepare taxes, and sometimes
shop from home. Some of us earn part or all of our living at home.
We entertain, talk on the telephone, play games, read, watch television,
and otherwise relax at home. These home activities are all affected by
the electronic technologies we have developed for communications,
information gathering, and entertainment. Which technologies we use
in the home and how we apply them to home activities are the topics
of this paper.
The television set and the telephone are today the most important
electronic infonnation technologies in the home. They represent two
broad categories of home information technologies that are worth
distinguishing: (1) stand-alone, or one-way, receiving units, and (2)
communicating, or networked, units. Besides television receivers, the
first group includes radios, audio systems, microprocessors in appli-
ances, videocassette recorders (VCRs) and players, videodisk players,
videogames, cable TV converters, satellite TV receivers, hand calcu-
lators, and stand-alone personal computers (PCs). The second category
includes telephone peripheral equipment such as answering machines
and automatic dialers, interactive cable TV terminals, and PCs with
123
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WALTER S. BAER
two-way communications capabilities. The number and percentage of
U.S. households with these technologies are shown in Table 1.
Stand-alone units generally show higher penetrations and faster
growth than those linked to networks, for obvious technical, economic,
and political reasons. It is easier to design, make, and sell new products
that can be taken home and used independently than equipment that
must interact compatibly with a network or with units in other locations.
Moreover, networks are regulated by federal, state, or local govern-
ments, while stand-alone technologies generally are not. Consequently,
the time needed for successful commercial introduction of a new stand-
alone technology is measured in years, while new network technologies
may require a decade or more for regulatory as well as consumer
acceptance.
Nevertheless, the trend Is toward interconnecting traditionally stand-
alone units within the home and then linking them through communi-
cations networks to the outside world. Personal computers provide a
good illustration. In 1983 only 7 percent of home computers sold were
equipped with modems for external communications (Yankee Group,
19841. Only about 15 percent of the "high end" and "medium" PCs
sold in 1983 PCs with memories of 64K and more had modems.
These machines, however, are rapidly displacing "low end" units in
current sales (Table 2~. By 1988 more than half of the home computers
sold should have communications capability, allowing them to exchange
messages with other PCs and to interact with external infonnation
services. The trend toward networked PCs in the home thus seems
TABLE 1 Infonnation Technologies in the Home, 1983
. _ . _ . .
Number of
Households With
Equipment Percentage of U.S.
(millions) Households
Item
Telephone
TV receiver
Color TV
Cable TV
Tw~way cable TV
Satellite TV receiver
V-ideorecorder/player
Videogame
Home computer
With telephone hookup or modem
83
84
75
33
0.3
0.4
21
0.4
98
99
89
39
<1
11
25
9
SOURCE: A. C. Nielsen Company, Paul Kagan Associates, The Yankee Group, AT&T.
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INFORMATION TECHNOLOGIES IN THE HOME
TABLE 2 U.s. Computer Sales to the Home (in thousands)
. _ .
125
. _ _
Estimated
1980 1981 1982 1983 1984
High end 116 145 141 460 1,470
Medium 3 155 180 1,080 2,440
Low end 25 60 1.940 3,545 685
-
Total units 144 360 2,261 5,085 4,595
Installed base 144 504 2,765 7,850 12,446
. _
SOURCE: The Yankee Group. 1984. Yankeevision. Boston, Mass. May:35-37. Repnuted with
. .
permlsslon.
TABLE 3 Perceived Uses for Computers in the Home, 1983
_ . _
Percentage of
Those Interested in
Acquiring a Computer
Percentage of
Actual
Purchasers
Home budgeting/management 53 27
Education/learmog 39 41
Entertainment/games 21 41
Run business from home 19
Programming 12 35
Do once work at home 10 8
Word processing/wnting 8 10
Accessing information 7 4
Record keeping/cataloging 6 5
Home banking 5 2
Self improvement 4 2
All others 7 14
Don't know/none 9 4
SOURCE: The Yankee Group. 1984. Yankeevision. Boston, Mass. May:35-37. Repnoted with
. .
permlsslon.
well under way. Companies such as IBM, AT&T, CBS, and Times
Mirror are all betting that networks of home PCs will present large
and attractive markets by the end of this decade.
How will individuals and families use their home computers? Table
3 shows the results of a recent survey of perceived applications. 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. As a result, the number of home PCs sold in
1984 may fall below the 1983 level, but the mix has shifted dramatically
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WALTER S. BEER
toward more expensive and capable devices including larger memories,
disk drives, printers, and modems.
Recent studies show growing consumer interest in and acceptance
of information technologies for the home (Yankelovich, Skelly, and
White, 1984~. These trends in the 1980s differ markedly from the
antitechnology, away-from-home attitudes of the late 1960s and 1970s.
Demographics are changing as well, with significant trends towards
smaller households and more working adults per household. According
to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, more than half of all married
women now work outside the home, up from about 30 percent in 1960.
Time is thus at a premium for more Americans, and household activities
must change accordingly. For middle-class U.S. households, time
budget choices are at least as critical as income is in determining the
purchase and use of information technologies.
In addition, more Americans seek individual, customized life-styles.
We want more flexibility in our working hours and more choices among
the foods we eat, the trips we plan, the magazines we read, and the
television programs we watch. A central theme of this paper is that
information technologies facilitate these choices but do not themselves
determine them. Rather, how individuals choose to spend their time
largely determines the information technologies they acquire and use.
The sections that follow discuss four significant uses of time at home-
working at home, doing chores at home, learning at home, and relaxing
at home and the ways in which information technologies support
these activities.
Some limits on the paper's scope and intent deserve mention. It is
not intended as a technological forecast, but is rather a discussion of
how information technologies are being used in the home, of current
trends, and of some expected developments. Technologies that will
be used in the home in the next decade have already been invented
and are in various stages of development, field testing, or use in
business, government, and other nonresidential environments.
The paper deals with developments in the United States and assumes
a business-as-usual scenario both internationally and domestically.
This implies that individuals and families will continue to purchase
information products and services in commercial markets. 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 communi-
cations, information distribution, and entertainment in the home. It
largely neglects the interesting developments under way in the print
media. It is the authorts strong contention that the new electronic
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INFORMATION TECHNOLOGIES IN THE lIOME
127
media will change the old without supplanting them, just as television
has changed radio and newspapers without destroying the viability of
either. Newspapers, magazines, books, and other forms of print media
will remain viable for the foreseeable future, but ongoing changes In
technology, demographics, and life-style all favor the growth of
electronic information technologies in the home.
WORKING AT HOME
Personal computers provide greater opportunities to earn a living at
home, especially for self-employed professionals and independent
contractors such as computer programmers, consultants, wnters,
typists, and accountants. Individuals in these occupations generally
work independently, control their own work pace, and have measurable
output. Many of them could work at home without a computer, of
course, but the computer's word processing, financial modeling, and
record-keeping capabilities enhance their productivity. The "expert
system'' software now emerging from R&D will further support
professionals' work at home (Hayes-Roth, 1984~.
The use of space at home need not change dramatically to support
such professional work. If a separate office or study is not available,
most people can place a computer and related equipment in their
bedrooms. 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. As one illustration, a 1976
study found that the insurance industry could decentralize much of its
underwriting and administrative operations by using workers at home
or at dispersed sites near home (Nilles et al., 1976~. Besides saving
commuting costs, "telework'' opens up employment opportunities to
those who find it difficult to travel to work, such as parents with child
care responsibilities and the physically handicapped (Olson, 1983~.
Salespeople could conduct more work at home if they had ready
access to customer records, as well as means to send in their orders
electronically. Software programs for personal computers are available
to facilitate such order entry processes. Mobile telephones using cellular
radio technology also help salespeople work more effectively outside
the office.
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WALTER S. BARR
Despite these technical advances, predictions from the 1970s and
early 1980s of significant shifts to working at home have not come to
pass (Harkness, 1977; Nilles et al., 1976; Toffler, 1980; Williams,
19821.* Nilles now estimates that "today there are between 20,000 and
100,000 telecommuters of all sorts in the IJ.S." (Krier, 1984~. Some
forecasts simply extrapolated too far from the 1973-1974 energy crisis
and concluded that skyrocketing gasoline prices would dramatically
reduce commuting. Others were based on an either-or fallacy that
employees would fully substitute working at home for working at an
office. This is clearly not correct. Most individuals want to spend a
good part of their working time among colleagues. They like the change
of scene, the work-related interactions, the socializing, and even the
distractions of an office environment.
However, many employees would like the freedom to work at home
part of the time. Just as face-to-face contacts at the office enhance job
performance, so, too, may the ability to concentrate at home, free
from meetings, colleagues' visits, and business telephone calls. This
paper, for example, was written largely at home, where I can find
more uninterrupted time than at my office. Other employees prefer
the added flexibility that part-time work at home offers for child care
or other activities. Part-time work at home illustrates the customized
life-styles sought by so many Amencans in the 1980s.
The reporters at the Los Angeles Times provide an interesting
example of how information technologies open new opportunities for
part-time work at home. In 1982, the Times installed a sophisticated
"front end" computer system for the editorial staff. More than 550
microcomputer terminals are linked to 21 computers in Washington,
D.C., and three Southern California locations. 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
* Few quantitative data exist on the number of Americans working at home, with or
without computers and communications networks. A 1984 Futurist article cites a U.S.
Chamber of Commerce report indicating that " 10 million businesses list home addresses
as their place of business" (Wolfgram, 1984). A Wall Street Journal editorial states, "A
recent AT&T study reportedly found that I 1 million Americans work at home; 7 percent
of the total labor force work at home full time and 6 percent pursue part tune jobs at
home" (Wall Street Journal, 1984). And a recent article in Reason cites the AT&T
esiunate, as well as a figure of "5-10 million, reported in Consumer's Digest" (Rubies,
19~).
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INTONATION TECHNOLOGIES IN THE HOME
129
the same hours before deadline. The editorial staff helped design the
terminal configuration and functions so that the system would serve
the needs of its users rather than its technical developers. Although
some reporters expressed initial apprehension, most adopted the
computer system eagerly within a few months and have discarded
their old typewriters. This has been the general newspaper experience
with editorial computer systems (Johnston, 19841.
Dial-up access was an important part of the system design so that
reporters outside of Washington and Southern California could file
their stories remotely. But the design did not anticipate the local
reporters' enthusiasm for using the computer system from home or on
assignment. Even during 1980-1982 when the system was designed,
using computers for work at home was not widely accepted outside
the computer field itself. Moreover, truly portable computers with
built-in modems and enough capacity for serious word processing were
not yet available.
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. The reporters can plan their time more
flexibly, spend more time on assignment, and work closer to deadline.
An increasing number of reporters now work part time at home.
The Los Angeles Times experience seems likely to be replicated as
other businesses install computer systems for their professional em-
ployees and permit them to interact with the systems at home. Financial
and accounting staff will access corporate data bases, perform analyses,
and write reports from home. Managers will use electronic mail systems
from home to keep in touch with their coworkers, as well as to
substitute for some office correspondence and telephone calls. Profes-
sional and other -white-collar workers in the academic, government,
and nonprofit sectors will do the same. Information technologies make
it easier for information workers to do at least some of their work at
home.
Barriers to Computer-Based Telework
Significant nontechnical barriers to work at home remain, however,
for those who are not self-employed. From the employer's viewpoint,
there are several disadvantages:
· Part-time work at home does not save office or administrative costs, at
least in the short run. The Los Angeles Times reporters still want their
own desks in the office, each with a computer terminal, of course. In
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130 WALTER S. BARR
principle, an employer could reduce office space requirements if employees
spent an appreciable paw of their work time at home but, in practice,
office space sharing appears difficult to implement.
· Work at home will cost employers more if they must pay for the home
computer, communications, and other work materials. These added costs
are usually easier to measure than the productivity gains attributable to
.
.
work done at home. Employers' liability insurance costs will also increase
if they must cover working at home.
- Many employers believe that face-to-face interactions in the office are
essential, both for efficient functioning of the business and for effective
use of the company's human resources. They argue that high morale,
loyalty, and effective communications among employees come from
working together in an office rather than from working individually at
home.
Data security problems arise when sensitive information is available at
home. Processing insurance claims or conducting financial analyses re-
quires 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. Homes do not
have guards, locked files, or other physical protections that offices employ.
Establishing these safeguards in employees' homes would impose huge
costs and administrative burdens on both employers and employees.
Tolerating a lower level of data security in the home may be acceptable
at present, but not in the future if part-time work at home becomes
widespread.
In general, management control is more difficult in multiple home
locations than in a centralized office. Except at senior managerial and
professional levels, working at home runs counter to established control
mechanisms and policies of most corporations and government agen-
cles.
Organized labor also opposes computer-based work at home. In the
1930s unions successfully fought against homework in the apparel
industries, arguing that the niinimum wage and other labor standards
could not be enforced for work at home. Under the authority of the
Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, the U.S. Department of Labor in
1943 banned homework for women's garments, knitted outerwear,
glove and mitten manufacturing, embroidery, handkerchief manufac-
luring, jewelry making, and button and buckle manufacturing. The
Reagan adn~nistration's efforts to end these bans have so far been
rejected by the courts (Taylor, 1983~.
Unions believe that the same issues surrounding garment making
will apply to computer-based homework. While agreeing that part-
time work at home may be appropriate for managers and some
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INFORAlATION TEClI?JOLOGIES IN THE lIOMR
131
professional employees, they contend that clerical and support workers
will be paid less than minimum wage, lose benefits, and otherwise be
exploited in "electronic sweatshops" (Chamot and Zalusky, 1983~.
The 780,000-member Service Employees International Union has
banned homework by its members (Rubies, 19841. The AFL-CIO, at
its Fifteenth Constitutional Convention in October 1983, formally
adopted a resolution against computer homework:
RESOLVED: That the AFL-CIO calls for an early ban on computer
homework by the Department of Labor as a measure of protection for those
workers entering the market for the fastest-growing occupation in the United
States.
Government Policies Affecting Work at Home
Some government regulations and policies also discourage the use
of information technologies for work at home. Tax policies represent
a prime example. 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. An employee's ability to deduct work-related costs certainly
influences his or her decision about whether to work part time at
home.
Zoning laws also affect the kind and amount of work that can be
performed in a residential area. In Los Angeles, for example, I may
legally use a computer at home to conduct business, either for myself
or for my employer. However, I may not have any employees working
at my home office, nor may I see any customers or suppliers at home.
Chicago has a much more restrictive zoning ordinance, which prohibits
professional work at home involving "installation or use of any
mechanical or electrical equipment customarily incident to the practice
of any such professions." The Chicago ordinance has actually been
invoked to stop a teacher and his wife from writing a textbook or
developing software programs on their home computer (Rubies, 1984~.
Zoning laws can, of course, be changed to suit new circumstances,
but only after many hearings, much effort, and a great deal of time.
Like changing corporate policies and union rules, it takes longer to
change zoning laws, tax regulations, and other government policies
than to develop new information technologies.
In summary, technological developments, as well as changing life-
styles, favor bringing more work home from the office. But the
institutional policies of government, unions, and business make the
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WALTER S. BAER
shift more difficult. Businesses particularly are conservative organi-
zations. Even though more than 100 U.S. corporations have tested
the telework concept, with generally positive results, most companies
still appear reluctant to change established practices to encourage its
widespread application.
DOING CHORES AT HOME
Not everyone earns a living by working at home, but virtually all of
us do housework. In housework, I include sedentary chores such as
bill paying and tax preparation, as well as the physical tasks of cooking,
cleaning, and home maintenance. Information technologies aid us in
doing chores at home in three principal ways: (1) by controlling the
appliances we use for housework, (2) by establishing local networks
for home communications and control, and (3) 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 . . .'' (Cowan, 19831. That assumption, of course, no
longer holds true in most Amencan households. Information technology
in the form of the microprocessor permits more flexible control of
appliances, thus supporting the life-styles of busy people who work
outside (or perhaps inside) the home.
Even as families contemplate the purchase of a home computer,
microprocessors are entering their homes as control components of
stand-alone appliances. Microwave ovens, refrigerators, washers, and
sewing machines contain microprocessor-based controls that can pro-
ceed through a complex series of steps and respond more accurately
to the surrounding environment. Ovens can be preprogrammed to
defrost, brown, and heat sequentially so that dinner is ready 15 minutes
after the last family member comes home from work or school.
Refngerators monitor their own operations and signal if a door is not
closed tightly or a mechnical malfunction occurs.
Limits to what microprocessor-controlled appliances can do are set
more by available sensors than by the microprocessors themselves.
For example, it is not too farfetched to anticipate a cleaning robot in
the 1990s that can vacuum automatically without stumbling into
furniture. Achieving this, however, will require substantial advances
and cost reductions in sensor technologies as well as processing
capabilities.
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INFORMATION TECHNOLOGIES IN THE HOME
133
The diffusion of microprocessors in the home is somewhat analogous
to the home use of electric motors. Before the 1930s, electric motors
were too large and expensive for most home applications. The devel-
opment of cheap, fractional-horsepower motors led to the proliferation
of small motorized appliances after World War II. Middle-class Amer-
ican households today have literally dozens of electric motors in
blenders, grinders, can openers, knives, power tools, hair dryers, toys,
and toothbrushes. In a similar way, inexpensive microprocessors are
becoming commonplace in everyday household appliances.
Home Networks
Local networks within the home allow even more flexible control
of appliances, as well as security and other home management func-
tions. Microprocessor-based controllers use the home's electrical
wiring to signal appliances from a central panel in the kitchen or
bedroom. The television set can also serve as the central panel,
controlled by a hand-held device similar to a remote channel switcher.
With these home networks, lights or appliances can be turned on and
off from another part of the house, or remotely from outside the home
with a telephone call. Home networks can also help in energy
management by, for example, allowing you to call home to turn on
the heat in an empty house just before arriving.
"Smart telephones" and telephone peripheral equipment also sup-
port busy life-styles and aid home management functions. Thirteen
percent of Los Angeles households have a telephone-answering ma-
chine, although the extent to which these devices improve the quality
of life for either the caller or the answering party remains open to
question. Home security systems linked to the telephone or to cable
TV networks also are in demand. AT&T now offers a microprocessor-
based smoke alann connected to the telephone that, when triggered
by smoke, dials a preprogrammed number and announces, "Fire! at
[the specified address].'' Developers commonly offer microprocessor-
controlled intrusion alarm systems as amenities in newly constructed
apartments, condominiums, and houses.
Home Infonnation and Transaction Services
Personal computers and home terminals linked to external data
bases will encourage more electronic information gathering and trans-
actions from the home. The telephone, of course, has provided such
services for more than a century. Although similar computer-based
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INFORMATION TECHNOLOGIES IN THE HOME
.
of television receivers:
141
Direct broadcast satellite (DBS) could beam 12 or more television channels
to the home by the end of this decade. Although some early entrants have
withdrawn from the field, DBS service still holds promise, especially for
rural households that are not well served by conventional broadcast and
cable television.
Fiber optic systems may in the 1990s overtake coaxial cable for video
distribution to the home. The wired video distribution networks of the
twenty-first century probably will be switched, digital, and fiber optic.
Both the telephone and cable television industries are positioning them-
selves 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.
Only a few TV stations are as yet broadcasting in stereo, but the industry
expects consumer demand to accelerate and to prove a boon to TV set
manufacturers. Some TV programs will carry bilingual sound tracks instead
of stereo.
· Digital TV sets contain a few digital chips that replace several hundred
analog components. They might be more accurately termed "digitizing"
TV sets, since they convert an analog TV signal to digital, process it
digitally, and then reconvert it back to analog for display. Digital sets
improve image and sound quality by simplifying TV signal alignment,
reducing ghosts and noise, and compensating for aging components. The
built-in digital circuitry should lower the cost of teletext and videotex
decoding, as well as provide new features such as freeze-firame and split-
screen viewing. Already available in Europe, digital TV sets will be on
the market in the United States by early 1985. Many industry experts
expect digital sets to capture the bulk of the television receiver market
within a few years.
· Comporzent video systems separate the television display monitor and
audio speakers from the tuner and other picture and sound processing
components. Component systems appeal primarily to serious videophiles
who want better image and sound quality, particularly when playing
videotapes and videodisks.
· High-definition 1V (HDTV) would replace the 525-line NTSC standard,
which has prevailed in North America since the 1940s, with images
containing 1,000 or more lines. At this resolution, the perceived image
quality is about the same as that of 35mm film. In addition to more lines,
HDTV also will have a wider aspect ratio, multichannel sound, and a
better technical method of transmitting the brightness, color, and sound
information within the available TV bandwidth. Technical groups are now
studying the issues surrounding HDTV and hope to reach agreement on
international standards for HDTV systems. Digital signal processing within
the TV receiver can help deal with compatibility problems between HDTV
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WALTER S. BEER
and existing television standards. However, because digital signal pro-
cessing can clean up lower-resolution images from existing standards and
make them look better to viewers, digital TV sets may actually hold back
the demand for HDTV.
- Projection [V and other large-screen displays are improving in quality but
remain limited in consumer appeal by the low resolution of NTSC television
images. Digital signal processing or high-definition TV will make large-
screen display much more attractive to consumers. Work on flat panel
displays is also progressing, although these new technologies still find it
difficult to compete in cost with the venerable television CRT.
Consumer purchases of videocassette recorders (VCRs) have sur-
passed even optimistic projections of a year ago. The installed base
of home VCRs has grown from less than 1 million in 1979 to 9 million
by the end of 1983. Sales in 1984 are up over 60 percent above 1983,
with no signs of leveling off. The industry estimates that 16 percent
of U.S. households have VCRs now, and projections are for- 30 percent
market penetration by 1986, and perhaps 50 percent by 1990. Consumers
want VCRs both to record programming from broadcast or cable TV
for viewing at more convenient times and to play prerecorded tapes.
The prerecorded tape rental business has grown as rapidly as VCR
sales, giving VCR owners an even wider range of program choices.
The impact of VCRs on home activities is discussed below.
Videodisk players may make a comeback in the home, despite RCA's
well-publicized exit from the business after losses of nearly $600
million. Optical videodisk players offer better image and sound quality
than VCRs or the CED videodisks that RCA marketed. The anticipated
success of "compact'' audiodisks using similar technology for high-
quality sound reproduction may reawaken interest in optical videodisks
as well. So, too, may the use of the optical videodisk's interactive
capabilities for games and, eventually, information retrieval. Following
their success in video arcades, several companies are developing
videodisk games for the home. 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. The number and variety of available video
programs also are increasing, although not as rapidly as the channels
for distributing them. Opinions differ widely as to whether the quality
of video programming available in the home has improved. Survey
data suggest that consumers perceive the new video technologies more
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l~FORMATION TECHNOLOGIES IN THE HOME
143
positively than conventional television programing, which more
respondents think has worsened rather than improved in the past year
(Table 6~. However, the ratio of "worsened" to "improved" responses
has changed from nearly 3 to 1 in 1980 to about 3 to 2 in 1984. By
comparison, the perceived change in cable/pay TV quality in 1984 is
positive by more than a 3-to-1 ratio. Consumer attitudes toward
videotape recorders have remained much more positive than negative
over the past four years.
New Technologies' Challenge to Television
Other infonnation technologies seek to challenge television for the
individual's leisure time. Videogames have been the principal diversion,
especially for children. Videogames have been purchased by one-
quarter of American households, or nearly 40 percent of all households
with children. But enthusiasm for action videogames is declining, at
least among adults who respond to surveys (Table 61. 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. They range from
software versions of Tnvial Pursuit to board games (Scrabble, back-
gammon, chess) to interactive fiction in which players create their own
TABLE 6 Consumer Perceptions of Home Entertainment
Technologies, 1981-1984
Percent Responding
1981 1982 1983
1984
Quality of TV programming
—Improved 19 16 22 27
Worsened 55 54 48 42
Quality of cable/pay TV
Improved — 47
Worsened 15
Videotape recorders
Make life better 25 22 19 26
Make life worse 9 11 10 10
TV games
- Make life better 24 22 19 20
Make life worse 12 17 23 24
SOURCE: Yankelovich, Skelly, and White, Inc. 1984. The Yaulcelovich Monitor. New York.
Reprinted with permission.
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WALTER S. BAER
characters and participate in an adventure story (Zork, Witness). A
recent book on the psychological implications of computers describes
how compelling interactive fiction games can be for children and
teenagers (Turkle, 1984,~and, I suspect, for adults.
Up to now, electronic games in the home have been stand-alone
units connected to the television set or to the computer display.
Downloading games via telephone, cable, or satellite is technically
feasible and may prove economically attractive to consumers. Several
companies are now testing the commercial prospects for downloaded
games. Games are also a prominent feature of videotex and other
interactive home information services. Videotex games are now played
interactively between a player at home and the host computer.
However, technical advances in microprocessor hardware, software,
and communications are proceeding to a point where multiplayer
interactive games may be offered commercially within the next two or
three years. Such games would link players in separate households
via cable television or the telephone network, with the host computer
acting as referee. As Robert Lucky of AT&T Bell Laboratories has
suggested, videotex and communications companies' new advertising
theme may be "Reach out and play someone" (Lucky, 19841.
Videotex brings information on demand, including (for leisure activ-
ities) news, sports, and other features. It also enables subscribers to
send messages and chat electronically. Electronic bulletin boards on
such topics as movie reviews, recipes, and dating have proved very
popular in videotex and other home information services around the
country. Videotex will not replace the telephone for person-to-person
communications or supplant newspapers and other print media for
most information needs, but it seems likely to find a niche among
media uses in the home.
Will any of these new, more interactive services displace television
viewing? If they are to have significant impact on leisure activities,
they must take some time away from television. There is simply very
little time in other home leisure categories to replace.
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. But the critics' concerns are not
really relevant here; individual preferences are the real issue.
Prospects for displacing television with other activities are supported
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IlIFO~IATION TEClINOLOGIPS IN THE HOME
145
by studies showing that television provides relatively low consumer
satisfaction. Robinson reports the results of a 1975 survey in which
respondents rated various activities on a scale from 0 (dislike a great
deal) to 10 (like a great deal):
While the average score of 6.1 for TV viewing did fall on the positive side
of the scale, it was well below the scores of almost all other free time
activities.... Television was rated about the same as housework for women
(but not for men) and well below work. (Robinson, 1981)
Opinion surveys conducted over three decades show growing consumer
dissatisfaction with television. Half of a sample surveyed in 1980
agreed that "television am to he. ~ettincr Vat ~11 the timely
~ ,^~ =_~= ~~ ~^ —_ ~~ ~~— ~~lA&~~
compared to 24 percent in 1960 (Bower, forthcoming). These results
are consistent with the Yankelovich findings shown in Table 6. More
consumers consistently say that the quality of television nro~rammino
has "worsened" than that it has "improved.''
Other media experts contend, however, that television precisely
meets the needs of tired individuals who seek relaxation at home.
They want passive, undemanding entertainment during their evening
leisure hours. Watching television is habitual, Russell Neuman con-
cludes after reviewing studies of viewer behavior:
~ cat— _ ~
The viewer plops down in front of the set, spins the dial, examines the
programs available, arid selects the least objectionable. Surveys repeatedly
confirm that most viewers report '~watching whatever is on.". . . Close
analysis of viewing behavior indicates there is almost no correlation between
expressed preferences and actual viewing behavior. (Neuman, forthcoming)
Television may generate a low level of viewer enthusiasm, but it has
a high level of acceptance.
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. Whether this change will persist
after the novelty of the videogame wears off is not really known.
With the possible exception of videogames, there is no convincing
evidence as yet about the mass entertainment appeal of other infor-
mation technologies and services. Multiplayer interactive games have
largely been confined to computer hackers and students with access
to powerful mainframes. Videotex may over time prove popular for
leisure-time activities, as well as for transactions and information
gathering, but videotex will not be a mass market service for several
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WALTER S. SIR
years to come. In general, the most enthusiastic users of interactive
services are likely to be infrequent users of television. Consequently,
the burden of proof still falls on those new activities that would displace
the time individuals now spend watching television.
A separate but related question is the significance of the shift toward
watching videotapes rather than television. Consumers use their VCRs
to shift viewing times to suit their convenience. Time shifting of
daytime soap operas for evening viewing is a frequently cited example.
Some viewers even prefer to record sports events for later replay.
They must then avoid listening to the results on the radio or reading
them in a newspaper before watching their tape. Viewers also like the
choice of content available from tape rental stores. Tape rentals further
fragment the viewing audience and contribute to the trend toward
watching less network programming.
Television advertisers already are concerned about VCR viewers
who fast-forward through commercial breaks. Such "zapping'' is
evidently widespread. An A. C. Nielsen survey last fall found that 65
percent of VCR owners use their fast-forward button to zap commer-
cials.* Although one cannot extrapolate too far from these data from
relatively affluent households, zapping cuts to the heart of advertiser-
supported television in the United States. The impact could be great
as VCR ownership moves toward 50 percent of U.S. households.
Videotape and videodisk players also pennit a form of "browsing"
through video materials that cannot be done with conventional tele-
vision. Viewers can speed up or slow down a sequence, stop to watch
a still frame, and go back to take another look at a sequence of
particular interest. Video browsing seems confined to a small number
of serious videophiles today, but it could become a routine way to
watch video programing when VCR ownership becomes widespread.
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! "You mean we're
watching in real time?" he said with impatience and incredulity.
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lNFORAlATION TEClINOLOGIES IN THE lIOME
147
summarized in Table 7. Up to now, technology has had a modest
influence on working at home. That may change, since computer and
communications technologies make it possible for more people to
substitute working at home for working in an office. For most workers,
however, the substitution will be partial rather than complete. And it
will be slow. Infonnation technologies have the potential to transform
work at home, but decisions by individuals and institutions seem likely
to bring about far more modest changes in the next decade.
Households make relatively modest use of information technolo-
gies 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. Yet their long-term impact on household productivity or on
the perceived quality of life may be quite modest. These technologies
primarily support the life-styles of busy people seeking to minimize
the time and toil of household chores. They do not change the nature
of these chores materially, nor do they elevate them to more satisfying
pursuits. Rather, just as electricity and the telephone moved from
being household luxuries to being necessities, so these newer infor-
mation technologies will gradually become integrated into routine home
management tasks.
Technology's impact on learning at home is much less clear. Past
experience with other educational technologies should make us skew
tical about extravagant claims for the computer. But computers just
might be different. Some of the recent studies of kids and computers
hint that, over the long term, computers might really bring about
profound changes in learning. The field is moving so rapidly that we
have little notion of what state-of-the-art learning software will be even
a few years from now, in either the school or the home environment.
Television already has significantly influenced leisure time at home.
The new technologies~able, direct broadcast satellite, VCRs, inter-
active games, and videotex—will not displace conventional TV. Never-
theless, they seem likely to fragment further the mass audience for
TABLE 7 Impact of Information Technologies on Home Activities
. _ .
Home Present Likely Impact in Potential Long-
Activity Impact Next Decade Tenn Impact
Working modest modest significant
Doing chores modest significant modest
Learning modest ? significant
Relaxing significant significant significant
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WALTER S. BAER
television and otherwise significantly affect leisure-time habits for a
substantial number of people.
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 life-
styles.
Information technologies also expand our links with other people
beyond the physical limitations of home, city, and even nation.
Scientists and engineers well recognize that our communities of interest
extend throughout the United States and into other countries. The
telephone has been the pnucipal technology pe~tting us to build
networks of colleagues and fnends, largely independent of geography.
We have established what Melvin Webber called `'communities without
propinquity." Computer networks available at home as well as in the
office will enlarge the range and scope of these relationships, enabling
us to share common interests and experience.
But technology, a neutral force, could also serve to isolate rather
than to unite us. Max Fnsch explains: "Technology is the knack for
organizing the world so we don't have to experience it." As is often
the case, novelists have seen these issues long before technologists.
Seventy-five years ago E. M. Forster gave us an apocalyptic vision of
information technologies in the home in his short story "The Machine
Stops":
Imagine, if you can, a small room, hexagonal in shape like the cell of a
bee. It is lighted neither by window nor by lamp, yet it is filled with a soft
radiance.... An armchair is in the center, by its side, a reading desk—
that is all the furniture. And in the armchair there sits a swaddled lump of
flesh a woman, about five feet high, with a face as white as a Angus. It is
to her that the little room belongs.
There were buttons and switches everywhere—buttons to call for food,
for music, for clothing. There was the hot bath button, by pressure of which
a basin of (imitation) marble rose out of the floor filled to the brim with a
wann deodorized liquid. There was the cold bath button. There was a button
that produced literature. And there were, of course, the buttons by which
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INTONATION TECHNOLOGIES IN THE HOME
149
she communicated with her fnends. The room, although it contained nothing,
was in touch with all that she cared for in the world. (Forster, 1968)
This is the nightmare of information technologies used not to enhance
expenence, but to avoid it. Technology could be used to create wholly
artificial environments and to substitute for human interaction. Tech-
nology could reduce the electronic cottage to the electronic isolation
booth.
Forster's nightmare stands diametrically opposed to Orwell's night-
mare, with which we are more familiar, of information technologies
used by a malevolent government to spy on individuals in their homes.
Although it might be technically feasible for Big Brother to watch us
at home via two-way television, we have not chosen that direction.
The Orwellian nightmare of information technology used to entrench
despotic authority and stamp out individual freedom does not seem a
likely possibility today in the United States or other democracies. We
recognize that technology need not determine our destiny.
Perhaps we should pay more attention to the Forsterian nightmare
of electronic isolation, although it, too, does not seem a likely prospect.
Humans are still largely social beings. Despite the solipsistic possibil-
ities offered by television, videogames, and electronic shopping at
home, people like to be with people much of the time. Americans
believe that technology makes it easier, not more difficult, to maintain
close, personal contact with other people (Yankelovich, Skelly, and
White, 1984~. Nevertheless, we must remain aware of the possibilities
for misuse of information technologies as we seek to develop and
commercialize them.
The key feature of information technologies in the home is that they
give more control to individuals. They permit us greater freedom to
control where and when we work, do chores, learn, play actively, and
are entertained. They offer us more choices of materials in more
convenient forms, for entertainment and learning. 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.
Of course, how these technologies will be used in the home and
how the home itself evolves depend far more on nontechnical than
technical factors. Technology largely supports ongoing changes in
individual life-style choices, family structure, and the relationships
among the home, the school, the office, and other societal institutions.
It is probably not correct to say that information technologies them-
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WALTER S. BEER
selves will transform the home environment. They are more responsive
than causal. They do, however, support distributed decision making
more than centralized authonty, and they encourage some transfer of
control from entertainment producers to viewers, from bosses to
workers, and from instructors to learners. By empowering individuals'
decisions at home, information technologies can enhance the functions
of the home in an info~ation-nch society.
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Comments
ROLAND W. SCHMITT
Senior Vice-President, CoIporate Research and Development
General Electric Company
I think Walter Baer's paper is an excellent overview and delineation of this
field of information technologies in the home. It codifies and defines the terms
of reference for discussion of this topic probably better than any I have seen
in the past. The issues he raises have two dimensions. He has highlighted one
of these dimensions that of working, doing chores, learning, relaxing. There
is also that other axis of issues that he discussed the question of how certain
is the likely future? When is it going to happen? What surprises are going to
be there? I want to dwell on a couple of topics pertaining to this second axis.
First, however, let me say that one of the key observations that Dr. Baer has
made is that when you are looking at information technologies in the home,
the key parameter is not discretionary dollars, but discretionary minutes and
discretionary hours. I think that is something you must keep in mind when
talking about this topic.
I would like to deal with two issues. First, markets. You might say it is a
little dangerous for a technical person to deal with markets, but Dankly, it is
my experience that the marketing people do such a poor job of dealing with
Representative terms from entire chapter:
television viewing
