ABSTRACT

Ever since urban planners and managers have been faced with an energy crisis, the potential of using telecommunications and computing services for saving energy has come to their attention. The first of the telecommunications media, the telegraph, evolved as a substitute for overworked couriers and their horses, so it remained primarily institutional. A series of transactions between A and B usually results in an interdependency — a social bond — between them. People evolve their own methods for taking advantage of the potentials of the telephone. What each has in common is a list of important numbers which can be called at liberty. Once the elite achieve comprehensive service, the social uses of the telephone expand greatly. Families call each other routinely. The economic impact of data processing and computing will be difficult to judge because it is the quality of products and services in the mix presently distributed that is primarily affected.