jane@hpuxa.ircc.ohio-state.edu (Jane M. Fraser) (10/10/90)
I am one of 25 members of a committee recently appointed by the Columbus Area Chamber of Commerce to create a vision for the future for Columbus in telecommunications and information services. I, and the rest of the committee, are taking this charge very seriously. As Jonathan York, the President of the Chamber, put it: If Columbus had had such a committee on transportation 10 years ago, maybe our airport wouldn't be such a weak part of Columbus today. We need help in gathering information that will help us with this job. I'll explain in more detail what we are looking for, but the bottom line is: please send me any papers you have or you have written that might help us as background reading for our work. The details now follow. I'm one of two academics on the committee. The rest are business people, ranging from the President of a small tile making company to the President of a large information services company. Not all are in businesses related to telecommunications or information services. We have decided to proceed in three steps: 1- Self education. We need to bring ourselves up to speed on telecommuncations in three areas: a - How are institutions using and how could they use telecommunications in their day-to-day activities? For examples: students registering for classes at Ohio State using BRUTUS, the on-line touch-tone phone system; Point-Of-Sale terminals enabling large companies to keep track of demand and order products to match changing demands; use of satellites to transmit education and training to remote sites; electronic mail and electronic data exhange within and between companies to improve efficiency of operations. We want to focus on Columbus examples where possible, but certainly want to hear about good examples from anywhere. b - How are other cities, states, and countries assisting institutions to use telecommunication technology effectively? Do other localities have a telecommunications policy that would help us in advising Columbus? c - What are the legal and regulatory issues affecting the implementaion of telecommunication services? 2 - Technology assessment. We need to see where Columbus is and where it could be. a - What are the state-of-the-art and expected advances in telecommunication technology and services? Self-education is also needed here, for examples, what is bandwidth, what bandwidth is needed for different applications, the difference between analog and digital. I think we should think about changes that might occur in the future, from the development of optical computer, for example. b - What is the checklist by which a city like Columbus could evaluate its telecommunications infrastructure (including technology, human resources, and whatever else belongs on the checklist)? c - How does Columbus fare in such an evaluation? 3 - Recommendations. Based on our findings in steps 1 and 2, what course of action do we recommend to Columbus to position Central Ohio as a recognized center of excellence in telecommunications and information services? Whew. Yes, it's a tall order. Suggestions welcome. Please send copies or citations to articles you think would help us with any pieces of this. Please send me stuff you have written that would help us. Obviously, papers that are good summaries of big areas would be most helpful. Please tell me parts we've omitted (I hope they aren't big ones). Please call me, or send email, or send US mail. I am really excited that the Chamber thinks this is important enough to spend time on and I'm really pleased with the enthusiasm of my fellow committee members for this huge task. Jane Fraser 614-292-4129 jane@hpuxa.ircc.ohio-state.edu Associate Director Center for Advanced Study in Telecommunications 210 Baker Systems, 1971 Neil Avenue The Ohio State University Columbus, OH 43210