The document discusses the social impact of emerging telephone services. It notes that new technologies can provide economic, political, and sociological opportunities but also raise issues like invasion of privacy, inequity of access, mediated reality through automated systems, and compulsory disclosure of personal information. The telephone has been very successful due to attributes like personal communication, reliability, and universality, but designers must consider public perceptions of how information is used as well as actual usage to avoid problems arising from new services.

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The social impact of emerging
telephone services
William H. Dutton
Powerpoint by:
Corey Christiansen

2. Social Impact of
Telecommunication
 Controversial and complex
 Needs to be examined before
technology is utilized
 Driven more by technical than social
rationality
 Consumers are unaware of
consequences until they arise

3. Opportunities Gained
 Multifaceted
 Economic
 Political
 Sociological?

4. Problems That Arise
 Invasion of privacy
 Most pervasive
 Sharing of personal information, usually by
family members
 In the UK especially, the telephone was
seen as being intrusive & impolite
 Ex. Caller ID

5. Problems (con’t)
 Inequity
 Less well-to-do individuals and businesses
are less likely to be able to afford services
 Newer technology often is used by those
with the most money

6. Problems (con’t)
 Mediated reality
 Voice processing systems or computer-
mediated communication
 Increasing difficulty in reaching a live
person
 Systems are poorly used, often no option to
reach a live person

7. Problems (con’t)
 Compulsory Disclosure
 Unless we block it, every call we make has
the potential of transmitting personal
information including our name and
telephone number
 Some service do allow anonymous users
such as Santa Monica’s Public Electronic
Network (PEN)

8. Prospects
 The telephone is one of the most successful
communication technologies in history
 Personal
 Friendly
 Simple
 Reliable
 Universal
 Private
 Designers need to worry as much about
perceptions of the public as about the actual
use of information in the network - James Katz

9. Prospects (con’t)
 Future technologies like the picture or
video phone may lead to more personal
rather that computer-mediated
communication
 The industry and public sector lack any
compelling and attractive social vision

10. Reference:
 Dutton, W.H. (1992). The social impact
of emerging telephone services.
Telecommunications Policy. (eReserve)
Retrieved on July 7, 2009.
https://eres.lib.washington.edu/eres/coursepa