This book contains the proceedings of the first international symposium devoted to research on the evaluation and planning of new person-to-person telecommunication systems. It was sponsored by NATO's Special Programme Panel on Systems Science and took place, in September 1977, at the University of Bergamo in the north of Italy. Telecommunication systems which provide for communication be tween people, rather than computers or other instruments, are of two kinds. There are mass communication systems (broadcast radio and television) and interpersonal systems (for example, the telephone and Telex) which join together individuals or small groups. Here we have included in the interpersonal category certain systems for re trieving information from computers, essentially those systems in which the role of the computer 1s primarily to act as a store and to identify that information which best fits a user's request. (This excludes management information systems in which the computer performs important transformation functions. ) Distinctions between interpersonal and mass communication sys tems, and between these two and da ta communication systems, are increasingly breaking down for those who provide the services. (In the U. K. broadcasters are piloting information retrieval services and the British Post Office is competing with a more sophisticated sys tem which could also be used for the exchange of messages. Elsewhere computer da ta networks are increasingly employed for the exchange of personal messages.

This book is the outgrowth of shared interests between the editors and the contributing authors to provide a multidisciplinary perspective in evaluating universal service policy and recommending policy changes to accommodate a more competitive telecommunications environment. The book is interdisciplinary in nature to reflect the extremely complex context in which universal service policy is formed. The chapter authors represent a broad cross-section of disciplinary training, professional positions, and relationships in the telecommunications industry. Academic disciplines represented include law, economics, anthropology, communication, and business. This book's purpose is to significantly enhance the development of effective telecommunications universal service policy among policymakers, industry members, and stakeholders in the United States. Universal service policy has been, and will continue to be, both enabled and constrained by the simultaneous interaction of social, political, technological, and economic forces in the environment in which it is formed. A more effective process for policy design is to seek agreement on how entitlements embedded in universal service policy should be modified as circumstances invariably change over time. Therefore, the volume reflects recent significant developments in U.S. universal service policy--the implementation of which continues to unfold.

The modern telecommunications infrastructureâ€"made possible by research performed over the last several decadesâ€"is an essential element of the U.S. economy. The U.S. position as a leader in telecommunications technology, however, is at risk because of the recent decline in domestic support of long-term, fundamental telecommunications research. To help understand this challenge, the National Science Foundation asked the NRC to assess the state of telecommunications research in the United States and recommend ways to halt the research decline. This report provides an examination of telecommunications research support levels, focus, and time horizon in industry, an assessment of university telecommunications research, and the implications of these findings on the health of the sector. Finally, it presents recommendations for enhancing U.S. telecommunications' research efforts.

Telemedicineâ€"the use of information and telecommunications technologies to provide and support health care when distance separates the participantsâ€"is receiving increasing attention not only in remote areas where health care access is troublesome but also in urban and suburban locations. Yet the benefits and costs of this blend of medicine and digital technologies must be better demonstrated before today's cautious decision-makers invest significant funds in its development. Telemedicine presents a framework for evaluating patient care applications of telemedicine. The book identifies managerial, technical, policy, legal, and human factors that must be taken into account in evaluating a telemedicine program. The committee reviews previous efforts to establish evaluation frameworks and reports on results from several completed studies of image transmission, consulting from remote locations, and other telemedicine programs. The committee also examines basic elements of an evaluation and considers relevant issues of quality, accessibility, and cost of health care. Telemedicine will be of immediate interest to anyone with interest in the clinical application of telemedicine.