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chapter of the qualities desired from every-citizen interfaces (ECIs). The steering committee emphasizes that this overview, synthesized from workshop discussions and supporting materials, is impressionistic rather than complete. More completeness is both beyond the scope of this report and problematic: the ease of extrapolating from what we see and do today may be misleading about the future, although contemporary experiences do illuminate what does and does not work well.1 In particular, contemporary examples emphasize the characteristics of contemporary personal computers and, to a lesser extent, telephones and televisions; tomorrow's information infrastructure will draw more on embedded systems and different kinds of devices, too (Verity and Judge, 1996).

Diversity Of Demands To Be Met By Every-Citizen Interfaces

The interdisciplinary nature of the workshop discussions provided evidence for the contributions to technical development of better interfaces from better understanding of the social context and ''domestication" of system use. For example, how does the new technology change or become integrated into household and community routines? How is the definition of home computing evolving? As explained by social scientists, that understanding should be informed by a history of social change associated with computing and communications systems, leveraging descriptive data and analysis to anticipate the amount and style of use. For example, what are the roles of service features, early experiences, and social influences in the adoption and use of networked infrastructure by mainstream users? Longitudinal, multimethodological field research may be especially important for systems intended for public access (e.g., library resident and kiosk systems2). It may also help in understanding how public knowledge, understanding, and educational needs about security and trustworthiness should be factored into technical decision making. For example, how far can one go in providing anonymity and/or privacy protection to citizens without huge increases in cost or effort associated with use of the national information infrastructure (NII)? Is technology that is aimed mainly at protecting institutional (government or corporate/proprietary) information generalizable, or do individuals present specific additional requirements?

Today's Diverse Uses of Information and Communications Technologies

Reliable, comprehensive, and up-to-date data about everyday uses to which people currently put information technology are in short supply,