taylor@hplabsc.UUCP (02/12/87)
[This is the first of what I hope will be a mutually beneficial relationship
between the U.S. Congressional Office of Technology Assessment and the
readers and contributors to the mod.comp-soc newsgroup (and mailing list).
Please respond to the group rather than to Sue unless you feel what you
have to say isn't of interest to all. I think this is a new wave...
-- Dave Taylor]
The Congressional Office of Technology Assessment has undertaken a new study,
Communication Systems for an Information Age. The study began in September
of 1986, and will be delivered to Congress in September of 1988. As one of
our ways of securing public input into the conceptualization and production
of the study, we are posting this announcement, to let you know that this
work is going on, and to get your ideas.
A general description of the whole study is available by writing to us:
Linda Garcia (project director), Office of Technology Assessment,
U.S. Congress, Washington, D.C., 20510.
Of particular interest to readers of this digest might be our attention to
the social/cultural aspects of new communication technologies. Below is an
initial list of questions we are considering in this area, written by Susan
Koch, who's responsible for this aspect of the study. If you have any
comments or questions, we'd like to hear about them. You can respond via
the Digest, or by calling Koch at (202) 226-2246.
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Below is a list of questions that I have put together to address the
social/cultural aspects of our study, "Communication Systems for an
Information Age." The sub-topics (ie., the small letter entries) are my
initial attempts to start answering the questions. They are NOT
definitive--they're just my attempt to give an idea of what I'm looking
for. I would like reactions both to the general questions and to the
ways that I have gone about formulating them. In many cases, I am not
comfortable with the categorizing schemes I have chosen, and am looking
for input on better ways to carve things up (for example, is there some way
to divide up the various forms of communication, other than by technology,
that might be useful?).
Sue Koch
A. What is the social/cultural role of communication in people's everday
lives?
1. What forms of communication do people participate in, as individuals?
(find a good category system)
a. mail:
personal first class
packages, personal
direct mail ads
business mail (bank, bills)
b. radio:
entertainment prgms: music?
news programs:
weather/time
public interest shows
adverts
c. television (public/commercial)
entertainment prgms
news
sports prgrms
documentaries
children's prgms
movies
adverts
d. face-to-face (find a good category system)
friends
work-related
transaction (bank, clerk)
family
lover
religious
passersby
unwanted/violent/intrusive
e. telephone
f. electronic media
g. art (performance, plays, painting,sculpture,
dance, installations, choral, instrumental,
personal/public distinction... what else to
include, and how to categorize it?)
h. films
i.
j.
k.
2. What systems do these forms of communication pull people into?
What roles are assigned?
a. personal: expression/creation of affect, negotiation of
self-concept, validation...
b. producer/consumer/portrayer of culture:
c. buyer/seller:
d. mutual satisfaction transactions: (does a service rep/customer
interaction fit only in "c"?
e.
f.
g.
3. What can be said quantitatively about people's communication patterns?
a. Network analyses
b. "Typical day" analyses
c. Content analyses
4. What are the processes, structures, and functions of these
interactions? (probably use ethnomethodological, C.A., etc., studies of
processes, and extrapolate for structures and functions)
a. Maintain power relations
b. Maintain public/private distinction
c. Set agendas for discusson
B. Given the roles of communication outlined in `A', what are people's
communication needs?
1. Decide what groups and types of people I am going to be
responsible for in this study, and for each, describe
its communication needs.
a. Groups:
b. Settings:
c. Systems: (economic, political, etc.)
2. Can these communication needs be prioritized?
3. What has been the historical development of people's communication
needs? What has changed? What has remained the same?
4. What has affected these groups' abilities to participate fully in
their various communication opportunities?
C. What are people's future communication needs likely to be?
1. Given the scenarios painted above, how are communication needs likely
to change in the next ten years?
2. What is communication going to look like fifty years from now?
3. What will the important issues be in communication over the next
fifty years? Are access, universal service, etc., likely to continue
to be the big questions?
D. How does technology fit in the characterization given above?
1. In all of the above questions, what is the significance of technology?
2. Are there ways of categorizing media that are sensible or relevant
for groups of users? How do users in these groups see communication
technologies?
3. How are technologically-mediated forms of communication different
from those not so mediated, in the eyes of users in various
settings/groups?
4. How are technologically-mediated forms of communication different from
non-mediated, and from each other in content, form, nature of delivery,
degree of impact, etc.?
E. How do individuals and social units (ie., families, communities, etc.,
relate to the technology-complex--the industry of communication?
1. What are the components of the technology complex? How does it function
as a system? What roles are played in this complex?
2. Trace these roles in a few examplary issues (what would be good issues
to study?) Make sure individuals and social groups are considered here.
3. How does the structure of communication provision, programming,
readership, etc., affect the role of various kinds of messages?
4. What are the traditional mediating factors between users and various
technology-complex forces (e.g., market forces, the advancement of
science)? Government intervention, for example, in rate rgulation and
program content... In what interest were these mediations instituted?
What effects have they had on communication patterns?
5. How are these mediating factors changing? What does this mean for
groups and their current and future communication needs?
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