1996 - European Telework Week

Telework 96
Global trends such as digitisation, miniaturisation, higher bandwidth (images and
colour), allowing greater use of portability, and the integration of "converging"
technologies will lead to a decrease of costs and greater user friendliness of multimedia
communications and services. Their implementation will multiply the legal and moral
issues. The social impact of media is an active process which involves both the people
articulating the information flow and the ones that use the end result.
The use of media is context dependant and it takes several forms at an individual level:
• the home equipment, type of housing, and type of neighbourhood;
• the household family structure and social behaviour;
• individual values and cultural habits which inter-relate with the taste in, and
acceptability of material;
• the individual purchasing power and the breakdown of the expenditure (in particular
the disposable income for leisure activities and for cultural spending);
• the type of professional activity, linked to use of information and communication
technologies at work, and to person-to-business use of media.
Moreover, the diffusion of each new communication medium is based on the progressive
development of an effective use which may be significantly different from the anticipated
one. At a collective level, use of media is inter-twined with social trends. Acceptance of
new media will depend on the flexibility of social settings, and organisations, and the
nature (in terms of speed, and intensity) of the structural adjustments the community has
to undertake because of new technologies.
Familiarity with audio-visual equipment
The penetration of TV, telephone lines and VCRs in Europe’s households is already
high. In 1991 20.8% of the household in Europe already had a PC at home. Looking at
shipped PC units it is clear that PC penetration has increased:
EC 1992 1993 1994 CAGR '92-'94 %
PCs - professional market 5,618,000 6,026,000 6,453,000 7.2
PCs - home market 2,543,000 2,722,000 2,888,000 6.6
Source: International Data Corporation
PC units shipped in the European Community
In 1992 telecom revenue already represented about 2% of the EU gross domestic product
(10% growth compared to 1991). The penetration grade of cellular phones has grown
between 1988 and 1993 with more than 40%.
Traditional media (cinema, press and books) change. More screens with smaller
audiences per screen in cinema’s, less reading, especially with the less educated young.
Over the past few decades, converging phenomena have tended to renew the social
environment on which the use of media acquires its significance. The change from mass
broadcast systems to a mix with narrow-cast and interactive media, which will stimulate
the diversity of views, will have a major influence on socio-political trends. However, it
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