Research Recommendations to Facilitate Distributed Work (1994) / Chapter Skim
Currently Skimming:
2 DISTRIBUTED WORK: CURRENT REALITY AND PROMISE
2 DISTRIBUTED WORK: CURRENT REALITY AND PROMISE
Pages 16-34
The Chapter Skim interface presents what we've algorithmically identified as the most significant single chunk of text within every page in the chapter.
Select key terms on the right to highlight them within pages of the chapter.
From page 16... ...
ASPECTS OF DISTRIBUTED WORK ENABLED BY COMPUTING AND COMMUNICATIONS TECHNOLOGY The last 15 years have seen a proliferation of information technologies and communications applications that let people do their 16
|
From page 17... ...
Much of the information available to remote personnel is generated as a by-product of an organization's routine transaction processing, rather than created specifically for the purpose of supporting distributed work. For example, computerized reservation systems for the airline industry were developed to allow a highly distributed work force of travel agents to gain up-to-date information about flight schedules and prices.
|
From page 18... ...
are also becoming available on a no-fee basis via the Internet. Moreover, recent developments in information publishing and retrieval have made increasing amounts of information available on public networks such as the Internet and America OnLine.
|
From page 19... ...
Although the telephone is an old technology (the first call was completed in 1876) , several recent developments have contributed to its importance in supporting distributed work.
|
From page 20... ...
A third trend in telecommunications that enhances telephony's support for distributed work is the introduction of what had been business services or equipment, repackaged for the residential market by communications companies and equipment manufacturers. For example, telephone companies now offer call waiting, call forwarding, three-way calling, calling number identification, and voice mail for the residential market.
|
From page 21... ...
Groups engaging in audio-video conversations tend to like each other more and are more likely to reach consensus easily; in negotiation or persuasion sessions, the negotiation is gentler and agreements tend to be influenced by the personalities of the bargainers, rather than resting exclusively on the merits of the argument (Williams, 1977~. In addition, in field trials, new applications of video connections have emerged that go beyond conventional interpersonal communication, including the use of videophones to access multimedia information services and to maintain organizational awareness.
|
From page 22... ...
Current Uses of Electronic Mail Electronic mail seems to be an especially useful medium for supporting distributed work because it is able to overcome many disadvantages of working at a distance, especially for isolated members of an organization. Like other asynchronous media, such as facsimile and voice mail, electronic mail allows people to leave messages that are available almost instantaneously regardless of distance but that do not require the sender and recipient of the message to be simultaneously available.
|
From page 23... ...
Much of electronic mail's potential for distributed work has not yet been realized, because its use is still significantly concentrated within high-technology organizations and the academic community. The use of electronic mail by unaffiliated individuals and small businesses, and the ability to communicate with people who are not on large networks, is still limited.
|
From page 24... ...
Some of the possibilities for using computing and communications technology to facilitate remote field work in oceanography, control of remote instruments in space physics, or realtime sharing of research results in molecular biology have been suggested in National Collaboratories (CSTB, 19931. Other distributed and mobile workers will also find it advantageous to be able to control physical devices remotely.
|
From page 25... ...
The Mobile Worker A Composite The work experience of "Richard," a prototypical modern mobile executive in a large, multinational organization, simultaneously illustrates the capabilities that today's technology enables and underscores many of the limitations that people undertaking distributed work or telecommuting must face today. What Richard does can be divided loosely into two categories: (1)
|
From page 26... ...
Richard is not fond of interface changes and unexpected incompatibility among systems, and so he often chooses not to upgrade software until his system administrator insists. The other problems he encounters range from relatively minor but annoying circumstances such as the difficulty of locating electronic mail addresses, the occasional unreliability of electronic mail delivery, and uncertainty about the extent to which a note by electronic mail should be polished and formal like a letter, rather than informal like a voice mail message to broader, less defined concerns about issues like privacy and security.
|
From page 27... ...
He still relies heavily on the telephone and voice mail for communication. He identifies fewer difficulties with telephone use than computer use.
|
From page 28... ...
He likes the informality and personal nature of voice mail but sometimes must rerecord a message to convey the desired tone. He wishes he could be notified more easily of waiting messages, especially important ones.
|
From page 29... ...
The National Technological University broadcasts more than 25,000 hours of educational material and short courses to more than 130 corporate clients per year (NTU, 1994~. In a typical distance education application, a lecture is specially organized for noninteractive, video delivery and is broadcast to subscribers, who view it as it is transmitted or record it for later playback.
|
From page 30... ...
Educators and others can imagine the value of remote instruction that incorporates features of the workplace, thereby enabling substantial interaction among students, access to personal archives, and hands-on experience with work objects like models, experiments, or instruments for example, a remotely taught collaborative design course in which industrial design students work with human-factors specialists and software engineers to build a wearable computer (Smailagic and Siewiorek, 1994~. Unfortunately, the capability for remote participants in distance learning to have highly interactive discussions to plan and develop a design is not supported well by current communications technologies or applications.
|
From page 31... ...
. These experiments emphasize collaborative learning and in the process are developing tools for distributed work that are specialized for educational settings, especially for the K-12 age groups.
|
From page 32... ...
It must have all the power of a great word processor, but it must also be built with distributed database technology to support work at a distance in which the document is shared in an environment of heterogeneous hardware, software, and network systems. THE POTENTIAL FOR INCREASED DISTRIBUTED WORK Distributed work, including telecommuting, is almost certain to increase in the next decade.
|
From page 33... ...
Although the exact extent of the increase is difficult to predict, the following factors will be important contributors to an expanded potential for distributed work: · If you wire it, they will come As long as the National Information Infrastructure includes two-way connections, the expected growth in telecommunications capacity for the home and for potential satellite office sites will make the services needed for effective telecommuting and distributed work more widely available and probably less expensive on a unit basis. As higher-bandwidth networks and highcapacity telecommunication links become more widely available, for example, opportunities will increase for the appropriate use of highquality audio and video links to enable the work of distributed project teams.
|
From page 34... ...
The nation will benefit through improved competitiveness, and individuals will benefit as locational barriers to employment are reduced. However, researchers and policymakers will need to pay considerable attention to integrating the new work styles and technologies in a way that yields optimal social and economic benefits while minimizing market disruptions.
|
Key Terms
This material may be derived from roughly machine-read images, and so is provided only to facilitate research.
More
information on Chapter Skim is available.