ABSTRACT
Nearly all US homes have one or more televisions and telephones. Most have cable or satellite access to television programming. About one-half of US homes have personal computers, and almost one-half of those have access to the Internet. While penetration of personal computers into the home has slowed, it is continuing and it is expected to increase even more as easier to use information devices and computers priced closer to entertainment systems become available. A recent survey of Web use (www. gvu. gatech.edu) suggests that the demographics of Web users continue to converge on the demographics of the US population in general. When the number of people who have access to the Internet from outside the home is combined with these figures, it becomes clear that telephony, television and computing can be treated as almost ubiquitous in the experience of most people. Future experience, however, will probably be shaped at least as much by the evolution and convergence of the technologies that lie behind the three media and the impact of that evolution on the design of new applications.
